Review: "Oblivion" (2013) "Tom Cruise Is Always Running From Something."

By: Brad Holmes

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Hello and welcome to Our Honest View!

Today I will tell you about my experience with the sci-fi action epic “Oblivion” starring, Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko and Andrea Riseborough.

In an attempt to avoid spoilers I won't be going into much detail about Freeman's or Kurylenko's exact roles in this movie.
  
A quick summery of the the beginning of the movie is it takes place on Earth in the year 2077, where a group of aliens who are called the Scavengers attempted to conquer the Earth. After leaving their own dying planet they come to ours to take over, this results in the moon being destroyed, and a nuclear holocaust which nearly destroys the Earth, but defeats the aliens.

Tom Cruise plays Jack Harper who along with Andrea Riseborough playing Victoria, are two of the last humans on Earth, who after getting a mandatory memory wipe five years ago, are to join the rest of the human race on a space craft in two weeks to live on Saturn's largest moon Titan, once the last of the Earth's resources are drained by basically giant vacuum cleaners.
  
 The movie looks great and the CGI is top notch, unlike other large blockbusters where the effects look like they were rendered by a windows 2000. Tom Cruise as Jack gives a good performance and Morgan Freeman is fantastic as always. I enjoy the set-up for the world and it does feel believable.   

 That is to say I don't have my problems with the film.

Most of the other actors felt underwhelming especially around two seasoned veterans like Cruise and Freeman. Risborough as Victoria never really caught my interest and it was hard to see why Jack feel in love with her other than she was the only woman with in 10,000 miles.

Olga Kurlenko performance also felt weak to me, it seemed they wanted her to be American but she could not hide her accent well and it really showed. The plot is pretty bland and predictable and after the first 25 minutes I was 97% sure I knew exactly how it would end, as well as any twists that were going to come up. Another issue I had with the movie was the running time, it was 124 minutes long and it started to drag at certain points for me that had me checking my phone on the time.

Also the abilities of Jack are incredibly inconsistent, as one minute he seems like just a smarter-than-your-average-bear type, but with not much experience in fighting, and at other point he turns into G.I. Joe meets Captain America.






 Our Honest View gives Oblivion 7.5/10. It was a bland one at best, the trailers had me expecting more of a sci-fi film in line with the Star Trek series of old, rather than the more action centric blockbuster more familiar with the Star Trek of new. While I feel that both types of films are great fun for different reasons, Oblivion just did not quiet cut the cake for me. There are some elements of mystery and trying to fit science in with the fiction, but the movie felt the need to pad itself out with random action scenes, probably trying to appeal to a larger audience.

BREAKDOWN:
+ CGI
+ Morgan Freeman and Tom Cruise

- Running Time
- Andrea Risborough


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What do you think about Tom Cruise?!

 

Review: Wrestlemania 29 "I'm Coming Home..... To Review"

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Intercontinental Championship Match:
-Wade Barrett (c) vs. The Miz

By: Gabriel Roderick

Why was this a pre-show match? It was a great quick back and forth match with much countering. You knew Miz was going to win with the figured-four but it was nice seeing Miz use a drop toe hold counter into the move!

Our Honest View gives  -Wade Barrett (c) vs. The Miz 9/10



-Randy Orton, Sheamus &Big Show vs. The Shield

This match was all over the place! Sheamus really didn't get to show why he's the best sadly, but Big Show proved that he's still a giant. I mean speared 3 men at the same time! I was expecting Shield to win and they dominated as usual and used their experience to win! I didn't like Orton teasing a heel turn, then Big Show doing a heel move. I mean Show is already a heel why was it necessary to KO punch everyone. I truly thought Orton would RKO everyone.

Our Honest View gives -  Randy Orton, Sheamus & Big Show vs. The Shield 7.5/10


-Ryback vs. Mark Henry

This match was probably the worst of the night. Wasn't Ryback suppose to replace Cena? Well Ryback barely and I mean barely mounted any offense. I think he hit 3 moves? Henry proved way to powerful and why Henry is the world's strongest man! This match also ended terribly, Ryback dropped Henry on his head? Come on, but then he was able to Shellshock him when the match is over? They haven't convince me they can replace Cena.

Our Honest View gives -  -Ryback vs. Mark Henry 2.5/10


WWE Tag Team Championship Match:
-Team Hell No, Kane and Daniel Bryan (c's) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston

This is probably the second worst of the night. So pointless for weeks they said that Team Hell No was deteriorating and after one attack they're on the same page? I think not! I did find it humorous that Ziggler almost lost the same way DB did last year! Big E was impressive but he manhandled Kane and was taken down by DB. I don't think tag teams are what WWE is looking for now, because they're not putting much effort into it. Thankful this match was short!

Our Honest View gives - Team Hell No, Kane & Daniel Bryan (c's) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston 4/10


-Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

I was looking forward for this match for Fandango at least. I mean they put so much effort into making his character and kept delaying him, why not give him a grand opening match. Plus Jericho is coming back full time apparently well he'll need something to keep him preoccupied unless they decided to make him a mega face and give him a giant push?  Only thing I didn't like was there was a lot of botches. Most notably Jericho went for the Lionsault and missed then grabbed Fandango's legs and went for walls. Fandango countered with a roll up and won. The announcers put this over as Jericho had injured his knee when it hit Fandango, he came no where near him. It was nice to see Fandango hit a wonderful leg drop but I'm surprised the match carried on as long as it did!

Our Honest View gives -Chris Jericho vs. Fandango 7/10


World Heavyweight Title Match:
-Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter

This match was a huge letdown. They had this match building up since February but not a lot of reaction from the crowd. A better match would have been Ricardo vs Zeb seeing as they invoke the crowd. They didn't even air Swagger's entrance just telling you they didn't care about him. With Swagger's arrest you know he wouldn't win the title. Only thing I liked about this was how fast and quick the opponents kept locking each others finishers on each other.

I was really surprised Ziggler waited till tonight to cash in and didn't cash in at Wrestlemania. This would have made up from his horrible tag match and also given him a Wrestlemania moment! Swagger is a voiceless Kurt Angle so he could never be a champion again and hold down the fort on Smackdown, I'm not saying Del Rio can either but with no Mysterio who else can?

Our Honest View gives -Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter 6/10


-The Undertaker vs. CM Punk

In my eyes the streak died last night! I really can't believe that Punk lost, he had Living Colour sing him off to the ring and the majority of the fans cheering him. How could you loose? Undertaker at the beginning looked like he didn't want to be there and could barely keep up with Punk. I had never seen Punk better but then Taker stepped it up to. I have to say you can never do the same thing twice, so having Punk do his diving elbow off to the announce table, you can't do it again and that's why the table didn't break. It was cool when Taker sat up in the vice but I felt like Punk couldn't really win because he couldn't hit the GTS on Taker. Not because Taker is 300 pounds but because Taker can't take a move! Undertaker's second tombstone was so believable I thought he killed Cm Punk but Taker did fight for that victory and at least the time was bearable. 

Our Honest View gives  -The Undertaker vs. CM Punk 9/10

No Holds Barred Match with Triple H's Career On The Line:

-Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar

This match probably stole the show, not only did Paul Heyman get involved but so did HBK. This proved without a shadow of doubt the game's still got it. Granted it was a little long, it picked up right where they're first match started! Also Triple H showed MMA skills so for once it wasn't a pro fighter vs a wrestler it was EVEN. I also liked the mixture between Lesnar's wrestling and fighting. This was like Triple H and Taker's match last year where they really beat each other for the fans.
This match stole the show because Triple H pulled a Sting. When the companies in a threat and careers on the line he steps up! Many points in the match they made you believe Triple H was done and gone especially when he had the Kimora lock on!

Our Honest View gives -Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar 10/10

-Brodus Clay, Tensai & The Funkadactyls vs. Team Rhodes Scholars & The Bella Twins 

Can't review the match they skipped! Though I was really looking forward to this match!

WWE Championship Match:

-The Rock (c) vs. John Cena

Once in a life time part 2. This match was better the first time. Rock can't wrestle these long matches and when Cena is the better wrestler it's kind of boring. The crowd loves to boo Cena which only made him stronger. They kept trying to one up each other which made them incredibly tired fast. 

Thought it was funny that they kept stealing each others moves then Cena even tricked Rock thinking he'd make the same mistake as last year! This match however had the most unexciting ending. They kept hitting each other with their finishers and BAM Cena hits the AA for the third time and it's over, the crowd or announcers didn't hype it up.

Rock got a celebration after? Don't know how that works, then Cena raised Rock's hand and the stage exploded and THEY still booed Cena? That's messed up seeing as he gave up a Wrestlemania moment for Rock. He didn't even parade around the ring. 

Our Honest View gives -The Rock (c) vs. John Cena 7.5/10

Combing all the matches Our Honest View gives Wrestlemania 29 a 7/10. I didn't find this year as exciting as last but some wrestlers like CM Punk and Fandango got semi Wrestlemania moments like they deserved. Miz and Barrett where overshadowed by the main show and if they didn't spend so much time with promos prior we could have had a US title match. I heard people screaming Cesaro's name he would have stole the show. 


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Review: "Devil May Cry: DMC" (2013) "In A World Of Reboots DMC Slashes It's Own Name."

This reboot of the “Devil May Cry” series raises a lot of questions on whether or not Ninja theory did Dante justice by changing his look, his voice actor, and his origin by making his mother an angle instead of just a normal human. I am proud to say that they were able to pull it off bringing new life into a character and opening the doors for more games to follow. To clear the air the new Dante does not act emo… doesn’t bitch or wine about his mother’s death, he doesn’t wear makeup or talk about how much pain he is in and how futile life is.

 He is though a confused and somewhat tortured soul, he has been forced to fight demons ever since he was a little child and even had to kill all the demons in the orphanage that he was living in. Given his personality grounds as to why he acts the way he does. Ninja theory also harkens back to the old Dante as well with his witty quips to demons and his impossible feats of strength and agility in cut scenes. They also made a rather obvious statement rather early in the game when a long haired white wig falls on to Dante’s head and he looks in the mirror and states “not in a million years” meaning that this is a new younger Dante, and more importantly that this is their version of Dante.  Now while many fans of the old Dante hated the new look I personally didn’t mind it Dante needed a reboot there have been no new DMC games for 7 years when the PS3 first came out my only complaint was the change in voice actors but the new guy Tim Phillips did a surprisingly good job and brought a lot more emotion and believability into the character.

Now while we can argue about his looks all day but it’s time to move on from that and into the new combat system. The main new changes that have been made were the removal of the style changing system from Devil May Cry 4 for a newer, sleeker, and faster combat system. Throughout the game you will be acquiring 6 extra weapons after you acquire Rebellion and Ebony and Ivory. The changes that Ninja Theory makes it so that you can switch between these weapons quickly and more fluidly so that you can keep the momentum of combat moving. Also all the motion capture that the actors did have not gone to waste Dante’s moves look much more believable and it looks like his moves actually carry weight and momentum.

Another interesting addition to the combat is the ability to spend and return your upgrade points. In the game you gather upgrade points you can use to unlock combos or weapon damage, and if you decide that the combo you unlocked doesn’t fit your play style then you can simply take the point out and put it in another skill which gives the player a lot of freedom on how they want to play the game.  Now amongst all of these great positives and fun aspects of the game there are a few glaring negative I need to address and that is the awfully short play time, no replay ability, and rewarding players for barreling through levels.  On the story side it only took me about 9 hours to complete on Nephilium which was the hardest start off difficulty and while I did thoroughly enjoy myself and yes there are harder difficulties to play and beat the game on after that I didn’t find myself really wanting to go back and re beat it on a higher difficulty I had beaten the game an knew how it ended there really wasn’t anything keeping me engaged after I had done all there was to do.

Another gripe I had was the fact that the game would time you and reward you the faster you finish a level. That idea to me was ludicrous you already have a short game why encourage players to not look at all the work you put into it but instead reward them for rushing through the game as quickly as possible. What DMC will need to do for a sequel is take a note from “Darksiders” and open up its world. The mission to mission linear game play style go old a while ago, now if after I beat the game there was still a whole world to explore and secrets to find like in “Darksiders” then its replay ability would have been high. However, there is not there is only mission to mission hopping with little exploration because the developer would rather you rush through their game so you can trade it in the next day. 

Greatest Reviews gives “Devil May Cry: DMC” (2013) 4 and half stars out of 5 for its excellent combat system, good story and voice acting I would have to say try and rent it if you can because once you beat it and are not a completionist like me then you will have nothing to occupy your time once the curtain goes down. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> By: Tyler Comp

Review: "Gangster Squad" (2013), "Potenial Choose Suicide By Cop"

Gangster squad, the latest film covering the 1940s gang wars in LA came out Friday, and I finally got my chance to see it today!
The trailer for this movie looked fantastic with he dialogue however the music choice could have foreshadowed that the movie left room for failure. Using a song from this decade and placing it a 1940's movie? True it had some "rap" feel to it which may be a play on the title "Gangster Squad" Come on, the production crew should take a look at last years "Lawless" (2012) it may have been music not from the Depression Era, but music that fit the film so well.

According to the story based on true events, a group of misfit police officers take matters into their own hands to fight a powerful mob leader, Mickey Cohen (played by Sean Penn).

The squad is led by John O'mara (played by Josh Brolin) a very decorated and honorable soldier. O'mara is comparable to Chris Evan's portrayal of "Captain America", playing the role of a selfless enforcer of Justice.

Unfortunately nothing too stellar to note, I feel like his character was decent but not great. The second in command per-say is Jerry Wooters (played by Ryan Gosling), a washed-up cop who joins the crew after matters with the mob affect him personally. Wooters character had a very mixed impression on me. I felt as if he went from hard-ass to soft guy way too often without any real rhyme or reason. It left me wanting to scream "make up your damn mind!" Every other time he was on screen.

The mob leader and retired boxer Mickey Cohen was convincing. He was ruthless and smart, in my eyes by far the best portrayed character. His girlfriend grace (played by Emma Stone) was well just as beautiful as you remember. An aspiring actress caught up in the mob life, Grace plays a very good damsel in distress.

The action scenes is where this movie truly blossoms. If your looking for some jazz, explosions, gunfights, fist fights and the works this may be the movie for you. Add in a couple clever one liners and you'll have all the makings for a classic action movie. Just wait 60 years from now when this movie is on the Retro channel. It'll be even more interesting because the time of which it takes place will be over 120 years old.

Gangster squad in my opinion was a decent movie that was cursed with a poorly written script. Most if not all of the cast did an excellent job working with what I believe was nothing, and salvaged what should have been an awful movie.

Greatest Reviews gives "Gangster Squad" (2013) 3 1/2 stars out of 5. So its not fair to review the cast, because they were plagued by a bad script. I don't think they knew what they were getting into.

Review: "Looper" (2012), Joseph Gordon-Levitt Loops into Mainstream Status!

*First things first if you haven't actually seen the movie you probably don't get the joke in the title of the review!*

 Ever wonder what it would be like to have a conversation in a diner over breakfast with your future self? And have you ever wanted to ask you future self what will happen to you in the future? If you answered, "yes" to these questions then you probably want to check out "Looper" featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis. 

This movie is set about 30 years in the future where the economic crisis is tenfold then it is in 2013. Causing crime organizations to take hold of the collapsed economy. Now thirty years past the movie setting the mob uses time traveling to send people they want to get rid of back to the present time in the movie to be killed and disposed off. Effectively eliminating them from the timeline. The men that kill these people are "Loopers", who get coördinates and wait for their hit to arrive right in front of them, bag over their head, hands tied and mouth gagged. The hits are immediately shot, and the Looper takes the price, which is tied, to the back of the intended target. When Looper's contracts expire they're future self's are sent as targets and killed. Thus ending the Looper, they call this closing the loop. How clever of them. This also gives the Looper "X" amount of years to live their lives freely until this time happens, since time is described only as a "Circle." 

Levitt's character is Joe, a drug addicted man who uses a blunderbuss gun to kill his targets. However his choice of gun limits his ranger to within 15 yards. Joe's goal is to learn french and save all his earnings so he can run away before the loop is closed. To stray away from the movie for a minute, lets talk about Levitt's career this year. He has been an independent movie phenomenon for many years, then gaining mainstream status in Christopher Nolan's "Inception" (2010). He would go on to crush 2012 being in four of my favorite movies of the year; which in bowling they would call his success a "Hambone". These films where; "The Dark Knight Rises" another Nolan film, "Premium Rush", "Looper" and finally "Abraham" sealing the deal as one of the top stars of the past year. I can't wait to see what 2013 bring for the young talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 

Back to the movie the action picks up fast, which is great, we meet Joe's best friend Seth who panics when he realizes his target is himself, and the target flees. This leads to Joe ratting him out to save him and the Mob tormenting and torturing Seth's body so the scars show up on the future Seth's body. They then send him a message to where to meet. Which is ultimately a trap and I'll leave your mind to guess what happens next. During Joe's next hit its non-other than future Joe, aka Bruce Willis. However Willis' arms are untied and he has no bag over his head. Willis or future Joe quickly subdues present Joe giving him a warning to run away. We then see a montage of Joe's future as a looper and leads up to the thirty years where loops are being killed. Joe has retired and found love, which is why future Joe is so reluctant on present Joe living. A mob master named Rainmaker sends future Joe back in order to close the loop but reasons unknown. Present Joe burns a message into his arm for future Joe to meet him, however the two Joe's have different reasons to go on. Present wants to kill his future self to close the loop so he can move on. 

While future Joe wants his past self to run away so the life he has lived will stay in the circle and unchanged. To do this however he must kill the Rainmaker as a child, so that the future he has experienced will be altered. Future Joe gives his past self a map listening three possibilities to where the child could be. Present Joe finds a farm as one of the places, and meets Sara (Emily Blunt) a farmer who takes care of a child name Cid (Pierce Gagnon), claiming to be Cid's mother. However Cid is a genius and knows that his real mother died years prior and remembers. We later learn that the map had numbers, which happen to be Cid's birthday. 

Later after being close to Sara and Cid present Joe tries to protect them from the Mob however a Gat or looper goes to kill them. Cid falls and releases a huge blast of telekinesis energy revealing he suffers from TK a disease in the future that gives certain people telekinetic abilities. Cid kills the man and it is revealed that Cid by mistake killed his mother in a similar scenario. The Rainmaker however is described as a man who watched his mother die in front of him, had a synthetic jaw and killed all mob members himself, hence why he wanted to get rid of the loopers. Present Joe now wants to kill Cid to prevent the Rainmaker however Sara convinces him that Cid can be good. While this is going on Willis is captured by the Mob however easily kills them on in a rage. Similar to "Expendables 2" (2012) or any of the "Die Hard" films, I suppose a great quote would have been "Yippe Kai Yay Mother-Loopers" He then finds the location of Sara, present Joe and Cid and goes after them. Cid releases another blast of energy when future Joe goes to kill Sara. He is shoot in the jaw, which causes him to use more energy, which would explain why the Rainmaker hates loopers, and has the power to stop everyone. Which leads to the question is the Rainmaker a bad guy? All about you’re perceptive of the film. 

THEN shocker Sara who is revealed to be Cid's aunt has TK and is able to use it to calm Cid down. This causes future Joe to attempt to kill Sara again, which causes Present Joe to realize that all four of their lives are entangled in a messy circle and the only way to end it is to erase himself, otherwise he creates the Rainmaker in every scenario in life which explains their future relationship. I'll skip a the spoilers now, however the film ends with the image of Cid as a child, which begs the question; is the Rainmaker a bad guy? 

All about you’re perceptive of the film. Another possible answer was, Sara was right when she said Cid could be a good person with his powers wronging the ones that caused others pain. With an amazing story that you never truly no villain except to who you perceive as the villain "Looper" hits the idea of time travel out of the park. Using Willis memories to change the present that Levitt lives in to change the future is a confusing concept at first but truly makes sense and is unique. When you become entangled in a circle everyone in this circle is affecting and there is no way to fix it but to erase it. Going back to what I said earlier the villain is never clearly defined. Willis and Levitt are set on the Rainmaker who kills loopers as the villain. 

However one could argue that the loopers such as Willis and Levitt are the villains, seeing also as they are defeated in the end. Something I also loved in this movie is how flawless they make it feel that Levitt truly grows up to be Willis, through the montages and memories of each character. Also the fact that they are superb actors also helps. Though who are we kidding Nightwing can't grow up to be John McClane. Now back to that question I asked earlier, you may want to change your answer to "no" seeing as maybe not knowing the future is safer for everyone. 

Greatest Review's gives "Looper" (2012) 4 1/2 stars out of 5. For a riveting story, great character choice and development and have course a great concept! We at Greatest Review's look forward to the 2013 careers of Willis and Levitt. I also have to give a shout out to the fact that Emily Blunt does an amazing job concealing her British accent for a southern one. And also the seven-year-old Pierce Gagnon is amazing as Cid and is truly talented. We can't wait to see him in the future (Or can we).

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>By: Gabriel Roderick