Movie Review - Fantastic Four (2015) - Jonathan On Paper

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 This week I saw the new Fantastic Four movie. I was intrigued as I went it to find out what had made this movie less successful in it’s opening weekend than the first two Fantastic Four movies (2005, 2007). It made $25.7 million on the first weekend, as opposed to the first movie’s equivalent takings which were $56 million (more than double). 

Photo Source: Xmovies8.tv

This week I saw the new Fantastic Four movie. I was intrigued as I went it to find out what had made this movie less successful in it’s opening weekend than the first two Fantastic Four movies (2005, 2007). It made $25.7 million on the first weekend, as opposed to the first movie’s equivalent takings which were $56 million (more than double). 

The problem with Fantastic Four (2015) is that it never feels like a superhero movie. It has a negatively mysterious mood, which is aided by the gloomy colour tuning and depressing feel at times. The heroes’ super powers are painted as curses, not benefits. It takes a long time to get into any action and takes too much time setting up the story and the characters.

Fantastic Four has the Marvel logo at the start, but it is co-produced by 20^th Century Fox, not Disney like the other Marvel cinematic universe movies. It seems like Fox was trying to buy into the current success of Disney’s Marvel series (while already owning the rights to this property). 

But this never feels like a Marvel movie. It has some humour, but it is not the wise-cracking happy sense of humour as in the Avengers and Ant Man. The action was never really fun. Fantastic Four’s main issue is that it doesn’t know when to be silly and when to be serious. It was is too serious.

Photo Source: hdwallpaper.in

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Somebody was trying to make some dough out of Fantastic Four, but they missed. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! If you want to make money out of a Marvel movie, make it like Disney does – hilarious and heart-warming with epic cartoony action.

@Steve_sipple

The Lego Movie - Movie Review

No beating around the bush, The Lego Movie is a very fun, very funny movie. I went to a screening on opening night – one of only a few times I have done so. Why rush out to see a movie like this? Because to me, The Lego Movie is one of a select group of movies that are hilarious, pure fun. It was obvious from the promotional material that this movie would be really fun – and it delivers on that promise.

The Lego Movie is about a regular guy – Emmett – who has a great adventure before him. With friends like the mysterious girl Wyldstyle and Batman, Unikitty (yes, a cat who is a unicorn) and Random 80's Lego Astronaut, the fate of the whole Lego world rests in Emmett’s plungers... I mean, plastic lego hands.

There was a new logo tacked on the front of the movie: WAG “Warner Animation Group”. It was a cool design for a logo and one I hadn't seen before. Perhaps this indicates a renewed focus on animation for Warner Bros. That would be a welcome trend, if the Lego Movie is anything to go by.

Let me go a bit deeper. There are two things I don't like about some family movies.

Case study #1: the Madagascar syndrome. These are the problems with the Madagascar movies: The humour is too crazy and too quick. I need time to think between jokes. This was the case x 1000 with the Spongebob movie which I had the burden of seeing at a school once. And the Madagascar movies are not one big story like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. They are too episodic for my liking.

Case Study #2: Kinda Happy Feet. So, Happy Feet was animated by the same studio as The Lego Movie, Aussie group Animal Logic. But I have a feeling that The Lego Movie was written in Hollywood by different people than Happy Feet. Anyway, The villains in Happy Feet were the elders of the penguin community, of whom the spokesperson was a grizzly old male penguin. The thing I didn't like was that he used religious jargon and all of it was used negatively. I didn't appreciate words I was familiar with through my faith being used in that way. That is was ruined the film for me. That and the egotistic artistry and mostly un-engaging storyline.

So I like to avoid movies I think will fall in the areas of crazy-random-empty to serious-miguided-empty. To me, The Lego Movie was fun, family friendly and hilarious! I wasn't the only audience member laughing their socks off in the theatre. I had to pick all the socks up when the lights came up :P

By Jonathan 

Movie Review - The Delivery Man starring Vince Vaughn

By Jonathan Parsons

Just the other day, I was lamenting to a friend the fact that no one in the movie business is making good natured, innocent-eyed comedies anymore. I was referring to the romcoms I was brought up on - PG-rated fare like While You Were Sleeping, Sleepless in Seattle and Runaway Bride. I feel that most comedies these days are given an MA rating (or R in the USA) for sexual references or coarse language. These factors might draw some audiences, but they turn me off for the most part. I was complaining all about this issue, and then this little movie came along.

The Delivery Man, starring Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers) and Cobie Smulders (TV’s How I Met Your Mother, The Avengers) has a quirky and complex premise. David Wozniak (Vaughn) is a grown man who works delivering meat for his family business. It turns out that his young adult sperm donation practice has led him - due to a clerical error - to be the biological father of 533 children. David now has the related court case looming and a girlfriend (Smulders) who is quite disappointed in him, for a variety of reasons.

This picture is from the Disney- owned brand named Touchstone Pictures and also Dreamworks Pictures. Touchstone brought to us series like Home Improvement and movies such as Sister Act and Pretty Woman. More recently, they released Dan in Real Life - a comedy which definitely fits into the warm and memorable category I described in my introduction. I feel The Delivery Man fits into this category too. I really enjoyed it. And, funnily enough for a movie labelled a comedy, it is highly funny! My friend and I were laughing in the same places - and different places too. It was just funny. I think you would like it, unless you felt you were above this type of film, you were put off by the premise, or you don’t speak English!

This film showcased a host of young adult actors who played David’s children. The acting was world class. The casting was brilliant, with many personalities and types fitting perfectly to the characters.

I can not remember much memorable music - except for the score in one comedic scene.That’s a shame - but one I can live with for such a great movie. The themes of taking responsibility, keeping your word and family love are important themes for us to explore.

I give this movie 3 ½ stars out of 5.

It is good enough to enjoy once or twice, but I won’t be buying it on DVD.

New stories ... and Mary Poppins

This is what I got for a good bargain at my local Coles Supermarket:

I have seen all these movies before, except I first saw Mary Poppins - on about five different occasions in snippets - on TV, at a friends home and so on. I think I saw Mary Poppins all the way through for the first time in 2007. I saw the stage show in Melbourne in 2012. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I wasn't impressed with the oversized umbrella. I thought that was a bit of Disney overkill. I loved Marina Prior in that show as Mrs Banks.

On that note, have you seen the recent trailer for "Saving Mr. Banks"? Take a look. I'll post a review after I have seen it ... IN 2014! Gee, when did time start moving so fast?