Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days - Movie Review

Directed by David Bowers
Screenplay by Wallace Wolodarsky and Maya Forbes, based on Dog Days and The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney.
Running Time: 94 minutes (1h, 34 mins.)
Rated PG (for some rude humor).
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Should I keep this short and sweet? Yeah, I should. 7 out of 10. Why? This is a better entry in this series, even though the screenwriters behind this don't know what story they want to settle on. Understandable, since two of the books were put together for this film.

Even as it veers towards stupidity (watch Devon Bostick do a punk rock rendition of Justin Bieber's Baby) and doesn't exactly deliver on the emotional moments, it does hit the sweet spot when it has to, making this third entry sort of onto the lengths of the first film and beats the second. So, as I said before...

Rating: 7/10

Step Up Revolution - Movie Review

Directed by Scott Speer
Written by Amanda Brody, based on characters created by Duane Adler.
Running Time: 100 minutes (1h, 40 mins.)
Rated PG-13 (for some suggestive dancing and language).
Distributor: Summit Entertainment

There are few dance movie franchises that have mangaged to survive on the big screen and not get put on a direct-to-DVD basis like Step Up. Sure, each entry improves on the dancing, but when it comes to everything else (you know, plot, dialogue, blah blah blah), not much is done. Hey, at least they make the bills. This fourth entry, strangely subtitled Revolution, isn't that much different.

I knew what I was getting into, despite being the only one I've seen fully on a big screen was the previous one, which was the first to be shot in the 3D format. That wasn't necessarily a good film, but it wasn't bad either. The first two I've seen when TBS plays them on a few Saturday afternoons, the time where nothing important or even watchable airs. I mean, come on. When you're spending $12 (3D price) for this kind of film, you're there for the main attraction, much in the same way you'd pay for another entry in a horror franchise like Saw or Friday the 13th. Here in the Step Up franchise, there's no inventive kills, but inventive dancing.

If I should even say inventive.

Each film has a guy and a girl wanting to dance for reasons that are range from obvious to just meh. The guy's part of a dance crew, the girl's just on her own, hoping to become a professional dancer. They meet, she joins, they dance and somewhere along the way, they fall in love. If you're new to the franchise, you're probably thinking that's it's cute. Ain't so, if you recycle that plot for four films in a row. Here, they move this plot to the sunny city of Miami, this crew called "The MOB", who set up very elaborate dance mobs to get 10 million hits on YouTube in order to receive the prize of $100,000.

While this very generic (for a movie, at least) plan is in motion, the crew's leader, Sean (Ryan Guzman) meets Emily (Kathryn McCormick), a gifted dancer who dreams of being a...you know where this is going. Her father (Peter Gallagher, whose no stranger to teen-based material) however is a real-estate tycoon who plans to build a large hotel in the neighbourhood their families and friends reside in. So, it's up to them to turn their performance art into protest art. Sooooo...no dance battles?

Yep. That's the one thing different. No reason to put this crew in various dance battles with another crew. Fine, but this new plot device ain't that good either and when you don't much of a good plot, you don't much of good performances. While few are decent (Gallagher and an appearance from Adam Sevani from the 2nd and 3rd film), most don't click mostly coming from Guzman and McCormick, the two leads. Let me put it this way: good dancers, bad actors. However, less of the blame goes to them as much as it goes to the script. It's the best one I've heard nor is it the worst, but there are many obvious moments that either close with a groan or a chuckle.

I mentioned before that the dancing is the main attraction of this series. Still is. It does have dance sequences that are undeniably impressive, three of which pop out in the 3D format, which somewhat is worth watching in.

I didn't mind Step Up Revolution. However, as impressive as the dance sequences are, the film isn't without its various faults. Generic plot, script and underwhelming acting plague the film and help solidify it as a franchise that doesn't seem willing to be creative when it comes to plot. Then again, who gives a f*** about plot in this? Yeah. That's what I thought.

Rating: 4.5/10

Total Recall - Movie Review

Directed by Len Wiseman
Screenplay by Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback, screenstory by Ronald Shusett & Dan O'Bannon and Jon Povill and Kurt Wimmer, inspired by the short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Phillip K. Dick.
Running Time: 118 minutes (1h, 58 mins.)
Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, some sexual content, brief nudity and language).
Distributor: Sony (Columbia Pictures)

Total Recall is one of those '90s films that can't be touched. Well, was of those '90s films that couldn't be touched. Believe me, I've seen it more than once. It was poorly adapted in a way for a long-forgotten television show and now comes this remake headed by the director who brought us the Underworld series. Might I tell you that this is the guy who doesn't yell "Action", but rather "GO!". So you know this is frenetic.

Frenetic in the way that it never slows down, somewhat unlike the original. While this is fine on some occasions, it gets a bit tiring since it doesn't have the time to really develop the characters like they should. Of course, the character the movie mainly focuses on Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), who's tired of the same old routine. Hey, who isn't? Obviously enticed by the ads that promote Rekall, a corporation that provides artificial memories of the life you want to live. Doug decides to give it a go. While getting hooked up to the chair, a Rekall representative finds that Doug is a secret agent (ironic since the memory that would have been implanted was the life of a secret agent). The dude finds himself on the run, the wife he thought he knew (Lori, played by Kate Beckinsale) isn't really his wife and ultimately joins forces with a rebel agent (Jessica Biel) to fight against the URB special forces, all as he tries to recover what's really in his head.

Now, I like the original (I've seen it enough times, however not enough to actually beat how many times I've popped in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World on my Blu-ray player), so I guess I could say I was a little worried about how it would turn out. Slightly better than I expected, but even with the breathtaking action set pieces and the visual eye candy (Beckinsale and Biel aside), I still hoped it would take a bit of its time to really develop things a bit further with character and depth. The actors do work as well as they can with the material given to them.

I liked Colin Farrell here. He was very believable in the role previously played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and even unlike the Schwarz himself, Farrell is more relatable since he looks like the ideal everyman instead of that guy with huge biceps. Beckinsale plays crazy well and Biel also acts well alongside Farrell and continues to prove she's the go-to girl for playing tough female roles. Bryan Cranston drops by in the film. Ever since Breaking Bad, he's been in everything now, as does John Cho. It felt like less of a big role and more of a cameo, unfortunately.

As much as I was expecting more depth (at least enough to fully care for what's going on), it wasn't surprising that there wasn't. Len Wiseman helmed this. This is the guy who created the Underworld series, a film series that, like other vampire/werewolf franchises like Twilight, you don't need a lot of brains for. He's also the main reason Kate Beckinsale's in this: she's married to him. You made a wise choice, Len. He, along with the screenwriters, do have some nods to the original film: the big lady and most notably, the three-breasted woman.

Overall, this Total Recall remake is passable. Like I said before, I wish it could have taken its time to really develop these characters, especially since the original film sort of did so, but that's probably asking a little too much. This works well as an action film. Not too much more.

Rating: 6.5/10

Trailerpalooza: 'Paranormal Activity 4' Trailer

God, I haven't done this in a while. Trailerpalooza returns, although shorter than most. I want to try and focus less on what's happening with the upcoming releases and actually review the upcoming releases, though I haven't done too much of that this year so far. Today, it's kind of hard to resist. One particular new trailer have been released through the magical wonder known as the internet today and I don't think I really have to say much about it, so let the trailer speak for itself.

Yeah, I know. Another one, but this time: Extra video chat! It's good that they're going to the (somewhat) present-time after they went back in time with the last film, but while it looks like the scares could be effective enough, it also looks like more of the same. And I'm not that big a fan of more of the same. Maybe I'll be wrong. At least Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (the guys behind Catfish and the guys who directed the last film) are back, so that's cool. The film hits theatres October 19th.