Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

This review may contain spoilers!

This film was a special effects epic with some brilliant themes and a brilliant story about the apes culture, if only the humans hadn't been in it. I would give Dawn of the Planet of the Apes a 7/10.

This film's motion capture and CGI effects are a testament to what the film industry can really achieve these days, I was absolutely in awe of what I was watching and how much effort it must have taken to make the film itself. I was also very impressed with how the film expanded upon the storyline about the apes, in Rise we had started to see apes forming a culture but now it was really in full swing and furthermore the apes being no different than us ultimately? That was just plain great writing.

Andy Serkis, who played Caesar, did a brilliant job as the leader of the apes; Serkis is a motion capture veteran and it really shows in the performance he gives. Kirk Acevedo, who played Carver, is one of the few live action performers I can credit as being enjoyable to watch; his blind hatred for the apes was very climatic and kept the plot on a steady course. Nick Thurston, who played Blue Eyes, did a great job in creating the father/son dynamic between his character and Caesar. Karin Konoval, who played Maurice, had one of the truly loveable characters of the film and I grew quite attached to this particular character because of that performance.

However the actor who did the best job in this film was Toby Kebbell, who played Koba. It was a whole new intelligent ape in that he was loyal, and simpering, but with so much venom and hatred in him. He was devious and and bloodthirsty and had this cunning that showed the dark andtwisted side of having a sentient mind. A truly inspired performance and one of the best motion capture performances that I've seen this year.

The entire film suffers majorly in it's human element, the humans have this role of being a problem for the apes and yet there is very little backstory to the humans; in fact the film needs the humans but it never really develops them. Also the music for this felt like the 60s-70s music from when it was originally made only revamped; it was awfully generic and did not pay off at all.

Jason Clarke, who played Malcolm, felt very underwhelming in a leading role and really did not lead the action all that well. Gary Oldman, who played Dreyfus, was an extreme waste of talent as he had roughly four scenes in the entire film; I was confused as to whether he was meant to be a protagonist or an antagonist as well. Keri Russell, who played Ellie, had very little presence and seemed to exist as some base need to have a female character within the film that wasn't an ape. Kodi Smit-McPhee, who played Alexander, was alousy son figure and connected with none of his fellow cast very well. 

How to Train Your Dragon 2

This review may contain spoilers!

This film was a beautifully crafted piece of cinema with an unfortunate tendency to fall flat when it came to good storytelling. I would give How to Train Your Dragon 2 a 7/10.

This is one of the best looking animated films this year, the detail in this animation is so immaculate that it becomes hauntingly real. I also had a distinctive love for the music in this film, which really was quite beautiful and managed to stray from a stereotypical animated film score. The main plot of this film was brilliant to watch, and you became very immersed in the different factions that were created from this story telling.

Jay Baruchel, who voiced Hiccup, did a wonderful job revisiting this character; basically this is the character Baruchel was born for and I'll be sad to see him confined to minor roles and comedy films when this franchise ends. America Ferrera, who voiced Astrid, matched Baruchel's performance and then some, you don't get a lot of female protagonists that are depicted this well in animated films and it's brilliant to see a character as strong and ambitious as Astrid. Djimon Hounsou, who voiced Drago, gave a great performance, the sheer malice of this character was staggering and, while porrly written in places, Hounsou gave him such presence that I found myself enjoying this particular villain.

I have to give two favourite performances for this film because really you can't have one without the other, this movie was dominated by the characters of Stoick and Valka, voiced by Gerard Butler and Cate Blanchett respectively. There is a whole new side to Stoick in this film, he still has a strong dominant force over Hiccup but he becomes this sweet gentle family man as the film progresses. Valka on the other hand is eccentric and wild, she's incredibly thrilling and has a brilliant backstory. I don't mind admitting that the reunion of these two characters was a tearful one and one of the best scenes of the film.

I have to say this entire film, while it had a good central plot, lacked a lot of good detail and had some terrible pacing. The entire first act of the film was very slow and a lot of character interaction and backstory. Furthermore the love conflict between Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Eret was just a waste of time and only served to make the film longer as the subplot itself was ultimately dismissed at the end of the film. Drago's backstory is only touched upon and isn't really explored, though this is forgivable if a third film will go into this some more. The death of Stoick is rather redundant as the separation between Hiccup and Toothless is only temporary and no one really mourns him for long. The viking themed death has become a plot device layered stereotype recently and it's boring, no more setting boats on fire with arrows please! Ultimately Hiccup doesn't change much as a character except for the fact he decides to be the chief of his village, basically he only obeys his father's wishes after his father dies. The entire second act of the film is very reminscent of the Lion King and it didn't feel very original but rather a desperate bid to pull on the heartstrings further when it wasn't necessary.

Craig Ferguson, who voiced Gobber, was constantly ruined just as he was getting good, he'd have wonderful quotes that were constantly ruined with a deadpan joke. Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig, who voiced Snotlout, Fishlegs and Ruffnut, were all a part of the love conflict and I think the film would have been better without them. T.J. Miller, who voiced Tuffnut, had very little screen presence and really did not need to be included in the main cast. Kit Harrington, who voiced Eret, had a great debut that was tainted when he got caught in the love conflict, then was set up to be a big redeeming hero only that never really happened; finally the film ended on Hiccup giving Stoick's dragon to Eret which was one of the worst plot points of the film.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

This review may contain spoilers.

It's like Michael Bay started making a really good film and just thought, "Well dang, how am I going to keep this going for another hour and a half?", enter Dinobots...I would give Transformers: Age of Extinction a 6.5/10.

Transformers: Age of Extinction really excelled in it's first half, with displays of good use of music and great plot. I also found this film had some fantastic displays of cinematography and visual effects. The chase scenes were very well done as well as some of the action choreography.

Mark Wahlberg, who plays Cade Yeager, proves that he is indeed what is needed to revive an dying franchise; managing to consistently keep the pace moving throughout the film. Kelsey Grammer, who played Harold Attinger, was a wonderful look into the human villain element and took that particular mantle off of Patrick Dempsey quite nicely. Titus Welliver, who played James Savoy, didn't need a large presence to become one of the most intimidating characters within the film. John Goodman, who voiced The Hound, is one of the more likable Autobots and is best described as the soul of the team. Mark Ryan, who voiced Lockdown, plays one of my favourite Transformer villains to date and does an exceptional job.

However the greatest performance given in this film was Stanley Tucci, who played Joshua Joyce. He incorporated Transformers' tongue in cheek humour with his own spontaneous nature to great effect. But it was his portrayal of a man playing God that I liked, he challenged the Transformers by making his own version and that was an incredible direction.

This movie had so much potential...where on earth did it all go? So halfway into the film they introduced about five different subplots: The Creators of the Transformers, Megatron is back (who's really at all surprised they did that?), Optimus Prime is a knight alongside his super dinosaur robot pals, Stanley Tucci has two love interests and let's not forget the CIA guy now joins the world of hard businessman and retires from the CIA out of nowhere but his CIA lackey joins him for no particular reason. It also failed to answer the history of the past five years very well, particularly Bumblebee's story. The way the dialogue changed angered me also, it went from some powerful speeches about betrayal and evolution to Transformers talking about gathering an army of dinosaurs. The music was almost going to be one of my good things about the film as well but they overused their lyrical pieces, 'War Cry' by Imagine Dragons played THREE times.

Nicola Peltz, who played Tessa Yeager, is a shining example of a Bay directed female protagonist, a damsel in distress with some form of daddy issues or boyfriend troubles of which this film utilised both. Jack Reynor, who played Shane Dyson, started his role as something extraordinary and quite cool before falling to the background and becoming a laughable member of the cast. Sophia Myles, who played Darcy Tirrel, opened this film for no apparent reason, seemed to be Tucci's ex-girlfriend for no apparent reason and was basically in this film for no apparent reason. Bingbing Li, who played Su Yueming, was a background figure who became more prominent when the action moved to China, a fairly racist move and a large heaping amount of too little too late. T.J. Miller, who played Lucas Flannery, gave the wonderful performance of awful comedic relief who betrays his friends for money and dies; to which I say good. Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus Prime, disappointed me, this is the man who is very famous for his work on prime and he came off as the voice that gives you instructions on reaching your next objective in a video game. Frank Welker, who voiced Galvatron (also known as not so new and improved Megatron), was a substandard replacement and really should be replaced for the fifth film. Ken Watanabe, who played Drift, has done nothing but disappoint me this year, now he's back playing the Japanese racial stereotype transformer AKA the giant blue samurai. John Dimaggio, who voiced Crosshairs, portrays a generic action robot in a generic action film, a character you will most assuredly forget. Reno Wilson, returned to voice Brains, even when fans begged him to stay away.