Director: Noam Murr
Writers: Zack Snyder (screenplay), Kurt Johnstad (screenplay)
Stars: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey

Synopsis: Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.

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DIRECTION
Are you a sidechick? Do you enjoy Scandal? If you answered yes to either of these questions then you will absolutely love 300: Rise of an Empire. Unless you were single in 2006, you probably were dragged to see 300 in one way or another. It might of been for the violence or for the abs, which were harder than Jaden Smith character in  After Earth. If you ever wondered what a headache looks like, then Rise of an Empire is perfect for you. Director Noam Murro thinks he knows what made 300 popular. Murro thinks that we value the storyline so he feels it’s important to educate us on the background of the events surrounding 300. The film starts off with an audio-book style narrative, courtesy of Lena Headey, that will even cause the energizer bunny to nap. Murro employs flashbacks, bad camera shots, awful CGI and by far the most annoying thing was all the slow-motion fighting scenes. The fighting scenes really pissed me off because this movie believed that the more blood the better and in this case he was too much. When people got cut they had an excessive amount of blood rushing out. Apparently, losing rivers of blood was not enough to kill certain people. I do not know about you but if I lost more blood than most PG-13 movies combined, I will not be able to still reach Super Saiyan levels.

Grade: D

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SCRIPT
Rise of an Empire tells the story of the side-chick, Artemisia, and her game of battleship with Athens and their leader Themistocles. The events of this movie take place before, during, and after the events in 300. In the most boring narrative ever, we learn how Xerxes became a God-King, and I was dying of laughter as it was explained. After Themistocles killed the previous King Darius with an arrow that will put Hawkeye to shame, Xerxes, looking like the Son of God, goes into a cave and into water. He then emerges from Trinidad James’ closet and becomes the all gold everything God-King we all know.

Grade: F

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RELATED: Pompeii Review

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PERFORMANCES
To keep actors employed, studios sometimes make movies for no reason and this film is one of those pointless movies. 300: Rise of an Empire stars Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro, David Wenham, and Andrew Tiernan reprising their roles from the first film, alongside Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Hans Matheson, Callan Mulvey, and Jack O’Connell. In between the headache, you get a rush when you see an awkward-yet-fun sex scene between the sidechick and Themistocles. The lone bright spot for this film is the roles of Green and Stapleton. Green did the best job she could with the poor dialogue and script, while Stapleton proved to be a great leader.

Grade: C

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SCORE
Junkie XL was the man in charge of placing music to the senseless fighting. The score is very noticeable despite all the sounds of war. I could not picture anything better than the strong beats and dark tone for this movie because listening to Iconic Pop probably would not have worked as well here.

Grade: B

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IS IT WORTH IT?
300: Rise of an Empire is a movie that should not have been made as it is a glorified game of Battleship. If you want to watch this movie, I would suggest to watch it under the influence of the same thing that was passed around the Oscars because the movie will speak to you then.

Overall Grade: D

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zqy21Z29ps]

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writers: Hayao Miyazaki
Stars: Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masahiko Nishimura

Synopsis: A look at the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II.

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DIRECTION
Hayao Miyazaki’s last film, The Wind Rises, is one heck of a way to go out if you’re wanting to go out on top. This film is absolutely beautiful and explores some pretty interesting ideas in the style only Miyazaki can bring. The dreamlike sequences our main character has are wonderfully made and take you into the air wherever the wind blows. If your a lover of planes especially, you’re going to love the territory this film goes. While this film has the ability to eliminate some demographics, most people can appreciate the importance of this story from the Japanese perspective. As Americans, we don’t always see the other side of the story in personal detail like we do in The Wind Rises and it’s quite the treat. Sure, it can be a bit stiff at times and perhaps on the unexciting side if you’re not into that sort of thing, but the relational pieces are just as engaging and relatable as anything else out there. It’s a gorgeous end for Miyazaki.

Grade: A

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SCRIPT
Our story is about Jirô Horikoshi, who when he was a young boy in Japan started having dreams of flying planes or becoming an engineer to craft them, which is eventually what he grows up to do. Airplane technology dramatically changed from WWI to WWII and this story explores this from Japan’s perspective and how they were on the slow side of things. Jirô works for Mitsubishi, who was one company competing for the Japanese Air Force contracts, and he’s considered a genius who could help turn things around for Japan. Also, Jirô falls in love with an acquaintance he once met after an earthquake and the two’s relationship grows very quickly in some gorgeous and beautiful ways. The script almost works as two stories in one as both storylines rarely cross one another until the final moments of the third act. The exploration of that left left room for Miyazaki to introduce us too and involve some rather interesting characters, while keeping things rather engaging. The story takes a heartbreaking turn that is a little arduous but shows the realities of life that we all live. The Japanese Zero was one of the more difficult opponents the U.S. saw in WWII and it was Jirô’s work that led to that.

Grade: A-

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RELATED: The Lego Movie Review

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PERFORMANCES
Hideaki Anno was our lead voice as Jirô and while it wasn’t terrible by any means, he wasn’t a stand out either. There are moments of greatness here and in some scenes he was pretty stiff and didn’t quite drive certain emotions across leaving his lines of dialogue dry in some areas. Overall though, it’s not distracting and he serves the film well. Miori Takimoto was wonderful as the love interest and given the territory she goes down, she captures those feelings tremendously well. While her character isn’t wildly complex, it’s her simple story that works for the emotion this film goes for. Perfect. And you gotta love Masahiko Nishimura as Kurokawa. He was hilarious and added some great humor to the film, especially in some of the more serious moments.

Grade: A-

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SCORE
The score was done by Joe Hisaishi, who’s done some really great work in the past. The music actually plays an integral piece of the film, where dream-like sequences are carried by graceful musical elements that are pretty crucial. Each time we see a plane in the sky, the music becomes another character during the scene which is beautiful and engaging. Great work by Hisaishi.

Grade: A

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FINAL THOUGHTS
The Wind Rises is a beautiful film that explores the importance of Jirô’s work and his love life that takes some pretty terrible turns. In the end, both story elements turn against Jirô but it’s how he lived his life to the full in that time that is important. It’s a beautiful film through and through and is highly recommended.

As a side note, I saw the original Japanese version in Japanese. The English version stars Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Emily Blunt and a few others as well.

Overall Grade: A

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writers: John W. Richardson (screenplay), Christopher Roach (screenplay)
Stars: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Michelle Dockery

Synopsis: An air marshal springs into action during a transatlantic flight after receiving a series of text messages that put his fellow passengers at risk unless the airline transfers $150 million into an off-shore account.

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DIRECTION
Director Jaume Collet-Serra was very close to pulling of a great airplane thriller but choked with the ball in his hands in the final minutes. The first two acts of the film are pretty good, despite being a little formulaic. Collet-Serra slows the pace down in the first 10 minutes to let us explore who Liam Neeson’s character is and what may be going on. The camera sticks close to Neeson and there are several foreshadowed moments, that is pretty clear will come into play later. The story is well-paced and Collet-Serra was pretty good at bringing us a good thriller at 35,000 feet. He uses some interesting touches for reading text messages and some clever uses of camera transitions as well. The first two acts were not bad at all. However, the third act arrives. It’s at this point Collet-Serra loses focus, rushes things and wasn’t clear on where he wanted to go. The script was an interesting turn but it’s the execution that really falls flat. Perhaps the main villains are miscast but you don’t believe what is happening and some of the effects in those action sequences are not very good. And the final few minutes are not clear in some of the details surrounding Neeson, leaving the viewer very confused. Overall, a great swing but just couldn’t quite get the homerun but still a good double.

Grade: B-

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SCRIPT
This is John W. Richardson’s first feature length movie script and I gotta say, it’s not terrible for a newbie. The biggest issue with this script is that it’s pretty formulaic in some ways. We have a hero who gets everything pinned against him although it’s not his fault but in the end..well you can guess where it goes. The story surrounds Bill Marks (Neeson) who is an alcoholic after some terrible circumstances in his life but now he is an air marshall getting ready to board a flight to London. Once in the air, he receives threat messages on his phone that leave him needing to find answers to save the plan. It’s at this point things start to go south for Marks but the the story moves well leaving you with a few ideas who the real bad guy may be. The big turn into this movie is not just the main premise of an air marshal being hijacked on a plane but the 9-11 theme that ends up being the big picture. It was an interesting idea that just was well executed in the end, however it’s more of a direction error than a script error and for that I give the writers some credit. The biggest knock on the writers is the characters. Outside of Neeson, the rest of the characters aren’t that interesting and while many are there to throw you off, there’s not much to really garner any real attention.

Grade: B+

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RELATED: The Lego Movie Review

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PERFORMANCES
Liam Neeson does a really good job of being Liam Neeson and he carries this movie well. His character is has a backstory we’ve seen before but its’ interesting to see in played out through an air marshal in this particular situation. However, the rest of the cast is absolutely wasted. Good God why is Lupita Nyong’o in this movie!? What an absolute waste of an extreme talent. She doesn’t even have lines of dialouge in this film, which was very disappointing. Julianne Moore is another supporting character who doesn’t have much to do but she does a good job of making you think what the director wants. Michelle Dockery has some intereting moments as well and she’s fine in the role, but again, with not much to do. The “villains” are more interesting as text messages and the other supporting characters add almost nothing that’s crucial to the story.

Grade: B

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SCORE
John Ottman is a composer that has some scores that I really like, however this isn’t one of them. For a thriller movie like this, the score can almost work as a character itself if done right but here it’s mostly just bland and doesn’t add that much excitement. There are some moments it worked but you won’t really notice anything in the end.

Grade: C

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FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, Non-Stop wasn’t completely terrible. It had some elements going for it that worked really well. Liam Neeson’s character had some descent backstory and the turn it takes on 9/11 is actually an interesting concept. It explores some stereotypes and kind of flips it on it’s head a little bit, however the execution of that idea was just really poor. The “bad guys” aren’t that interesting once revealed and some of the end elements just make zero sense. And I’m personally offended that you cast Nyong’o here and don’t give your any real lines of dialogue. That’s ridiculous. All in all though, while the film will ultimately be forgettable, it’s also not a complete waste of time.

Overall Grade: B-

Director: McG
Writers: Adi Hasak (screenplay), Luc Besson (screenplay)
Stars: Kevin Costner, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen

Synopsis: A dying CIA agent trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter is offered an experimental drug that could save his life in exchange for one last assignment.

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DIRECTION
Have you ever watched a movie and couldn’t stop laughing? I had my first experience with that yesterday when I watched Kevin Costner star as Liam Neeson, in 3 Days to Kill. Much like its estranged brother, Pompeii, this film also has an obsession for the Pokémon Ditto. I could probably think of 100 directors better suited to direct this film and one elephant, instead McG was the man in charge of this bloodshed. Ethan (Costner) and Zooey’s (Hailee Steinfeld) relationship is obviously important for the film, but in typical McG fashion, he ruins things faster than Justin Bieber. The scenes between Zooey and Ethan are so repetitive and uses humor badly to get us to connect with them, it doesn’t work. This is a recurring error for McG.

Grade: C

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SCRIPT
I knew this film would be in trouble when I knew the same writer of Taken and Taken 2 also wrote this one. 3 Days To Kill tells the story of awful government spy Ethan Renner that gets diagnosed with cancer. After getting the boot from the CIA, Ethan decides to spend his last months in Paris with his estranged wife Christine (Connie Nielsen), especially with their teenage daughter Zooey. It’s not long before he meets the mysterious CIA agent Vivi (Amber Heard) and promises him a deal of a lifetime. Vivi offers Renner an experimental drug that allay his cancer, but only if he agrees to hunt down and kill two killers with the most laughable names ever: The Wolf and The Albino; I’ll give you some time to laugh. Vivi mentions he has 3 days and his choice is simple: “Kill or die”. Paris? CIA? Wife and Kids? – If it seems familiar, it’s because this is exactly the background of Taken.

Grade: D

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RELATED: Pompeii Review

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PERFORMANCES
Kevin Costner is trying to be Liam Neeson here but it just doesn’t work well with this story. He’s not very believable as this character but the script is very poor to his credit. In other words, Costner was just there for the paycheck. Hailee Steinfeld and Connie Nielsen weren’t terrible, but again, the script doesn’t leave them much room to be great.

Grade: C

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SCORE
Guillaume Roussel does the score here and it’ mostly an average action score to match the very average action movie we get here. It’s not distracting by any means but it doesn’t add much though either. There’s a good amount of soundtrack music that’s used as well that isn’t terrible and actually probably some of the better parts, honestly.

Grade: B

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IS IT WORTH IT?
This film leaves more questions unanswered than anything else, and every actor is going through each scene to just get that paycheck. 3 Days To Kill is not worth your time or effort and I think you would have more fun watching kittens on YouTube.

Overall Grade: C

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Writers: Janet Scott Batchler (screenplay), Lee Batchler (screenplay)
Stars: Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Kiefer Sutherland

Synopsis: A slave-turned-gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him.

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DIRECTION
Today is the day where you know you will finally get a kiss from your significant other. No matter if you’re watching Scooby-Doo or playing some D&D (Dungeons and Dragons), they send you photos of their lips several times in anticipation of the first time. All you have to do is get through shopping with mom and you will have the best kiss of your life. This same scenario is the best way to sum up Pompeii. If Pompeii was a Pokémon, it would be Ditto as this movie has so much borrowed material, the only original idea was that Mount Vesuvius erupts. Pompeii, of course, was going to be a visual spectacle and there is nobody better than handling the $100 million budget than director Paul W.S. Anderson. The last hour of the film was fantastic, as that is when we start getting more stumbling from the volcano. Once she really erupts it wreaks havoc through Pompeii with its blazing lava and ash. Anderson, and his fantastic team of specialists clearly did their homework on volcano eruptions as at times it was hard to discern if we were watching actual footage at some points.

Grade: C

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SCRIPT
Pompeii tells the story of Milo (Kit Harrington) the last member of a Celtic tribe of equestrians who are massacred by Roman soldiers led by Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) and his right-hand man Proculus (Sasha Roiz). Milo was able to escape at the young age of 6, by playing dead. As if a 6-year-not-named-Jennifer-Lawrence-old could pull that off, but he is later and enslaved. Over the years, Milo has turned into a killing machine with killer abs and hair so amazing that even Head and Shoulders is in awe. Milo’s talent is held back in Londinium as he is able to kill opponents quicker than Seattle’s first points against the Broncos. Milo meets Cassia (Emily Browning) on the road to Pompeii, bare-handedly breaking a horse’s neck. What say you Peta? Once in Pompeii, Milo meets the rest of the essential cast members Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and of course Mount Vesuvius (CGI). Prior to the volcanic eruption, we have to suffer through poor dialogue and forced relationships. Milo, as he is traveling to Pompeii, comes across the lovely Cassia and once her horse is suffering, Milo reaches out to help. Upon first contact, Cassia and Milo seem to have an attraction and just goes to show you that no matter the time era, women are attracted to long hair and amazing abs, and scruffy-yet-well-trimmed facial hair. Most of the movie is taken up by scene after scene of gladiatorial games, but when Milo isn’t fighting, he’s sharing passionate looks with Cassia. The relationship was pointless to me because they never really said anything to each other so how could they be in Love? Of course it is a movie so there always has to be a romantic interest (studios aren’t paying beautiful women for nothing).

Grade: D

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RELATED: The Lego Movie Review

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PERFORMANCES
Nobody really stood out in the film as for as performance, in fact the best performance was the volcano. The performances were a bad result of the dialogue and repetitive story line. Kiefer Sutherland was arguably miscast in this role and isn’t very believable as the Roman Senator. Harrington was fine and great in the action sequences but again, the dialogue was very weak.

Grade: D

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SCORE
As saddening as the volcano erupted was, it was nice to have a great musical composition by Clinton Shorter. If you have a city getting destroyed, beautiful music is the way I would want to die. Shorter uses a great theme that really pounds heavy in some moments and sets the tone for the disaster we experience.

Grade: B

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IS IT WORTH IT?
Anderson, stuck to a formula that would even make Tyler Perry cringe. No matter the circumstance, it was clear that Atticus, Milo and Cassia would be the last to die as every lava eruption and boulder would just miss them that reminded me of the rocket car scene at the end of “Hooper” with Burt Reynolds. As I allotted to earlier, Anderson would always zoom in on Mount Vesuvius to prepare us much like a teenage couple prepares for that first kiss. As saddening as the volcano erupted was, it was nice to have a great musical composition by Clinton Shorter. If you have a city getting destroyed, beautiful music is the way I would want to die. All in All, Pompeii is a very predictable movie that is entirely too dull and boring to keep you entertained till the last burst-no pun intended. The Lego Movie, how does it feel to be on top again for another week, “It’s AWWWWEEEEESSSSOOOMMMMEEE”

Overall Grade: D