Pacific Rim Uprising is more of the same for fans of the franchise

Movie Title:    
  Pacific Rim Uprising

Grade:   C+

Rating: PG-13, 111 minutes

In a Nutshell:  If you liked the first Pacific Rim movie, this is more of the same, but even bigger, louder, and chaotic.

Tips for parents: 

• Some subtitles when people speak Mandarin.  By the way, have you noticed that more and more movies have Chinese characters in them?  That's because American movie studios are trying to get more of their movies into the extremely lucrative Chinese market.  In fact, this movie exists mainly because the first one in the franchise did so well in China.
• Some Russian profanity with subtitles.
• One of the Jaeger robots flips the bird.
• If your kids love the Transformers or even the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie movies, they’ll like the fighting robot action of this franchise too.
• Some profanity.
• Tons of destruction and fighting.

Uplifting theme: 

• “We make our own luck.” – Hologram
• Never give up.
• Family and friendships

                                    

Things I liked:

• Good special effects for the most part.
• I loved the respectful nod to Idris Alba’s character from the first Pacific Rim movie, as well as the funny line when Dr. Newton Gottlieb says, “Your father was a great speech writer.  Did you hear the one where he canceled the apocalypse?”   ha ha 
• I always appreciate some humor.
• The sound effects are really good.  You can hear the weight of the heavy footsteps of the various machines and monsters.
• I loved Tian Jing’s outfits, especially her long, white coat towards the beginning of the movie.
• I thought John Boyega did a great job and I loved his hair cut. 
• If you can, see it in 3D, but sit farther back in the theater.

Things I didn’t like:

• Some people may actually want to wear ear plugs while they watch this because it’s so loud.
• Super clichéd beginning where a teenage genius builds something incredible and races off with a covered face for the big reveal later.  In fact, the whole movie was super predictable.
• Jake Pentecost’s rotten attitude was annoying and tiring.
• Jake Pentecost and Amara Namani constantly bicker.  It’s supposed to be endearing, but it was just annoying.  Several times he yells, “Shut up!” which is a phrase I really dislike.
• If you haven’t seen the first movie, you might be a little bit lost in the story; however, there is a quick recap to bring you up to speed at the very beginning of the movie.
• The character development seems super contrived and cliche.
• It actually becomes boring watching robots fight each other and smash everything around them over and over and over.
• Yep, this movie leads into another sequel.  (sigh)
• I heard another movie critic explain that this movie felt way too corporate for his taste.  It's true.  Everything seems very calculated and researched to profit the most from cultural tastes.  For example, the two main pilots are Jake and Nate.  Those are the top two baby boy names in America.
• Robots often fight monsters, but when the rogue Jaegers fight the good Yaegers, it looks like just another Transformers movie.
• Guillermo del Toro was going to direct this movie, but he stepped away from it in order to direct The Shape of Water, which he ended up winning an Academy Award for as Best Picture in 2017.

Funny lines:

• “Stay focused and try not to fall over.” – Chinese guy
• “Speak in English.  Your Mandarin makes you sound like an idiot.” – Liwen Shao (Tian Jing)
• “In theory, what does that mean?” – Jake (John Boyega)

“Today, it means YES!” – Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman)

• “Well, THAT’S confusing.” – Jake after Cadet Jinhai kisses him and Nate Lambert
• “I can’t believe she just hologrammed me.” - Jake

  

                                            @trinaboice

Wish Upon makes you wish it were a better movie

Movie Title:  Wish UPON

Grade:  D

Rating: PG-13, 89 minutes

In a Nutshell:   Cliched and not very good, this horror movie would be fun to watch at a sleepover with a bunch of teenage girls while they make fun of it the entire time.  There are so many moments that are just laughable.

Uplifting theme: 

• Be careful what you wish for.
• The most meaningful life is one that is filled with service and love for others.

Things I liked:

• I interviewed some people who were coming out of the movie, before I saw it, and they said they thought it was really scary.  It’s not, but the audience I sat with seemed to really get a kick out of it and reacted quite vocally to jumps and scares and bad choices the actors on screen were making.
• Joey King does a pretty good job as Clare Shannon.  This is her 4th horror movie.
• I thought it was hilarious when Tyler (Alexander Nunez) fell asleep with his cell phone in his hand.  Such a teenager. Then, when Darcie wakes up, rotting in various parts of her body, he immediately starts taking pictures and posting them online.
• There’s a Pokemon Go app rip-off about demons that was kind of funny.
• I actually liked the surprise ending.
• Ki Hong Lee is such a likable guy in all his movies.

Things I didn’t like:

• It’s very similar to The Possession and seems like a total rip-off of previous books and movies you have seen.  Original it is not.  On IMDB, it says the film is loosely based on W.W. Jacobs' short story The Monkey's Paw.
• The romantic story in the film just didn’t work or seem the least bit believable to anyone in the audience.
• There was this really weird stock footage of a bunch of buildings in a city shot.  What the ??  Even the sound effects and musical score sounded like mostly stock music clips.
• There’s this really weird color correction that changes during scenes.  I’m not sure if it was intentionally placed in order to show Clare’s moods or just accidentally changed during editing.  ???
• The characters are all pretty one-dimensional.
• SPOILER:  There is a suicide in the movie, but they don’t spend any time exploring the emotions that could have provided some depth to a character arc.
• Some of the acting was really bad.
• I'm not sure it was a good marketing strategy to advertise that the same people who did Annabelle did this movie, because that film wasn't very good either.
• SPOILER: What about wishing for world peace? A cure for cancer?  End hunger?  All of Clare's wishes were extremely selfish.  Admittedly, some of my wishes would focus on myself, but I'd like to think I'd eventually start thinking of others!

  

Funny lines:

• “Apparently, karma is a bigger “B” than Darcie Chapman.” – Meredith McNeil        (Sydney Park)

Tips for parents: 

• Lots of crude language
• Portrayal of a suicide and discussion of others
• Someone flips the bird
• Lots of really rude people
• Bullying
• Lots of brutal deaths

MOVIE REVIEW MOM

@trinaboice 

The Great Wall opens in China first

Movie Title:  The Great Wall

Grade:  C+

Rating:  PG-13, 104 minutes

In a Nutshell:  China!  I went on a little speaking tour in China last summer and fell in love with the country, so it was fun to see bits of China again, even if a lot of it was through CGI.  

Still, there are some beautiful Chinese elements throughout the movie, including a lot of Mandarin, which is something I have been trying to learn for many months.

This visually stunning film was released in China first and features some of the biggest blockbuster actors in China.  Directed by Yimou Zhang, the film was made in China and cost the equivalent of $150 million dollars, the most money China has ever spent on a movie.  It’s only the second time an American-Chinese collaboration has created a feature film (the first one was Skiptrace, which I saw while I was in China).  Unfortunately, both movies fall short for most Americans.  Will it make a lot of money?  Absolutely…in China.  Not so much in the USA.

Here is a picture of me and my two sons when we were in China!

Uplifting theme: 

• “All we can do is prepare.” – Strategist Wang (Andy Lau)
• “Trust in each other in all ways and in all times.” – Commander Lin Mei (the beautiful Jing Tian)
• Honor, respect, trust.

Things I liked:

• I love Matt Daman in anything. 
• I love Willem Dafoe in anything, although he’s a mousy coward in this one.  In fact, he was super annoying and I wanted him to die.
• Beautiful, colorful costumes by Mayes Rubeo! 
• Gives new meaning to base jumping.
• Fun slow-mo shots.
• You get to see the monsters up close.
• I’ve always wanted to go to a Chinese lantern festival.  This scene in the film is so pretty.  Hopefully next summer I’ll see one when I go back to China!
• Lots of humor.
• It’s fun to see in 3D and on the big screen.  Visually, it’s impressive.
• The musical score was invigorating.

Things I didn’t like:

• A lot of the CGI and stunts look really good, but sometimes it’s pretty fake-looking.
• Jurassic Park meets China.
• The Chinese characters hold the moral high ground over the white guys in the movie.
• The characters are very one-dimensional who suffer from poor dialogue that doesn’t give us much back story or reason to care about them.  The story could have really benefited from time spent exploring the theme of honor, respect, and trust.
• The First Act was intriguing.  The Second Act was ok.  The 3^rd Act was extremely predictable and silly.
• There’s a lot of exposition.  don't TELL us everything. SHOW us.
• I asked one of my friends in China what he thought of the movie.  He said, “It sucked.”   

Interesting lines:

• “This is the first war I’ve seen worth fighting.” – William Garin (Matt Daman)
• “I am alive because I trust no one.” – William Garin

Funny lines:

• “I haven’t surrendered in a while.” – Pero Tovar (Pedro Pascal)

“It’ll come back to you.” – William Garin

• “Maybe they’ll hang us now.  I could use the rest.” – Pero Tovar
• “You smell like animals.” – (Willem Dafoe)

“Thank you.” – William

• “I didn’t sign up for this.” – Pero

‘Which part?”- William

“All of it….but mostly the monsters.” – Pero

• “We are honored to be honored.” – William

“Is that the best you’ve got?” – Pero

• “So, how’s life without me?” – William

“A little slow.” - Pero

Tips for parents:

• There are some scary monsters that might scare young children.