Reviews

Monsters University is about how Mike and Sully grew from the biggest of rivals to the best of friends in college. I'm not gonna go too much into the story, because it's more fun to experience for yourself.

Pixar may not have had the best of luck with their more recent films (that is starting with 2011 up till now), but I noticed something while watching Monsters University: The feeling of déjà vu that I also had when watching Brave and even Cars 2. No matter how thin the story is or how uninteresting the characters are, Pixar will always be in a league of their own.

That said, how was Monsters University? Well, it's the prequel to Monsters, Inc., which was released 12 years ago. I loved that movie as a small kid, and ... well, I still do to this day. This movie was originally planned as a sequel to Monsters, Inc., but was eventually titled Monsters University and announced as a prequel instead. I was skeptical to this, but I can say without a doubt that Pixar are starting to return back to their former glory.

Monsters University isn't amazing like Ratatouille, Up and the Toy Story trilogy, but it almost is. Let me explain...

The movie starts off very standard. Nothing too special. Some laughs here and there, but there isn't much promise or build-up to anything intense. Then the story starts twisting and turning a little bit, and eventually builds up into one of Pixar's most exciting movies. The climax of this movie is very thrilling and you really get into it.

The animation is brilliant, as always. Pixar has always been the master of textures. Every texture in this movie looks photo-realistic. However, Pixar's talent in textures and animation in general is not really shown in Monsters University itself, but rather a little short film at the start called The Blue Umbrella, which looks real, period.

The character development is very good. The movie starts out with a bunch of not-so-interesting nor likable characters, that eventually grow into characters you really root for. The relationship between Mike and Sully is very impressive, as they start off completely hating each other, but their friendship grows so naturally. Seriously, there's never a sudden change of heart in any of the characters.

Overall, I really enjoyed Monsters University. It's very funny, very exciting, has likable characters, beautiful animation, great fan service for fans of Monsters, Inc., and it has some touching moments during the last part. I'm certain Pixar will return back to their former greatness in just a year or two.

The Wolverine is a spin-off to the X-Men franchise that tells the story of what happens with Wolverine after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand. Basically he lives on his own with no goals or desires. One day, he meets a woman who tells him that he needs to go to Japan to say good-bye to an old dying friend. When Wolverine arrives, it is revealed that something else is going on entirely ... which I won't get into.

I thought this movie was pretty solid. It had a great set-up and some really good characters. But compared to the other X-Men movies, this one is a little bit on the weaker side. The fun with the X-Men movies is to see all these different mutants with crazy abilities fight alongside and against each other. In this movie, there are only three mutants, Wolverine included. This is disappointing, especially since every X-Men movie has contained lots of cool and varied mutants. Even X-Men Origins: Wolverine did that.

The villains are not that interesting. They're just bland Hollywood villains that we see in every generic action movie. Wolverine himself is a very cool character, and he does some bad-ass things. Some action scenes are really cool, like a scene involving a bullet train. But then we have more traditional fight scenes, which are boring because you can't see what the hell is going on.

Now I'm gonna talk about the after-credits scene. And don't worry, I'm not gonna spoil what it is. Rather, I'm gonna spoil what it isn't. For those who think it means that Wolverine is joining The Avengers: Age of Ultron, he isn't. That's a little disappointing, 'cause I was almost certain it would be that. But it's still a really cool scene that will make a lot of X-Men fans happy.

Overall, The Wolverine is a pretty cool movie. It has a couple really cool action scenes, a great protagonist and a cool setting. Though some parts are uninteresting (especially during the last part), it's still a fun ride. Watch it if you like X-Men.

Despicable Me 2 is the sequel to Illumination's first animated movie which came out in 2010. In this one, Gru is hired by an organization who wants to capture a criminal who's trying to take over the world because they believe Gru can dentify whether or not he or she is a villain. That's all I'm gonna say.

I came into Despicable Me 2 with no expectations. I just didn't know what to expect. I really liked the first movie, but it wasn't a movie that needed a sequel. Still, I'm glad we got it.

This movie feels exactly like the first one, but not in a bad way. It has the same feel, same humor, same style of animation and a pretty similar story. But it's all good fun. It's an entertaining ride with funny characters and some good jokes.

Just like the first movie, Despicable Me 2 also has heart. So not only are the characters funny, but they're also sympathetic.

There's not much I can say about this film. Overall, it was really good. If you're a fan of the first one, you'll love this one too most likely.

This movie came out so late here in Norway! Jesus!

Anyway, Scary Movie V is the latest installment in the Scary Movie franchise. In this one, most of the cast from the previous movies are absent. That's not a good sign. In this one, we get parodies of more recent movies, like Paranormal Activity, Mama, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and ... The Shawshank Redemption? Oh well, only two of those are horror movies, but oh well...

I'm gonna cut right to the chase. This movie is not horrible. If you thought the previous ones were funny, you're gonna think this one is funny. In fact, I find Scary Movie V to be one of the funnier movies in the series. That may be because I've seen most of the movies parodied in this one, as opposed to the other ones where there's only a couple parodies per movie I actually get.

Anyways, back to the point: Everyone seems to hate this movie, and I say: What do you except? Do you really want a clever comedy with smart humor and jokes that you are gonna remember your whole life? No. The Scary Movies are stupid. Some of the stupidest movies ever, but that doesn't matter, because they know it. They don't try to make it good, they're just making another Scary Movie.

I think a lot of people have forgotten to have mindless fun with comedies. Everyone expects a comedy to be memorable these days. Yes, this movie's not the most fun you'll have in the theater, but it is a fun movie to watch with friends none-the-less.

Again, if you like the other Scary Movies, there's no reason not to watch this one: It's pretty much a modern take on the same formula that's been going on for 13 years now. It's good for what it is.

Man of Steel is the reboot of the movie saga that started out with Superman: The Movie in 1978 and ended with Superman Returns in 2006. It tells the classic story of how Superman is transported to Earth, and how the planet is invaded by a villain called General Zod. Yeah, we all know the story by now, so let's just move on.

I was not really looking forward to this movie. First off, DC Comics aren't really my favorite. I have liked the Superman movies in the past (except for Superman IV), but they've never really stood out. Another reason I was skeptical was because it is produced and written by Christopher Nolan, the creator of the Dark Knight trilogy. I was afraid he would turn the comical and family-friendly Superman into a dark and realistic character that wouldn't feel right.

Man of Steel is a silly movie. It's pretty entertaining, but it's overall a stupid adaptation of the Superman name. They try to make us take the character of Superman seriously, and it doesn't work. When will they ever make Superman the comedic guy that he was in the past?

This movie looks great, and the action scenes are some of the most spectacular I've seen in a while. But especially towards the end, it all becomes a bit too much. Even then, the CGI is great and the soundtrack is also pretty good.

The movie starts off very promising, but eventually just develops into your everyday typical big-budget action movie. A lot of the characters are underdeveloped, and the only ones I really cared for were the relationship between Superman and his human parents.

Another big flaw is how seriously the movie takes itself. It works for the first half hour or so, but when Superman puts on his suit ... oh man, that made me laugh. It just looks so silly and out of place. I was just thinking: "What is Superman doing in this film?"

Overall, Man of Steel is a pretty cool movie. However, if you enjoy the comedic Superman movies of the past, not to mention those hilarious classic cartoons, you'll probably be disappointed. The movie looks great, the acting is good, and the action scenes are spectacular. But the movie is really long and you don't care for the characters nor the story. Why does everything have to be dark and serious these days?

After Earth is the new M. Night Shyamalan movie. It stars Will Smith, along with his son Jaden Smith. It's about how a father and his son are stranded on post-apocalyptic Earth. The father is injured, so the son has to send a distress signal by way of a beacon a few miles from their area. While being guided by his father's voice, the son has to overcome the forces of nature in order to save himself and his dad.

I'm a huge fan of the movies M. Night Shyamalan did in the late 90s and early 2000s. Movies like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs are amongst some of my favorite sci-fi films that inspired me to make films of my own. But after Signs, his movies went downhill. I remember seeing one of his more recent movies, The Last Airbender, and it was pretty bad, and nothing like the classic Shyamalan movies. But After Earth looked pretty promising. Not only because it stars Will Smith, who did a great job in I Am Legend which is a movie with a similar premise, and because I just generally liked the idea.

After Earth is definitely disappointing, however it is by no means terrible or even that bad. It's just stupid and unfulfilling. The first part is hilariously terrible, but when the main characters get to Earth, the movie picks up and actually becomes pretty interesting. What's most disappointing, however, is the lack of Will Smith. Most of the movie is spent with Jaden Smith, and while he's not necessarily bad, I don't think it was that fitting to give him the entire leading role. But whatever.

The movie is pretty suspenseful, and the acting isn't too bad. The special effects are fine, but the cinematography can be bad at times. Sometimes the music doesn't fit with the scenes, and that's a huge problem in a movie that relies on immersing you into the world.

After Earth is an entertaining movie, but still disappointing. I feel that Shyamalan just doesn't know how to handle a blockbuster movie with a high budget. I wish he'd go back to making smaller sci-fi movies like he did with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs. Though it's better than his other recent movies, so there's still hope...

The Hangover Part III is the "conclusion" to the Hangover trilogy. Well, let me tell you something: If it's marketed as a conclusion and you even give it the tag-line "the end", then why don't you end it?!

The story is that Doug is held hostage by a fat guy played by John Goodman. So the rest of the Wolfpack have to bring him Chow in order to save their friend. But it all turns into a tug- of-war with the Wolfpack between John Goodman and Chow.

I was looking forward to The Hangover Part III, mainly because I surprisingly enjoyed The Hangover Part II. I don't know, I guess I have a thing for repeated formulas. Another reason I was looking forward to this movie was because the tag-line said "the end", and the commercials even stated "the epic conclusion to the Hangover trilogy". I always like when series end, because I always look for satisfying conclusions. Hell, Toy Story 3 is one of my favorite movies. I have at thing for conclusions.

However, The Hangover Part III is nothing of what I expected. I hoped it would end. It doesn't. There is no conclusion in this movie. And don't worry, this is not spoiling anything. This is just a fair warning for those whose expectations are high. This is by no means an epic conclusion to the saga, leaving you satisfied thinking "man, we had a great run".

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the good stuff. First off, Hangover Part III is pretty funny. However, it is not as funny as the previous movies because of two reasons: One is that there is no hangover in the movie. Two is that it's more of an action thriller rather than a comedy. Now don't worry, it's still pretty funny. But it's more like those buddy cop movies where there's an equal amount of action and comedy. The best example I can think of is Beverly Hills Cop.

However the biggest problem with The Hangover Part III is that it's just so incredibly bland and uninteresting. It doesn't leave you with any thoughts about it really, other than that it was a huge missed opportunity.

There is a pretty touching scene during the last half of the movie, but I won't say anything about it, other than it was probably the only time it lived up to the name "the epic conclusion of the Hangover trilogy". It took the series in a nice full circle, but nothing significant or anything. It doesn't qualify either way.

Overall, The Hangover Part III is a fun movie to watch if you don't have anything else to do. I mean, it's still a funny movie to watch with friends. But it's by no means the best comedy of the year so far, and you probably won't be satisfied with it.

Star Trek: Into Darkness is the sequel to the overrated Stark Trek reboot from 2009. It's about how the Enterprise is sent on a mission to kill a terrorist who's been causing havoc in the city of London.

To be honest, I wasn't even planning on seeing this movie in theaters. But the critics praised it, calling it the best movie of the year so far. Skeptical as I was, I still gave it a chance.

Before I start rambling about Into Darkness, let's talk about the previous film. The previous film was a good movie with some likable characters and a good set-up. What it lacked, however, was a compelling story and an interesting villain.

Is Star Trek: Into Darkness an improvement over the original? Hell yeah it is! This is hands down the best movie of the year so far! I was worried it'd be the same as The Dark Knight craze; fanboys blinded by the overly serious plot, but Star Trek: Into Darkness has enough humor to make it fun and enough drama to make you care about the characters.

The writing in this movie is ten times better than the original. It's a lot faster-paced than the first movie, and the plot is actually interesting. On the surface, it's a very simple good vs. evil plot. But it's the characters that make this movie truly interesting. There's a lot more energy here than there was in the previous movie, and that makes the whole thing much more entertaining.

Probably the biggest improvement from the first movie is the villain. I won't spoil too much about this guy. All I'm gonna say is he is so good. Sometimes he's a bit too over-the-top, but the moral dilemma he brings up makes him a believable villain, and not just some bad guy who does bad things.

The main characters are much better this time around. Chris Pine as Kirk I've always liked, and he's just as good, if not better in this movie. Spock was a whiny and unlikable jerk in the first movie, but in this one he's a much better character who develops over-time. The rest of the characters have also seen improvements, and are all much more likable.

Overall, Star Trek: Into Darkness is a great movie. If you're a filmmaker looking for inspiration to make a sequel, this is one of the movies you should take notes from. I'm not necessarily calling it one of the best sequels ever, but I am calling it one of the most improved sequels ever. If you are a Star Trek fan, chances are you'll LOVE this movie to death. And even if you aren't one, like me, you'll still probably find it very enjoyable.

Iron Man 3 is the over-hyped side-sequel to The Avengers, a movie a lot of people really like, and the spiritual successor to Iron Man 2, a movie a lot of people DIDN'T like. I don't think I'm the only who saw Iron Man as the one who stole the show in The Avengers. Sure Hulk had his moments, but Iron Man really just took everyone by surprise. And that's really the main reason I was looking so much forward to Iron Man 3. I like the two first movies, but I think they're a little bit overrated (at least the first one).

In this movie, the United States is threatened by a viral terrorist called the Mandarin. So Iron Man and War Machine (who has now been renamed Iron Patriot) go on a quest to find out who this Mandarin guy really is. That's all I'm gonna say.

I actually enjoyed the story in this movie a lot more than I did with the other films. The Mandarin, who at first just seems like a clone of Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, actually develops into a very different kind of villain. It's actually pretty original. I also found myself more engrossed in Tony Stark's character.

I wish the story would focus more on the teamwork between Iron Man and Iron Patriot. If there's one thing that make superhero movies great but aren't fully realized in movies, it's teamwork. Movies like Spider-Man 3 and The Avengers utilize teamwork greatly, but those are just two movies. Iron Man and Iron Patriot are mostly separated throughout the movie, communicating wirelessly.

The action scenes are terrific. Especially the last one, which is a lot of fun to watch and very well thought out.

The main reason this movie is disappointing, though, is because as a follow-up to The Avengers, it fails miserably. Of course, it's not really meant to be, but we all know it's part of the Avengers saga, and that makes it kind of underwhelming in comparison. I don't think any movie will able to top The Avengers until the true sequel comes out in 2015.

Overall Iron Man 3 is a bit disappointing, but in the end I didn't really expect it to be as good as The Avengers. It's not the best Iron Man movie, but it is the best superhero movie released since The Amazing Spider-Man (which is not really saying much when you think about it).

Birdemic 2: The Resurrection is the highly anticipated sequel to the phenomenon that is Birdemic: Shock and Terror. That movie redefined bad movies, and it was amazing. It was even able to put itself up against The Room. Now that's talent!

This sequel is supposed to mock the first movie's unintentionally hilarious mistakes by doing them again in a more parodic fashion. Does this work. Well, yes and no. It works because it's still funny as hell, but it doesn't show that they actually KNOW what they're doing. It's just a little nit-pick though. If you loved watching the first movie, you'll like this too.

This movie isn't as funny as its predecessor, but it contains some really good references for hardcore James Nguyen fans, and the returning cast is awesome!

James Nguyen also somehow makes a window for himself in this movie. The character Bill is a movie director and is practically the main character of the film. He references James Nguyen's previous works as if they were his own, and I think that's really clever.

All your favorite characters return: Rod, Dr. Jones, the Tree Hugger, the Just Hanging Out-guy who sings at the bar; all of them return, and their roles are pretty much identical to the first film. We also got some new characters which aren't as strong because they're just not as memorable. Except Jessica the Cowgirl. She was a good character ... for other reasons.

The plot and structure are mostly the same. Just like the first film, the majority of it centers around a love story. And the rest is just the main characters driving aimlessly around Hollywood trying to avoid the birds.

The special effects are atrocious, but they're an improvement over the first movie. In this one, the birds split in half. WOW!

But overall, Birdemic 2: The Resurrection isn't necessarily the best tribute to the first one, but it is a good copy-paste sequel that can best be described as the Hangover Part II of indie movies. See it if you liked the first movie. And no, I did not see this in theaters, I bought it digitally online. Yes, it's out right now for everyone to buy!

Oblivion is about a post-apocalyptic world. The plot is that aliens attacked Earth, so the humans used nuclear weapons to defeat them, resulting in their world becoming mostly inhabitable. So the majority of humans have migrated to Titan, and the character played by Tom Cruise lives on Earth just to do his job on managing robot-thingies. It's a little bit hard to explain, but I'm telling you the set-up is really good.

So while the set-up is good, the actual story just becomes too confusing and uninteresting towards the end. Morgan Freeman may be in it, but ... meh.

The special effects are pretty damn nice to look at. At least most of the time. The futuristic machinery looks brilliant, but the less pretty stuff is ... well, less pretty.

The score is also pretty good. It kind of reminded me of a related movie ... TRON Legacy! Which by the way is one of my favorite special effect movies.

There isn't really a whole lot to talk about when it comes to Oblivion. It's really forgettable and there's nothing truly fantastic about it. The set-up and special effects are worth it if you're a huge sci-fi nerd like me, but the rest of the movie is ... pretty boring. It's not bad, in fact it's actually pretty enjoyable at times, it's just ... not anything special. Even if you're looking for just pure entertainment and action, I say the majority of movies this year with the same goal did it better.

I've always liked DreamWorks Animation. They've made some classics like Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, and a couple of their movies can even be looked at being as great as Pixar (in my opinion, Kung Fu Panda 2 and How to Train Your Dragon are about as great as a lot of Pixar's movies).

They're normally the first CGI animation company to produce a movie each year, and this year is no exception. This is The Croods. When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I thought it didn't look like a DreamWorks film. It looked like something from Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. In other words, not very appealing. But let's see how this was.

The Croods is about a prehistoric family who's routine is to stay in a cave to survive predators, occasionally going outside looking for food. The family's daughter, however, wants to explore the outside world. One day, a giant earthquake ruins the family's cave, and they have to go out looking for a new one in an undiscovered world, together with a lonesome adventurer called Guy. That's as far as I'll go into the story.

The Croods is actually much better than I expected. It isn't great, but it's at the peek of being really good. The major downsides are two things: The character models and the story. Let's first talk about the character models: They look like they were made for a cheap TV animated movie, but then later put into a DreamWorks film and given some better textures. The animation itself is as brilliant as DreamWorks movies usually are, but the character models just don't fit with the rest of the movie. At the very least, they don't fit in with DreamWorks' other movies.

The story isn't special, but it isn't bad either. But my problem is the ending. I won't spoil anything, but there's a point in the movie where I think they should've just ended it, but then they had to keep going because they needed to make it a fully happy ending. It completely ruined the symbol of the characters, and the dramatic elements present where fully botched.

On a good note, The Croods can be hilarious. It has a more CROOD humor (see what I did there), and I found it a nice change from your typical family animated movies. The characters are also entertaining, with a couple exceptions like Thunk and Sandy, who even though their a part of the family, serve no true point to the story.

Overall, The Croods is a very entertaining movie. There is some lost potential in the writing and the character models are ugly, but the rest of the movie is pretty top-notch. It's not up there with DreamWork's best works, but it's still pretty good. My only worry about this movie is that it doesn't seem like this is just filler for a greater DreamWorks movie to come later this year, like Madagascar 3 was last year. Because the next DreamWorks movie is called Turbo, and it looks like a bland rip-off of Cars with snails. And after that, we get Mr. Peabody & Sherman, who I don't see how they need a feature film. All in all, 2013 won't be a great year for DreamWorks, I'm pretty sure of that. But we'll see.

The Last Stand is the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger in a starring role. It's about how Arnold's little town is the last stand for a criminal about to cross a border, and he's not gonna let that crook get away.

I liked this movie. It's like The Expendables 2, but with more emphasis on Arnold. And that's a great thing.

The story is not that interesting. I must admit that the first act does contain some decent drama scenes, but it's overall a bit too serious for my taste. But the last act redeems the movie.

As you'd expect, Arnold makes fun of himself ... a lot. But the movie's humor doesn't just rely on Arnold referencing his older movies. Not only does he come up with new one-liners, he also has a pretty funny supporting cast to fight alongside him, the funniest of the bunch being Johnny Knoxville.

Knoxville is amazing in this movie. Not only does he have the most over-the-top weapons that bring in some of the movie's biggest laughs, but some scenes with him are actually references to the Jackass series, which is what he's most known for. And I wasn't expecting that.

The villains are forgettable, and the story takes itself a bit too seriously at times, but the main characters are mostly the strong point. My biggest problem with the movie is the focus on building up the plot. The plot isn't interesting anyway, and it would've been better if they just simply explained it with a quick opening sequence, and then just left the entire movie to Arnold and the gang.

If you're a big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger, you'll enjoy yourself when watching this, especially during the last half hour of the film. In my opinion, it's better than The Expendables 2, and I can't wait for Arnold's upcoming collaboration with Sly in The Tomb. I wouldn't say The Last Stand is a great movie, because the first hour or so is a bit too over- dramatic, but when Arnold enters the battlefield, it's awesome.

Wreck-It Ralph is the latest Disney movie, but after watching it, the last thing you'll think about afterwards is "Disney". It takes place in an arcade, featuring many classic arcade games such as Pac-Man, Street Fighter II, Space Invaders, Frogger, Sonic the Fighters, TRON, Mortal Kombat and many, many more. But I digress.

The movie centers around a video game villain called Wreck-It Ralph. He's celebrating his game's 30th anniversary, and during the celebration, he starts to realize just how unappreciated he really is. He is overshadowed by the hero of his game, Fix-It Felix. So he goes on a quest to earn some respect and show that he can be good.

This movie was my most anticipated movie of 2012. I love animated movies, and I love video games. Video games are an important part of my everyday-life. And I know a lot about retro games and arcade games, so this movie was really awesome for me.

I'm gonna try not to go all gamer-gasm here, because this is after all a place for movies. But let's just get this out of the way: The video game references are amazing. They're just so hilarious and they're more obvious than in something like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. This is by far one of the best animated movies of all time, and as weird as it may sound, the video game cameos and references are a huge part of that. It would've been cool to see the game references a bit more spread-out, because the movie goes all out in the beginning with reference after reference and cameo after cameo, but then becomes more of its own movie. I wish the references would spread more out and cover more than just the opening sequence. But it still makes for an overwhelmingly awesome first part.

The story is a bit on the weaker side. But the character development makes up for the movie's simple story. A lot of it centers around one side-character that at first comes off as a bit annoying, but after a while becomes more likable. The main character is also really fun to watch, and the villain, who starts off as terribly dumb and annoying, actually ends up being quite evil.

The movie centers around three different made-up arcade games: "Fix-It Felix Jr.", "Hero's Duty" and "Sugar Rush". All three of these games contain very different art styles, and the movie would have for example characters from Hero's Duty and Fix-It Felix Jr. visit Sugar Rush, a game where none of them fit in. And this especially showed in the last part.

I like how symbolic the made-up arcade games are. I didn't notice it while watching the movie, but it seems that Fix-It Felix Jr. represents the "retro gamers", Hero's Duty represents the "hardcore gamers", and Sugar Rush represents the "casual gamers". I really thought that was a nice touch.

The animation is outstanding. Not only are the video game characters animated perfectly and they really fit the movie and setting, and it's just all fun to watch them on-screen. The 3D is nothing special, but it never gave me eye-strains, nor did it distract from the movie, so kudos to Disney for not ruining the movie with 3D.

Overall, Wreck-It Ralph is an awesome movie. Too bad it came out so late here in Norway, 'cause if it came out before January, I would've definitely put it on the number 1 spot on my top 10 movies of 2012 list on YouTube. Not only are the cameos and references amazing, but the movie itself is really entertaining and great. Some pacing issues during the middle, but mostly just greatness all around.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is about how the two famous orphans become witch hunters after killing the witch that took them as hostages.

I've been looking forward to this movie for two reasons: 1 was that it looked like what I wanted in an action comedy, and not just the normal boring Hollywood trash that we usually get with action movies. And 2 was that it was written and directed by the Norwegian guy who made Kill Buljo: The Movie and Dead Snow, Tommy Wirkola.

The movie starts off promising and much of what I wanted from it is actually present in the first 20 minutes or so. It's just over-the-top mindless comedy action with overly tough bounty hunters that just own everyone on screen. And then it becomes more of what Hollywood likes.

After the 20 first minutes, the characters apparently develop, and they try to make it a bit more serious. No thanks, I just want mindless comedy action for this one right.

You know, if I were to direct an action movie, I would've made it over-the-top to the point of insanity. Not make any sense at all, just being hilarious as ****. But in the end, we get a piece of what could've been.

It seems like Wirkola was trying to make an action movie that was like the one I described, which shows with the 20 first minutes, but then ran out of silly ideas and started relying on Hollywood clichés. Either that, or the producers demanded him to make it more of a standard movie.

Overall, it's fun, but nothing special. Maybe Kill Buljo 2 will be better.

Gangster Squad is about a group of policemen who figure they have to break the law in order to stop the dominating mafia of Los Angeles.

I wasn't really planning on seeing this movie, but some friends of mine were, there was no school that day and I had nothing else to do. So I came in with low expectations, seeing as how I'm not a big fan of gangster movies.

Gangster Squad is OK. It's not really good, it's not really bad, it's average. Josh Brolin from Men in Black 3 does an alright job as the main character. There are also a couple other interesting characters, such as the old guy with the constant perfect shots.

The movie is extremely cliché. You know those typical scenes in today's Hollywood action films, where are couple characters are sitting quietly in a restaurant, and then suddenly one of them starts threatening the other or beat them up. This happened multiple times during the movie.

The villain is pretty cool. When he gets angry, you know it's because he died in Minecraft while carrying 10 valuable diamond blocks. OK, I'm just kidding.

This movie is pretty stupid. If it's based on a true story, why doesn't take itself seriously. It's like if James Cameron made Titanic a comedy.

Overall, Gangster Squad is nothing special. If you're like me and only like action scenes if they're either done with good choreography or good suspense, you'll get pretty darn bored with this movie.

Life of Pi is about a boy who survives a ship wreck and gets stranded in the middle of the pacific ocean with a tiger. Enough said, I guess.

I didn't have any expectations for Life of Pi. I thought it looked cool, but I didn't expect to love it this much. I really dig this movie, almost every second of it. It's got a very original story, great character development and you never get bored.

The special effects and scenery are amazing. It all looks extremely sharp and beautiful. The 3D is also amazing. The 3D is not only not distracting, but also innovative.

The movie is also pretty epic, and there are many elements that keep you entertained. I was never bored during this movie, even if my neck hurt.

The only minor issue I have with the movie is that when the build up and character development is mostly done, the movie isn't as strong. It's still great overall.

This movie is very, very good, and I highly recommend it to anyone.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the extremely highly anticipated prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is the first part of the story of Bilbo "the Dildo" Baggins, and how he helped the dwarfs reclaim their city from the dragon Smaug.

I do like the original trilogy. I think it's a well put together series of films that can sometimes be really epic. So I was looking forward to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Now did it live up to my expectations. No. It disappointed me. A lot.

The movie feels extremely drawn out. I kept thinking the entire time for almost every single scene in this movie that "this scene could've been shortened by many minutes". I mean, let's think about it: It's a children's book only with around 300 pages, and it's being adapted into three movies that last about 3 hours each! And for that reason, The Hobbit's length feels so forced. It seems like the entire movie could've been done in an hour or even just 30 minutes. The dialogue just seems to have been stretched so far. I'm betting the writers were extremely bored with writing this movie, because it's all so dull.

On the good side of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the special effects are absolutely incredible! The sets, locations, characters and action scenes look so good! The movie also does a good job on recreating a lot of the same elements from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

And the best scene in the movie is the one with Gollum. That was great.

I saw the movie with 48fps, and I gotta say that I'd really like it if 48fps replaced 3D as a visual gimmick in the theaters. Because it makes the movie more immersive and the action scenes more fun to watch. The 3D is also good, but nothing special.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is disappointing. It's way too long compared to the story it's telling (which also isn't very interesting to begin with), most of the characters are forgettable and while the visuals are good, the CGI characters go a bit overboard. I mean, the Orcs in The Lord of the Rings looked way better than the ones in this. But the visuals and nostalgia factors make the movie tolerable. Overall, it's OK.

Rise of the Guardians is about how the myths and legends that we've heard of when we were kids all live in a parallel dimension that bring joy, dreams and protection for the children of the world. And if those children believe in these so-called guardians, these legends can interact with that world and they will get stronger. So one day, the Boogeyman, finds a way to manipulate the guardians and make them lose their powers and the children's' belief in them. That's as far as I'll care to go I guess.

I've been really looking forward to this movie ever since last year. First it was called "The Guardians of Childhood". Then it was called just "The Guardians". And then it was eventually named "Rise of the Guardians". Anyway, the reason I was looking forward to this movie was because I liked the idea of taking these light-hearted characters we all knew and loved, and putting them in a more gritty and serious movie. Also, after watching the trailer, I started looking forward to the animation, especially. Ever since How to Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks have started to reach the level of Pixar in animation, so I was really looking forward to them making an action fantasy movie.

I really enjoyed this movie, most of the time. The movie starts out really great, but then the story starts going a bit downhill. But while the story gets worse and worse as the movie progresses, the animation and the world we're introduced to keep on impressing. It's really clever how they explain why the ones that don't believe in these guardians, don't see them, and so on.

I was a bit disappointed at how the action scenes weren't as long as I'd hoped for, and there was barely any scenes where all the guardians worked together in a battle. Also, the final battle was pretty pathetic. It's near the end of the movie where the movie has become so light-hearted that it doesn't do any of those awesome action scenes with spectacular effects and great character movement, and instead pulls of a typical kids movie slapstick battle with lots of kids humor and stuff. That was really disappointing.

But don't get the wrong idea, this movie was very good. The animation, the characters and the landscapes were all animated beautifully.

The movie also had a lot of heart to it. At some points, it felt a bit too light-hearted, and I sometimes wished it would go back to the dark and more serious tone that was found in the first act.

The characters were very interesting, and the main character was well-developed. But some of the characters were a bit underdeveloped, and the kids could sometimes get on my nerves. Both in the movie, and the theater.

The 3D was great. I'm not a big fan of 3D. I usually go out of a 3D movie saying "I'll never see a 3D movie again, most likely". Do you remember that The Avengers was in 3D? No, I don't either, but my ticket says so. But I'll most likely remember this movie's 3D, and this is also the best 3D movie of the year ... at least so far. Go see it.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 is the fifth and last installment in the Twilight franchise. Bella's become a vampire, she has a daughter that for some reason everyone thinks is immortal without getting proof, so Bella, Edward, Jacob and the entire vampire family gather all their relatives for a big, epic ... formal confrontation...? Yeah, I'm serious! Sure, without spoiling anything, the trailer shows that it ends up as a final battle, but they originally intend it to be a formal confrontation... Ummm... I digress.

This movie was good. And I'm not saying it's more intelligent than any of the previous movies. This is a dumb movie, and it's one of the dumbest in the series. But that's part of what makes it so entertaining at times.

Whether intentional or unintentional, I enjoyed the humor in the movie. I laughed so many times at the terrible lines that were so easy to put in a sexual context, and there is even a small sub-plot about Jacob being ... IN LOVE WITH BELLA'S DAUGHTER!

The action scene at the end was actually really cool, but the weird thing was that every characters that died were killed by having their head ripped off.

The biggest annoyance with this movie are the special effects. They're terrible for a big budget movie. And the worst part is that Bella's daughter is CGI even a while AFTER growing up from being a baby! That's just disturbing! She just looks so artificial, and there's NO true character development on her!

Overall, you'll probably love this movie if you're a serious fan. But if you're a fan of the movies because they're so stupid, you'll like this too. This is the dumbest and funniest movie in the franchise. And I thought Snow White & the Huntsman was hilarious.

Paranormal Activity 4 is the first true sequel in the Paranormal Activity franchise. All the other "sequels" have been prequels. It's about this family who has this small kid in the neighborhood who's mother's gone to the hospital. So he stays at this family's house. The family's daughter and her boyfriend start sensing weird things going on in the house, so they start an investigation by setting up web-cameras to watch over the house.

I was looking forward to this movie, basically because the first three movies were fun times. Even the second one was fun ... until it got boring. Basically, the thing about these movies is that they're different from other horror movies; they're different from other found footage movies even. They're also creepy as hell. The first Paranormal Activity is one of the creepiest movies I've ever seen, the second is much less scarier because it was a family and not a couple and the third one just shoved all this suspense in your face that it was almost unbearable at times.

With Paranormal Activity 4, it goes back a notch with the suspense from the previous movie, and makes it more like Paranormal Activity 2. On paper that sound like a bad thing, but this movie is better than 2. First of all because of the creative use of Microsoft Kinect. That was cool, and made for the creepiest images in the film. Also the main characters are two teenagers which were both really likable, especially the guy; he was awesome. And I could relate to these characters more than I could with any of the previous characters in the first three movies.

Paranormal Activity 4 is definitely a flawed movie though. While it is a fun time, it goes downhill towards the last 30 minutes. What's supposed to be the suspenseful climax turns into the most boring part of the movie. The ending is fast-paced and a little creepy, but not in the way that these movies should be. It was more action-packed than scary. But this was also a problem the two previous movies had. They had a good or even great set-up, but the last 30 minutes or so were either boring or so in-your-face that it became more like an action movie and less like horror. In the case of Paranormal Activity 2 and 3, both those movies were so in-your-face towards the end that it was almost laughable.

Speaking of laughable (but in the good way), Paranormal Activity 4 is really funny. It has some hilarious lines and it is really self-aware, which is good because when you've come as far as a fourth movie, it's hard to take it seriously.

Paranormal Activity 4 is overall a pretty fun time. Although the climax is boring and the lack of poltergeist scenes is disappointing, it has great main characters and some creative scares ... while still having a lot of dumb jump scares. Go see it if you're a fan.

Battleship is based on the classic board game of the same name. It's about this guy who joins the navy and finds himself in charge of a battle against aliens from the Gliese system.

In all my life, I never thought I would see a movie where the aliens come from Gliese, a solar system containing a couple planets that may be habitable for humans. But out of all alien invasion movies, it was one based on a board game that did it first ... at least I think so.

Battleship is a fun movie. It's got some good characters, great sci-fi aspects and some awesome action scenes. The movie takes a giant breather after a couple big battles, but even then the sci-fi and mystery elements of it keeps the viewer entertained ... even though it still has nothing to do with the board game, besides a battle scene containing a few references.

The movie has some extremely funny moments. The comedy in the movie is great. It's not just a generic action flick. It's actually pretty damn good in many aspects.

Battleship is not a perfect movie. Even though it's not terrible, the breather from the epic action is noticeable and a bit disappointing. It makes the movie a bit boring. Another little thing is that having Rihanna in the film feels kind of out of place and is a little distracting. Like, what is Rihanna doing there? It's not like she's an important character to the story or anything, she's just there as a commercial tool. It just kind of annoyed me.

Even with that big flaw, it's still a very entertaining and fun movie. Worth a watch, especially if you like sci-fi and Transformers ... and Rihanna.

Tina & Bettina: The Movie is based on a mini-series on norwegian TV of the same name (minus "the movie"). It's about these two girl bloggers and their life in school. It's all going fine and dandy for them; they're the leaders of the school, but one day a new girl enters the place. Let's just say it becomes total chaos.

This movie is incredibly underrated. I mean, it's amazing how much people dislike this movie. I haven't read one good review of this film. But honestly, it's not bad.

I'm not gonna go into much detail. Let's just say that if you're at my age (13 - 15 years old), and are a fan of the show, you will probably enjoy this.

The jokes are mostly solid, although the climax of the film gets dull after a while. And this is just a personal thing, but none of the characters are "likable" in that sense. They're just assholes, all of them. Well, not ALL of them, but like 80% of them. But they're still funny.

Tina & Bettina: The Movie is definitely not the best comedy of the year, but it's still pretty good. You should give it a chance if you're curious.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is about Abe's past adventures as a vampire hunter. After he becomes president and the civil war has begun, his past starts haunting him which forces him to become what he once was, a true slayer of vampires!

I was a bit skeptical about this movie, mainly due to how Chris Stuckmann (the movie reviewer that I follow the most) criticized it for being too serious. I don't like movies that are dumb because they take themselves too seriously. Like the Dark Knight trilogy (not that they are necessarily bad, they're just dumb). But once I actually got to see the movie, I was pleasantly surprised. This movie is great!

The problem Mr. Stuckmann had with the movie was that he thought it was way too serious for its concept. And to that I say, this movie is supposed to be unintentionally funny (if that makes any sense). The actual movie is incredibly serious, but the concept is so silly that you can't possibly take it seriously. That's why this movie is so great!

Another thing that I LOVED about this movie was the action! The action scenes are filled with epic slow-motion sequences and incredible choreography! And that one part where Abe turns his axe into a shotgun...! That was freaking unbelievable!

The movie also has some great characters. I liked the friends Abe met in his past, that would help him in the civil war later. The development on them was really good.

So overall, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is great, and probably one of the biggest surprises of the year.