'Avengers: Age of Ultron' Review

Making a great and successful film even though is a great achievement brings along some challenges moving ahead, with a bar being set incredibly high for the follow-up to contain the same or better quality and gain the same or better success. Joss Whedon met this situation when The Avengers blew our minds in 2012, fast-forward to 2015 and with the sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron I believe he was able to succeeded on more time.

To begin with, Avengers: Age of Ultron was a very different film than it's predecessor, and that's why it was so effective. This sequel has a darker tone, different character dynamic, but still feels familiar; injected with that Marvel wit, action, and fun that has become synonymous with these films. With a set path in front of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one can fear that some films -especially the Avenger films- might be a risk of becoming more of a set-up to what is to come more than its own film, but Marvel has been very intelligent in that sense, making films hint subtly at the future but still holding as a single film.

Like we have seen before with these characters, the performances this time around were fantastic, from the characters/actors we already knew and from the ones we got to meet; and a special mention has to be made for Ultron, this villain has been the most menacing and effective yet. You really felt that the heroes were in real danger, you felt the despair of facing a seemingly unbeatable threat, and I found myself actually fearing for the life of every hero at some point throughout the film. On that point -BIG SPOILER AHEAD-, they were really hinting at the death of Hawkeye, and then took me by surprise by taking out Quicksilver.

The action in Avengers: Age of Ultron speaks for itself, the action sequences were amazingly put together and were visually stunning, the fight between Iron Man and Hulk and that final fight really stand out there; and getting to see Wanda and Pietro's powers in action was great. You have to wonder moving forward how in the world the action is going to get any better and/or bigger, but I'm sure Marvel has a way and it will.

I felt the film came full circle and ended nicely, when we started off the Avengers were together and by the end we find the team in a very different position; the group is evolving  as it should to move forward and keep this universe fresh. In the end, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the action-packed fun that we love on another level, and I am very much looking forward for what is to come. I will definitely be watching this film many more times.

Babble Rating: 9/10

Babble Spoiler Review: 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1'

After the events of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1  reunites us with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) shortly following the conclusion of the last Hunger Games. Katniss finds herself struggling with having lost her entire district and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) to the hands of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and the Capitol, all while the rest of the districts look to her to lead the rebellion.

I will start by saying I enjoyed the film, more than the first installment but not more than the second film. I enjoyed the performances, with those of Lawrence and Hutcherson standing out the most to me. The emotional struggle of Katniss was really presented up front and we could see her being torn about being in this place of leadership that she never wanted to be in, being worried about her friends and family, and wanting to take down the Capitol. I was pleasantly surprised from the performance of Hutcherson, I felt the times we got to see him the performance was powerful and gave out that feeling of him being a prisoner of war, not to mention that twist at the end from him which was great and I wasn't expecting (I haven't read the books). I liked the tone and scale of the film, and like many people have said this is surely a very different film from the other two. This was very much a film about war, the Hunger Games are gone and this story is now about people rising up against an oppressive government, and it that sense I believe the film succeeded and was able to deliver that message effectively.

But now that I have said what I enjoyed from the film, there are also things I wasn't happy with. I had heard it before and shared the concern, that the film was unnecessarily being split into two parts and would suffer from it, and in my opinion it did. The first half of the film felt quite slow to me, I think the build up was too long and I found myself waiting for things to get exciting (for that I blame the trailers because they made me go in expecting a war to start and not just being set up for one), and it wasn't until the Capitol attacked that I got the feeling that the fun began. I didn't mind the cliffhanger ending, and it should be expected of any film with "Part 1" on the title. Although, they made me believe for a second that the film would end with Peeta chocking Katniss, and if that would have been the case I would have left somewhat annoyed.

In general, I did enjoy the film and had fun watching it, I highly recommend it. If you are reading this review and haven't seen the film you should do so, and if you have seen it tell me what you thought about it. I am very much looking forward to the next one to see the actual war that I wasn't able to see on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.

Babble Rating: 7/10

'Gone Girl' Review

I know it's been a while since the movie has come out but I didn't get a chance to see Gone Girl until last night, so today I am going to share my thoughts on the film with you. Please remember that my reviews usually contain spoilers, since I review my films as if the reader saw the film with me, so if you have not yet seen Gone Girl, you should definitely go see it and then check back to read my review. Also to be pointed out, I have not read the book, so keep in mind my review is also as someone who has not read the book.

As movie fans, we currently pride ourselves with being smart while watching movies, we hate watching films that insult our intelligence, that don't make sense to us or that we can easily predict outcomes to. To me if something was done well in the film, David Fincher's Gone Girl was able to keep us guessing and on the edge of our seats the entire time we were following along trying to figure out the truth about the events that took place.

I liked the tone and pace of the film, it had the darkness that good thrillers should have and had just enough tiny moments of comedy that lifted any overwhelming heaviness, and I didn't find myself bored from the amount of information given or rushed to get to the conclusion. I found myself completely into the film, I was so focused on what was going on that I didn't even try to draw my on conclusions and lost track of time for a while.

The performances were great, but the stand out amazing performance was from Rosemund Pike. The actress has already been receiving a lot of Oscar buzz, and well deserved. The transformation from the two halves of the film were outstanding, at the beginning you saw her completely vulnerable and innocent and felt for her, only to them see the pure evil in her eyes and found yourself hating and fearing her character. Ben Affleck did a terrific job as well, in the first part of the film he was just so indifferent and awkward dealing with the disappearance of his wife that you couldn't help but think that he might have been the one responsible.

The big reveal that Amy staged her own murder to get Nick arrested was a huge positive from the film, like I said I haven't read the book, so It caught me by complete surprise (like I mentioned, I was so into the film I didn't even try to figure out who was responsible) and also that it would happen in the middle of the film and not at the end. That twist for me was unexpected, and shook me enough to want to know what happened next.

I read that the end of the film was controversial, and some very audible reactions in the theater also hinted that some people didn't like it, I understand that the ending was also controversial for the book. I was completely fine with the ending, sure it is crazy that they would end up together after all that happened, but the circumstances were even crazier so to me it made sense and I like that sense of wondering what happened with the characters after.

David Fincher really knocked it out of the park with this one, Gone Girl is a fantastic and smart film for smart audiences and I enjoyed it very much, if you want to be engaged with a movie this is the one you have to check out. If you haven't seen Gone Girl, It couldn't recommend it more and you have to go see it, and if you already saw it, go watch it again because it is worth a second look.

Babble Rating: 9/10