Movie Review - DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES...

Earlier today, I watched the action-adventure fantasy Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves at AMC theaters.

I never played the Hasbro game that this film is based on, but I will say that Honor Among Thieves itself is both a fun and funny film!

The story is about a pickpocket named Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine), who set out to take back his daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) and the 'tablet of awakening' from Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant) after Edgin entrusted them to his friend after a heist went awry two years before.

Edgin wasn't alone in his journey...as he had Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), Simon Aumar (Justice Smith), Doric (Sophia Lillis) and—albeit briefly—Xenk Yandar (Regé-Jean Page) to help him carry out his plan.

The reason why Edgin needed to reclaim the tablet of awakening was to resurrect his wife Zia (Georgia Landers), who was killed by the blade of a Red Wizard before Darvis eventually met Holga, Simon and company. It didn't help that Forge was now in cahoots with Sofina (Daisy Head)...another Red Wizard who was responsible for getting Edgin and Holga sent to a dungeon after the ill-fated heist.

I won't spoil the rest of the story for you (except to say that the climax paid a hilarious homage to Hulk thrashing Loki at the end of 2012's The Avengers), but I will point out that this is personally the best Chris Pine movie I've seen since he first played Captain Kirk in 2009's Star Trek! His on-screen chemistry with Michelle Rodriguez worked in Honor Among Thieves (no, nothing romantic happened between them during the movie... Only great comedic timing in their scenes), and you believed the camaraderie that Edgin and Holga formed with Simon, Doric and Xenk during their adventure.

And just like his role in the recent Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, Hugh Grant played the wealthy smooth-talking criminal in Dungeons & Dragons...though unlike in Operation Fortune, Hugh Grant's character eventually had to atone for his mistakes in Honor Among Thieves.

Daisy Head was great as Sofina—a villain who would feel right at home in a Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and even Star Wars film. Speaking of Lord of the Rings, Honor Among Thieves took place in some beautiful locales as well...but in areas shot in Iceland and Northern Ireland, not in New Zealand.

I would have to say that Paramount Pictures did a great job turning Dungeons & Dragons into such a hilarious and fun-filled flick! Hasbro should be proud.

Though ironically, the 2012 movie Battleship—which was also based on a Hasbro board game of the same name—wasn't as well-received by critics over a decade ago. That's a shame considering that Battleship was a decent sci-fi action film; it would've gotten a different response had Universal Pictures not associated the movie with an old kid's game.

Going back to Honor Among Thieves, Bradley Cooper had a hilarious cameo in this film. Go see it in theaters now to find out who he played in the movie...

Two thumbs up for Dungeons & Dragons!

Gravity...

Check out this trailer for the upcoming sci-fi film that's directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Gravity looks interesting...overlooking the fact that it already feels dated seeing as how the space shuttle is now retired. And unless the tagline was referring to that shot of Clooney and Bullock working on the Hubble Space Telescope (which is more than 340 miles above the Earth), the International Space Station is orbiting around 220 miles above our planet—not 372. I'm a geek when it comes to this stuff.

Oh, and would NASA approve of this flick?

This Is the End... "Like tears from the tip of my penis." So were the words from party crasher-turned-evil cannibal Danny McBride when describing what happened when he had a good time at James Franco's house party in the hilarious movie, This Is the End. I saw the comedy flick last weekend (right after I watched Man of Steel), and it did not disappoint in delivering the kind of nasty but all-out funny gags that one would expect from Seth Rogen and company after seeing such films as Superbad, Pineapple Express and Knocked Up. What's ironic is that Michael Cera, who exchanged tons of witty banter with Jonah Hill in Superbad, was more interesting playing himself than say, Nick in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist or Scott Pilgrim in...Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Of course, this must've been due to Rogen (who co-directed and wrote the screenplay for This Is the End with Evan Goldberg) allowing Cera to perform such shenanigans as slapping R&B singer Rihanna on the butt and blowing (as well as getting blown; no comments) cocaine powder at Kick-Ass's Christopher Mintz-Plasse's face. Also game to showing up in This Is the End (and meeting their demise once the Apocalypse begins less than 30 minutes into the film) is Mindy Kaling, Paul Rudd, Aziz Ansari and Jason Segel. Trying to survive the end of the world with Rogen, Franco, McBride and Hill is Craig Robinson, Jay Baruchel (who along with Rogen is the star of the movie), Emma Watson and Channing Tatum—in a hilarious cameo that I'm sure will be more than welcomed by females in the audience.



All-in-all, This Is the End was totally entertaining. Along with ball-busting humor, it had some pretty amusing visual effects that you would see in 1980's summer blockbusters like Ghostbusters (the first one, mostly) and Gremlins. The highlight of this flick was seeing James Franco constantly sparring with Danny McBride over such issues as wasting limited food and water and not staining Franco's porno mags with McBride's um, tears. Jonah Hill, even when he was possessed by a demon that molested him while lying in bed, was still reserved in his performance...which is due to the fact that Hill is obviously playing himself and also because he's trying to act more serious ever since his Academy Award nomination for Moneyball. Rogen, Robinson and Baruchel played their usual selves—while Ms. Watson must've had fun spouting profanities after playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films for so many years. If I were to recommend a comedy to watch after being bombarded by non-stop comic book action in Man of Steel and Iron Man 3, it would definitely be This Is the End. Unless of course, you hate boy band groups...'cause then you might wanna leave the auditorium before the start of the final scene. Backstreet's back, alright!

84th Annual Academy Award Nominations... Not surprisingly, Jonah Hill got a Best Supporting Actor nod for his role as an Oakland Athletics numbers-cruncher in Moneyball. Former co-stars Michael Cera and Seth Rogen are either happy for him or fuming right now. As for Moneyball (which landed Brad Pitt another Best Actor nomination), it turns out this baseball biopic is the only film out of the nine Best Picture nominees that I saw at the theater. I'll possibly watch War Horse, The Descendants and/or Hugo at the cineplex before the Oscars air on TV next month. Other highlights from today's announcement include Rooney Mara getting a Best Actress nomination for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (which was as disturbing as The Social Network was insightful about Facebook's creation... Kudos, David Fincher) and Gary Oldman a Best Actor nod for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. If Gary Oldman ends up winning the gold, this would be the second time in two years a major cast member from Christopher Nolan's Batman films takes home the statue from the Academy Awards. Christian Bale was recognized as Best Supporting Actor last year for his role in 2010's The Fighter.



In terms of the technical categories, Transformers: Dark of the Moon earned the same amount of nominations that the first Transformers film received in 2008, and two more than what Revenge of the Fallen received in 2010. Like TF1, Dark of the Moon earned nods in Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects. (Revenge of the Fallen was only recognized for Visual Effects, which was eventually awarded to James Cameron's Avatar.) Of course, if it's anything like TF1 at the 2008 Oscars, Dark of the Moon will lose out in all three categories...most likely to Hugo or War Horse for Sound Editing and Design, and maybe Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2 or Hugo for Visual Effects. Since Hugo is leading all 2012 contenders with 11 nominations, I say that this Martin Scorsese flick will be the one that usurps Dark of the Moon at the Kodak Theatre on February 26...thus completing the trifecta of disappointment for the Transformers movie franchise at the Academy Awards, and becoming the second 3-D film since Avatar to dominate the Oscars (despite the fact The Hurt Locker won Best Picture instead of James Cameron's sci-fi epic in 2010). For those of you who'd wish this 3-D fad would just go away, Hugo probably made that even unlikelier. Carry on.

THE FINAL POST OF 2011... Just thought I’d end this year by posting a couple of cool random movie stills (that I found on the Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki website) from the second highest-grossing film of 2011, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. (Did I really need to mention the title since you could've obviously guessed it from these pics?) Dark of the Moon earned $352.4 million domestically (collecting a total worldwide gross of $1.1 billion), while Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 took in $381 million in the North American box office (with a worldwide gross of $1.3 billion). In terms of DVD sales, Dark of the Moon ranked No. 10 for 2011 (as of December 18)...selling 2.6 million units for a total gross of $44 million.



Despite being a Transformers fan, I think that Harry Potter deserved to go out on top since Deathly Hallows, Part 2 was the final movie in the Hogwarts series. Presumably. One thing’s for sure, the Transformers film franchise will continue—with or without Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf (movie critics be damned). Though bring back Megan Fox (Not bloody likely. I still think you're hot, Rosie) and Steve Jablonsky to compose Transformers 4's music score.

Have a great 2012, everyone!

MEN IN BLACK 3... Check out the new trailer for next May's third installment in the sci-fi comedy film franchise. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones return in Men in Black 3 as Agents J and K, respectively, while Rip Torn reprises his role as MIB boss Zed. New to the cast is Alice Eve (Entourage), Emma Thompson (of the Harry Potter films, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows, Part 2), Bill Hader (Superbad) and Nicole Scherzinger (of TV's The X Factor). Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (of Milk, W and True Grit) also shows up in MIB 3, as a young Agent K.

Men in Black 3 gets released in theaters nationwide on May 25, 2012.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES... I saw the movie earlier today, and I must say, it was really good. Much like Batman Begins, Rise of the Planet of the Apes gave a very interesting origins story for a well-established film franchise...with the depiction of Caesar growing from an orphaned ape born with special abilities to the would-be leader of a new race of primates who rule the world after the humans’ demise being very compelling. The film has a stellar cast—with James Franco and the lovely Freida Pinto leading the charge—and other actors such as John Lithgow, Brian Cox and Tom Felton (best known as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies) giving good performances as well. In fact, I might be a bit overdramatic when I say that Lithgow’s performance as Franco’s Alzheimer’s-inflicted father in the movie was very moving, and actually is a nice twist in the explanation to how the apes become the intelligent (and eventually belligerent) creatures that became famous in the 1968 classic film.

Andy Serkis, best known for his CGI’ed performances as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Peter Jackson’s subsequent film, King Kong, did a great job portraying Caesar. How Caesar goes from becoming a frightened new arrival at the San Bruno primate facility near San Francisco to the confident leader who would liberate the other apes being held captive there and give them the unique abilities that he has is very convincing. But it can’t be understated that his moments with Franco, Pinto and Lithgow in the household scenes were pretty heartwarming. And how his scenes with Felton’s abusive caretaker at San Bruno were pretty intense...and pivotal to how Caesar would rise to prominence in the world his race will soon dominate.

I can’t say enough positive things about Rise of the Planet of the Apes. One thing’s for sure, it was much better than 2001’s Planet of the Apes. Unlike that film, which was directed by Tim Burton and starred Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth and Michael Clarke Duncan, Rise didn’t have a WTF(?!) moment at the end of the flick like Burton's movie did. In fact, there was no twist to the finale of this Apes prequel...it was fairly straightforward. But unlike the 2001 flick, I look forward to seeing what lies in store for Caesar and company in future installments...since I read online that this movie is intended to be the start of a new Planet of the Apes film series. As long as the sequels will be as good as this one, I hope the new series will be long-lasting.

HARRY POTTER FINALLY SURPASSES TRANSFORMERS at the U.S. box office... 'Bout time. Domestic-wise, the first Transformers movie made more money ($319 million) than Order of the Phoenix ($292 million) in 2007, while Revenge of the Fallen made more money ($402 million) than Half-Blood Prince ($302 million) in 2009. Deathly Hallows, Part 2 is currently at $344.9 million domestically, while Dark of the Moon is at $344.7 million...according to Box Office Mojo. Dark of the Moon will fall out of the Top 10 by next weekend while Deathly Hallows will fall to the 7th or 8th spot by the end of this week.

The new million dollar question is: Will Harry Potter finally make some noise at the Academy Awards next year? We'll see.

JAMES BOND 23... For those of you who are looking forward to the next Bond movie, which should start filming soon for a release date around Christmas of next year, the main cast for the currently-untitled spy flick was recently announced. Daniel Craig returns as the resourceful and arse-kicking British intelligence agent, while Naomie Harris (who was in such movies as Miami Vice, Ninja Assassin and the first two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels) will play Miss Moneypenny. Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, of No Country for Old Men fame, will once again play a villain in James Bond 23. Oscar-nominee Ralph Fiennes, completing his stint as Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, will play Q...the well-known gadget-maker of the Bond franchise. Judi Dench will reprise her long-standing role as M, the foreign intelligence head of Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Hopefully, Bond 23 will be as awesome as Casino Royale and have better editing than Quantum of Solace. Plus...a better locale for the climactic action scene at the end of the movie this time around. What was the reason why there’s a hotel in the middle of the Bolivian desert at the finale of Solace? I forgot.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS... For those of you who enjoyed the first Sherlock Holmes film in 2009 (which I did... I didn’t realize the awesome Oscar-nominated music score to this flick was composed by Hans Zimmer till I saw his name in the end credits), the trailer for the sequel has been released online...and is currently showing at theaters in front of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows will be released nationwide in the U.S. on December 16, with Robert Downey Jr. reprising his role as the skilled detective and Jude Law returning as Dr. Watson. Rachel McAdams is back for this installment, and new to the cast is Noomi Rapace and Jared Harris (as Professor Moriarty). Check out the trailer below.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Update... A week after the teaser poster for Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated final installment in his Batman trilogy was revealed online, the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises was officially unveiled on the Web yesterday...courtesy of its Facebook fanpage. To see The Dark Knight Rises preview on the big screen, check out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2...now in theaters. (I’m pretty sure I didn’t have to remind you about that last part.) The Dark Knight Rises comes out in theaters on July 20, 2012. Check out the trailer and some screenshots below:

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, Part 2... Almost ten years after leaving douchey stepparents behind and arriving at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter has finally met his destiny. I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 this past weekend, and it’s interesting to see how this movie series concluded its final chapter. I never read the books, but I watched every single installment in the Harry Potter franchise since 2001...remembering how good Prisoner of Azkaban, Half-Blood Prince and Part 1 of Deathly Hallows were, and how bored and indifferent I was to Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix.



My main complaint about Goblet of Fire after watching it in 2005 was how obnoxious the story seemed to get as the tone got darker and darker. I enjoyed the childlike wonder that was conveyed in Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets...but it wasn’t till Lord Voldemort fully returned in Half-Blood Prince that I finally accepted the change in mood for the Harry Potter series. Actually, I think Voldemort returned to full form in Goblet of Fire, but as I said earlier, I didn’t enjoy the film enough to remember that. And Order of the Phoenix was one-long training film...minus the cool montage with the song Eye of the Tiger playing in the background.



So what did I like about Deathly Hallows 2, you ask? (Beware of plot spoilers for the remainder of this review.) It was totally action-packed. Much like the satisfaction of seeing a setting like the Galactic Senate go from being boring in The Phantom Menace to becoming the arena for the awesome lightsaber duel between Yoda and Darth Sidious in Revenge of the Sith, it was refreshing to see casualties and destruction fall upon Hogwarts (and even that stadium where the Quidditch matches were held) in the middle act of Deathly Hallows 2. I was unaware that there was a twist to Professor Snape’s treacherous act of killing Dumbledore in Half-Blood Prince, and didn’t actually realize that Voldemort was already dying a slow and agonizing death as Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were destroying Horcruxes one by one in the last couple of films. That just comes to show you how memorable the dialogues in the Potter films were.



After ten years of watching Harry Potter wandering around Hogwarts and the rest of Scotland and England to unravel the mystery of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, it was finally good to see the ultimate um, wand battle between Potter and Voldemort outside the ruins of Hogwarts in the movie’s climax. Since I didn’t read any of the books, I had no idea that Potter’s much-talked-about death was only a ploy to weaken Voldemort even further before he was finally defeated. To see Voldemort disintegrate once the final Horcrux was destroyed was almost as epic to see as the Eye of Sauron exploding at the end of Return of the King, right after the One Ring was dropped into Mt. Doom. Harry Potter now joins Star Wars and Lord of the Rings (despite the fact The Hobbit is currently being filmed) as fantasy film series completing their uber-successful run at the cinemas.



If there’s one major nitpick I need to make about Deathly Hallows 2, it’s with the very final scene of the film. Much like the protracted ending for Return of the King, that last moment at the train station felt like it was better off being left on the cutting room floor. Don’t know if this scene was in the book, but the shot of Harry, Ron, Hermione and Co. being all grown up and whatnot looked very cheesy. Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson may both be 21-years-old in real life, but they still looked and sounded pretty adolescent in the movie’s epilogue...which was suppose to take place 19 years after the death of Voldemort. Hermione seemed to have the Queen Amidala syndrome from Attack of the Clones (where Natalie Portman’s character was suppose to be 9 years older in Episode 2 but looked like she didn’t age one bit from The Phantom Menace). I guess it would’ve been even lamer if the voices of Radcliffe and Co. were altered to make them sound more mature...which is why director David Yates should’ve left this scene out altogether.



The whole happy ending thing didn’t work in 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (as well as Minority Report and a lot of other recent Spielberg films), and it didn’t work here either. At least for me. Have the Harry Potter movie franchise conclude with that shot of Harry, Hermione and Ron standing atop that damaged bridge outside of Hogwarts...remaining silent as they stare off into the distance and contemplate a future that doesn’t include an evil wizard trying to return from the dead and killing them all. Carry on.