Luke Robinson

Just a film geek that enjoys posting anything that is geeky, funny or smart.

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Has this been done yet guys?

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Saw a chance and I took it.

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Wholesome OC

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This is actually happening. I can't make this up even if I wanted to #starwarsholidayspecial

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Why am I doing this? #starwars #holidayspecial #happylifeday

[mogifire]

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The one time a Stormtropper hit someone and it was one of their own.

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I got bored and decided to draw #Joker from #SuicideSquad #hype #JaredLeto #DC

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Hype Is Real #RogueOne #StarWars

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Ice Age: Collision Course - Movie Review

”The mother of all asteroids, screaming towards us. But I got a plan! Who's with me?”

-Buck (voiced by Simon Pegg)

Directors: Mike Thurmeier, Galen T. Chu Cast: Ray Romano (voice), John Leguizamo (voice), Denis Leary (voice), Queen Latifah (voice), Simon Pegg (voice), Sean William Scott (voice), Josh Peck (voice), Jennifer Lopez (voice), Neil deGrasse Tyson (voice), Jesse Tyler Feurguson (voice), Jessie J (voice), Keke Palmer (voice), Adam DeVine (voice), Wanda Sykes (voice), Melissa Raunch (voice), Michael Strathan (voice), Nick Offerman (voice), Stephanie Beatriz (voice), Max Greenfield (voice), Chris Wedge (voice) Release Date: 15th July 2016 (UK) Certificate: U (mild slapstick, very mild bad language) Running Time: 94 minutes Distributor: 20th Century Fox Plot: Scrat's epic pursuit of his elusive acorn catapults him outside of Earth, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the planet. To save themselves from peril, Manny, Sid, Diego, and the rest of the herd leave their home and embark on a quest full of thrills and spills, highs and lows, laughter and adventure while traveling to exotic new lands and encountering a host of colorful new characters.

The Good When you look at the the “Ice Age” franchise, you can say it is impressive that an animated film series can make it to five installments and you can tell that the the has been progress with the quality of the animation and the designs of the characters since the first movie back in 2002 and with animation, it can be easier to get camera shots that would be challenging to create in a live action movie since there is a sequence involving Buck (voiced by Simon Pegg, who probably is the only actor in this movie trying) which I will admit is impressive.

But, that’s probably all the good I can say with this movie.

The Bad It’s clear by this point that all the heart from the original “Ice Age” movie has disappeared and made the franchise more reliant on jokes. That could be okay for a franchise, if the jokes actually worked.That’s not the case with “Ice Age: Collision Course”, because this time round even Scrat (voiced by Chris Wedge, who I consider the funniest part of the franchise) didn’t get more than a chuckle out of me. There are also too many characters and setting up story arcs in this movie and with having a short running time, a lot of these story arcs never go anywhere. They cast actors whom I am a fan of such as Nick Offerman, Adam DeVine, Max Greenfield and Jesse Tyler Feurguson and the writing manages to make the irritating. Early on in the movie, Diego (voiced by Denis Leary) and Shira (voiced by Jennifer Lopez) are talking about whether they would be good parents or not, that isn’t even brought up again until the end of the movie and all the stuff you see in the marketing involving Geotopia, the Shangri Llama (voiced by Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Brooke (voiced by Jessie J, who is nothing more than to be a love interest for Sid) none of that appears until the third act of the movie. I honestly don’t know who the target audience for this movie is, because the audience who grew up loving the other movies are too old to enjoy it, but kids will probably be out enjoying other animated movies that are out enjoying movies like “The Secret Life Of Pets” or “Finding Dory” and with with a marketing campaign which feels rushed, it’ll end up swept up underneath all the other summer movies.

Overall: “Ice Age: Collision Course” is a collision course by name and nature. Despite having good animation and alright character designs, there is no substance to this movie. There are too many characters and a lot of them don’t have anything to do, the jokes don’t land well, the character arcs and motivations make no sense. If you want to have “ice” for any movie this summer, make sure it’s something other than this.

Score: 3/10

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The Secret Life Of Pets - Movie Review

“We can find our way home. We are descended from the mighty wolf! We’ve raw primal instincts. And our moments away from leading us home.”

-Max (Louis C.K.)

Directors: Chris Renaud, Yarrow Cheney Cast: Louis C.K. (voice), Eric Stonestreet (voice), Kevin Hart (voice), Steve Coogan (voice), Ellie Kemper (voice), Bobby Moynihan (voice), Lake Bell (voice), Dana Carvey (voice), Hannibal Buress (voice), Jenny Slate (voice), Albert Brooks (voice) Release Date: 24th June 2016 (UK) Certificate: U (mild action, rude humour) Running Time: 91 minutes Distributor: Universal Pictures Plot: Taking place in a Manhattan apartment building, Max's life as a favorite pet is turned upside down, when his owner brings home a sloppy mongrel named Duke. They have to put their quarrels behind when they find out that an adorable white bunny named Snowball is building an army of lost pets determined to take revenge.

The Good With Illumination Entertainment, they can be a hit and miss studio. The most memorable movies they’ve made were from the “Despicable Me” franchise which launched them to a successful high, but outside of that franchise they haven’t been successful  (I am aware that “The Lorax” has a fan base, but it hasn’t exactly made much of a cultural impact). So it makes me glad to say that “The Secret Life Of Pets” is actually pretty entertaining.  You can tell that these voice actors are having fun with the roles and fit the personalities of the characters and don’t just sound like that they doing this for an easy paycheck. Max (voiced by Louis C.K.) and Duke (voiced by Eric Stonestreet) have great chemistry and feel like they fit the personalities of these characters. But the biggest surprise character in this movie is someone who hasn’t been featured in most of the marketing for this movie which is a hawk named Tiberius (voiced by Albert Brooks) who just wants to make friends but his killer instinct keeps getting in the way, the idea of that is just hilarious. There is also Gidget (voiced by Jenny Slate) a small dog who despite having a cute appearance, she is someone who is actually pretty tough and then there’s Chloe the Cat (voiced by Lake Bell) who oddly enough manages to put a lot of effort into playing a character who does not put a lot of effort into anything.  The script shines with jokes flying in from different points and a lot of the jokes hit and the animation just adds to the humour as well by adding some pretty clever visual jokes. There is a sequence in this movie which reminds me of the classic Land Of Chocolate clip from “The Simpsons”. Some people may think it’s out of place in the movie, but it works for me for being so unexpected. And if you can, you should defiantly watch this in 3D. The 3D works well in this movie which adds to how great the animation is

The Bad The biggest problems with this movie are the story structure. It becomes too crowded with characters and it can be easy to forget about some characters while others can feel underused (Ellie Kemper is in the movie for less than 15 minutes, while Steve Coogan only has two small scenes).  It’s also not the most original story to use for this premise (the main story line is essentially the same plot as the first “Toy Story”). If you were to cut out the story with Snowball (voiced by Kevin Hart) and the Flushed Pets, I doubt that there would not be much of a difference to the story.  This is also a really minor nitpick but it feels like Illumination Entertainment are still trying to promote the Minions from “Despicable Me” more with this movie. There are little Minion Easter eggs hidden in this movie, there’s a scene with a character dressed as a Minion (other characters were aware of how ridiculous that character was dressed so I give some points for that), a Minion appears in the opening Illumination logo and there is a Minions short film that plays before the movie called “Mower Minions”. But it’s a business strategy that works well for them I guess and like I said, this is just a nitpick and I doubt most people won’t notice or be bothered by this.

Overall: “The Secret Life Of Pets” is an animated movie that is fun for all ages. While the story is not as strong, the movie makes up for that with a strong, funny script, clever visual gags and heart. The voice actors sound like they are having fun with their roles (Louis C.K., Jenny Slate, Lake Bell and Albert Brooks are the stand outs) and they fit their characters well. The animation and the character designs are well done and the soundtrack is fun and upbeat. It’s just goes to prove that there’s a more of future for Illumination other than those yellow chicken nuggets with goggles.

Score: 8/10

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I would like to thank @realduk for sending me these pretty cool items #RealD3D #xmenapocalypse #avengersageofultron #3dglasses #poster

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Alice Through The Looking Glass  - Movie Review

“You’ve been gone too long, Alice. There are matters which might benefit from your attention. Friends cannot be neglected. Hurry.”

 -Absolem (Alan Rickman)

Director: James Bobin Cast: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Rhys Ifans, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Alan Rickman (voice), Stephen Fry (voice), Michael Sheen (voice), Timothy Spall (voice) Release Date: 27th May 2016 (UK) Certificate: PG (mild threat, mild bad language) Running Time: 113 minutes Distributor: Walt Disney Motion Pictures Plot: Alice returns to the whimsical world of Wonderland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter.

The Good: The thing that most people remember about the the original Alice In Wonderland in 2010 (it’s 2016, the fact that this movie is all about time travel adds to the irony about how late this sequel is) was how great the visual effects were and with this sequel, it’s just as great. Everything about the sets and visual effects made everything in the movie scream “Wonderland” or in this case “Underland” (I don’t know. Just go with it). The movie also does some interesting stuff by showing backstories for some the Wond… I mean, Underland inhabitants such as adding different sides to characters such as what they do with the Mad Hatter by giving him a backstory about why he’s mad. I’m a sucker for stories about time travel (I find the concept fascinating and cool) and I like all the time travel ideas that are used in the movie such as sailing across the seas of time to get to different points in time and all the other time travel elements are pretty fun too. When it comes to the acting, the real stand out was Sacha Baron Cohen as Time. The way the movie is marketed makes it seem like he’s just an evil villain. But they don’t do that with him. He’s just trying to keep things in order to keep the world safe because if someone changes timelines, the universe will perish (or whatever he said). Cohen also looked like he was having fun with his role with his accent, his dialogue and just the overall design of the character.

The Bad: The main problems with this movie are from the other actors. Anne Hathaway as The White Queen is just wandering around shaking her hands in the sky while looking around the room, Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen is just there so they can show backstory between her and Hathaway. While all the supporting CGI characters are just there because they were in the first one while they have nothing to do apart from giving exposition and to give the movie some humour, this is Alan Rickman’s last film and he only has two or three lines just to set up the plot. Johnny Depp is given hardly anything to do apart from just acting mad while looking like Elijah Wood and Madonna’s child was dressed in a bad Joker make up while talking in silly voices. But despite this being called Alice Through The Looking Glass, Alice is really not that interesting of a character. Sure the elements of feminism that are used early on when she’s not in Won.. I mean, Underland are well used and are relevant in this day and age. You can feel Mia Wasikowska trying, but really the character is just there because she’s just the audience’s eyes into this world.

Overall: Alice Through The Looking Glass is not as bad as people are making it out to be, but that still doesn’t mean it’s great either. There are some nice visual effects, inspired ideas especially with the time travel elements and Sacha Baron Cohen looks like he is having fun with his role. But it what it suffers from is sequel-itus by bringing back the cast from the first movie and giving a lot of them nothing to do. It’s heart is in the right place, but it is a forced sequel.

Score: 6/10

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The Nice Guys - Movie Review

"So you're telling me you made a porno where the plot is the point?"

-Holland March (Ryan Gosling)

Director: Shane Black Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Keith David, Kim Basinger Release Date: 3rd June 2016 (UK) Certificate: 15 (strong violence, sex references, strong language) Running Time: 116 Minutes Distributor: Icon Film Distribution Plot: A mismatched pair of private eyes investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles.

The Good:  You might look at the premise of this, you think it will be a paint by numbers action cop comedy. But with “The Nice Guys”, you don’t get that. It genuinely is smart and unpredictable with the direction of the story. There are many sequences where I think they’re going to go in a direction that I was expecting, but instead they go in a different direction and when a movie isn’t scared to go in a different direction, I have to give it respect. This is done by the script and directing by Shane Black who is known for writing smart, funny action packed character driven stories (I will defend “Iron Man 3″ ) and once again he delivers.  The other great elements include the acting performances. Russell Crowe as Jackson Healy and Ryan Gosling as Holland March. The scenes with the two characters manage to be hilarious while also feeling like a genuine partnership between the two of them. From the action sequences with the two of them teaming up to take on criminals to scene with just the two of them just talking and often arguing, the two of them have great chemistry.  The other big acting stand out is Angourie Rice as Holly March. She isn’t just a generic child character just for the sake of having a child in the movie. She does serve a purpose in the story, she is smart, funny and she is shown to be compitant. The other great thing about her character is that the father/daughter relationship between her and Ryan Gosling does feel genuine and sweet. The other actors are great as well especially with the villain. I won’t say anything about the villain because I don’t want to spoil anything about the reveal because of how clever it is. 

Another great element that works is how well it uses the setting of the 1970s. From the actual look of the movie from the set designs and the costumes to the use of music, you do feel like you’ve stepped into a time machine and went back into the 1970s. 

The Bad: When it comes to reviewing a movie that you enjoy, it’s always difficult to point out negatives that you find for yourself. But I do need to try and find a negative just to keep a review interesting. So that negative would be: You really need to pay a lot of attention to the movie to really get it. But even then, that’s not really a negative because it manages to make you want to go back and re-watch it so you can see if you can go back and see if you can catch plot points about how far back the plot points reach.

Overall:  The Nice Guys is definitely a fun change of pace in between the big budget summer tent pole franchise releases. The script was well written & directed, the plot was interesting and it goes in directions that you don’t expect. The soundtrack was great, the jokes were funny and all the actors did a great job especially the chemistry between Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. If you watch this, you probably won’t regret it.

Score: 10/10

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Welcome To This Place

You might be looking at this and be thinking:  “Oh, it’s another Tumblr blog written by some guy behind a computer screen who just wants his opinion heard about something he’s passionate about” And I’m here to say you probably are absolutely right. But I’m going to have fun working on it.

My name is Luke and I am just another blogger who is extremely passionate about movies. I did write movie reviews before, but it was from encouragement from friends who told me I should go public with them since other people may want to hear more opinions. 

I will be using this for written movie reviews using the 1-10 scale, but I will also use this to talk about movie topics such as news, my opinions on trends in the movie world or to give a review on an older movie. 

For now, I won’t have a complete schedule for when I’m posting on here, but hopefully when I’m posting more I might have something worked out.

So yeah, I hope that the Internet enjoys looking at this blog and enjoys what I post on here and I hope to have a lot of fun with it. 

This could be fun.

-Luke