Zootopia Review

Zootopia

Release Date: 17th March 2016 - Australia

Production Companies

Walt Disney Pictures

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Distribution

Walt Disney Studios Motion

Pictures Australia

Genre: Animation/Family/

Action/Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 108 minutes

Budget: $150,000,000

Box Office Gross: $1,025,521,689 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

Officer Judy Hopps has become the first bunny cop of the police department and arrives in the big city of Zootopia, where prey and predator co-exist in harmony, but she doesn't quite fit in as she should.

Judy must solve a case to prove herself with the unwilling help of a fox named Nick Wilde. Together, the pair must learn to get along and discover a conspiracy that may threaten the co-existing balance of Zootopia.

Voice Cast

Ginnifer Goodwin - Lt. Judy Hopps

Jason Bateman - Nick Wilde

Idris Elba - Chief Bogo

J.K. Simmons - Mayor Lionheart

Jenny Slate - Bellwether

Nate Torrence - Clawhauser

Alan Tudyk - Duke Weaselton

Octavia Spencer - Mrs. Otterton

Shakira - Gazelle

Tommy Chong - Yax

Bonnie Hunt - Bonnie Hopps

Don Lake - Stu Hopps

Raymond S. Persi - Flash/

Officer Higgins

Maurice LaMarche - Mr. Big

Della Saba - Young Judy

Kath Soucie - Young Nick

Phil Johnston - Gideon Grey

Fuschia! - Drill Sergeant

John DiMaggio - Jerry Jumbeaux Jr./Moose/Pig Reporter/Jesse/Woolter

Katie Lowes - Badger Doctor

Gita Reddy - Nangi

Jesse Corti - Mr. Manchas

Tommy 'Tiny' Lister - Finnick

Josh Dallas - Frantic Pig

Leah Latham - Fru Fru

Rich Moore - Doug/Larry

Byron Howard - Bucky Oryx-Antlerson/Travis

Jared Bush - Pronk Oryx-Antlerson

Mark Rhino Smith - Officer McHorn

Josie Trinidad - Landlady

John Lavelle - Mouse Foreman

Kristen Bell - Priscilla

Madeleine Curry - Sharla/

Gareth/Little Hippo Whose Mother Is Given A Parking Ticket by Judy

David Campbell - David
Koalabell (Australia/New
Zealand Only)

Zach King - Muzzled Wolf

Pace Paulsen - Scout Bully 2

Fabienne Rawley - Jumbeaux's

Café Elephant Patron/Fabienne Growley

Jackson Stein - Jaguar

Pretend Actuary/Scout Bully 1

David A. Thibodeau - Gary

Crew

Story/Visual Development Artist/Director - Byron Howard

Story/Additional Visual Development/Director - Rich Moore

Story/Screenplay/

Co-Director - Jared Bush

Original Idea - Kellie D. Lewis (Uncredited)

Story/Screenplay - Phil Johnston

Story - Jennifer Lee

Story/Heads of Story - Jim

Reardon and Josie Trinidad

Executive Producer - John

Lasseter

Producer - Clark Spencer

Production Designer - David Goetz

Associate Production

Designer - Dan Cooper
Art Director: Environments - Matthias Lechner

Art Director: Characters - Cory Loftis

Visual Development Artists - Brett M. Albert, Justin Cram, Jim Finn, Mac George, Andy Harkness, Shiyoon Kim,

Jim Martin, Borja Montoro

Cavero, Nicholas Orsi,

Armand Serrano and Scott Watanabe

Lead Story Artists - John Ripa

and Marc E. Smith

Director of Photography: Lighting - Brian Leach

Director of Cinematography: Layout -

Nathan Warner

Head of Animation - Renato Dos Anjos

Co-Head of Animation - Tony Smeed

Head of Environments - Hans-Joerg Keim

Head of Characters & Technical Animation -

Dave K. Komorowski

Set Extension Supervisor - John Murrah

Layout Supervisor - Joaquin Baldwin

Animation Supervisors - Nathan Engelhardt,

Jennifer Hager, Robert Huth, Kira Lehtomaki

and Chad Sellers

Crowds Supervisor - Moe El-Ali

Lighting Supervisors - Gina Warr Lawes,
Alex Nijmeh, Amol Sathe, Mark Siegel and

Diana Jiang Zeng

Head of Effects - Cesar Velazquez

Visual Effects Supervisor - Scott Kersavage

General Technical Director - Serge Sretschinsky
Stereoscopic Supervisor/Department Leadership:

Walt Disney Animation Studios - Katie Tucker-Fico

Film Editors - Fabienne Rawley

and Jeremy Milton
Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor -
Addison Teague

ADR Supervisor - Daniel Laurie

Original Dialogue/Re-Recording Mixer -

Gabriel Guy

Re-Recording Mixer - David E. Fluhr

Music - Michael Giacchino

Executive Music Producer - Chris Montan

Music Supervisor - Tom MacDougall

Review

In recent years, the Disney animation department's renewal had scored with the infamous Frozen, which grossed a billion at the box office. It's been years since the craze of that landmark movie ended and two years after Big Hero 6. The studio has unveiled its 55th animated feature and latest production, ZOOTOPIA - a different spin on the animal kingdom. This animated feature has a Midas touch with fun and depth to the story and characters. I've noticed the film has taken liberties of inspiration from Disney's early movie and cult-classic Robin Hood. It tackles the hot-button issues of real-life society, like prejudice and police bias, that often integrate into an anthropomorphic CGI world. Disney is clever at grafting these messages into entertaining stories with a high standard of quality animation. It must mean that ZOOTOPIA is now a better movie than Frozen and a breadwinner of the House of the Mouse's animation unit.

ZOOTOPIA had a wide range of celebrity voice talents, with many well-known actors selected for huge parts. One of the best is Ginnifer Goodwin, who voices the officer with a cottontail - Judy Hopps. I was unsure about her being an actress due to her previous work in Once Upon a Time. However, her contribution to this film as the voice of Judy in ZOOTOPIA was excellent. Jason Bateman was sophisticated and witty in voicing the sly fox - Nick Wilde. We would have gotten to know more about Nick if the character had been in a more prominent role in the story, which would have been closer to the film's original vision. Idris Elba was known to many Marvel fans as Heimdall when he lent his booming distinctive voice as Chief Bogo, head of police.

I hope to see ZOOTOPIA again if it is available in other formats. It may be the best Disney animated feature released since The Lion King. Audiences of all ages will enjoy viewing the wonderful world of ZOOTOPIA and understand its message.

Star rating: (10/10) Best Movie Ever

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In Memory of Prince (1958-2016)

Prince (1958-2016)

Dearest movie bloggers and music lovers, I deeply regret to inform you that the legendary pop musician Prince, whose full name is Prince Rogers Nelson, died on April 21st, 2016, at age 57, in his Paisley Park recording studio. His death has highly affected us. His legacy will live on as long as we continue to listen to his music among fanatics of the Purple Badness. He was notable for his famous movie and best-selling soundtrack "Purple Rain" and his albums "1999" and "Sign o' the Times". Even songs like the two title tracks, "Little Red Corvette", "Delirious", "Kiss", "When Doves Cry", and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World".

It all started from his humble beginnings at his birthplace in Minnesota to his career transition as a musician. Prince joined a band formed by his cousin's husband called 94 East before signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records in 1978. It started with his early vinyl album "For You". Following "For You" is his self-titled album "Prince", which later generated a few hit singles. It went platinum after reaching the Billboard magazine in charts like the 200 at No. 4. Prince was not yet a well-known musical celebrity and changed his funk sound in the sexually explicit "Dirty Mind". With the double album "1999", which sold over three million copies, and three hit singles, he earned his way to the top. Prince then formed his band, The Revolution and began filming his first movie, "Purple Rain". The songs around the film would not be in its official soundtrack until 1984. When the album went into the pop charts, the feature was released in theatres and became the year's top-grosser. He soon gets an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for that successful movie.

Prince had more albums recorded, which a few served as soundtracks to his underwhelming features that he would later direct and star in, such as "Under the Cherry Moon" and "Graffiti Bridge". He made a concert tour feature of one of his albums, "Sign o' the Times", which happened to be a box office flop and produced several songs for Tim Burton's 1989 movie interpretation of "Batman" and went to have its soundtrack on June 20th, 1989. It sold 4.3 million copies and peaked on the Billboard 200 at No. 1. The singer-songwriter also wrote songs performed by other artists, such as "Manic Monday" for The Bangles and "Nothin' Compares 2 U" for Sinead O'Connor.

In 1993, Prince began to adrift from his name and changed his identity to a symbol, thus becoming known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. Despite the name change, it lasted until 2000, when he re-changed his name to Prince. He continued to write, produce and perform his music until his death. In 2004, Prince entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Release Date: 24th March 2016 - Australia

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

DC Comics
DC Entertainment

RatPac Entertainment (in association with)

Atlas Entertainment
Cruel and Unusual Films

Distribution

Roadshow Films

Genre: Action

Rating: M

Runtime: 151 minutes

Budget: $250,000,000

Box Office Gross: $873,637,528 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

It's been nearly two years

since the city of Metropolis

was almost devastated by

the colossal battle between

Superman and General Zod. Some people begin to fear him for his great power, including Gotham City's vigilante Batman, who sees Superman as a threat to everyone else and embarks on a personal vendetta. Contrariwise, Superman fears that Batman's actions are reckless and tries to stop him. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor, owner of Lex Corp, is devising something big that will destroy humanity! Will one triumph over the other? Or will Lex Luthor take over Metropolis?

Cast

Henry Cavill - Clark Kent/
Superman

Ben Affleck - Bruce Wayne/
Batman

Jesse Eisenberg - Lex Luthor

Amy Adams - Lois Lane

Diane Lane - Martha Kent

Laurence Fishburne - Perry
White

Jeremy Irons - Alfred
Pennyworth

Holly Hunter - June Finch

Gal Gadot - Wonder Woman

Scoot McNairy - Wallace Keefe

Callan Mulvey - Anatoli Knyazev

Tao Okamoto - Mercy Graves

Michael Cassidy - Jimmy
Olsen

Jason Momoa - Aquaman
(Cameo)

Ray Fisher - Victor Stone/
Cyborg (Cameo)

Joe Morton - Silas Stone (Cameo)

Ezra Miller - Barry Allen/
Flash (Cameo)

Kevin Costner - Jonathan Kent

Jeffrey Dean Morgan - Thomas Wayne (Uncredited)

Lauren Cohan - Martha Wayne

Brandon Spink - Young Bruce
Wayne

Robin Atkin Downes -
Doomsday
Wunmi Mosaku - Kahina Ziri
Dennis North - Senator
Barrows
Sebastian Sozzi - Cesar
Santos
Rebecca Buller - Jenny

Harry Lennix - Secretary

Swanwick

Carla Gugino - Kelor (Voice)

Christina Wren - Major Carrie Farris

Patrick Wilson - President of the United States (Voice)

Patrick Leahy - Senator Purrington (Cameo)

Debbie Stabenow - Metropolis Governor (Cameo)

Vikram Gandhi - Himself (Cameo)

Andrew Sullivan - Himself (Cameo)

Charlie Rose - Himself

(Cameo)

Neil de Grasse Tyson -

Himself (Cameo)

Crew

Director - Zack Snyder

Batman Creators - Bob Kane and Bill Finger

Superman Creators - Jerry

Siegel and Joe Shuster

Character Creator: Wonder Woman - William Moulton Marston

Character: Alfred Pennyworth - Jerry Robinson (Uncredited)

Writer/Executive Producer - David S. Goyer

Writer - Chris S. Terrio

Associate Producer/First Assistant Director - Bruce Moriarty

Executive Producers - Christopher Nolan,

Wesley Coller, Geoff Johns, Benjamin Melniker,
Michael Uslan and Emma Thomas

Producers - Charles Roven

and Deborah Snyder

Co-Producer - Curt Kanemoto

Co-Producers/Unit Production Managers -

Jim Rowe and Gregor Wilson

Casting Directors - Jo Edna Boldin,

Kristy Carlson and Lora Kennedy

Production Designer - Patrick Tatopoulos

Concept Artists - Michael Meyers,

Vance Kovacs, Victor Martinez, Robert KcKinnon,

Christian Schuerer and Ed Natividad

Supervising Art Director - Tom Sizemore

Art Directors - Lorin Flemming,

Beat Frutiger, Gregory S. Hooper and

Tom Frohling

Art Director: New Mexico Unit - Patricio M. Farrell

Specialty Vehicles/Batmobile - Dennis McCarthy

Set Decorator - Carolyn Loucks

Property Master - Doug Harlocker

Costume Designer - Michael Wilkinson

Makeup Department Head - Victoria Down

Key Makeup Artist - Kate Biscoe

Director of Photography - Larry Fong

Aerial Director of Photography - David B. Nowell

"B" Camera Operator/Director of Photography:

Second Unit - William R. Dalgleish

Supervising Location Manager/Production

Supervisor - William Doyle

Location Manager: Chicago - James McAllister

Production Supervisor - Matthew Hirsch

First Assistant Directors: Second Unit - Rob Burgess,

Brandon Lamboin and Julian Wall

Second Assistant Director - Misha Bukowski

Second Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator - Damon Caro

Stunt Coordinator - Tim Rigby

Fight Choreographers - Ryan Watson

and Guillermo Grispo

Aerial Coordinator - David Paris

Special Effects Supervisor - Joel Whist

Senior Visual Effects Supervisor - Joe Letteri

Visual Effects Supervisor - John 'D.J.' Des Jardin

Visual Effects Supervisor: MPC - Guillaume Rocheron

Visual Effects Supervisor: Scanline VFX -

Bryan Hirota

Visual Effects Supervisor: Weta Digital - Keith Miller

Visual Effects Producer - Josh R. Jaggars

Visual Effects: Method Studios - Olivier Dumont,

Troy Moore, Douglas Bloom, Lisa Goldberg,

Christopher D. Sanchez and Crystal Rossman

Animation Supervisor: Weta Digital - Simeon Duncombe

Visual Effects Production Supervisors:

Scanline VFX - Frank Belina, Stephen Davis,

Evan Fraser, Hans Heymans, Joel Kittle,

Yvonne Munde, Eric Petey, László Sebõ and

Dan Warom

Sound Designer & Supervisor - Scott Hecker

Sound Designer - Chuck Michael

Re-Recording Mixers - Chris Jenkins

and Michael Keller

Foley Artists - Gary A. Hecker

and Rick Owens

Editor - David Brenner

Music - Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL

Additional Music - Steve Mazzaro,

Andrew Kawczynski and Benjamin Wallfisch

Score Mixer & Recordist - Alan Meyerson

Score Wrangler - Bob Badami

Review

In 2014, I wondered if BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE would be as good as the hype had suggested. I am sorry that it's nowhere near an improvement to Man of Steel. Unfortunately, its director, Zack Snyder, has assembled a dour narrative with all flatly developed characters except for Ben Affleck's Batman portrayal. Even the redundant inclusion of the Doomsday character is too early to be featured in the climax. Unfortunately, Zack did little to improve his mistakes from his last average feature, Man of Steel. BATMAN V SUPERMAN is in much need of a director's cut and could greatly benefit from some refinement and polishing to the editing of the feature.

The flaws of BATMAN V SUPERMAN degraded the overall quality and made it a near-unwatchable experience. Such notable deficits include Jesse Eisenberg's interpretation of the Man of Steel's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. This character is supposed to be a technological genius and be so devious. His interpretation was spastic and loopy and is mainly a cross between his previous role as Mark Zuckerberg and Heath Ledger's Joker, but not like Gene Hackman's. I was starting to like Eisenberg in Now You See Me, but after seeing his character as Lex, this has brought him down a notch in my book. The other fault is Henry Cavill, who appeared once again to try to have his Superman character similar to his previous feature and didn't make any changes to the protagonist to improve from his last film.

On a positive note, Ben Affleck's performance as the middle-aged Batman is mesmerising. It'd be impossible to cast him as a masked vigilante like in his previous role in Daredevil. It was an unexpected move to replace Christian Bale as the caped crusader, but he had a wonderful surprise for the fans now welcoming him as the new Batman. One of my favourite actors, Jeremy Irons, was a touch of surprise as he splendidly portrayed Alfred Pennyworth. I see no reason that Irons, of all the old English actors, was not having consistent success like Michael Caine. Gal Gadot was as amazingly perfect as Wonder Woman, and the action sequences are stunningly beautiful in CGI and have a sense of realism.

BATMAN V SUPERMAN does not live up to the expectations and does not beat Marvel at their own game. It's been nice knowing that this is now an average movie of 2016. After this mild disappointment, I hope the following film from Snyder will raise the bar.

Star rating: (5/10) Average

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Around the World in 80 Days (2004) Review

Around The World In 80 Days

Release Date: 26th August 2004 - Australia

Production Companies 

Walden Media

Spanknyce Films

Mostow/Lieberman Productions
Studio Babelsberg
Babelsburg Film
Fitzwilliam Productions
80 Days Productions

Distribution

Roadshow Distribution

Genre: Comedy/Adventure

Rating: PG

Runtime: 119 minutes


Budget: $110,000,000

Box Office Gross: $72,175,895
(Worldwide)

Plot Summary

Phileas Fogg is an 

inventor living in 

Victorian England. He 

believes he can travel 

around the world in 

80 days. Another 

inventor challenges 

him to make the trip, 

and Phileas agrees. 

Accompanying Phileas 

on his journey are 

his manservant 

Passepartout and 

Monique, a beautiful 

navigator. Utilizing a 

variety of transportation 

means and Passepartout's 

martial arts skills, the 

trio embarks on a globe-

spanning adventure.

Cast

Steve Coogan - Phileas Fogg

Jackie Chan - Passepartout/Lau Xing

Cécile de France - Monique Laroche
Robert Fyfe - Jean Michel

Jim Broadbent - Lord Kelvin
Ian McNeice - Colonel Kitchener
David Ryall - Lord Salisbury
Roger Hammond - Lord Rhodes
Adam Godley - Mr. Sutton
Karen Mok - General Fang
Ewen Bremmer - Inspector Fix
Arnold Schwarzenegger - Prince Hapi (Cameo)
Yin Tze Pan -  Lau Xing's Mother
Yotaka Cheukaew - Little Jing
Sammo Kam-Bo Hung - Wong Fei Hung
Prasit Wongrakthai - Man Ting
Daniel Wu - Bak Mei
Rob Schneider - San Francisco Hobo (Cameo)
Luke Wilson - Orville Wright (Cameo)

Owen Wilson - Wilbur Wright (Cameo)
Mark Addy - Steamer Captain (Cameo)

John Cleese - Grizzled Solider (Cameo)
Will Forte - Young Bobby (Cameo)
Kathy Bates - Queen Victoria (Cameo)

 
Crew

Director - Frank Coraci

Based on Novel "Around the World in Eighty Days" - Jules Verne

Screenplay - David N. Titcher, David Benullo and David Andrew Goldstein
Executive Producers - Willie Chan, Solon So, Alex & Alexandra Schwartz and Phyllis Alia
Co-Executive Producers - Jeff Goeffray and Walter Josten
Producers - Hal Lieberman and Bill Badalato
Co-Producers - Henning Molfenter and Thierry Potok
Production Designer - Perry Andelin Blake
Supervising Art Director - Gary Freeman
Costume Designer - Anna Sheppard
Director of Photography - Phil Meheux
Second Unit Director - Harvey Harrison
Stunt Coordinator - Rick Forsayeth
Stunt/Action Coordinator: Jackie Chan - Chung Chi Li
Special Effects Supervisors - Gerd Nefzer and Kit West
Special Effects Supervisor: Second Unit -
John Evans

Visual Effects Supervisor - Jessica Norman
Visual Effects Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues -
Derek Spears
Visual Effects Producers - Louise Hussey
and Susan Zwerman
Digital Effects Supervisors - Simon Haslett
and Jonathan Privet
Digital Effects Supervisor: Rhythm & Hues -
Bud Myrick
Film Editor - Tom Lewis
Music - Trevor Jones

Review

Over the years there have been several movie adaptations that were based around Jules Verne's classical novel 'AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS'. When it comes to the book, you could either revisit the notable 1956 classic or explore the loose modern interpretation with martial arts superstar Jackie Chan. Some consider this version to be an unfaithful translation of the original storyline. This interpretation is not improved by the participation of Chan and Happy Madison director Frank Coraci. The experimentation with the action and comedy in a globetrotting adventure set in the 19th century were not in the original novel. The humour is necessary for this 2004 flop, but the changes throughout the entire story are a quick turn-off to those that were Vernians. The character of Passepartout was rewritten from a Frenchman into an Asian which explains how he is idly portrayed by Chan in the movie.

The Chinese action star at the time was making a poor string of a few heavily CGI-laden movies that were released between his successful 'Rush Hour' and 'Shanghai Noon' series. There is no excuse for Jackie Chan being in the movie. He is a full-time stunt expert and comic genius that oftentimes felt out of place in this film that killed all the other planned adaptations. Steve Coogan does a good impression in portraying the well-mannered and quirky inventor Phileas Fogg, but he winds up playing the foil to Chan's character rather than the main hero of the story as it was intended. There were many cameos in the movie from other stars from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Will Forte in his debut.

Overall, while this adaptation was forgettable at best, it could have been a lot worse. This movie is not for Vernians, is it barely based on the source material. If you aren't a Vernian, you may actually find the feature more enjoyable.

Star rating: (5/10) Average

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Sky High Review

Sky High

Release Date: 8th September 2005 - Australia

Production Companies

Walt Disney Pictures (presents)

Gunn Films

Max Stronghold Productions Inc.

Distribution

Walt Disney Studios Motion

Pictures Australia

Genre: Family/Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 100 minutes

Budget: $35,000,000

Box Office Gross: $86,369,815 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

Will Stronghold is attending high school in his first year and is the son of two superheroes. But this is no ordinary high school. It's a secret learning facility for children with superpowers called Sky High. Will gets branded as a sidekick because of his lack of powers. He must find his inner strength and set out to prove himself when a forgotten enemy returns to wreak his vengeance.

Cast

Michael Angarano - Will
Stronghold

Kurt Russell - Steve/The
Commander

Kelly Preston - Josie/
Jetstream

Danielle Panabaker - Layla

Kevin Heffernan - Ron Wilson Bus Driver

Dee Jay Daniels - Ethan

Kelly Vitz - Magneta

Loren Berman - Little Larry

Nicholas Braun - Zach

Malika Haqq - Penny

Khadijah Haqq - Penny

Jake Sandvig - Lash

Will Harris - Speed

Mary Elizabeth Winstead -
Gwen/Royal Pain

Lynda Carter - Principal Powers

Bruce Campbell - Coach Boomer

Dustin Ingram - Carbon Copy
Kid

Steven Strait - Warren Peace

Cloris Leachman - Nurse Spex

Jim Rash - Mr. Grayson/
Stitches

Dave Foley - Mr. Boy

Kevin McDonald - Mr. Medulla

Patrick Warburton - Royal
Pain (Voice)
Amy Brown - Twin
Kimmy Brown - Evil Twin
Zachry Rogers - Young Commander
Tom Kenny - Mr. Tinnerman
Jill Talley - Mrs. Tinnerman

Christopher Wynne - News Anchor

Nicole Malgarini - Freeze Girl (Uncredited)

Crew

Director - Mike Mitchell

Writers - Mark McCorkle,
Robert Schooley and Paul Hernandez

Executive Producers - Mario Iscovich

and Ann Marie Sanderlin

Producer - Andrew Gunn

Production Designer - Bruce Robert Hill

Illustrators - Daren Dochterman

and Paul Rudish

Art Director - William Hawkins

Assistant Art Directors - Desma Murphy and

Marshall Lee Toomey
Set Decorator - Robert Gould

Costume Designer - Michael Wilkinson

Assistant Costume Designer -

Christine Bieselin Clark

Makeup Department Head - Christina Smith

Special Makeup & Prosthetics Creator:

Medulla & Babies - Matthew W. Mungle

Director of Photography - Shelly Johnson

First Assistant Director - Justin Muller

First Assistant Director: Second Unit -

Nick Satriano

Second Assistant Director - John M. Morse

Location Manager - Jeremy Alter
Second Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator -

Scott Rogers

Assistant Stunt Coordinator - Chris O'Hara

Special Effects Supervisor - Al Broussard
Visual Effects Supervisors: Asylum -

Nathan McGuinness and Mitchell S. Drain

Visual Effects Supervisor: Furious FX -

David Lingenfelser

Visual Effects Consultant: Asylum -

Hoyt Yeatman

CG Supervisors: Asylum - Dottie Starling

and Sean Andrew Faden

3D Technical Supervisors: Asylum -

Anupam Das and Zachary Tucker

Editor - Peter Amundsen

Supervising Sound Editors - Donald J. Malouf

and Todd Toon

Sound Effects Editors - Adam Kopald,

Charles W. Ritter and David Kern

Re-Recording Mixers - Terry Porter

and Dean A. Zupancic

Music - Michael Giacchino

Music Supervisor - Lisa Brown

Review

Before the production company, Disney purchased Marvel and its characters. There was a time when the studio created its own original stories of superheroes on the silver screen. The only two successful features that came out during the superhero boom of the 2000s are The Incredibles and, to a lesser extent, SKY HIGH. Although the first film was an animated top dog of the previous year, the other is live-action. It's not as successful as Disney had hoped but is said to be one of the best and most likely underrated features to come out in the spring. After viewing SKY HIGH on Foxtel, I find it has a solid coming-of-age story that spoofed the traditional superhero clichés and blended well with a large dosage of teen comedy.

The men behind Kim Possible had written this film. It could have been a remarkable series for SKY HIGH if there had been three more chapters as if it had planned to continue the movie's characters in their high school years until graduation. The tongue-in-the-cheek humour fitted appropriately to the film, and the pacing was fresh and watchable. The young actors and actresses did very well in the ensemble cast of teenagers who worked well with Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston. It is good to see Kurt again team up with Disney after his long-running partnership with the multi-billion dollar company.

SKY HIGH is a lighthearted, well-paced high school movie that appeals mainly to adolescents. This movie would be good to re-watch as it has an interesting spin on superheroes from the perspective of high school life and mixes this element with engaging action sequences.

Star rating: (7/10) Good Movie

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London Has Fallen Review

London Has Fallen

Release Date: 17th March 2016 - Australia

Production Companies

Millennium Pictures (presents)

G-BASE

LHF Film

Distribution 

Roadshow Films

Genre: Action

Rating: MA15+ (Not Suitable for Young Children)

Runtime: 99 minutes


Budget: $60,000,000

Box Office Gross: $205,754,447 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary

When the Prime Minister

of England died suddenly

due to mysterious

circumstances, all the

world leaders, including

the President of the United

States, Benjamin Asher,

were called to attend his

funeral in London. What
seems to be a well-
intentioned funeral service
is a plot to assassinate all
the attending world leaders,
as is discovered by Agent

Mike Banning. It's up to

Asher, Banning and an

English MI6 agent to

stop a planned terrorist

attack from their potential

assassination.

Cast

Gerard Butler - Mike Banning

Aaron Eckhart - President Benjamin Asher

Morgan Freeman - VP Trumbull

Alon Moni Aboutboul - Aamir Barkawai

Angela Bassett - Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs

Robert Forster - General Edward Clegg

Melissa Leo - DS Ruth McMillian

Radha Mitchell - Leah Banning

Charlotte Riley - MI6 Jacquelin Marshall

Jackie Earle Haley - DC

Mason

Sean O'Bryan - NSA Ray

Monroe

Waleed Zuaiter - Kamran

Barkawi

Colm Salmon - Chief Hazard

Patrick Kennedy - MI5 Intel John Lancaster

Bryan Larkin - Davies

Michael Wildman - Agent Voight

Andrew Pleavin - Agent Bronson

Deborah Grant - Doris

Clarkson Guy Williams - Leighton Clarkson

Penny Downie - Rose Kenter

Philip Delancy - Jacques Mainard

Alex Giannini - Antonio Giusti

Nancy Baldwin - Agnes Bruckner

Nigel Whitney - Robert Bowman

Tsuwayuki Saotomw - Tsutomu Nakushima

Shivani Ghai - Amal Mansoor

Crew

Director - Babak Najafi

Based on Characters/Story/

Screenplay - Creighton

Rothenberger and Katrin

Benedikt

Screenplay - Christian

Gudegast and Chad St. John

Executive Producers -

Boaz Davidson, Avi Lerner,

Heidi Jo Markel, Trevor Short,

Zygi Kamasa, Christine Otal and

Guy Avshalom

Co-Executive Producer/Production Business

Affairs - Lonnie Ramati

Producers - Gerard Butler,

Mark Gill, John Thompson, Alan Siegel,

Matt O'Toole and Les Weldon

Co-Producers - Peter Heslop and

Danielle Robinson

Production Designer - Joel Collins

Supervising Art Director: UK - Bill Crutcher

Supervising Art Director: Bulgaria - Kes Bonnet

Art Directors - Caroline Barclay,

Nick Dent and Rebecca Milton

Art Directors: Bulgaria - Emil Gigov

and Ivan Ranghelov

Set Decorator - Richard Roberts

Costume Designer - Stephanie Collie

Director of Photography - Ed Wild

Director of Photography: Second Unit -

Lorenzo Senatore

First Assistant Director - Ben Burt

First Assistant Director: Second Unit -

Gerry Gavigan

Second Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator -

Steve Griffin

Stunt Coordinator: Bulgaria - Diyan Hristov

Fight Choreographer/Stunt Coordinator -

Borislav Iliev

Fight Choreographer - Trayan Milenov-Troy

Special Effects Supervisors - Mark Meddings

and Ivo Jivkov

Senior Visual Effects Supervisor - Sean Farrow

Visual Effects Supervisor: Intelligent

Creatures - Geoff D.E. Scott

Visual Effects Supervisor: UPP - Viktor Muller

Editors - Michael J. Duthie and

Paul Martin Smith

Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer -

Lee Walpole

Sound Designer - Andy Kennedy

Re-Recording Mixers - Chris David and

Stuart Hilliker

Music - Trevor Morris

Review

Comparatively different from the original. LONDON HAS FALLEN rehashed the formula used once in the first movie and managed to do a great job. Since Olympus Has Fallen is now in popular demand, the studio has settled to continue the political drama and thrilling action in the barbarity of this next instalment. It doesn't reach the cinematic heights of the first movie, but it changed the setting to the European shores of Great Britain, so it is nice to see the use of different locations and a change of scenery. It makes you wonder what part of the world will be in the next instalment. It's still crammed with brainless action sequences that continue to have that sort of violence that may concern parents of underage viewers.

Gerard Butler appears in steadfast and good shape and continues the winning streak with another successful Die Hard knockoff. Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman were crucial for the success of this movie, and the new director knew this fact as he convinced them to reprise their roles in this latest sequel.

The rules have changed in LONDON, and it still doesn't matter that the movie is repetitive and unoriginal. After all, this is a movie you watch for instant thrills and good popcorn action. It's an enjoyable film to date. If you get the opportunity, you should watch this movie in theatres, and you do not have to have seen the original to understand this movie as it is the same old formula.

Star rating: (7/10) Good Movie

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