Godzilla; Neighbors; X-Men: Day of Future Past

Hooray for mini-reviews! Because I saw these movies months ago and forget most of the plot details.

Godzilla

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What's Godzilla missing? It's an exciting monster movie with dramatic twists, genuine performances, thrills, and spectacular visuals, all centered around well-thought out characters in an extremely human-grounded story. But it is missing something: Godzilla.

The movie focuses on the Brody family. Joe (Walter Whi…I mean Bryan Cranston) and Sandra are a married American couple working in a Japanese power plant, where one day unusual seismic activity leads to the catastrophic destruction of some of the area. Sandra dies in the accident, and when the plant and surrounding vicinity are put under quarantine, Joe adamantly stays in the area to find out what caused the accident that led to his wife's death.

Fifteen years later, the Brody's son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is in the military. When he's not on a tour, he's at home with his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and their young son. After getting word his father has been arrested for trespassing in the quarantine zone, Ford returns to Japan to see his father, who convinces his son that the accident that caused his wife's death was covered up. While you're reading this, are you wondering why Godzilla hasn't been mentioned yet? Yup - I was too. 

After getting caught in the quarantine zone together, Ford and Joe become acquainted with two scientists who have been monitoring the situation for decades, and reveal that a giant monster called MUTO (that's right, not Godzilla) was responsible for the accident, and has been in a deep slumber since the day of the catastrophe. They also explain that wherever MUTO goes, it seems to draw the attention of a giant, prehistoric predator called…wait for it…Godzilla! When MUTO finally awakens, Godzilla arrives to pit nature against nature in a series of intense, civilian-threatening battles around the globe, complete with astonishing cinematography and a fittingly erie score. While not necessarily brining the same level of destruction as Pacific Rim's Kaiju and Jaegers, Godzilla and MUTO still bring undeniably havoc-wreaking brawls to the screen.

As entertaining and dramatic as Godzilla was, I can't completely forgive the movie for using the big monster's pre-existing name, image, and reputation as tactics to fill seats in the audience. And even though Godzilla was a good movie, it wasn't a Godzilla movie.

Rating: 3.5/5

Neighbors

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As someone who has gone to college, let me tell you: Greek life can get very old very fast. But don't bother telling this to the Radners (Seth Rogen & Rose Byrne), they already know. When a caravan of frat bros move into the house next to theirs, the couple decide to get on good terms with the leaders of the brotherhood (Zac Efron & Dave Franco). One night of heavy partying seems to solidify the neighbors are respected acquaintances, until an all-out rager keeps the newlyweds and their adorable baby Stella up until 4 am. When they call the police, the offended fraternity president (Efron) vows to make the rest of their time in the home as torturous as possible for the family.

Neighbors brings very little that's new or rejuvenating for the comedy genre, but while I was watching it, I didn't want the movie to end. While I did laugh a lot, I'm pretty sure I'd only find most of the jokes funny for one more viewing, two max. What makes Neighbors worth that extra viewing or two is not just its material or fresh atmosphere, but the fact that it displays the expectedly impressive performances by leads Rogen and Efron, while Rose Byrne continues to prove why she is radially becoming a household name. The movie boasts that the simplistic neighbor versus neighbor idea can be drawn out for an hour and a half. And even if it wasn't able to do that, how can anyone not love the Robert De Niro party idea? It's 40 seconds of pure genius.

Rating: 3.5/5

X-Men: Days of Future Past

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I find it hard to believe that the X-Men, a group of superhumans who are collectively capable of pretty much anything, would be scared of being annihilated by a few robots. But seeing as these bots are the major antagonists of the film, I guess I'll just have to look past it. These robots, called Sentinels, adapt to any mutant power to eliminate these abnormalities of nature. 

Surviving members of the X-Men, including Storm, Professor X, Magneto, and Wolverine, realize there demise is inevitable. With the help of team member Kitty Pryde, X-Man Wolverine (aka Logan, played by everyone's favorite Australian, Huge Jackman) is mentally sent back in time to recruit younger versions of the team to stop these Sentinels from ever being built. To do so, they must thwart Mystique's attempts to assassinate the machines' creator, Bolivar Trask.

One of the best decisions of X-Men's filmmakers was the extent to which they used Jennifer Lawrence, and by connection, her character Mystique. They took full advantage of Lawrence's cultural popularity and screen presence, and brought her to a villainous role that audiences had never seen Lawrence undertake. Needless to say, she owned it.

Day of Future Past is successful in merging the bridge between the two different directions the franchise took, connecting the storyline and actors from both X-Men: The Last Stand (which I have not seen) and the prequel X-Men: First Class. It's able to bring a fresh and riveting story and conflict to a franchise that, in my opinion, never seemed to have a sincere idea of where to go (minus X2). In Days of Future Past, the massive ensemble of players are able to balance flawlessly in terms of screen time, while the screenplay weaves in scenes of drama, action, and comedy almost effortlessly. I see it as the best superhero movie since The Avengers, and a reason why we should all be excited for X-Men: Apocalypse. 

Rating: 4.5/5