Epic (2013)

Some of you will remember that I had posted this up a week or two ago.  The first movie to won out in that first night was Epic so here we are with it as the first review. I’ve been on a huge animation thing and been watching a few of them here and there and totally loving it.  I’ve heard some pretty decent reviews on Epic so I remained hopeful even though I didn’t really know anything about it.

Epic (2013)

Director: Chris Wedge

Voice Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Beyonce, Pitbull, Chris O’Dowd, Aziz Ansari

EPIC tells the story of an ongoing battle between the forces of good, who keep the natural world alive, and the forces of evil, who wish to destroy it. When a teenage girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she teams up with an elite band of warriors and a crew of comical, larger-than-life figures, to save their world…and ours. — (C) Fox (Rotten Tomatoes)

 I love animations.  How animated films have developed nowadays is amazing.  There is so much that’s improved and changed for the better and everything makes it even better.  Just watch a Bluray version of a older animated movie (like a Disney classic) and think about the quality of what it was before.  everything stands out more. Epic is kind of similar to Arthur’s and the Minimoys meets Avatar in animated world in many ways, or at least it reminds me a little of that.  What truly captures the eye is the vibrant colors they use the brighten up the screen.  I read that this was 3D when it was released.  My guess it that in 3D the fun would have been even more effective.  Still, Epic is a rather fun adventure.  a little predictable at times but the dynamic characters make up for it. I’m a sucker for animations like this because I always love how movies utitlize the environment around them to their potential and add that little bit extra imagination and creativity to it.

The voice cast here is pretty good.  Amanda Seyfried plays MK, our main heroine that enters into a new world that she had doubted and is asked to take on a task that determines the life and death of the light.  In this world, she meets some characters like the serious and dutiful warrior Ronin voiced by Colin Farrell or the comedic/silly slug duo, Grub and Mub, voiced respectively by Chris O’Dowd and Aziz Ansari.  I haven’t known anything about Aziz Ansari before this because I went to search up some of this comedy shows and what not afterwards and its pretty good.  That means I had a good laugh.  Most of the time, I just stare at these stand-up comedians and ponder what is so funny.   Then you have the wise catepillar, Nim Galuu, who really is a little lost but so personable and is voiced by Steven Tyler.  These characters carry out a lot of really fun moments and give this movie some flair.

The main lead here is MK.  I’m not exactly sure about her character but she’s on this adventure and I can imagine that it would be pretty awesome.  To see everything from another angle is something that would be so impressive and for the most part, the character is done well.  Right next to her is the dude here, Nod voiced by Josh Hutcherson, who is a little bit of rebel in his world but still has a good heart.  He does things not totally by the rules and is a little reckless.  He’s a good guy character here who has all sorts of moments with MK.

Animations are generally pretty straight forward. There’s a simple story, a hero or heroine and they are on task to complete some mission against so evil villain.  What makes an animation effective is having a worthy villain.  The villain in Epic is called Mandrake (voiced by Christoph Waltz) and his little minions and tattletale toad (?) Bufo, voiced by Pitbull.  I watched this animation a week or two ago and I struggle to remember much about this villain.  Maybe thats why its not quite so memorable to me.  The character design is great. Just look at him.  I even remember Pitbull more than him…so yeah.

Overall, Epic is a visually colorful animation that captures the eye with its creative use of the environment in this new world they’ve created.  The story is simple (just as it should be) and funny with the help of the chemistry and personality of their characters.  The villain is not quite as memorable.  However, the shock of all this was the cast with names from the music world like Beyonce, Pitbull and Steven Tyler.  Epic is definitely worth a shot for some decent entertainment.

In Bruges (2008)

Earlier this month when I announced the beginning of this recommendations month, Mikey at Screenkicker suggested to see In Bruges.  Shortly after, Juck/Ddog at Gamerscene  second him. With two fellow bloggers dropping the same recommendation, it seemed inevitable that I had to check this out some time.  Luckily for me, Netflix added this movie a few days ago (YAY!). Here we are with my take on In Bruges.

Now, lets give some spotlight to the awesome Mikey at Screenkicker who always makes me laugh when he leaves me a comment and who will be hosting his Olympics blogathon soon (which I participated in). You should definitely head over, follow him and prepare to check that out while checking out his other reviews as well.

Juck/Ddog at Gamerscene is an extremely versatile blogger who reviews music, movies, video games.  Aside from that, he has some pretty fun segments that he does once in a while.  Plus, he has an unique rating system called The Meat Scale.  You will have to head over to learn more about that 🙂

Now that we’re all ready.  Lets check out In Bruges!

Director: Martin McDonagh

Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clemence Poesy, Jordan Prentice

New hitman Ray (Colin Farrell) and experienced hitman Ken (Brendan Gleeson) have just completed a job and due to certain missteps, they are sent by their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) to Bruges to hide out.  In Bruges, Ray ponders his life and deals with the guilt while Ken develops an appreciation for the deep artistic touch surrounding him.  However, when Harry asks him to kill Ray because of Ray’s mistake, he is torn between what to do, forcing Harry to also go to Bruges to settle the situation.

I’m not exactly sure where to categorize In Bruges but I’m saying its in the dark comedy area.  I like dark a lot and I like English comedy and I believe this is pretty much in that area.  I like the cast here, especially Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell.  Pretty much what I’m saying is that I liked In Bruges.  Did I love it? Not really, probably not as much as Mikey and Juck does.  I’m not a person that particularly enjoys a lot of vulgar language and this one says “Fuck” a lot.  I mean, A LOT! For the most part, I didn’t mind it so much.  It was really the first 30 minutes felt like I had watched the movie for an hour.  Then it picks up and it feels a lot better.

One of my favorite elements of In Bruges is the music.  It has THE best movie sountrack ever.  The background music really gives it a good mood and atmosphere.  The scenery was fantastic.  I’m not exactly sure what Bruges looks like but hey, if it looks like that, count me in.  Its going on my bucket list. I’m not the expert at this real scene or not thing but fellow blog Tvor Travels does her segment on that once in a while, maybe she can set some light on that 😉 The architecture is amazing in this place, just totally captivating to watch.

We can’t get past this movie without mentioning the cast because it was done so well and one of the reasons that I enjoyed it.  The dialogue and the characters themselves made In Bruges really fun and entertaining to watch.  They were a bit complex as they learned a bit about themselves.  I haven’t actually enjoyed a role of Colin Farrell except back when I saw him in The Phonebooth.  It probably has to do with not really seeing much from him also.  I fell asleep partially (due to fatigue) during Seven Psychopaths so I can’t comment on that.  And then he did a bunch of other stuff like Pride & Glory (which was only okay), and Alexander (too long and I stopped watching it).  Either way, I really liked him and his character Ray.  I felt like he was a bit awkward in the beginning but he pulled all this really hilarious dialogue, you know, sarcastic and witty (and he wasn’t the only one). His characters gets pretty intriguing, I’d say.

The next actor I really like is Ralph Fiennes.  Does it sound weird that I like him? When my dad was still around, Ralph Fiennes was one of his favorite actors so I watched a lot of stuff with him. Honestly, its refreshing to see him NOT as Voldemort, no? Ralph Fiennes is a phenomenal actor and the moment he entered In Bruges, I was totally pulled into it even more than before.  It brought out that intense moments as well since essentially he is the boss and he wants Ray dead, plus he puts on the pressure.  There’s just something about Ralph Fiennes that makes his characters always slightly unpredictable. I just love him! 🙂  Moving on, we can’t go through this movie without talking about Brendan Gleeson.  He is the connection between Ralph Fienne’s Harry and Colin Farrell’s Ray. He is closer to both of them and he transforms in this town more than any of them. He brings some sentiments and desperation to the story also.  There’s something more about him and the change he undergoes while in Bruges.

Its a bit funny.  I think as I analyzed this movie in my mind while I wrote this, I ended up realizing that this was a pretty brilliant movie.  Dark comedy pack with some thrills, vulgar language, even bloodshed.  It had great cast that portrayed intriguing characters. Despite it being a tad slow in the first bit, it picks up rather quickly and as things get a bit out of control as we approach the end, it also makes this movie pretty awesome! 🙂

A huge thanks for my first double recommendation from Juck and Mikey! They are both awesome bloggers! Remember to visit and follow their blogs! 🙂

Have you seen In Bruges? What are your thoughts on Colin Farrell? What about Ralph Fiennes?