Movie Review: Veronica Mars

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If you have been following my blog, then you have probably realized by now that Veronica Mars is one of my FAVORITE TV shows of pretty much all time. I was depressed when it was cancelled. I think I even might have signed some petitions to try and save the show.

So you could probably imagine my excitement and happiness when I found out that there was going to be a movie.

There was some of this happening:

I also felt like this:

I was ready to call everyone and share my excitement. Well I called my mom and told her because I got her liking the show too.

So of course I had to go see the movie in theaters.

I drove 1 & 1/2 hours to my closest AMC theater to meet my brother and one of my best friends to see the movie together.

And I was so excited. 

My brother has seen all of the show, and my best friend had only seen a couple episodes.

So after years of waiting for this moment to happen, I got to see Veronica Mars on the big screen.

My Rating: Love it. Can't wait to buy it.

I really loved the movie. And I am really looking forward to buying it on bluray when it comes out and watching it again and again.

Yes, I probably built up my expectations really high, so there were a few things in the movie that disappointed me. But not enough to ruin the movie for me.

It was interesting to see where Veronica was at the point that the movie started. Her life was really different than what I would have expected her life to be like.

Of course I think the cast was amazing. I loved seeing so many familiar faces make an appearance in the movie even if their parts were small. There were some characters that I didn't expect to make an apperance, and I actually gasped and got excited when I saw them.

(Of course, my friend kept looking at me because she didn't know who these characters were...)

But I think she did enjoy seeing the movie. Rob Thomas did an excellent job having a "wrap up/in case you didn't already know what happened" in the beginning of the film, that gives people that haven't watched the show the basics of what happened.
Granted, I still strongly suggest that people watch the show, because it is awesome.

There were some things that I was able to easily see coming, but there were some things that caught me by surprise.

When I got home from the movie, Leif asked me: "So was it worth it? After all this time, was the movie everything you wanted it to be?"

My first thought was. Logan (Jason Dohring) picking Veronica up at the airport in uniform. DEFINITELY WORTH IT ALL! LoVe. But seriously, I would love to have seen Logan in that uniform the entire movie. *insert swoony sigh here*

But really: Yes and no.

Yes, I think the movie was worth it. I am definitely glad that it was made. I am glad I saw it, and I will be happy when I own it.

Was it everything I wanted it to be? That is a difficult question. Because I don't know exactly what I wanted it to be. I love Piz. I love Logan. I don't know who I would rather her to be with.

I loved the mystery, even if I figured out the bad guy quickly into it. But I didn't know the whole story, so that keeps me from being disappointed in what happened.

There were shocks and twists. There were moments that made me sad. And there were moments that made me happy.

And best of all, I feel like I got the closure that I so desperately wanted when Veronica Mars was cancelled years ago.

But...

I also felt that Rob left it open too. I felt that the ending left a nice set up for the story to be continued.

Well played, Mr. Thomas, well played indeed sir.
So I am hoping there will be more to Veronica's story.

I hope the other Veronica Mars fans enjoyed the movie as well.

Robocop (2014): His Review

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His Rating: 

“Dead or alive you’re coming with me.” was one of the most  iconic phrase’s from Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 RoboCop and luckily, like a few other things, gets a mention in the new 2014 RoboCopdirected by little-known José Padilha. Yes, I suppose now would be a good time to mention that I cannot review the new RoboCop without referencing the old as that I’m a HUGE fan of the original.

LIST OF CHANGES FOR FANS OF THE ORIGINAL:

Okay, so in new RoboCopAlex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is a detective instead of a regular beat cop and his partner Lewis is now male (Michael K Williams) and plays, I would say, a slightly larger role then the original. ED-209 doesn’t growl, there’s no Kenny getting shot, no Clarance Boddicker, no Dick Jones, Murphy gets to see his family, drives a motorcycle instead of a car, has a human right hand, OCP doesn’t own the cops, etc.

FOR THE NEW FANS:

OmniCorp, run by evil Steve Jobs (Michael Keaton), wants to put robots on the street but the government and public won’t let him. What they need is a robot that knows what its like to be human. They need a cyborg or in this case a RoboCop. Enter the top candidate:

Alex Murphy is a good cop with a wife and son who gets seriously injured by a car bombing attempt on his life. His wife agrees to have him subjected to the RoboCop program to give him a better life. Problem? OmniCorp doesn’t need a slow thinking human they need a machine and will do whatever they need to to make Alex just a machine with an on/off switch for human interaction. Will Alex be able to trace down his attempted killer? Will he be able to master the machine or will the machine master the man? Watch to find out!

MOVING ON:

The original RoboCopis a movie for its time: its ultraviolent, heavily concerned with the power of corporations and rampant crime. I think the new RoboCop scaled up for our times as well: it touches on terrorism, corporate control, safety and a lot of times RoboCop doesn’t shoot people he just hits them with a tazer (as you may know use of force is a bit different know then in the 80’s). A major ball and chain though is its PG-13 rating which limits the amount of blood, curse words and of course violence.

Also, ladies, there’s really nothing of particular interest for you: there’s no six packs, no love triangles, and not much drama. Alex loves his wife and she loves him.

Samuel Jackson turns in a great performance as Bill O’Riley with hair, Michael Keaton is great as evil Steve Jobs (though I couldn’t stop seeing Beetlejuice in his performance), and Gary Oldman does a good job as Dr. Dennett Norton.

Unfortunately, overall, the new RoboCop could be boiled down to another action flick with some moments that make you think. It’s a good movie but it’s not great. It is better then the Total Recall remake not that that was particularly difficult to accomplish but since the originals were both directed by Paul Verhoeven the comparison is worth mentioning.

If you like action movies, corporate intrigue and don’t mind cops I recommend this new RoboCop movie. It’s not great but its good and I don’t think you’ll feel that your money was wasted by seeing it.

Written by Beef