The Legend of Hercules (Quick Review)

What an awful excuse of a movie! The Legend of Hercules is nothing more than a very shoddy knockoff of 300 and Gladiator featuring: a plot line written by a preschooler, blatant historical inaccuracies, a complete disregard for any and all Greek/Roman mythology, actors that make pieces of wood look talented, and the worst clichés ever created piled one after the other.  Nothing about “Hercules” in this film even remotely resembles the actual legend (aside from name), who’s given about as much respect as the 1998 Godzilla does to its title character (I swear there’s actually a scene where “Hercules” gets knocked out cold…by an ordinary man swinging a helmet.

Godzilla (Film Review)

What I truly enjoy about Godzilla is its fine balancing of realism with tradition and tribute.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Film Review)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2…huh…hmmm…what to say about this film.  Usually my reviews consist of some overall opinion such as “I love this film” or “It’s a good film with some flaws” or “I absolutely loathe it,” but Amazing Spider-Man 2 makes generalizing fairly difficult.  To start with, the film has flaws; and I don’t mean a few minor ones, I mean dozens ranging from minor to major…yet I still enjoyed it.  So then it’s a guilty pleasure right?  Well, no because (despite what you may have heard) there IS some good content throughout Amazing Spider-Man 2 that even improves upon the first Amazing Spider-Man.  Plus, there’s a certain scene that stands above and alone the rest of the film.  So screw it, I’m going rouge and changing up my reviewing format; here’s what I’m calling:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2: The Good, the Stupid, and the Amazing

Reconstructed Ending: Despicable Me 2 (Alternate Version)

It might come as surprising, but I prefer Despicable Me 2 over its predecessor.  For me, the first film was just sort of bland; its humor wasn't that great and its overabundance of cutesiness sails dangerously close to gagging territory.  While Despicable Me 2 is quite similar, there are improvements that stand out; such as a sharper sense of humor and its new female lead Lucy.  Lucy’s one of the better female character’s I've seen in recent animated film; she’s enjoyably eccentric, quite humorous, a strong action girl, and given a unique character design that’s far from your typical “pretty perfect” look (making her stand out all the more).  There’s also some actual chemistry between Lucy and Gru, who effectively work off each other’s bizarre personalities while providing strong character development as they bond and interact. 

Heaven Is for Real (Film Review)

Heaven Is for Real possesses a feature rare to find in religious cinema; subtlety.  Perhaps not as subtle when comparing to your average movie, but certainly more so than the majority of religious films I've seen.  Another religious rarity found in the film is it’s open-mindedness towards others' beliefs.  I cannot stress enough how significant these two factors are when making a good religious film, yet how seldom they’re actually used.  Heaven Is for Real does however utilize both aspects; creating a surprisingly efficient film that both religious and non-religious viewers can enjoy.