Hell (2011)

Time to continue with the old end of the world story, and Roman Emmerich's at it again. Well, to be fair, he's only a producer on this film, the film is directed by Tim Fehlbaum on his directorial debut. Can he bring about a new take on the end of the world? Or will Emmerich give Fehlbaum some tips? Well let's step into 'Hell' and find out. By the way, yes, 'Hell' means 'bright' in German.

We find ourselves in 2015 and the atmosphere has broken down from solar flares. This has resulted in the planet heating up by ten degrees Celsius, and resources are scarce. Okay, already I'm calling bullshit. If Earth's atmosphere was destroyed by solar flares, well, the planet would heat up, but I'm pretty sure to the point of "Oh my God my skin is melting". Anyway, we follow Marie (Hannah Herzsprung), her lover Phillip (Lars Eidinger), her sister Leonie (Lisa Vicari), and a new follower Tom (Stipe Erceg). They're struggling to survive in a world where civilisation has collapsed.

The problem with the story is it doesn't fully explore the concept. It says resources are scarce and yet the main characters are never seen struggling; they seem to have loads of water and food, and when they run out of fuel they conveniently find a fuel station which has LOADS. Which is quite bizarre seeing as how the world ended, you'd have thought that the fuel would've been used up or rare. Hell, (No pun intended), the hostile people don't seem that threatening. We find they have a hunting ground, and yet when our heroes give chase they seem to walk miles. Then again, even the film forgets every so often that the world is in peril, such as why does one person need protective headgear when outside, yet another runs out perfectly fine?

Heck we see a bird flying perfectly in a scene where Phillip burns his hand on the car. If the planet's temperature gone up by ten degrees Celsius, then surely ALL plant life, you know, trees and grass, would be dead, and yet we see grass and the trees just look like they've lost their leaves. Not only that, but there are chunks which feel they don't seem to go anywhere. Most of the time the scene feels like filler with no destination in sight. I'm not saying there isn't a resolution, but it just drags on and on. That being said the story has some moments which are pretty well thought out, just not given much depth.

With that in mind the camera shots and music are well done. The camera shots convey the brightness superbly, showing just how dangerous the world is, and the music manages to convey the tension and desperation of the scenes.

The acting is pretty good, the problem is, again, they're not really fleshed out. The lead, Hannah Herzsprung, certainly grows on you as the film goes. The others manage to adequately portray their roles, but in hindsight there's nothing spectacular. In all honesty, it's the characters that are the problems.

The characters just plod along until hostile forces come along, until then there's really nothing of note. The two male characters hardly emote which actually makes it hard to differentiate the two, so later in the film it's actually confusing which one's which. I tend to forget that Leonie exists, the only reminder being Marie mentioning her name every so often. Marie herself, I must admit, there's nothing really to say, she seems to more or less remind us of other characters who look for loved ones during the end of days.

Thinking about it, it's not a bad film, but it's not exactly that good either. The characters aren't that memorable and the plot needs fleshing out, but the film does have its moments, in particular showing how far humanity will go to survive, the acting is pretty good, while the cinematography and music are great. As a directorial debut, Tim Fehlbaum does a pretty good job, he certainly has the potential to help bring together some great films. It's just a shame this one wasn't fully explored.

Top Ten Unintentional Jerks

Now, I was going to do a top ten Disney Villain songs, because I went on a bit of a Disney binge last weekend. The problem was, as I started writing about song number six, I started to think there really wasn't much point, seeing as how most of the songs have been on other peoples lists, and things have already been talked about on them. There really isn't much for me to add. But here's the list anyway.

10. Savages - Pocahontas
9. The Plagues - The Prince of Egypt
8. Shiver My Timbers/Professional Pirate - Muppet Treasure Island
7. Friends on the Other Side - The Princess and the Frog
6. Poor Unfortunate Souls - The Little Mermaid
5. My Lullaby - The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
4. In the Dark of the Night - Anastacia
3. Hellfire - The Hunchback of Notre Dam
2. The Mob Song - Beaty and the Beast
1. Be Prepared - The Lion King

Now that's out of the way, let's go on to the unintentional jerks. These are the people we're supposed to feel sympathy, compassion, or just simply like and yet they do the weirdest things which actually make it hard to do. Confused? Well I'm sure you'll get the gist of what I'm doing as you read on. So let's start this off.

10. Glinda the Good Witch - The Wizard of Oz

Oh yeah, I'm starting off with this character. Why? Well, it's simple. Dorothy (Judy Garland) wants to go home, however she has just killed the Wicked Witch of the East and her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), is not happy. Glinda, one of the two good Witch sisters, saves Dorothy (For now) and tells her that only the great and powerful Wizard of Oz knows how to get her home.

And so Dorothy goes on a long journey, meeting the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), Tin Man (Jack Haley), and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), almost put to sleep by a poppy field, attacked by Flying Monkeys, and almost killed by the Wicked Witch of the West. After all that, Gilda turns up and tells Dorothy that all she needs to do is click her heels, while wearing the ruby slippers she got from the Witch of the East. Which means Dorothy risked her life FOR NOTHING. Oh yeah, there wouldn't have been a story, Dorothy wouldn't have learnt a lesson, but she did risk her life when all Glinda had to say was "click your heels three times" in Munchkinland.

Oh and the fact that Glinda says bad witches are ugly and then asks Dorothy is she's a good witch OR a bad witch.

9. Dr Nefario - Despicable Me 1&2

And it's not because he's voiced by Russell Brand! No, seriously I don't find him funny at all. The only time I do find him funny, is when he hasn't scripted the jokes.

But anyway. In 'Despicable Me', he sees quite clearly that having Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) is actually doing Gru (Steve Carrell) some good, so what does he do? He calls the orphanage so they can take the children away so Gru can concentrate on stealing the moon. Oh yeah, Dr Nefario is a sidekick to a villain so that makes him bad, but that's still a dick move. It's not like the moon won't be there the next night. So it won't

 be in optimum position, so what? And that's when he's NOT experimenting on the Minions.

Well, it's not like he can do worse...oh wait, he does. In 'Despicable Me 2' he helps the villain El Macho (Benjamin Bratt) kidnap those cute little Minions and turn them into blue skinned killing machines. And then he turns on El Macho saying he won't help him hurt Gru and the others because they're "family"? Oh yeah, I'm sure the Minions will completely understand that.

Oh wait, THEY DO. For some reason!

8. Peter Pevensie - The Chronicles of Narnia

You really have no idea how much of a dick Peter (William Moseley) is. I mean, generally it's being a dick to his brother Edmund (Skander Keynes) by constantly putting him down. Hell, one of the moments is learning that Edmund lied when he said he and Lucy (Georgie Henley) went to Narnia, and yet, here's the thing, if Edmund DID say they went, would you have believed him? Because apparently the doorway through the wardrobe doesn't work if you're looking for it. Which doesn't explain how they found it again but that's not the point.

And then comes 'Prince Caspian', where he thinks he knows better than everyone else. Therefore he devises a plan where he'll lead Prince Caspian's (Ben Barnes) forces against a fortress that has never been taken, then gets into a fit when it falls apart and a big chunk of their army is killed. Sure, Caspian has to take some responsibility for running off and confronting his uncle, but all Peter had to do was open the gates so the Narnian army could get in before the guards are alerted.

I do enjoy the Chronicles of Narnia, despite its flaws, and Peter is a very big flaw.

7. Gohan - Dragonball Z

Oh don't look so surprised Gohan, you know what you did! The thing is, you wouldn't expect Gohan to turn up on this list. He is a kid who is thrown into numerous wars, first against the Saiyans, then Frieza, then the Androids and Cell, etc, etc.

But, there is a huge reason why Gohan is on this list; animal cruelty. Oh yes, animal cruelty. I can understand Gohan being forced to survive in the wild after Piccolo abandoned him to toughen him up, but he terrorises a sabertooth tiger AND a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Oh, Gohan helped that ONE dinosaur, had a dragon which was rarely seen as a pet, these two animals were trying to eat him at one point, but they're animals. Gohan continuously frightened the sabertooth and ran it into exhaustion, while hunting down the Tyrannosaurus and cutting off bits of its tail, effectively mutilating it! It's not like Gohan's tail which can randomly regrow whenever the plot wants it to.

Gohan, he cares about everything except for certain kinds of animals.

6. Gandalf - Lord of the Rings

Oh believe me, he may be a great wizard, but he's a crap hero. The main problem with Gandalf (Ian McKellen), is that he doesn't convey information well. I mean, let's start with the obvious, carry the One Ring to Morder to destroy it and stop Sauron getting a body and conquering Middle Earth. Shall we walk thousands of miles, or use the giant eagles which Gandalf used in 'The Hobbit' decades earlier?

How about this, when the Fellowship are going over a mountain when Saruman (Christopher Lee) tries to kill them with magic. Gimli (John Rhys-Davis) offers an alternative; go through the Mines of Moria. The problem? Well, not only have orcs, goblins, and a cave troll taken over, but a Balrog has also moved in. And Gandalf KNOWS THIS. Does Gandalf tell the others? No he just tells Frodo to decide on what they do, without telling him about the dangers. So Frodo says go through the Mines, where they're attacked and Frodo almost killed before they even get into the Mines, and almost by a cave troll in the Mines, and Gandalf has to make the sacrifice...or the fake sacrifice anyway, to stop the Balrog. All of which could have been avoided if Gandalf had just said:
Gandalf - "Alright Frodo, do we continue up the mountain? Or go through the Mines of Moria?"
Frodo - "Well..."
Gandalf - "Oh by the way, the dwarfs living there are dead, and orcs, goblins, a cave troll, and a Balrog now live there, all of which could kill us"
Frodo - ".........."
Gandalf - "Moria it is!"

I'm not saying that going across the mountain was easier, but when there's an extended scene where Gandalf counters Saruman's spells, but why does he feel it's necessary to put others in danger just to make himself look good?

5. Jack - The American

I recently saw 'The American', and I really didn't like the main character. He's a loner, he tries to separate himself from everyone else but can't help but get attached, hey, I can understand, it's human nature.

We first find Jack (George Clooney) and a female companion in Sweden, being attacked by a gunman. We don't know why, but he is. Jack takes care of his attacker, asks his lover (Irina Bjorklund) to call the police. And the second she starts to go towards the cabin, Jack shoots her in the back of the head. And from what I can tell, for no reason.

If he hadn't shot her, he'd run. Sure, she could identify him. And? So she'd tell the police, they'd do a local search, before extending it nationwide, before then alerting police worldwide. By that point he'd have disappeared, got a new identity. Basically anything else he could have done would've been better. He even admits that she had no idea of the line of work he does, later turning out to be a contract killer, and that she was "just a friend". So for the rest of the film I'm waiting for him to kill the other people he befriended. And he has the gall to accuse a priest of hypocrisy just because he fathered a child at some point. Yeah! That's far worse than killing someone!

No we just watch Jack continuing with his life, possibly putting more people in harms way, and doing little to nothing trying to make us like him. Just because he's George Clooney it doesn't mean we should like him!

4. Claire Bennett - Heroes

You know what, I love all the seasons of Heroes. Oh, the first one is the best, and I'd have loved to have seen where it would have gone had they not re-written the ending to season two because of the writer's strike, especially since Sylar was suppose to gain invisibility and impenetrable skin in the original plans for season two part two. In fact why didn't they just stick to that original plan?

Anyway, as the seasons progressed Claire (Hayden Panettiere) is thought of as the vulnerable little girl by her adoptive father Noah (Jack Coleman), despite the obvious; she has the power regeneration. So in the early seasons I was all up for this being resolved, I was on Claire's side, she's virtually indestructible, how could she get hurt?

And then she really got moody. Like Peter earlier, Claire started to feel she knew better than everyone else. And this really got annoying. She started to act more like her evil alternate futuristic counterpart (........*thinks about it*...........yeah) than the original cute and caring cheerleader we found ourselves liking. In fact, this was the point where I wanted to see more of Panettiere, but the more I saw the more I was disappointed. I can't think of anyway that they could make me want to see Panettiere again.

Helloooooo Hayden.

3. Dobby - Harry Potter

I am so going to get so much flak for this. So many people love Dobby (Voiced by Toby Jones), they say he's great, they say he's a hero. I don't think he's as great as everyone says he is. And it's primarily down to his actions in the 'Chamber of Secrets'.

You see. In '...the Chamber of Secrets' Dobby is trying to stop Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) from going to Hogwarts. It's later revealed that it's because Voldemort (Christian Coulson) is back using the Basilisk to kill people. Or attempt to anyway, he kind of sucks at doing that. But anyway, I just told you the threat in one sentence. So, it would be easy for Dobby to say this right? No of course not! There's this thing where he tries to hurt himself because he's serving the Malfoy's and therefore can't tell Harry without trying to bash his own head in. So, okay, he can't tell Harry the traditional way, and decides to get Harry grounded by dumping cake on Bishop Brennan/someone important to the Dursley's. Now, it would have been good to see Dobby regretting what he was doing. What does Dobby do?

He smiles of course!

And when that doesn't work, what does he do? He enchants a bludger which BREAKS Harry's arm. And he was lucky to only get that, since he could have easily died! Dobby nearly killed the main character!

In fact, Dobby's attempt must be in the top five for the attempts on Harry's life.

2. Ian Malcolm, Sarah Harding, and Nick Van Owen - The Lost World: Jurassic Park

You know, I didn't really notice this when I first watched it. I was, what, eight when I first watched it. But the good guys in this really aren't helpful.

They're suppose to be the good guys, they're suppose to portray the...prevent animal cruelty message, and yet how can we take it seriously when they are doing things without thinking of the consequences. Free the dinosaurs? Yeah sure, they're not going to run amuck and seriously harm people. Take their bullets? Definitely! They won't need it against the Tyrannosaurus Rex that's trying to eat them!

Let's continuously screw things up so no-one else survives!

1. Edward and Bella - The Twilight Saga

Gee, I wonder why he's (Robert Pattinson) on here! Could it be the telling Bella (Kristen Stewart) what to do, where to go, who to hang out with, who to not hang out with, abandons her, makes her suicidal, THROWS HER AGAINST A WALL, leaves her to be attacked by a villain from a previous film, keeps her away from her family, makes her dependent on him, what exactly is there to like about him? Hell, when he thought she was dead he planned to risk all of vampirekind just because he couldn't live without her.

And then there's HER. The manipulative, male dependent, selfish, vain, uncaring, lousy excuse of a human being.

Stephen King was right, Stephanie Meyer can't write worth a damn.



And there's my list. I apologise if it feels rushed, it pretty much was, but the point remains! These are suppose to be the likable characters, and yet they continuously do things which they shouldn't do. Bella and Edward are the biggest ones, everyone else is "meeeeeh I can see what you mean".

Coming up next, Hell.

Soylent Green (1973)

Heading back into the post apocalypse realm now with one of the most famous of the...well...okay it's not exactly post apocalypse, it's more the dystopian future of 'Turkey Shoot'. But it's still one of the most famous films around, Hell, everyone knows the ending. No, seriously, everyone knows it. Even those who haven't seen the film know what happens, it's been spoofed and referenced enough times.

It's the year 2022. Earth is overpopulated, which has drained the planet of its resources; food is scarce, animals are virtually extinct, millions are homeless and sleeping in the streets and hallways, and climate change is heating up the planet. In this world the Soylent Corporation, who control the food supply to most of the planet, have released a new brand of ration called Soylent Green. William Simonson (Joseph Cotton), a director of the Soylent Corporation, is murdered and Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) is tasked to investigate. But the more her investigates the more he finds a conspiracy that could shake the foundations of what is left of civilisation.

The story is quite possibly one of the eeriest around, pretty much all the things featured are real life problems, with the population having just hit (Approximately) seven billion from six billion from about ten years ago. There are plenty of reports saying that if the population continues to grow like this then we will use up the planets resources. On top of that, the greenhouse gases is always popping up in the news. It's quite disturbing that this is a possible future of the planet. Unless we go to the moon. It's actually quite amazing that a film from forty years ago managed to show these issues without it being the main point of the film. It doesn't shove it down your throat like most things do nowadays, it shows you the way you'd expect; with humanity adapting.

Part of the main focus is on the standard murder story. The film does successfully manage to keep your attention, wanting to find out what happens. The best bits however are the glimpses to the past, or rather our present, where we see the things that pretty much all of us take for granted, the things we really don't think of that much. This film makes us realise what beauty there is in the world, we're actually quite lucky to witness it. I wonder if you can imagine a world where everything is pretty much dying, the human race continues to grow, and no-one thinks of it until it's too late.

Of course it would be easier to follow if the main character wasn't a dick. It may be more of a product of the times which molded him, in fact in hindsight I'd say that Thorn learns to improve himself and becomes a better man, but for the most part he's actually kind of a dick. He steals and tends to bully people around him. The only ones he treats with respect are Sol (Edward Robinson, in his last role before he died), where they have a father-son relationship, and Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young) whom he does treat well towards the end, but at first treats her more like an object, or, as he himself describes her, as "furniture".

Then again that seems to be the general feeling towards her, as the only person who really seemed to care about her was the guy who was killed. Shirl though does seem to be on her own journey to find some sort of recognition and self-confidence, to empower herself. It's also damn right disturbing that the effective way to quell riots is to bring in bulldozers and literally scoop up the rioters, primarily because you're not actually told what happens to the captured rioters. Are they set free? Are they imprisoned? Do they die from being scooped? Or when other rioters are scooped on top of them?

The acting is terrific, particularly from Robinson in his scenes acting with Heston, especially one scene (You'll know when you see it) where you see Robinson, and Heston for that matter, pour out their heart and soul. Taylor-Young, I must admit I'm not really sure about. I feel that she didn't really emote enough, but the more I think about it the more I'm sure that that was her character, and part of her journey. Joseph Cotten also played a great role with William Simonson, as did Brock Peters as Chief Hatcher, the only problem was they had little screen time, particularly the former.

I'll be honest with you, you need to see this film. This is one of those films you need to see before you die. The acting is brilliant, the story is great, it's clever, it's imposing, it can even be damn right disconcerting if you think about it. If you haven't seen it already, go and see it.

Pacific Rim (2013)

This has been the film everyone has been waiting for this summer. A sure hit summer blockbuster, surely? I mean, giant robots fighting giant monsters, directed by one of the best in the film industry, Guillermo del Toro.

In case you didn't get the plot...giant robots fight giant monsters. Ta da. Okay there's a bit more to it. The monsters, known as Kaiju, a Japanese term for giant monsters, have been appearing from the bottom of the ocean and attacking settlements. The world comes together to create the Jaeger program, German for 'hunter'; the giant robots. It gives humanity a fighting chance, but the monsters keep coming, and their evolving. Or so you think.

I don't really know what to say about the plot because there isn't really one there. Oh the plot has a basic premise, and that's it. Apart from that the story is riddled with cliches, so many I can probably make a drinking game out of it. I wouldn't normally care so much, but there are so many it really annoyed me. I think the only non-spoiler one I can mention is the rival, Chuck (Robert Kazinsky) who really doesn't like the main character Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) until he doesn't a really tremendous act. Along with that there's a flashback scene or two which seem really out of place, one of them because it wasn't shown with the other flashback scene.

Speaking of the characters, yeah, the main lot are pretty bland. One I've already mentioned, Chuck the rival, the cliche rival. Our main character Raleigh, we do learn some stuff about him. Not a lot and one of the bits we learn is a major plot point which...actually doesn't affect the plot in the slightest. Neither does the background for Mako Mori's (Rinko Kikuchi) character. I want to care about these characters, but I don't, I really don't.

In fact, I learn more about the supporting cast than I do the main cast. I found myself getting more attached to Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman, the guy from Torchwood), the research team who, individually are annoying and unlikable, but together have really good chemistry. Commanding officer Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) is also a more fleshed out character which you can identify with. That being said there are a whole bunch of characters which you feel nothing for, and when/if they're killed off and you're told there isn't time to mourn for them, you can't help but feel "Well I don't even remember their name so it isn't a great loss".

But to be honest, I actually found myself liking Mori. She's a character who wants to prove herself, to show that she isn't just some intelligent, kind female, she has the need for destruction as well. My point is, I do like her, and in a way I believe it's because of the actress Rinko Kikuchi. I'll come across the others in a minute but for her, I do want to see more of her, I do think 'Pacific Rim' will be her breakout role to a global audience. Despite only really learning one thing about her, she is probably one of the strongest characters in the film, and that's pretty much because del Toro put a fair amount of work in there, saying that he "wanted a female lead who has equal force as the male leads. She's not going to be a sex kitten, she's not going to come out in cutoff shorts and a tank top..."

Yeah. She isn't going to come out in a tank top.

Moving on.

As for the other actors, not much to say. Elba though was great, he certainly dominated the scenes he was in. I do have to give Kazinsky some praise as well though for successfully managing to make me hate him, and you can tell Ron Pearlman had great fun with playing Hannibal Chau. The rest though, well, there's nothing spectacular, in particular Hunnam who just seemed to suck the emotion out of the scene.

Okay, let's be honest. No-one was going to see this film for the plot or the characters. The only reason why people were going to see this, was to see giant robots fighting giant monsters. AND THEY SCREWED IT UP. No, seriously, they screwed it up. The fights all take place at night, in the dark, with little lighting, in the water with the camera shot low so the water goes over it, basically, you can't tell what's going on. In fact, there is one fight scene which takes place on land which was spectacular, simply because the two combatants were well lit up and water didn't obscure your view. Look, I get the influence, I get that this is a homage to the old Kaiju films with the likes of Godzilla or Gamera, but in those films you CAN SEE WHAT'S GOING ON.

I will say however that the effects are pretty damn good, the Jaegers look brilliant, as do the Kaiju. The designs are really good, especially one certain Kaiju which packs a surprise. My only concern is that there isn't much difference in their design. That may sound confusing, but while they do each Kaiju have their own certain trait, their appearance do look the same. Meanwhile there are two distinct different looking Jaegers, but one of the others only has one different type of weapon, and that's it.

Like 'World War Z' I really wanted this to work, I really did. But I just couldn't get into it, and because of that the flaws seemed huge to me. The fight scenes seemed lackluster, the main characters are bland and outshone by supporting cast, there's little story, and the acting is mixed at best. It had a great concept, but I felt it couldn't back it up. There are talks of a sequel, including a crossover with a certain infamous lizard, and I'd be willing to see it, I just wouldn't have the high expectations I had for this film.

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Remember 'Despicable Me' which came out a few years ago and took everyone by surprise? How we all thought it would have been a mediocre comedy doing the same thing we have seen before but instead got an uplifting family comedy with some really clever villain jokes? Well, here's the sequel.

Having retired from being a supervillain to become a father to his adopted children, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (Elsie Fisher), and Edith (Dana Grier), Gru (Steve Carell) finds himself thrown back in the action when the Anti-Villain League, headed by Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) and agent Lucy Wilde (Kirsten Wiig), recruit him into finding a villain who has stolen a dangerous chemical.

The story is pretty good, seeing a former villain go undercover as a spy. Then again in the world of Despicable Me, there doesn't appear to actually be any heroes. Vector and Gru only had each other as obstacles in the first film, there appears to be no-one else but Gru to be the hero in this one. We have Agent Wilde, but even she says she's a rookie. But it is good to see how the characters have evolved since the first film.

In a way though, the way the characters have evolved could kind of alienate fans of the previous film. What made the first film really funny was it was being portrayed from a villain's point of view, so we saw a lot more dark humour. Because Gru has become a devoted father, he rarely shows this side now. The film is funny, it's still got that witty humour, don't get me wrong, it's just gone down a different tangent compared to the first film. In fact, the really funny bits for me in 'Despicable Me 2' are when we see the glimpses of villain Gru.

But I do want to stress it isn't a bad thing. It is great to see how the relationship between Gru and his adoptive daughters evolved and is evolving. But alongside that we have the relationship between Gru and Wilde, which is a bit cliche with the animosity between them, but then again that is swept aside fairly early on.

Wilde is an eccentric and likable character, and the other returning characters are still likable as well. It is, still, the Minions however that steal the show. However, Dr Nefario (Russell Brand), there is a certain thing with him which I just don't like, and it's not because he's voiced by Russell Brand. Surprisingly. I will be bringing it up in another post at some point in the near future though.

The animation is great, especially concerning action scenes, as is the voice acting. Hell, I thought that the climatic battle was better than all the action scenes in 'World War Z'...oh God 'World War Z' is this year's 'Battleship' for me. And I didn't even truly hate 'World War Z'.

It is a tremendously good film. Buuuuuut it's not as good as the first. It's missing that certain spark. Personally I feel that it's because Gru has become the loving parent instead of being the evil mastermind. There are some predictable and cliche bits as well. But, and I can't stress this enough, it's still a great movie. The humour is great, the acting is great, the story is great. It's still a great film.

Although, as much as I love the minions, I'm concerned about watching them nonstop for an entire film with their spin-off coming out next year

Oh................how can I say no to that?