MOVIE: Pacific Rim

I have been waiting for a movie that features giant robots all of my life; but this movie not only delivers awesome mechs, it also features giant monsters, which borrow inspiration from icons like Godzilla, that threaten all of humanity, and throws machines and monsters into a cinematic showdown of epic proportions. 

Directed by Guillermo Del Toro, who is known for movies such as Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth, Pacific Rim is about the invasion of inter-dimensional creatures known as Kaiju (Japanese for "Giant Beast") that arrived through a portal beneath the Pacific Ocean. After conventional military weapons prove to be inefficient, the nations of the world pool together resources and construct giant mechs known as Jaegers (German for "hunter") to fight the Kaiju. There's more to the story but that is the basic premise behind Pacific Rim, and I'm not one to spoil things.

This was the first trailer released. I got so HYPED off of it!

For a film that lots of people are dismissing as just a stupid block buster, assuming that those same people ON THE INTERNET aren't just a bunch of trolls, this movie is actually very good! 

"Oh, but the story is going to be so stupid.": It's a film about giant robots beating giant monsters to death; what more do you need? 

"The science won't add up or match up to happens in real life!": It's a movie about BIG ROBOTS AND MONSTERS; if that stuff could exist we would have seen it already. 

"The acting isn't good": Sure, the acting might not be the best or win any Oscar Awards, but it certainly doesn't take away from the product over all. Bad acting won't make the fight scenes any less enjoyable.

I'm kind of worried now that some people just don't know how to enjoy something good that is right in front of them.

This trailer reveals a lot more, but doesn't spoil too much.

I can't really say that this movie is the best thing ever made; it's not perfect, nothing ever really is. It could have been better, but it is still so good! In my opinion, Pacific Rim is better than all three of the Transformers movies combined. The biggest problem I have is that for some reason not many people are excited for this as I have anticipated. And for reasons unknown, Pacific Rim's main competition is Grown Ups 2. How many of you guys grew up watching Power Rangers? I'll admit, I didn't like Power Rangers as much as most kids back when I was young, but I always thought that the Mega Zords were cool. How many of you watch mecha anime? Oh, right, the trolls are too busy comparing Pacific Rim to Neon Genesis Evengelion for anyone to actually care about it being something new and a movie of it's own.

Guillermo Del Toro grew up watching kaiju films and mecha anime, not including Neon Genesis Evangelion. While he certainly took inspiration from the shows and movies he watched and also implemented homages that knowledgeable fans of the genres can recognize, Del Toro stated that he wasn't going to reference anything and that the designs for his Kaju and Jeagers are created for his own movie. In a time when people are complaining about nothing being original or that something is just based off of something else or that the movies coming out are simply film adaptations of books, people are failing to accept Pacific Rim as an original franchise, a title that stands completely by its self. Del Toro crafted this film from his heart, so that he can see something that he loves and show it to the rest of the world. I admire him for that, but I'm disappointed that the rest of the world doesn't appreciate it. Instead, the robots are competing against an "All-Star Cast of comedians" and apathy.

For some reason, Coyote Tango was the least to leave an impression on me.

With three arms and one eye, Crimson Typhoon had one of the most eccentric but original designs.

Striker Eureka, compared to the other Jaegers in terms of stats, is completely over powered.

Gypsy Danger with a simple and charming heroic design brawls with the Kaiju to protect earth.

Initially I wasn't too fond of Cherno Alpha's design, but after watching the film I grew really attached to him.

 

I really like the music that plays for the main trailer...

The first thing that I heard about this film was that "The voice of GLaDOS is in this movie." That same evening I checked out the original trailer which was the only one at the time and I knew I was going to watch this movie. Ellen McLain, the voice actor for GLaDOS from the video game Portal, lends her voice for Gypsy Danger's computer AI. I saw Pacific Rim in IMAX 3D; it was the first time I've seen a movie in that quality, but for what I paid it was worth it! Whether you're a seasoned fan of Kaiju films or Mecha anime or just like the idea of seeing a movie about giant robots and monster, you are going to love this film. With the amount of work, effort, and love put into this movie, Pacific Rim is definitely worth seeing it on the BIG screen!

MOVIE: Wreck-It Ralph

Well it's been a while since I've last posted. In the past months I've been trying to get some things done and have also been quite busy with other projects. Between the goals I am striving to accomplish and the handful of projects I have yet to finish, I regret that the focus on my blog has lowered in priority. There are plenty of things I'd love to talk about but finding time to sit down and carefully think about what to say and how to say it hasn't been easy. But today, I decided to take a step back from every thing else for just a little while and write a new post.

Other than not writing a new post in a whole month, it's been quite a long time since I've seen a really great movie in the theaters. Over the weekend I finally got to see the film I was anticipating since last year: Wreck-It Ralph. Now, I know I am practically three whole months late with just barely watching this film, but at least I was able to see it in a theater before its release on DVD and Blu-Ray; better yet, I got to see it with my family.

I admit that my expectations for this film were not very high when it was first announced. The trailers had current pop-culture songs that I had heard too many times in very unfavorable circumstances, I had a feeling that the story might not impress me and the plot would be no more significant than a children's cartoon with a cheesy moral strung at the end, and most of all, although the idea featuring official video game characters was interesting, I hoped that the film would not have to rely on those cameos alone to carry on the story. As the film's release to theaters neared my pessimism slowly dwindled and I actually became curious to see the movie and to find out how it delivers. One of my friends saw it before me and wanted to discuss film, but I asked him not spoil any of the important plot points as I planned to watch Wreck-It Ralph eventually. Three months after the initial theatrical release I was greatly impressed with the work. Maybe I am just easily impressed at times, but Wreck-It Ralph is far better than what I had expected out of it.

Wreck-It Ralph is a 3D animated film about a video game antagonist, named Wreck-It Ralph, who is tired of playing as the bad guy because he is feared and unappreciated by the other characters in his video game world. Determined to prove that he can be just as good as the good guy, Fix-It Felix, he leaves his own video game world and dives into the dangers of different video games to earn his title as a hero. Wreck-It Ralph was created by Disney Animation Studios with a similar style to an earlier film, Tangled. Pixar was not involved with production of this film, which is really impressive since the animation is smooth, beautiful, and lively, but is also a 3D CGI animation, which is what Pixar is notable for. The different [video game] characters are well written and animated, and since they originate from different eras and genres in gaming, each is stylized with a unique look and personality as well as their own story which makes them highly likable. Although we weren't able to see as many video game worlds as I had anticipated, each world that we visited was interesting to look, including the surge protector itself. I've heard some complaints about being restricted to very few worlds, namely the "Candy land", Sugar Rush, but this restriction on the game jumping actually works to the story's advantage as it not only drives the plot but we also see a great deal of Disney's original characters interacting with a specific environment. In addition to a more defined exploration of a whole new world, this also allows the audience a greater chance to become more invested with these new characters they are presented with. The movie's phenomenal soundtrack also strengthened the emotional delivery tenfold with appropriate scene themes and leitmotifs building up tension to an incredible climax.

As I said before, I worried about the cameos; and so it turns out that this film implements the cameos of official video game characters quite well. Sure, they used characters like Zangief, Dr. Robotnik, Boswer, and Clyde the Ghost, but they were not needed to actually carry the story along. The cameos are probably the strongest point made in the advertisement for Wreck-It Ralph, which is genius because the posters and trailers immediately inform the audience that the movie is about video games. (The actual video games themselves.) After watching the film, I looked up some videos about Wreck-It Ralph and lots of people wished that their familiar favorites had played a larger role in the story. But I want to remind everyone that this movie is all about Disney's Original Characters and that the focus is around Ralph and his friends, not Sonic and his rivals. Cameos proved to be great advertising and are lots of fun, but the vast amount of hidden video game culture references should not outshine the well written story this movie tells.

One last thing I would like to add concerning the video game cameos, although I am a big Mario fan, I am glad that he did not make an appearance in Wreck-It Ralph. (He is mentioned, but not shown.) I did not grow up playing Sonic games and as a result I'm not very fond of Sonic the Hedgehog. (It also doesn't help that some percentages of his fan base sort of tarnishes his image.) Even if Sonic wasn't given much screen time, along with the rest of the cameos, that actually earned him some respect from me. Sonic the Hedgehog's role is to appear for a short moment to deliver an important PSA to the characters in universe. Admittedly, I believe that Mario would not be able to deliver the same message with same kind of importance. The cameos did not overstay their welcome and that really works in the film's favor. Also, Mario's face isn't plastered on screen for the sake of a quick cash grab.

Overall, Wreck-It Ralph is a touching story. It is funny, but it isn't all about laughs. There are serious moments that can be very emotional and the plot eventually unfolds into something big. You don't need to much about video games in order to enjoy this story, but the more knowledgeable you are with your video gaming trivia and history, the better chances you have of catching the many subtle references which can make watching this movie more fun.