AmbushBug26 Reviews

Krampus (I) (2015)

Krampus may stumble here and there, but tis a jolly little scare.

[6/10 · 4 December 2015]

Krampus may not be the scariest film this year, but it's certainly entertaining and you can tell the creators gave it their all. Even if not everything in the film ends up working.

The director is very talented at creating legitimate thrills and building up suspense. There are no false jump scares or lame fake-outs. When the film is building up to something, it builds and builds. Showing just the right amount at just the right time. That scene in the trailer where the girl is being chase under the car, is exactly how a chase should be done. It's tense, it's fast paced, and it's awesome.

This may be the first film in years that captures the feeling of being stuck at home in a snow storm, perfectly. I actually remember shivering at one point and wondering if the theatre had turned on the AC, but it was actually just that the film looked cold. The fireplace always looked cozy and warm and inviting, and the claustrophobia of staring outside and seeing a blank white page of environment really sits in. It feels exactly like you're there, stuck in that house.

There are so many moments, that are insanely creative. The opening credits sets the mood perfectly and there's a pretty cool animated stop-motion segment in the middle of the film that evokes those old Rankin/Bass holiday specials. These are great ways to bring a little more life to the film and shake things up a little.

There's a lot of creativity in the monsters. From demonic sharp toothed teddy-bears, a jack-in-the-box caterpillar monster, and maniacal laughing mischievous gingerbread men. Krampus looks great as well. He kinda looks like Santa Claus on Meth, which is a unique design. Although he does have one main flaw, his face is just so lifeless and cheap looking. The Krampus in the animated segment showed more personality in a matter of seconds, than the actual live action costume.

The actors for the most part are good. Conchata Ferrell gets all the best lines. But the other actors all do good work with what they're given. I thought I was going to hate these characters, but strangely enough the performances of the actors involved actually made me end up rooting for them to survive. They tried their hardest to work with the limited material, and it shows.

The ending was the worst part. It ends three times. The first I was perfectly fine with, and felt like a legitimate place to end the story. History repeats itself, lessons are learned. But then it just kept going, and the second ending was kinda lame but at least was serviceable. We got to see more of Krampus' crew which was kinda cool. The third ending was just flat out dumb. I get what the creators were trying to do. The old divine intervention ploy we've seen in The Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life, but unlike those films it just felt like a cop-out and unearned.

It's not drop dead funny, it's not soil your pants scary. It's just kinda in the middle. There's some good stuff, there's some bad stuff. But in the end, I was entertained by the film. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to see it on the big screen, but watching it at home by the fireplace with a cup of hot-chocolate, totally!

Jurassic World (2015)

Well, It's Better Than the Other Two Sequels.

[7/10 · 13 June 2015]

The original Jurassic Park was a technological marvel, but it's not perfect. The internet has brought the numerous plot-holes of the original film to the fore-front, but it still holds up. We can watch that movie and ignore the fact that this supposed hacker genius teenage girl isn't smart enough to not turn off a flash-light that's attracting the attention of an angry T-Rex. We can watch that movie and ignore the fact that Hammond spares no expense in everything, but hires one man to write all the code. We ignore these things because the special effects in that film, hold up to this day. The feeling of terror during the T-Rex reveal scene, still holds up. We forgive the fact that it's not a perfect film logically, because it's still a perfect film technically and emotionally.

There's no way of topping the first film. Spielberg couldn't even do it himself with The Lost World, you just can't recapture that nostalgia, and to expect that much of THIS movie is pretty asinine...the best it can do is be it's own clever film that still respects the original.

That being said, the film comes pretty dang close. It's probably the most entertaining Jurassic Park sequel thus far. It's not overly stupid like the third film, and not overly preachy and emotionless like the second film. Instead it's just kind of stuck in the middle. There are MANY of good things in this film, but SO MANY missed opportunities.

The actors do a good job. Chris Pratt is pretty much just playing Chris Pratt. Vincent D'onfrio is a decent dumb bad-guy. The brothers get a few good scenes and prove to be somewhat capable actors. Surprisingly the best character is Bryce Dallas Howard, she's still a stereotypical character like the others. But at least she goes through some form of an emotional arc throughout the story. She's pretty much the Alan Grant of this film, the only character that changes during the movie. The other characters are pretty much just there to help that character to survive.

The big missed opportunity with the film, is the special effects. They're god-awful. Apparently they used animatronics on set, but the entire film looks fake. All the dinosaurs look like CGI cartoons. I'm guessing they "polished" the animatronics to make it look more realistic....it didn't. It just looks like the actors are responding to air.

So the film failed to be as technologically inventive as the original, but at least the film TRIED to be as emotionally effective. It's not just a bunch of disaster scenes with dinosaurs. It does actually stop and let the characters breath. The action doesn't even start till about half and hour into the film. Everything up to that point is letting the characters explore and showing off the park. Even when the action does start, there's still a rather sad scene with Claire and Owen and a Brontosaurus. But that's not to say there isn't a ton of cool scenes with the Dinosaurs. It does actually try to show-off the coolness of the dinosaurs. The scenes with the Mosasurus is cool, the Pteranodon attack is a blast, and the climatic battle is AMAZING!!! Such a thrill!!!

I walked out of the film, satisfied. The special effects are garbage compared to the original. But the actors all do a good job with their stereotypical characters (The original had it's fair share of stereotypes), one of the characters does go through an emotional arc, it's about as logical as the original was, and the film does actually stop and breath and show off the real stars of the show, the dinosaurs.

It's okay.

7 out of 10

Chappie (2015)

Emotional, Entertaining, but has it's Flaws

[8/10 · 13 March 2015]

I'm honestly shocked how much the critics just seemed to hate this film. It's a far better improvement over Elysium and even though District 9 had the better story, I felt that Chappie was a far more emotional film. I'll admit, I shed a manly tear for that robot. Something I didn't even do for the aliens in District 9.

I don't think I'd call the film original, cause a lot of what the film does has been done before. But at least the film does try to do those things well. You can certainly feel that Neill Blomkamp tried his hardest to make this a good film, he didn't set out to be cheap or just rob people of their money. An A for Effort has to be awarded in that aspect.

Sharlto Copley pretty much carries this film when it comes to the actors. He captures the childlike innocence and utilizes the motion capture almost to perfection. Chappie's purity and the emotional struggle of discovering and observing the pros and cons of being alive make him an engaging and likable character.

Too bad the rest of the cast wasn't like that. Hugh Jackman is pretty standard as the bad guy, although his final pounding from Chappie was certainly a satisfactory experience. So if it was fun watching the hero beat him to near death, he must have done something right to make us hate the character. Dev Patel is okay, but doesn't do much outside of act as the father fighting for custody of his own creation. Sigourney Weaver has only two scenes, she's pretty much only in the film because it's a science fiction film.

This is also the acting debut of Ninja and Yolandi Visser. Yolandi does an okay job as the mother figure, and she's cute enough that you don't mind watching her. But Ninja was just mediocre. He wasn't likable, his character was more annoying than entertaining and the only time I liked him was when the film made fun of him by having Chappie act like him by "being cool". I get that Chappie's "mommy" and "daddy" is supposed to act as the angel and devil on his shoulder throughout the film, and comment on human upbringing. But I felt they could have done that with better actors and characters.

On the whole, I enjoyed the film. It was sad, it was funny, it was action packed, the special effects were fantastic for a low budget. It doesn't really do anything new and with the exception of Chappie, there isn't really any other engaging characters to follow. But the film does at least attempt to be something more.

8 out of 10.

Frozen (I) (2013)

So Close to Being Flawless,

[9/10 · 23 December 2013]

As a Disney fan both as a child and 21 year old college film student, I was hesitate to see this film. It seemed to be marketing itself towards a female audience and as a single male with no children, I really didn't see a point in going to see it.

Than the critical praise came out, people saying it was Disney's best film since "Beauty and Beast." Well since Beauty and The Beast is in my opinion a flawless film, I had to see this for myself to satisfy my curiosity on whether or not it would live up to such standards.

While the film does indeed cater to "sisters, couples, and girls" it doesn't alienate it's male audience either and for that I applaud it. While I wouldn't say it's a flawless film, it is indeed up there as one of Disney's most well crafted films since the Disney Renaissance era.

I suppose I should start with all the positive and than explain the small section of negative. So here goes.....

Well first off I really enjoyed one of the main messages of the film, which I took as being "true love isn't instant." In the film; two characters meet, they sing a song in classic Disney fashion (Which borders almost on parody of itself) and decide to get married. But then the film raises the question of whether or not they're just rushing it and whether or not that is a good thing to do. It's nice to see one of the characters actually display some form of common-sense in this situation and I enjoyed the stab at Disney's own clichés and also raising a good message to kids that really isn't addressed as much as it probably should be. For that alone, I give this film huge props.

In fact a lot of things this film does brings a great sense of originality to the Disney formula. For example, we actually have a great play on the "Talking animal" cliché, with a character doing the talking for the animal instead. They could have just made the animal talk, but instead they got a little creative and that makes the cliché less lazy and more original and unique.

I also enjoyed that the comical relief character isn't just a character we meet on the journey who joins the group just to be a comical relief character, he actually has a bit of a history with the two lead characters. It would have been easy to just bring him in and have him be there for the sake of just providing laughs. But by grounding his existence with the lead characters it gives his own purpose a little more weight and legitimacy. Once again, they could have taken the lazy approach to him, but didn't and I applaud this film for doing that.

Also, so glad that the romantic subplot is put aside and instead the film chose to focus more on the relationship with the sisters. That's where the heart of this movie is (possible pun intended) and it was a smart move to play the best cards they had. The relationship with the sisters is pretty flawless, both are unique and have different character flaws that ground them and make them feel more real. Yet both love each other and showcase that love by fighting through their flaws together. The romantic stuff is still there, but it's mostly put on the sideline without feeling too forced or unneeded.

The voice acting is also really fantastic. I never once recognized an actors voice, which was really great because that really brought the characters more to life and made them feel more legit. I never once thought "Oh wow, Kristen Bell is a great singer", instead I found myself thinking "Wow, Anna is a great singer."

Animation.....top-notch....nuff said.

Now I did say this film wasn't flawless, but don't think this means it's a bad film. My only two flaws are very minor and don't ruin the film on a whole.

The first problem I had was that one of the songs felt completely unneeded and kinda ruined the pace of the film at the beginning. It almost felt squished in there and I felt that a non-lyrical musical montage like that famous scene in Pixar's UP (Another flawless film) would have made that scene more effective. It wasn't a bad song; in fact it was one of the better ones, but it would have been better left on the cutting room floor.

The second flaw is that the villain in the film was introduced so late in the movie that I didn't have time to grow to hate him. If this film followed Alfred Hitchcock's rule of suspense (Showing the audience a bomb that the characters are unaware of, is more suspenseful than just having the bomb go off surprisingly) than that would have made the villain more vile and disgusting. I saw this film with my mother (who saw it once before) and she said that she did hate the villain more the second time viewing the film because she knew who the villain was. Which only proves my point. I usually hate obvious villains, but in this case it would have been better that way.

Other than those two minor flaws, the film is fantastic. It's got a great message, some catchy songs, good developed characters, solid voice acting, and is really smart at avoiding or being aware of the classical Disney formula that it's trying to live up to.

This feels like a huge step in the right direction for Disney and I can only hope that more films like this are to come.

9 out 10 (Perfect for audiences young or old)

Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004 Video)

Worth it for the 4th wall jokes alone.

[7/10 · 5 October 2012]

When it comes to breaking the 4th wall, nothing makes me laugh harder. It's one of the reasons Deadpool is my favourite comic book character, and it's one of the reasons I like this movie.

It's an interesting plot, with some really well done animation for a straight to DVD release. I love how they fixed the age old problem I've had with hand drawn animation. Remember how in old cartoons the background would be painted with watercolours and the characters painted with ink and you'd also be able to know when a character would pick and object up because it to would be painted with ink. They solve that problem in this movie....finally.

This film may seem a bit too kid friendly but trust me when I say there are some jokes that'll get a laugh out of adults too. Nothing to crude but still clever enough to work.

The voice acting is great and the songs are clever. Taking classic music from the era and adding words and lyrics to them works. At one point the turtle sings a song that is classic Beethoven which is one of the funnier songs.

The Beagle Boys steal the show in this one, pretty much every joke they have nails it and will make both adults and kids laugh. Pete also has a few to his own "why'd the music stop?" still makes me smile. The constant stretching or breaking of the 4th wall is what makes this movie likable. These are characters that know they are cartoons and that some of the things that happen in the cartoons are bizarre.

Not a bad movie check it out.

Dredd (2012)

Stop Comparing It To The Raid.

[8/10 · 25 September 2012]

I love how people say this is a copy of "The Raid"....what makes it a copy? Because they're trapped in a building and being hunted by an army of people? I don't know about you, but if someone asked me "what was that movie with the policeman getting trapped in the building while having to fight off a bunch of enemies?"....My first thought would be "Die Hard" not "The Raid." Similarities aside, this is a really well done action movie. It's nothing special, but it's surely not a waste of money. In fact I feel kinda sad that this film isn't doing so well in the box office. It's one of those films you have to see in theatres....especially in 3D. The Slow Motion shots in 3D are just mindbogglingly beautiful. I'm surprised nobody has ever thought of doing something like that before.

As for the actors, they're all really good. Nobody really brings in a bad performance, but there are a few weaker links. Karl Urban owns the role of Judge Dredd, and pulls off a great performance even though most of his face is covered (That says something). He just has this aura of "don't mess with me" and when a bad guy does just that, you know that it's not going to end well. I also really liked the girl who played Anderson. Obviously she's supposed to be the person people tie to emotionally, let's face it, it's kinda hard to relate to a fascist almost robotic police man who views the world in such black and white terms. The rest of the actors are good but kinda forgettable.

The villain is interesting, but we aren't really given a lot to care about. She doesn't even have that "don't mess with me" vibe like Judge Dredd did. Which is a shame because most of the best villains in film and literature have that. They do try to give her that vibe and for a brief moment almost hit it, but it's just not enough. Lena Headey's performance is good but she isn't given much to work with.

The best part of the movie is easily the scene with all the Judges, I won't spoil it for you readers but that was the moment I truly fell into this movie and knew this film would be entertaining and boy did it pay off. Well done.

Also Judge Dredd's gun is really, really, really cool.

I don't know what else to say, it's really one of those movies you just gotta grab a few friends together to go see it with. It's a popcorn film through and through, but it's a dang good one. I hope word of mouth convinces more people to go see it or it at least achieves Cult status.

I went in wanting to be entertained, and I got just that. But can we please stop comparing it to "The Raid". I liked the movie, but "The Raid" isn't that original either it took it's cues from "Die Hard" just like this film probably did. Do the math, "The Raid" was released the year this was being filmed so I doubt they we're ripping it off since they had already had a script and were in production by then.

Good film, quite entertaining, check it out.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The Spider-man Film That The Comic Fans Will Love But Sam Raimi Fans Will Hate

[8/10 · 15 July 2012]

Being a Spider-man comic book fan I can say that a lot of the stuff that happens in this story is true to the comic book Spider-man. Spider-man has web shooters, Spider-man likes to joke a lot, Gwen Stacy was Spider-man's first love, etc. So Anyone who is a fan of the comics will respect this movie on that merit, the merit that it was faithful to the source material while bringing in new stuff without losing what made Spider-man who he is.

People who've only seen the Spider-man films and never bothered to read any of the comics. Won't like this film as much. They'll say the same old stuff. "Why was this made? We've seen this already?" Blah blah blah.

Let me go off saying that behind Spider-man 2, this is probably the best of the Spider-man trilogy for one reason.....it avoids all clichés that the original trilogy didn't. In fact the film pretty much avoids all clichés at all. I'll try and explain a few without spoiling the film.

Well first of all the woman in this film aren't morons. One of the main problems I had with Sam Raimi's films was the fact that all woman were pretty much portrayed as objects that Spider-man can save. None of them do anything helpful. Sure Mary Jane tried to hit Doctor Octopus with a plank in the second film, but she couldn't even do that right. That's not the case here. Gwen actually has a confrontation with with villain and she doesn't screw around, I won't say what she does but when I saw it happen I couldn't help but cheer. Finally a Spider-man film where the woman have a brain-stem.

The second cliché it avoids is being predictable. The original films basically have Spider-man going through the motions. Girl gets kidnapped, Spidey saves girl, Spidey defeats villain or jumps out of the way so the villain can do harm to himself. That is not the case with this film, a lot of the time you think one thing is going to happen but then it doesn't and the opposite happens.

The third cliché it avoids is having silly moments. The first trilogy had a lot of them, yes even Spider-man 2 (The raindrops keep falling on my head scene). Going back an having re-watched the Sam Raimi trilogy before seeing this one, the films are more like popcorn films. Sam Raimi is the master at making B movies and that's what the original trilogy was, an epic scale B Movie. With this film, they get a little more serious. There's not really any goofy moments that I can think of and if there are then it's usually played for laughs.

Also THANK GOD They got Flash Thompson right. Sam Raimi used Flash so he could be the stereotypical bully, and at the beginning you think that's what Marc Webb plans to do, but then he shows that Flash isn't as big a douche as he makes himself out to be. Flash is one of my favourite Spider-man characters in the comics, and I'd like to say "thank you Marc Webb for avoiding the cliché of him just being a bully and actually making him a human being with depth." The film also does other things right besides avoiding clichés. The actors all do fantastic jobs and I will go on record saying that Andrew Garfield is the perfect Spider-man and a great role model for young boys even though he has his flaws. Martin Sheen was great as an Uncle Ben who is kind, understanding, but at the same time doesn't take any crap. Emma Stone was great as the kind of jokey but intelligent Gwen Stacy who is a strong positive role model for young woman. The Guy who played the villain was great, The girl who played Aunt May was good in the few scenes she was in. Not a weak link in the bunch.

So I've done nothing but praise this film so far, so why is it still behind Spider-man 2 in my books? Well the film does have flaw, mainly two. One it's rushed, the only one who really pays for it being rushed is the villain who only gets one line of dialogue to explain his motives and even then we're not sure why he's doing that. The second flaw is that it doesn't have this big epic feel that Spider-man 2 had, it doesn't feel like it was made to be a big summer blockbuster, instead it was made to be an Indy film with a big budget....although maybe that's why I liked it so much, it focuses more on characters than action.....hurm.....I'm still on the fence with that last one.

The Amazing Spider-man is a good film. It avoids most if not all clichés, it's fresh, it's interesting, it's got characters you love to see and actually feel for played by fantastic actors, it's a great Spider-man film and it's sad that a lot of fans seem to be hating it right now. I honestly can't see what's to hate.

Good film, go see it.....oh by the way.....I wouldn't recommend seeing it in 3D, there are a few moments where you're like "Whoa cool" but not much.

Act of Valor (2012)

Meh.

[6/10 · 7 March 2012]

My basic reaction to Act Of Valor was just as the title says....meh.

The action scenes are good, and it's interesting to see how Navy Seals actually work. Although there is one big complaint and a one minor complaint I had with this movie.

The big one is the last act, it's a mess. The whole film spends it's time glorifying war saying "look at these guys, aren't they awesome!!", then it goes to criticizing war saying "look what will happen if you join to fight", then it goes back to glorifying it again by saying "oh you'll be the manliest of men if you do fight for your country." I have no problem if a film wants to glorify war, it's a movie. Everyone knows real war is hell. Although don't glorify it, then slap you in the face for liking it, then glorify it again. Either Glorify it or criticize it, don't do both.

My second problem with the film is that the Navy Seals, while out risking their lives, can't act. Some of them are okay, other just feel like they're reading their lines off of cue cards. I'm willing to forgive this though, it's an action movie. It's not looking for any Oscar nominations.

Now the good things, the action scenes are really well done. No shaky-cam, it's all really smooth and clean. Some parts felt like they need to step back a bit, but most of the time the director films action the way it's supposed to be filmed.

Some actors do a decent job, mostly the wife of the one Navy Seal and the main bad guy. They bring some decent performances. I didn't really see the point in getting actual Navy Seals to act in the movie. I guess since it's a love letter to them it makes sense, but something just seems kinda gimmicky about it.

It's not a bad film overall, it just didn't grab my attention and while it kept me slightly entertained (I won't lie I dozed off a bit) I felt it needed to do more. The last act of the film doesn't help me when it comes to recommending this film.

6 out of 10. Rent it if you think it looks interesting.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)

Not As Bad As People Say It Is.....But Still Not Good.

[7/10 · 27 February 2012]

People are out to crucify this film, when really it's not that bad. It's perfect B movie goodness at it's best. I'm beginning to agree with the Angry Video Game Nerd when he reviewed Indiana Jones 4, the B-movie is dieing. Not because of bad films, but because audiences now-a-days are so black and white. It's got to be a good intelligent film that's on the quality of The Dark Knight or it's a piece of crap.

Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance from the beginning isn't trying to be anything more than harmless turn off your brain entertainment and it succeeded in doing so. Honestly what did people expect? It's from the guys who made Crank 1 and 2.

Let's look at the good and bad of this film.

THE GOOD

• Every action scene is entertaining and fun to watch. The Ghost Rider is a lot more scarier in this film and is portrayed as quite a freighting being. Big improvement over the first film. The villains also put up a bigger fight in this film.

• The special effects are also a huge improvement. Ghost Rider's charred skull and melting leather jacket is a huge improvement over the kinky spiked leather jacket, and fake CGI looking skull from the first film.

• Nick Cage hams it up big for this film, but the directors at least know how to make it work...somewhat....Instead of being Throw up in your mouth bad, it's just eye rolling bad. Honestly though, only two scenes made me roll my eyes and both are when Johnny Cage is trying to hold back from turning into the ghost rider.

• Idris Elba tries so hard to make this a better movie. He's probably the only actor who actually tried his hardest and his character is probably the most interesting of the side characters.

THE BAD

• While Idris Elba tries so hard to save this film, and Nick Cage is at least entertaining to laugh at in some scenes. The other actors are just....meh. Johnny Whitworth was decent but he didn't have a lot to do other than be the jerky bad guy. The kid and mother are stock characters at best. I'm getting kinda tired of the Devil always being portrayed as some kinda business man. So basically Nothing really good, but nothing really terrible. I just wish the characters were more interesting.

• Not much plot.

• While Nick Cage is somewhat entertaining, I still wish they went the full reboot route like The Incredible Hulk and hire a different actor. Someone who would have tried a bit harder like Idris Elba did with his role. In fact Johnny Whitworth would have made a more interesting Johnny Blaze than Blackout.

The film is what it is and what it is...is mindless entertainment. It's a b-movie popcorn film and nothing more. It's not trying to win any awards it just wants to be fun and entertaining. I was having fun watching it with my friends and I was entertained...so....mission accomplished.

The Chipmunk Adventure (1987)

This Movie Is Classic.

[9/10 · 22 August 2007]

When I first saw this movie I was only a little kid and I fell in love with it, they really don't make movies like this anymore,I just watch this again now slightly older and still love it.

The Humour is perfect and fits into the movie really well, all the gags are kind of childish but will make adults laugh as well,and in a kids movie is really very rare.

The Animation is amazing and to watch hand-drawn animation is a real breath of fresh air to all the computer animation we see today. The Backgrounds are stunning and the coloring is amazing.

The Characters are just the kind of characters that you fall in love with the moment you start watching girls will think the Chipmunks are adorable and Guys will think the Chipettes are really kinda sexy.

The Songs are fun to listen too and some just really make you wanna cry or get up and dance, its also fun to watch visual humor to go along with them.

The Voice Acting is great no doubt even if most of the voice acting is high pitch, but an interesting thing popped up and it one of the songs from this movie but the slowed down to show the real voices behind them and its really kinda fun to watch.

If you see this movie in a store or somewhere to rent I say check it out it's really worth seeing and is a perfect family movie its absolutely amazing, words can not express this movie.

Ratatouille (2007)

Pixar At Its Best !!

[8/10 · 22 July 2007]

I can easily say that this was Pixars finest movie yet, it was filled with heart-warming moments and jokes perfect for any family.

The movies beginning was timed just right and makes you fall in love with the character instantly

All the Jokes in the movie are surprising and pop outta nowhere making you laugh out loud.

The characters are cute and lovable and the voice actors who provide them are spot-on perfect.

The movie is filled with moments that make you want to just jump into the television or theater screen and hug the characters and make them feel better.

And the plot of the story while kind of ridiculous, is a perfect plot for a rat movie, and sends Flushed Away rolling down the toilet.

Over all Ratatouille is a film that is well worth seeing and is probably one of the best pixar movies ever-made