"Robocop" PG 13
The classic 1987 movie was a message story about excess corruption and the Reagan years, and cowboy cop movies. It was clever and witty, and everyone remembers Peter Weller for it. The new one is just about half of a good movie, and packs really none of the punch of the original.
The origin story is retold with more flash and flair, and neat special effects, as they introduce a future world where it's obvious drone robots are used in every country but the US, trying to the modern age message. They also have a subplot where they explain about cybernetic and prosthetic tech being used to make people better, and they keep bringing up the nation of man versus machine and free will, but not in an interesting way, just as a by the numbers bit.
In future Detroit, a cop named Murphy goers on a raid and is later nearly blown up in front of his house. The mega company that is looking to make a cybernetic being (they never say directly a cyborg) somehow obtains him and rebuilds him as their newest creation, Robocop.
But if you've seen the trailers, you've pretty much seen the movie. No surprises except for some gross out moments, but nothing really all that original. This could be Dredd or any combat video game on the market.
In 1987 you didn't have trhe tech to make realistic play video games. Now that they do, they've remade a classic. Really they've made a sequel or reboot. Just call it Robocop 4.
Well they have the robocop learn of his alleged murder, as in the first one, ans he seeks to solve it through a series of coincidental actions, while crooked politicians and businessmen vie for a robot law they want to end to sell more robots.
The original had a quirky and violent charm to it. This one is just a lot of game style stuff blowing up.
It reminded me of as lot of other modern, angrier, dark movies that were better, and some worse. It could have had a witty script. Just having him quote lines from the first one with no soul to it was just not right.
At least some of the leads get to chew scenery, like Samuel Jackson as a later day news pundit, and Michael Keaton plays the OmniCorp guy.
The new dude is not Peter Weller.
They even have a scene where the new robot cyborg gets to shoot what looks like original Robocops, which is really stupid but the director apparently thought he was being clever. See, our movie kicks the old one's butt! Uhm, no.
Review by Adam Browne
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Friday, February 7, 2014
Review: "The Lego Movie" is a cute brick building adventure
What American kid hasn't played with Lego blocks? They even have thees now, from popular movies and TV shows, and include playsets that make the humble beginning in the late 1950s look like another world.
The Lego people even have a popular series of video games and cartoons. This movie is not those, but some of the characters cameo, including the ninjas, DC superheroes, some Star Wars guys, and the whole city set building team, and even sports stars.
The movie centers on a fictional Lego city state that apparently is ruled by the evil President Business, possibly a riff on any number of rich politicians from today, who wants to destroy the town using some type of space glue.
Enter the hero, an ordinary worker named Emmit who falls into a hole made from the bricks and discovers a mystical red brick that makes him the chosen one, and it is up to his bad girl new friend to help him find the aged blind master who trained her.
The nods to any number of themes from spaghetti westerns, to Wall street movies, to classic 80s movies and toys, to oddly enough, the Village People, are everywhere. Pirates, space heroes, and submarines go toether as do madmen with evil laser beam machines that shoot colored pogs. A silly song about being awesome is all the town listens to, and as silly sitcom about a man losing his pants is their only reality show.
The supposed perfect worlds is shattered brick by brick as the villain unleashes his furious lego army of zombies and crooked robots, and ninjas, and whatnot, against the hero and his girl sidekick, or is it girl and her dude sidekick? Anyway, the characters eventually meet up with Batman, (from the set my nephew has), space pirate robot, and a spaceman from the 1980s sets (which I used to have), and the Justice League and various odd characters. They even have an Abe Lincoln and a bipolar suffering kitty cat that mocks the My Little Pony line. Ha.
When the nobody becomes a somebody, the sweetness of this little film comes out, and when he discovers the master builder, ala a twist, it is rather obvious but cute also.
It does make you want to go out and buy toys. However the toys that are being marketed for this movie are way too expensive to start collecting them again.
Review by Adam Browne
The Lego people even have a popular series of video games and cartoons. This movie is not those, but some of the characters cameo, including the ninjas, DC superheroes, some Star Wars guys, and the whole city set building team, and even sports stars.
The movie centers on a fictional Lego city state that apparently is ruled by the evil President Business, possibly a riff on any number of rich politicians from today, who wants to destroy the town using some type of space glue.
Enter the hero, an ordinary worker named Emmit who falls into a hole made from the bricks and discovers a mystical red brick that makes him the chosen one, and it is up to his bad girl new friend to help him find the aged blind master who trained her.
The nods to any number of themes from spaghetti westerns, to Wall street movies, to classic 80s movies and toys, to oddly enough, the Village People, are everywhere. Pirates, space heroes, and submarines go toether as do madmen with evil laser beam machines that shoot colored pogs. A silly song about being awesome is all the town listens to, and as silly sitcom about a man losing his pants is their only reality show.
The supposed perfect worlds is shattered brick by brick as the villain unleashes his furious lego army of zombies and crooked robots, and ninjas, and whatnot, against the hero and his girl sidekick, or is it girl and her dude sidekick? Anyway, the characters eventually meet up with Batman, (from the set my nephew has), space pirate robot, and a spaceman from the 1980s sets (which I used to have), and the Justice League and various odd characters. They even have an Abe Lincoln and a bipolar suffering kitty cat that mocks the My Little Pony line. Ha.
When the nobody becomes a somebody, the sweetness of this little film comes out, and when he discovers the master builder, ala a twist, it is rather obvious but cute also.
It does make you want to go out and buy toys. However the toys that are being marketed for this movie are way too expensive to start collecting them again.
Review by Adam Browne
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