Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Review

Starring: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Johnny Knoxville, Tony Shalhoub, Whoopi Goldberg

 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is not a serious movie. Anyone can tell that from the ad campaign. But the great part of it not being serious is just that. Nobody ever promised that it would be. This movie is exactly what audiences were promised. The story follows April O'Neil (Fox), a young reporter who discovers four "ninja mutant turtle teenagers" acting as vigilantes against an organized crime ring in NYC. Raised by their sensei Splinter the mutant rat, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello are four turtles highly trained in Ninjutsu who work together to take down "The Foot Clan" led by the evil Shredder. The movie is a superhero action-comedy that somehow works, but only because it follows its own rules and stays true to the material.

If you think about the superhero movies in the past few years, you notice how they follow the source material incredibly well. The Batman comics have a tendency to get very serious, and are adapted as such, with The Dark Knight being the most critically acclaimed comic-book film of all time. Comics featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy and Iron Man tend to have humor, and the movies are adapted using comedy. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, at least the original TV show, was never really serious. It was ridiculous, but that's what made it so popular. The movie is exactly the film adaptation the franchise deserves (and had not yet gotten in my opinion) and is very humorous. A rat mutated and discovered a Ninjutsu book in the sewers, and just decided to become the greatest sensei on the planet and teach his adopted turtle children the craft. This movie states it so matter-of-fact you can't help but laugh. But that is just what the original series was like, and what the franchise has stayed true to. Turtles who eat pizza and kick butt. If that's what you're into, then you'll enjoy this no doubt. Whether you're a fan of the franchise or you're just familiar with it, you have to admit, the Ninja Turtles have stayed about the same for the past 30 years.

Now let's get to the question of whether this is a great movie or not. No, it is not a "great" movie. But is it enjoyable? Incredibly. If you can go in, and shut your brain off for 100 minutes, you will love it. The plot is easy to follow. There are many, many plot holes if you want to analyze them, but looking at the overall method the movie is using to tell the story, you can't really complain. You're the one who went into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and if you do you have to expect to just have a fun time. The best performance comes from Megan Fox. Seeing the overly sexy (as well as sexist) performance she gives in the Transformers movies, I would have never thought I'd one day say she was the standout of a movie, you know, in terms of acting. But in a year that is definitely succeeding with female heroes, like in Frozen, Maleficent, Lucy, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Megan Fox's performance as April O'Neil stands out, and deserves to be ranked among those characters. Will Arnett plays O'Neil's love interest, and he has very good comedic timing. What's great is that he's never really a distraction. They don't even kiss, and it's great to see a female action hero that doesn't have a romantic plot. The turtles are all well acted for their specific role in the movie (Johnny Knoxville voices Leonardo) but none really stand out. They just work together as a team really well. Shredder is very one-sided, and you really never care about his motives. He's just an awesome villain with a mission to take out NYC and the Ninja Turtles. He lacks the characteristics that made audiences love The Joker or Loki, but he's simply playing the role the movie gives him.

The people I would recommend this too, are any fans of the franchise, and any action movie fan. The casual moviegoer would probably enjoy this, but don't expect it to have any of the substance that the year's previous superhero movie Guardians of the Galaxy and certainly not the substance Captain America: The Winter Soldier had. It's a fun movie, and if you open up and let yourself have fun, I do believe you'll enjoy it.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

If I Stay Review

Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Jamie Blackley, Mirielle Enos, Stacy Keach

If I Stay is the film adaptation of the best-selling novel by Gayle Forman. In it, Mia Hall is a teenager with everything going for her. She has a great relationship with her parents, has found the love of her life in her boyfriend, and passionately plays the cello, a talent that she auditions to Julliard for. One day, everything changes, and she's involved in a car accident that leaves both of her parents dead, and she in a comatose state. While in this coma, she has an out-of-body experience, and has to choose whether to stay with her boyfriend, or die and be with her family. It's an incredibly sad movie, and is at times very emotionally manipulative.

Readers of the book will be happy to know, that for the most part it doesn't change anything from the novel. Certain things are taken out, and certain things are added in. That's what happens with every book turned movie. Few scenes happen differently, but the outcome is still the same. Even though I'm a reader of the book, I can't complain about that. What I can complain about, is the tone. The tone just becomes so mixed halfway through the movie. The story flips between Mia's experience in the hospital with her body, and her past memories that are influencing her decision to stay or not. Particularly the ones with her boyfriend Adam, are the most tedious to me. It actually spends more time on the romantic backstory than watching her family and friends in the hospital, the latter of which I think is much more interesting to watch. Because of this, the audience is crying their hearts out at one scene, and in an instant, everything changes. I'm not sure if that's just because instant change is the underlying theme of the movie, but I don't like to feel like a movie is controlling my emotions. If I feel upset, I want it to be because I connect with the characters and feel for their struggle. And with the movie's script, I never felt like I could connect with Mia.

It's hard not to make the comparison to the other young-adult book adaptation The Fault in Our Stars. The Fault in Our Stars is simply a better movie. While it's another tearjerker, I never felt that it was manipulating me to feel the way I felt. I connected with those characters. And while I never connected with Moretz in the movie, she is very good in the role. The real standouts are her parents, specifically her mother (Mirielle Enos). Her parents, while hippie-like rockers, are very supportive of her cello and her love for classical music. It's sad to see them go so quickly in the film (yes, the car crash happens right off) but through the flashbacks, you learn to love the relationship she has with her mother and father, which makes it even sadder to see them gone.

I don't really recommend anyone go see it, since it really doesn't shine in any ways. With young adult novels, you look for something special. For instance, there are so many sci-fi adaptations out there, it's easy to see why The Hunger Games and Divergent have broken out, because they clearly separate from the pack. Coming right after the breakout young-adult drama of the year, which dealt with childhood cancer and was also very sad, there's just nothing that makes If I Stay special. While it's in no way a bad movie, because of the subject matter and the way it's handled, I just wouldn't recommend it. When I got out of the movie, I just felt so sad. And I've left many movies feeling that way, but there was always reflection. There was simply nothing to reflect on with this movie. It didn't leave me thinking at all.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Box Office for August 15-17: Ninja Turtles #1 Again

The following are estimates of the box-office earnings by movies this weekend.

 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was able to hold off three new releases, as well as hold of Guardians of the Galaxy from rebounding back to #1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuted last weekend with $65 million, and dropped about 56% this weekend to $28 million. Considering mixed reviews and mixed word-of-mouth, this is a huge success for the film. So far the movie has earned $120 million, and looks to close around $150 million.

Guardians of the Galaxy fell 40% to $25 million for the weekend. It's made $225 already, and it's no surprise that it will soon surpass Captain America: The Winter Soldier to become the highest-grossing film of the year so far. It could even wind up with $280-$300 million by the end of its run.

Let's Be Cops opened to $17 million, and $26 million since it opened on Wednesday. While that is nowhere near the debuts of We're the Millers or Tropic Thunder, both of which also opened with five-day weekends in summer, it's higher than many star-driven comedies of the season. Sex Tape with Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel, Blended with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and A Million Ways to Die in the West with Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron all opened lower. It's likely that it will fall off the map quickly, but a $55 million total isn't out of reach.

The Expendables 3, while not expected to beat the Ninja Turtles or the Guardians, was definitely not expected to bomb as much as it did. It opened with $15 million, a far cry from The Expendables 2 two years ago. That movie was already $10 million off from the first one. An pirated copy of the film was released online in perfect condition, so many fans had already seen it. And the ones who saw it passed on a poor word of mouth.

 In fourth place, The Giver opened with a soft $12 million. In terms of science-fiction young adult adaptations, this is by no means a horrible debut. Beautiful Creatures and The Host both opened with lower last year. But seeing as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opened with about $160 million last November, and Divergent opened with $54 million in March, there's simply not room for much else. While hugely successful, the source novel was released over 20 years ago, and interest has clearly faded.

Full Top 10

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- $28 million (-56%)
2. Guardians of the Galaxy- $25 million (-40%)
3. Let's Be Cops- $17 million (debut)
4. The Expendables 3- $15 million (debut)
5. The Giver- $12 million (debut)
6. Into the Storm- $8 million (-54%)
7. The Hundred-Foot Journey- $7 million (-34%)
8. Lucy- $5 million (-42%)
9. Step Up All In- $2.6 million (-59%)
10. Hercules- $2.1 million (-63%)

Boyhood Review

Starring: Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, Ethan Hawke

Boyhood is an example of a perfect movie. However, it's not for everyone. Boyhood chronicles the childhood of a boy named Mason (Coltrane), as well as his relationship with his sister Samantha (Linklater) and his divorced parents (Hawke and Arquette). The movie started filming twelve years ago and has filmed a couple of days every year since. This is to show the same actors aging over time, as well as preserve and grow the relationships between them. Boyhood is an ambitious film, and it really has no flaws. The story is incredibly airtight, with no plot holes to be seen. As we follow Mason from six years old, to his first day of college, we see him try alcohol and drugs, get his first girlfriend,  and struggle to figure out what to do after high school. It's the perfect depiction of what it's like to grow up.

The acting is incredible. While the children are great to see grow up, and they act like professionals, the two parents hold the movie together. They became separated, and the father becomes absent for some time after the separation, with the kids only being raised by their single mother. When he comes back, he is caring, but also a little carefree, with no job, no house to his own. He cares about them, but could not raise them on his own. His character changes greatly over time though, and he begins to become a really great father. The best acting, to me, comes from Patricia Arquette as the mother. She is a single mother, who works hard to provide, and has no time for the father. She gets remarried to a man who is a monster, who abuses her and even tries to attack the children. She deserves every award for this performance.

What's great to see, as well as the children grow up, is to see the parents change too. Ethan Hawke doesn't change that much physically, but mentally, he changes a lot. Patricia Arquette changes both physically and mentally as she navigates herself through the many hardships she has to endure. To show all the changes, the movie is almost three hours long, nothing could be taken out of the film. Actually, you really can't even go to the bathroom, because most likely, you'd miss something. While the movie is long, it wasn't until the end that I really felt the length, and just wanted it to wrap up.

While this may be a perfect movie, it's not for everyone. It is an independent film, and while many can identify with the messages, not everyone will like it. The length may also be a problem. But this is very well the first movie I've seen all year that has a real chance to get some serious Oscar love. You just have to go into it with an open mind.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Box Office for August 8-10: Turtles Slay Guardians

The following are estimates of the box-office earnings by movies this weekend.

 Guardians of the Galaxy was expected to hold the top for the second weekend in a row. But Ninja Turtle fans old and new showed up, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had one of the biggest August openings of all time. The largest is Guardians of the Galaxy with $94 million last week, and the second largest is The Bourne Ultimatum with $69 million, the previous record holder. The Ninja Turtles made $65 million this past weekend. It was expected to bring in something in the upper $30 million, which itself would be a good opening weekend, but $65 million is much better. The summer has been suffering from polarizing releases. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened the summer, and opened high but with mixed reaction, it fell off the grid quickly. The same happened to Godzilla. Only X-Men: Days of Future Past has had huge numbers as well as massive critical acclaim before Guardians of the Galaxy. Transformers: Age of Extinction hit $1 billion worldwide, but was widely regarded by critics as one of the worst movies of the year. Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are setting the month up for the biggest August of all time, and with audience love, they may be the real hits of the summer movie season.

 Guardians of the Galaxy fell 56% to second place with $41 million. That's the biggest second weekend of the summer, and it's poised to quickly become the highest-grossing movie of the year so far domestically. So far it's made $176 million in just over one week of release, and is on track to close over $260 million.

Disaster movie Into the Storm opened in third place with $18 million. The film is suffering from poor reviews from critics (20% on Rotten Tomatoes) as well as poor audience reviews, so look for this film to quickly fall off the map. With no clear star, and an ad campaign that focused only on the effects, it's clear why this opened with much less than classic disaster films Twister and The Day After Tomorrow.

The Hundred-Foot Journey opened in fourth place with $11 million. For a family friendly movie opening the same week as the Ninja Turtles, that's not a bad first week. And with good reviews it should hold up nicely over the coming weeks. However, it won't achieve the honors of being the breakout drama of the summer, as past August releases The Help and The Butler successfully achieved.

Lucy rounded out the top five. It dropped 49% to $9 million. So far, it's made $97 million, and will pass $100 million this coming week. It looks on track to close in the $110-$120 million range.

 Step Up All In tanked with $6.6 million. The failing film franchise has dropped ever since the first film, which famously introduced the world to Channing Tatum. Step Up only made $65 million in the U.S. but internationally, that was only about 50% its total gross. Even international box-office probably can't save this movie, so look for it to be the last of the Step Up films.

Full Top 10

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- $65 million (debut)
2. Guardians of the Galaxy- $41 million (-56%)
3. Into the Storm- $18 million (debut)
4. The Hundred-Foot Journey- $11 million (debut)
5. Lucy- $9 million (-49%)
6. Step Up All In- $6.6 million (debut)
7. Hercules- $5.7 million (-48%)
8. Get On Up- $5 million (-63%)
9. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- $4 million (-49%)
10. Planes: Fire and Rescue- $2.4 million (-60%)
 

Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro

Guardians of the Galaxy may be the least conventional Marvel film I've seen. The very strong ad campaign for this movie presents it as a satirical comedy that's going to be completely different from their last film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That movie was a serious political thriller first, and a comic book movie second. Chris Pratt stars as Peter Quill or "Star-Lord" as he likes to call himself, a petty thief originating from Earth. He steals an orb-like artifact and gets in way over his head. He's chased down by Gamora (Saldana) the galaxy's most deadly assassin, and the servant of the film's antagonist Ronan (Pace), who means to steal the orb's power to destroy planets. They are hunted down by Rocket Raccoon (Cooper) and Groot (Diesel), two bounty hunters. All four are arrested by the Nova Corps. (John C. Reilly and Glenn Close star as members of Nova's galactic police) and in prison, gain Drax the Destroyer (Bautista)'s help to escape. Together, the five of them team up, albeit for different reasons, to make sure Ronan does not get orb and destroy the galaxy.

This movie may just be my favorite of the year so far. I'm a huge fan of Star Wars and the Marvel movies, and in many ways, this movie is a parody of them. But while 50% of the film is hilarious jokes and themes so over-the-top they're funny, the other 50% is your standard Marvel action movie. If you're not familiar with the other movies, some scenes may be confusing. Thanos, the villain teased in the post-credits scene of The Avengers makes an appearance here along with the alien that led the attack on NYC. While these are huge moments for fans of the series, they don't really mean anything to the casual moviegoer who hasn't become invested in Marvel's cinematic universe. The Collector (del Toro) was in the post-credits scene of Thor: The Dark World  and has a big role here. He's one of the people searching for the orb, and he fully realizes its potential. I'm not going to spoil anything, but Marvel fans know what this orb is, and know what the movies have been setting up with the Tesseract in The Avengers and the Aether in Thor: The Dark World. And while there are plenty of nods to 60s and 70s culture to keep the attention of casual moviegoers, I don't think many of them will appreciate the scenes that continue the Marvel universe as well as set up what's coming next.

The whole cast is incredible. Chris Pratt is the star of the show, and his comedic timing is spot-on. Zoe Saldana has shined in sci-fi movies like Star Trek and Avatar and she shines here. Bradley Cooper's voice is almost unrecognizable as Rocket Raccoon, and he and Vin Diesel's Groot have amazing chemistry. Just a heads up, Vin Diesel's character only says the words "I am Groot" over and over. This becomes a hilarious running gag, and Groot steals every scene he's in. Rocket and Groot were my main takeaways from the movie. Dave Bautista is actually not a professional actor, he's a wrestler, but I can see him getting some good action roles after this. He perfectly plays Drax the Destroyer. As Marvel villains go, Lee Pace is very good. Marvel villains are either hit or miss. Tom Hiddleston's Loki from Thor and The Avengers is the best so far, and Hugo Weaving and the Winter Soldier in the Captain America films are other great villains. But the guy in Thor: The Dark World and the Mandarin in Iron Man 3? Forgettable. Karen Gillan is also good as Ronan's #1 servant, and Josh Brolin's cameo as Thanos is excellent.

 The opening is very serious, and the comedy only begins about 20 minutes in. There is also one long fight scene where explosions are just happening all over the screen. That part's near the end, and I'll admit, the explosions got old really fast. There is a lot of action, but there's also a lot of humor. I think everyone should see this movie, but I think different people will appreciate different parts of it. But to everyone who sees this: stay for the entire credits. You won't regret it. The credits shocked the entire audience.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Weekend Box-Office for August 1-3

The following are estimates of the box-office earnings by movies this weekend.

It's clear that Marvel is riding high with their latest installment. Guardians of the Galaxy made an estimated $94 million its opening weekend. This heavily trumped the industry projections, which predicted a softer $60 million to $75 million opening. A talking raccoon and a walking tree in space doesn't seem like it would translate to such huge numbers. It's clear The Guardians have a following. It features an ensemble cast of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, and Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel in voice roles. Guardians of the Galaxy set the record for biggest opening weekend in August, beating The Bourne Ultimatum's $69 million in 2007. It's also third for the highest debuts of the year so far, only beaten by Transformers: Age of Extinction in June, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, another Marvel movie, in April. Even though it is a Marvel movie, and no Marvel film has opened below $50 million, The Guardians were not the superheroes anyone would expect to have such a big weekend. Names like Iron Man and The Hulk were more recognizable to the general public, and the movie's comedic approach in the marketing was definitely different from what fans were used to. This just shows what a powerhouse Marvel has become after The Avengers.

In second place, Lucy tumbled 58% from last week's impressive $44 million debut, to $18 million for the weekend.  It's a steep drop, but with its mixed reception it doesn't come unexpected. So far it has made $79.6 million, and it looks like it's on track to close above $110 million.

Get On Up, the James Brown biopic, finished third, and opened with $14 million. It's above recent musical Jersey Boys, but it's considerably lower than director Tate Taylor's The Help ($35.9 million) at the same point three years ago. With good reviews it should hold up well in the coming weeks. It'll need to get some awards traction to solidify its future box-office numbers.

The Full Top 10

1. Guardians of the Galaxy- $94 million (debut)
2. Lucy- $18 million (-58%)
3. Get On Up- $14 million (debut)
4. Hercules- $10.7 million (-64%)
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- $8.7 million (-48%)
6. Planes: Fire and Rescue- $6.4 million (-32%)
7. The Purge: Anarchy- $5.5 million (-47%)
8. Sex Tape- $3.5 million (-41%)
9. And So It Goes- $3.3 4million (-28%)
10. A Most Wanted Man- $3.32 million (+24%)

Disney Future Projects

Disney is an animation studio beloved by many, and right now they're riding off of the massive success of Frozen,  a film that gave Disney two Academy Awards, a chart-topping song in "Let It Go" by Idina Menzel, and a billion dollars in box-office dollars. That's right, Frozen is the fifth highest-grossing movie of all time. So with so much success, what does Disney have planned for the next year?

Big Hero 6 (November 7, 2014)

Big Hero 6 is the 54th animated Disney film. It's also a lot less traditional than anything they've done before. It's the story of a group of ragtag kids who become superheroes. The characters in this film are based off of characters of a Marvel Comics franchise centered in Japan. So Disney is blending their style of animation, with the Marvel properties they so famously own, as well as Japanese animation. This film will be heavily derived from anime influences, and will feature the first Japanese main character of a Disney film.


Into the Woods (December 25, 2014)

Into the Woods is based off of the award-winning Broadway play of the same name. The story centers around a universe in which the Grimm fairy tales coexist. The two leads are a baker man (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) cursed childless by a wicked witch (Meryl Streep). The only way to break the curse is to find others who have sought help from witch, and right the wrongs. They come in contact with a multitude of storybook characters including Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Prince Charming (Chris Pine) and The Wolf (Johnny Depp) Into the Woods as a play, is a much more mature view on fairy tales, presenting the characters as they would be if they were in the real world. Let's hope Disney doesn't take out that edgy material just to keep the characters the same as they have been in their animated movies.


Cinderella (March 13, 2015)

Disney is hoping to keep up with their impressive track record of live-action fairy tales with Cinderella. 2010's Alice in Wonderland is Disney's most successful live-action fairy tale. That movie, starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, and Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway as the Red and White Queens respectively, made over a billion dollars worldwide. Maleficent is the third highest-grossing movie of 2014 so far, with over 700 million worldwide. These darker spins on fairy tales will continue with Cinderella starring Lily James (Lady Rose on Downton Abbey) as the titular character, Recent Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett as the Wicked Stepmother, and Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother. Cinderella, while not a huge success with her original film, has since evolved into arguably the most famous Disney princess. The meet-and-greets at Disney theme parks, and the fact that Cinderella's Castle has become an symbol for Disney, have made her iconic. There's no doubt in my mind this movie will be big among family audiences and fans of Disney.

Tomorrowland (May 22, 2015)

Tomorrowland is a film shrouded in mystery. Disney is being very secretive about what this movie is about. We know one thing about the plot: It's based off of the Tomorrowland section of the Disney amusement parks. It stars George Clooney, and takes place in a land between time and space known as Tomorrowland. It's directed by Brad Bird who gave us Ratatouille and The Incredibles for Pixar.