Edge of Tomorrow
I felt blessed to have met/seen Tom Cruise live in Japan before watching this film. This film looked super solid from the first trailer and it actually is. The main plot is a recycled Groundhog Day but with more rules and twists. Tom Cruise plays Lt. Cage, a coward PR agent who was forced to join the army and battle alien race called Mimics. He's helped by the Full Metal Bitch, Rita Vrataski (a hyper badass Emily Blunt). Edge of Tomorrow is surprisingly intense and funny at the same time while still retaining the quality it possesses, a really rare feat for a summer blockbuster these days (last time a summer film was funny and action-packed was White House Down and we know how it turned out). The ending is another great point for me. It doesn't make sense, but do everything has to make sense? You should be able to figure it out by yourself using your own brain. Edge of Tomorrow: rated 4/4Maleficent
I have never seen Sleeping Beauty (cue the jaw drop), so I came to this film only knowing that sleeping beauty is Aurora and the villain is Maleficent. I thought the film would still retain the animated film version but with a perspective from the villain, make Maleficent like an anti-hero thing. But no, they actually did a new take on the film. It is also a part of the new wave Disney that tries to wash clean the whole true-love-is-from-a-prince thing, like Frozen. The visuals look cool and stuff, Angelina Jolie is great as the titular role but the fact that it has so little story bugged me. It felt great at sometimes but at some time it also felt disjointed and out of place. I find it sad to see Sharlto Copley reduced as a grunting King whose death was cut just to make the PG rating. Also Brenton Thwaites reduced to just being a pretty face, when he could do great like in the stellar horror film Oculus. Lana del Rey's take on Once Upon A Dream though, that's quality. Maleficent: rated 2.5/4Godzilla
The King of Monsters is back. Gareth Edwards of Monsters fame is on the helm with a group of spectacular actors that include Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen and Sally Hawkins. After the ill-received Roland Emmerich version of Godzilla in 1998, this version is the one Hollywood and Japan needed. It is a fresh take on Godzilla, and it combined the geek momentum from the underrated Pacific Rim and also the popularity of the creature itself. The story is more in this film, so for those people who asked for more story in your films you can suck on this. In this version, Godzilla is mother nature's natural weapon to eliminate MUTOs or you can just say Kaiju. He battled (spoiler) two creatures that were to endanger humanity. The approach to this film is an exceptional one. Instead of giving us the creature from the get go, it builds up to the climax. It is very effective to create this dark brooding atmosphere so that we can feel like in the situation. However, I think the story might be too much that it kinds of sidelined the human characters. It's such a pity to see Elizabeth Olsen just screaming around whenever Godzilla was battling the other monsters. Also Ken Watanabe who's just there to stare at things and got awed at creatures. There's not enough Godzilla action too, but everytime he's on screen it's that awesome y'all. I also don't like the fact that Godzilla was praised after he destroyed two cities that are separated by an ocean. What about Man of Steel? Bottomline, Godzilla may not be a summer film, but it is an amazing film. Godzilla: rated 4/4
