"Transcendence" Review

Transcendence

3 out of 5 stars

Rated PG-13

Moderate amount of violence
Moderate violent or bloody images
Mild amount of language
One scene of sexuality between a married couple,
but nothing is shown, and they just kiss







"Transcendence" is a mix of "Her" and "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" sprinkled with some "1984," but not nearly as well thought-out.

Johnny Depp plays Will Caster, a brilliant scientist who has been experimenting with artificial intelligence. He has an idea he calls "transcendence," in which a mind is uploaded into a very powerful computer.

There are some people who think this is a very bad idea. They are part of a radical group who think technology has been going too far and making people impersonal. The group kills a several people involved in the project, and one of the members shoots Caster.

Caster does not die right then, but the bullet was laced with some kind of poison that kills him slowly. Before dying, his wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), and the couple's friend, Max Waters (Paul Bettany), upload his brain into a computer so he is still there after he is gone.

The exact procedure of doing this is not very clear, which is part of the problem with this movie. The dialogue is good, the concept is interesting, but the actual showing how everything works is not very well executed. Those who made this film did not seem to understand how this would work.

It seems that the characters do not completely understand how it works either because they debate throughout the film whether the artificial intelligence really is Will Caster or if it is just a simulation of him. The only clear thing is the computer itself is an artificial intelligence that is bent on changing the world.

That is where the conflict comes in. The computer becomes so powerful that a lot of people are scared, and it seems the radical anti-technology group was right about a lot of things. The plot ends up focusing on how some characters work to stop it.

I was pretty entertained throughout the film, but my mind was not blown like it was with "Her," a film with a similar concept, but executed a lot better. What that film did right was describe the characters so thoroughly that they seem real. Even the computer's artificial intelligence in that film seems like a genuine person.

In this film, there is not a lot of set up for the characters themselves. Their personalities are not very distinct from one another. Will Caster is just a very brilliant man who wants to learn. When his mind is uploaded into the computer, he seems kind of robotic. There is not much to Evelyn either. She is also a scientist who is smart and who marvels at the fact that her dead husband is in the computer. There is not much else to describe either of them.

Their relationship is also not very well developed. We know that Evelyn loves Will, but the depth of their relationship is not described very well. There is very little emotional investment from the audience's part when she is trying to save her husband.

When he becomes the computer, there is a space of two years that the film skips. At first Evelyn is completely happy he is there, and then after that time period, she seems scared of him. This would have been so much more impactful had it shown what happens during that span. How is their relationship? What do they talk about? The description is not there, and this causes the film to go from a potentially awesome movie to a mediocre sci-fi.

A reason for this lack of character development probably has to do with the filmmakers wanting to throw some twists at the audience. However, had it just stuck to showing us how everything worked, the film would have been so much better.

Despite its flaws, "Transcendence" is actually thought provoking in some ways, and it is entertaining to watch. If you can handle mediocre story structure, I would recommend this film, but it is not something you need to rush out to see.

"Draft Day" Review

Draft Day

3 out of 5 stars

Rated PG-13

Mild amount of language including one f-word
A few mentions of sex, but it is not detailed









While "Draft Day" offers insight into the workings of the National Football League, it is not a must-see.

The entire film takes place on draft day, when coaches and general managers of the NFL frantically figure out who they are going to choose to play on their teams. Kevin Costner plays the general manager for the Cleveland Browns, Sonny Weaver Jr. He really wants to do something great that day to turn the program around and ensure that both players and fans will be satisfied with his decision.

He gets a possible chance at doing this when the Seattle Seahawks approach him that morning and offer to let him choose Bo Callahan, a quarterback who will undoubtedly be the draft favorite. In return, he is to give the Seahawks his first round picks for the next three years. He agrees to this trade, and it does not sit well with everyone including the Browns' head coach played by Denis Leary. It causes quite a stir, and the whole movie is about him deciding whether he will go through with picking Callahan or choose someone else.

When the film starts, it feels a little bit like watching Sports Center. For some people, that is a good thing. However, for people like me, who are not that interested in professional sports and tend to zone out when other people watch ESPN, it is a slow, boring start. It is also confusing to people who do not know much about how the draft works. It took me about half of the movie to really grasp what was happening.

This is partly because a lot of the film is exposition. It is just characters explaining things, explaining other characters, explaining situations. It would have been so much better had it introduced by showing rather than telling.

For example, Weaver has a relationship with his assistant Ali (Jennifer Garner), who is mad at him for something he said that morning. However, rather than showing what he said, it simply shows her being angry after the fact. Throughout the film, they talk it through, but there is little reason to really care about it.

Bo Callahan is not the only choice he needs to make. There are a couple of other players who really want to be on the Cleveland Browns, and he tries to decide whether he wants to put them on the team or not. These players are not introduced very well, but they are important to the story. From what is shown and explained, they are likable, but it would have been better had there been more focus on them so the audience has reason to care about the situation.

As the film picks up, it becomes really interesting. The main conflict is between the head coach and Weaver. The coach does not approve of Weaver's decision to trade the next three years of first-round draft picks for Bo Callahan. He has other ideas for how he wants the team to be run, and he wants Weaver to reconsider. There are a few tense moments between the two characters because of this.

When the time for his final decisions comes, it is surprisingly intense, and there are a few interesting twists to it that left me satisfied.

It does have its boring moments of exposition, but it is entertaining enough to warrant my recommendation for when it comes to DVD. For those who can care less about sports, it can still be interesting to see how the NFL works. Those who watch ESPN regularly will probably enjoy it more.

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" Review

The Grand Budapest Hotel

5 out of 5 stars

Rated R

Brief topless female nudity (on an older woman)

Brief depiction of oral sex

A couple scenes feature the portrait of lesbian intercourse

Moderate amount of language including F-words

A few scenes of graphic violence including a shot of cut off body parts.

Photographs of topless women in a jail cell

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" feels like it was ripped straight from the pages of a Roald Dahl book. It has a cartoony tone and off-beat characters that make it one of my favorite movies to come out this year.

The story is told to a writer (Jude Law) by the owner of a failing hotel named Zero (F. Murray Abraham). It is about how he obtained the building in the first place. He started out as a lobby boy (Tony Revolori), who was trained by a concierge with a lot of emotional baggage named M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes). 

Gustave is...ahem...close with a lot of rich old women who come through the hotel. When one of them dies, he and young Zero go to her funeral. When members of the woman's family find out that a very valuable item has been set aside for the concierge by a document she wrote, they are outraged. This starts a chain of events that leads to the imprisonment of Gustave and a wacky adventure to prove his innocence.

Even more than a quirky adventure story, this film is about a developing, loving relationship between the Gustave and Zero. There is an interesting father-son dynamic to them. When Zero first becomes the lobby boy, Gustave is a little hesitant about it. It is never said explicitly, but it seems that when Zero says he does not have a family, the concierge is more sympathetic and lets him have the job.

Writer/director Wes Anderson does a great job making the characters likable. They are not only entertaining to watch, they are relatable. There are so many details that make them seem real. This makes it easy to care about them and adds intensity to suspenseful moments.

One such character is Gustave. He has obvious flaws. He is conceited and has inappropriate relationships with rich, needy older women. However, the way he treats people, especially Zero, outweighs everything. Ralph Fiennes, who I know as Lord Voldemort, does an excellent job in his portrayal. In fact, his performance is so mesmerizing that it is impossible to look away when he is on screen.

This is the first major motion picture Tony Revolori has been in, and judging by the quality of his performance as Zero, I would not mind seeing him in more. He is a great actor who brings a sense of charming awkwardness to the character. Along with Zero's lover, Agatha (Saoirse Ronan), he seems to have been pulled from the world of "Napoleon Dynamite." 

Wes Anderson keeps the film visually appealing. The shots are often beautiful and often hilarious. A lot of the comedy comes from quick, quirky cuts that give it a cartoony feel. Several of the most funny scenes are impossible to describe why they are funny.

"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" Review

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

4.5 out of 5 stars

Rated PG-13

Mild language

Blood as a result of wounds and beatings but nothing gory

Brutal action violence

One scene features someone falling in turbines from a side angle

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will not be disappointed with "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." It continues the tradition of giving the audience likable characters and great action sequences that have made this franchise surpass DC comics in popularity. 

Like "Iron Man 3," this film addresses issues that came up in "The Avengers." Ever since Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) found out that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been keeping Hydra weapons, he has had problems trusting the intelligence organization. Because he's a good soldier, he does what he is told to do, but everything raises questions.

This is especially true when he is on a mission in the beginning involving a S.H.I.E.L.D. boat being hijacked by pirates. He has a certain job to take the boat back, but he finds out that Natasha Romanov/ The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) has different orders than he does.

Meanwhile, there is corruption within S.H.I.E.L.D., and it gets taken over. Rogers and Romanov look for clues to find out what exactly is going on. 

There are also people hunting down Rogers and Romanov. One of them is a mysterious figure known only as "The Winter Soldier." It is revealed who he is, and this is an important detail to Rogers.

The action scenes are among the best to come from the Marvel franchise. There are plenty to showcase Captain America's strength. His hits are brutal, often sending people into the wall or whatever is around. Several scenes feature very fast hand-to-hand combat. Unlike other movies in which the camera shakes too quickly to see anything, the shots are focused enough for these sequences to be enjoyable.

This is thanks in part to directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who know how to properly film this. They also do a good job at keeping shots in non-action scenes interesting, which often involve mirrors and windows.

Since "The Avengers," the plots have been getting progressively more comic book-like. That is exactly how this one is. The way the characters find out what is going on with S.H.I.E.L.D. is very unrealistic, but it is exactly something one would expect coming from the pages of Marvel. Though it might be a little cheesy to some people, this is not a bad thing at all. It is a universe based on comic books, and it should have that feel.

While this movie does not focus super hard on the characters, it stays true to how they have been established throughout the previous films. Though Steve Rogers is starting to question things, he is still a goody-good who only wants to do what is right. Natasha Romanov is witty yet professional as in the other films. There is an interesting relationship that develops between the two characters.

Another hero is introduced named Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). He is likable enough, but he is not developed very well. He just kind of goes with everything, and the film does not give him a definite personality. Though the story would not have changed very much without him, he adds quite a bit to the action scenes with his super-cool weapon.

I would recommend seeing this in theatres. It is a very solid product from a franchise that shows no sign of slowing down.