The Maze Runner

The great thing is that from the very first frame of the movie, you're sucked in.   For the most part the cast of The Maze Runner is full of unknowns. I see a great career in every actor in this film. Everyone had chemistry and I loved how this felt like the filmmakers actually read the book. I'm hoping this becomes a trend with book to film adaptations. The only thing I didn't like, was some important details in the book being left out. The films premise is "Lord of the Flies" meets "Lost." Despite the 2 hour run time, it feels much shorter; but that's because it's an exciting thrill ride from beginning to end. . 

Grade: A-  9/10 4/5 stars

Edge of Tomorrow

I didn't really expect much from this movie. The trailers made me think "Oh, it's just Tom Cruise playing the same character over and over." However, after giving this film a chance, I'm glad I saw it. While it felt a bit redundant at times (But I guess that's the point) and started off a bit slow, by the end I was enchanted. This is one movie Hollywood should NOT make a sequel to because this movie would be instantly tainted. This is not your typical sci-fi movie and is actually quite original. It's interesting to see how just one choice can cause a different outcome then a different choice. My one complaint was it wrapped everything up vaguely and too quickly. It feels like there's no ending. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not to keep the main idea of the movie but it felt rushed to me. I did enjoy the strategy concept of this film, and how it felt like it was poking fun at regenerating every time you die in a video game and have to watch the same cutscene every time. I'm pretty sure this was unintentional, but it was genius. I enjoyed this film and it's quite a shame it's considered a box-office flop.
Grade: A+ 10/10 5/5 stars

Transformers: Age of Extinction

This is, yet again, another time when I disagree with Rotten Tomatoes. This movie is AWESOME!!!! Just forget the previous 3 films happened. This is both a sequel and a reboot. Only this time, the movie works. I think Micheal Bay is learning from his mistakes. Although this film is not without flaws of its own, it's not a pop culture travesty like "Transformers 2 and 3" were. The plot is original, (well, as original as you can get when the movie is about robots fighting each other and also based on a property that's existed for 30 years), the dialogue is humorous intentionally, and the soundtrack by Imagine Dragons makes this film even better than I expected. However, the film overuses slow-motion shots. I don't mind if it's used once or twice, but not during every fight scene. Contrary to popular belief slow motion does not make everything look cooler, It can, if used sparingly and correctly, but not like how it's used here. I felt like this film focused to much on the human characters. The movie is called "Transformers," not "Humans." If some of the unneccesary scenes, such a one of the characters drinking milk on the roof for 5 minutes (I'm not kidding, this is a legitimate scene. Seriously.) and had used that time to show what we came to see, robots beating each other up, the film could have been a bit better.
Grade: C    7/10 3/5 stars

The Giver

I'm pleasantly surprised that Hollywood chose to respect the source material instead of butchering it to the point where it's virtually unrecognizable as the same story. Jeff Bridges is the perfect choice to play The Giver! (In fact, when I read the book, I pictured him as Jeff Bridges. Apparently great minds think alike.) While it doesn't have nearly as much meat to the story as the book did it still gets the point of the story across. 1 hour and 30 minutes was a much shorter runtime than it should have been. They should have added at least another hour, and given more detail about the society in which the characters live. We're briefly given a list of their rules, but not enough detail as to how this society came to be. Some important parts were cut out of the movie or changed slightly, which is why you really must read the book first. However you can still understand most of it if you choose to see the movie before you read the book. While at times it does feel like it took inspiration from (read: stole) certain parts of the film adaptions of other YA novels such as "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent," keep in mind that the book of "The Giver" was written long before these other novels; it just took longer to make it. It's well worth the 20 year wait though, because this film adaptation is nearly perfect. It's probably the best book-to-film adaptation I've seen since the "Harry Potter" series. I'm hoping Jeff Bridges gets nominated for his role in this film, because he's absolutely phenomenal. And so is the film.
Grade: A-  9/10  4/5 stars

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

See, Michael Bay? You CAN make a movie based on something from the '80's without ruining it. Surprisingly, I enjoyed this movie very much. Megan Fox actually does something in this movie other than sitting around and looking pretty. Will Arnett really steals the show as her sidekick and has some hilarious one-liners. Although the motion capture in this movie is incredibly creepy, once you get used to it, the movie really sucks you in. I feel like Michael Bay actually learned from his mistakes with "Transformers" and decided to research the source material instead of changing it completely. Although, you can tell he's not going to let people forget the "Transformers" movies because Shredder looks exactly like Megatron, no exaggeration. it's as if Michael Bay decided to subtly do a TMNT/Transformers crossover but left that part to himself. Although the Turtles' origins have been changed slightly (in this movie, they're April's pets who are experimented on by her father in a lab instead of mutated by goop in a sewer) it still works and didn't really bother me that much. Despite the PG-13 rating, it's quite family friendly. I'm pretty sure the only reason for the rating was because it's live action. If it had been completely animated it could have easily gotten a solid PG.  Here's something I thought I'd never say about a Micheal Bay film; make a sequel. We could see Bebop and Rocksteady, Casey Jones, and Krang in the sequel. This was a great origin story film, but doesn't really have much else to offer die-hard fans.
Grade: B   8/10  3.5/5 stars

Guardians of the Galaxy

This feels more like a parody of the previous Marvel movies, then a legitimate one. That's not a bad thing though, because the constant humor keeps you interested and laughing the whole time. With so many retro gadgets, such as a Walkman, this film may make you nostalgic for the 80s. It has heart, humor and Easter eggs galore. Some people may feel they want to skip this one, because the premise is too unusual. Don't do that. If you want to understand Avengers 2 next year, you have to see this. Marvel took a risk, and it paid off tremendously. Hopefully this will open the floodgates for some more lesser known Marvel properties being made into films. 

Grade: A-   9/10 4/5 stars

Happy 1 year Anniversary! (A day late, I know, but oh well!)