Watch Online Blackhat (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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Synopsis:

An American/Chinese joint anti-cybertheft task force races to root out an elusive hacker based in Southeast Asia in this Legendary Pictures thriller written, produced, and directed by Michael Mann, and starring Chris Hemsworth.

Review:

Since the beginning of his career, Michael Mann has been, first and foremost, a stylist. His earliest work (Thief, Manhunter, producing TV's Miami Vice) had such a startlingly unique aesthetic -- a slow-burn pace that paired moody music with lurid colors -- that young filmmakers are still aping it 30 years later (with Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive being one of the most prominent examples). Mann's style evolved in the 21st century as smaller digital cameras allowed him to get even closer to his characters and encouraged him to shoot from unexpected places. His cyber-terrorism thriller Blackhat continues this new visual approach.

Chris Hemsworth stars as Nicholas Hathaway, a world-class hacker who, as the movie opens, is serving a lengthy prison sentence for stealing millions from banks. His old college friend Dawai (Wang Lee Hom), a member of the Chinese military and a tech expert, convinces the U.S. government to let Nicholas out of prison so he can help a small squad of American and Chinese security officials; they need his skills to track down a hacker who caused a lethal accident at a nuclear reactor and made millions artificially manipulating the price of soy futures. If they apprehend their target, Nicholas gets his sentence commuted. Working with him and Dawai are Carol Barrett (Viola Davis), an American who must deal with her boss's distrust of both the Chinese and their ex-con collaborator, and Dawai's sister Lien (Wei Tang), a talented hacker in her own right who quickly falls in love with Nicholas.

Mann wastes no time showing off his latest filmmaking tools. His opening shot tracks inside a computer, flying around the inside of a motherboard and through wires representing the Internet itself, so that we can see the virus planted by the bad guy. There's more novelty to come during the fight scenes, which look like they were recorded with the latest GoPro technology; you've never been this close to a guy getting his face smashed in with a table. Throw in a sickeningly fast and shaky foot chase, and there's enough here for Mann's devoted fans to say that the director is still on the cutting edge.

However, for those who found his last two movies -- Miami Vice and Public Enemies -- overly long and crushingly dull, there's nothing here that will change their minds. It's another exercise in tough-guy posturing that lacks the philosophical depth of his best work: Manhunter, Heat, and The Insider. At best, we marvel at what Mann can do while never being involved in what's happening. The exceptions are a brilliantly directed shoot-out that kicks off the movie's final act, and an utterly unique sequence in which Nicholas must don a hazmat suit and enter the irradiated nuclear plant to retrieve some computer hardware.

Hemsworth makes Nicholas a traditional Mann hero: He's taciturn, emotionally detached, and most importantly, lives by a code. He also gets a handful of snappy, action-hero lines to deliver, courtesy of screenwriter Morgan Davis Foehl. Meanwhile, Viola Davis makes sure we know her character is the toughest in the movie, delivering her dialogue with a cool but impassioned authority that instantly makes her the most likable person onscreen.

The 71-year-old Mann used to be able to imbue genre films with real depth thanks to his painterly frames and intellectual obsessions, but he hasn't been in top form for more than a decade. Blackhat might be his best work since Collateral, but that still doesn't mean it's compelling or interesting.

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Watch Online Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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Synopsis:

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his teammates reunite for this pulse-pounding sequel, in which they attempt to take down a secret international organization known as the Syndicate--highly skilled ex-IMF agents who are intent on bringing down their former outfit. Christopher McQuarrie directs this new entry in the Mission Impossible franchise, with Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, and Simon Pegg co-staring.

Review:

One mission that seems almost impossible for Hollywood to achieve these days is to continually reenergize a popular film franchise, making each entry as good (if not better) than the last. But that's exactly what Tom Cruise and company have done with this tentpole, which is now 19 years old. The Mission: Impossible series has employed a different director for each movie thus far, and every one has put his own stamp on the material -- a major reason why the franchise still feels fresh after nearly two decades. Brian De Palma got the series off to a strong start back in 1996, but John Woo stumbled badly four years later with a pretentious, over-the-top follow-up. Thankfully, J.J. Abrams put everything back on track with 2006's intense Mission: Impossible III, and Brad Bird raised the bar even higher with the sensational Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol in 2011. Now, it's Christopher McQuarrie's turn to sit in the director's chair, and the frequent Cruise collaborator -- he co-wrote Valkyrie and Edge of Tomorrow, and wrote and directed Jack Reacher -- delivers a slick, involving thrill ride that can proudly takes its place alongside the best installments in this series.

Rogue Nation gets off to a high-flying start with a scene in which Cruise's Ethan Hunt dangles precariously from an Airbus A400M cargo plane in an effort to get aboard and thwart the delivery of some poisonous gas; the sequence has already become famous due to the fact that it's really Cruise hanging on to the side of the plane midflight. From there, the movie races from one action set piece to the next -- with the best being an elaborate assassination attempt at the Vienna Opera House -- as Hunt tracks Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the leader of a terrorist organization known as the Syndicate that's made up of various rogue spies and is responsible for several global catastrophes. Unfortunately, Hunt's search is greatly hindered when CIA chief Alan Hunley (an excellent Alec Baldwin) insists that the Syndicate doesn't exist and shuts down the Impossible Mission Force. He then seeks to bring Hunt in and hold him accountable for IMF's recent rash of reckless behavior, including an incident from Ghost Protocol in which they nearly destroyed the Kremlin. This leaves Hunt as a man without a country, on a mission without authorization or support. And to make matters worse, he keeps encountering Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), an intriguing beauty connected to the Syndicate who might be a double or even triple agent. Is she trying to help Hunt, or is she just using him to get what she wants? One of the film's greatest strengths is the way it keeps her intentions murky throughout the proceedings.

Another strength is the return of Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, and Ving Rhames as Hunt's IMF allies. Pegg once again provides just the right amount of comic relief, and Renner is solid as Hunt's right-hand man, who is torn between his allegiance to Ethan and his commitment to his new employers at the CIA. Rhames, great as always, is unfortunately underused here, but he does manage to steal every scene he's in.

But the film belongs to Tom Cruise. Even at 53, he proves he is still one of the silver screen's greatest stars, and Ethan Hunt might just turn out to be his signature role. Cruise has always been considered a modest actor with a limited range (even though he's been nominated for three acting Oscars), but it's difficult to fault him for continually drawing on his strengths as an action star and pumping out fun, if mostly lightweight, popcorn fare. He's got charisma to burn, and no one can deny his utter commitment to a role: No other actor of his stature performs dangerous stunt work like he does (to name just one other example, he swung around outside Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, in Ghost Protocol). And while the cargo-plane sequence is getting all of the attention, Cruise's motorcycle derring-do in Rogue Nation is equally amazing, providing the movie with one of the most exciting chase scenes in recent memory.

Praise must also go to McQuarrie, best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplay for The Usual Suspects. He helped revise the script for Ghost Protocol, but was denied an official writing credit; with Rogue Nation, he makes the most of the opportunity to call the shots as the film's writer/director. And while the movie hews closely to the blueprint of glossy espionage flicks, it does so with the utmost professionalism and craft. Give McQuarrie and Cruise credit for not merely propping up what could have become a tired franchise, but injecting it with a newfound sense of energy and enthusiasm. Mission: Impossible is one Hollywood tentpole that shows no signs of aging.

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Watch Online Taken 3 (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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Synopsis:

Former covert operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) must race to protect his daughter while tracking down the criminals who framed him for killing his wife in the adrenaline-fueled third chapter of the Taken saga. Bryan and his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) are taking their first tentative steps toward reconciliation when she is viciously murdered, and he is targeted as the prime suspect. Now, with the CIA, FBI, and every cop in the country hot on his trail, Bryan realizes that it's only a matter of time before his enemies get to his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), too. Determined to keep her alive at any cost, he realizes that his only hope for saving her is to clear his name before he is captured. But while Bryan does possess the "particular set of skills" to stay one step ahead of the men who want his entire family dead, proving that he's innocent of murder and seeing that the real killers face justice might be the last thing he ever does.

Review:

There's a reason why the "I have a particular set of skills" speech from the original Taken became so iconic: It was the thrill of watching an actor as talented as Liam Neeson bring some palpable gravitas to the clichéd role of the seemingly retired killer called back into action. Seven years later, Taken 3 proves once and for all that Neeson should stop relying on this particular set of skills.

He's back as Bryan Mills, who must now clear his name and protect his pregnant daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) after his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) turns up dead in his apartment, with all evidence pointing to him as the killer. Bryan must elude a tenacious police detective (Forest Whitaker) who wants to bring him in for the murder, all while unraveling how Lenore's current husband Stuart (Dougray Scott) is mixed up with a conscience-free Russian baddie poised to go on a killing spree if he doesn't get paid.

Olivier Megaton (who also helmed Taken 2) directs this installment of the increasingly tired franchise, and it seems like he failed to compose a single frame that he wants us to look at, because he cuts away from every image after about a second and a half. This is true of both the quieter scenes that set up Bryan's relationships with his daughter, ex-wife, and Stuart, and the frenetic chase sequences and indecipherable one-on-one fistfights. Either Megaton has no faith in his own direction, or he has zero respect for his audience's attention span.

Already a renowned actor, Liam Neeson enjoyed one of the most unexpected third acts in any movie star's career by becoming an action hero in his mid-fifties with Taken. He rode that box-office wave for a few years, putting out a string of similar-looking suspense flicks: Unknown, Non-Stop, A Walk Among the Tombstones, and of course, the obligatory Taken 2. As a result, seeing Neeson play this type of role no longer feels surprising or exciting.

Taken 3 doesn't offer up anything new, and screenwriters Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen -- who have masterminded the entire franchise -- assume audiences will be happy with more of the same. It's such a lazy movie that it's left unclear at the end if one of the recurring characters, Bryan's old buddy Sam, is alive or dead. When the filmmakers themselves are this disinterested, it's clear that the people who are suckered into buying a ticket for this flick are the ones who have been taken.

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Watch Online Lucy (2014) - MovieTimeUs

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Synopsis :

Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansson headline this EuropaCorp/TF1 Films co-production directed by Luc Besson, and released by Universal Pictures. The story centers on a woman (Johansson) who falls prey to sinister underworld forces, but who gains superhuman abilities that allow her to strike back at her oppressors.

Review:

Following in the recent tradition of high-concept sci-fi action thrillers like Inception, Lucy is at its best when it's either reveling in explosive action sequences, or delving into deep, metaphorical philosophy. The moments in between, when the characters actually attempt to explain the pseudo-science that drives the plot, as always, are this genre's weak points. But while you're in the middle of enjoying the ride, it probably won't matter.

The story rests entirely on the oft-quoted factoid that human beings only use 10% of their brains, proposing that thus, activating that unused 90% could offer us wild and crazy superpowers. Of course, any nerd worth their salt knows this figure isn't even true -- it's a bastardization of the assertion by early 20th century neurologists that they only understood how we use around 10% of the brain. But in the end, this probably isn't a deal-breaker for most viewers, because director and writer Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Professional) is adept at distracting us with sweet car chases and tense shootouts. He eventually eclipses the dumb exposition from the movie's first act with some way-smarter content, which comes in the form of subtext. It's sort of like The Matrix (the first one, anyway), where the story makes a lot more sense if you take it as an analogy for more abstract, spiritual ideas. But in the meantime, you get to follow a badass woman as she rapidly evolves beyond the human understanding of the universe and exacts unflinching, hardcore beat downs on the Taiwanese gangsters who get in her way.

That woman is the titular Lucy (Scarlett Johansson), who is kidnapped by Asian drug kingpins and used as a drug mule to cart a bag of a new, uncut synthetic superdrug across borders. The only catch is that the criminals do this by surgically implanting it into her abdomen. So when one of her captors (who apparently didn't get the message from his superiors not to beat the hostage) beats the hostage, the bag leaks and Lucy gets a rapid overdose of the mysterious substance, which instantly sends her body into evolutionary overdrive, granting her access to the latent abilities offered by that heretofore unused 90% of her brain. She can do everything from control her own metabolism and heart rate to perceive and manipulate electromagnetic fields, and as the process that the drug set into motion continues, she only gets more powerful. She's free from attachment and fear, and injury doesn't mean much when she can control the divisions of her own cells. With the gangsters still on her tail, she tracks down Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman), a neuroscientist who focuses on the evolution of the brain.

You may remember one of the last times Besson focused his movie around a female supreme being, the orange-haired Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) from The Fifth Element. But Lucy is a very different character; she's not cute or bubbly, she's cool and calculated. Like Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, part of Lucy's character arc is that her abilities make her so removed from her ego, her attachments, and her former perceptions of space and time that she's in danger of no longer relating to the human experience.

But this isn't to say that Lucy is cold -- as a film or as a character. Besson's directorial style is kinetic: His edits and cutaways crackle with hyperactive references, and Lucy's exploits in superhuman badassery are dotted with tongue-in-cheek humor. The plot points may sound kind of silly on their own, but by the end, Lucy literally sits through a sequence in which she realizes that time isn't linear, humans just perceive it that way. The idea of utilizing 100% of her brain's "capacity" emerges as a metaphor for profound, nonphysical enlightenment. This is where the Matrix comparison becomes apt. Remember "There is no spoon,"? It's like that.

It's possible that Besson (or the studio) tried to balance out the fact that the movie gets so heavy in the final act by making it kind of stupid in the first act. This would explain the apparent lack of a science consultant, who could have made the brain stuff at least sound like it kind of makes sense. But if you can forgive or ignore those faults, Lucy delivers the goods by the end, both as a brainy thought experiment and as a summer popcorn flick.

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Watch Online Pan (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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Synopsis:

An orphan boy (Levi Miller) discovers his destiny as Peter Pan in this vividly realized fantasy, and is whisked away to an enchanted land to battle the fearsome pirate Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman) with the help of the warrior woman Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara). Directed by Joe Wright (Hanna) and Atonement). Cast includes Garrett Hedlund, Amanda Seyfried, Adeel Akhtar, Nonso Anozie and Kathy Burke.

Review: 

A viewer's reaction to Pan, the Joe Wright-directed origin story of how an orphan in WWII-era London became the legendary Peter Pan, will likely depend on his or her age. Kids -- and those who are kids at heart -- will probably relish the truly bizarre phantasmagoria on display, while more discerning moviegoers will be appalled by its lack of originality, unsettling tonal shifts, mysterious musical choices, and scenery-chewing acting. In other words, there's something here for everyone to praise or pick apart.

Pan begins with a distraught woman (Amanda Seyfried) leaving her baby Peter in a basket outside of a London orphanage. We then flash forward a dozen years: The Nazis are relentlessly bombing the city, and the mischievous lad (played by wonderful newcomer Levi Miller) is investigating why some boys in the orphanage suddenly go missing during the night, and whether the disappearances are linked to a bevy of gold coins being hoarded by cruel caretaker Mother Barnabas (Kathy Burke), who runs the Dickensian institution with an iron fist and a steely heart. He soon finds out. Mother raises the Jolly Roger and pirates swoop down on bungee-like ropes to snatch him and several other boys out of their beds; they are whisked away in a floating buccaneer ship to Neverland, where they join hundreds of other boys and men in digging for fairy dust in a mining camp at the behest of Blackbeard (a hammy but effective Hugh Jackman). The notorious pirate, it turns out, inhales the stuff in order to retain his youthful appearance.

"Here we are now, entertain us," Blackbeard sings, along with his fellow pirates, when he makes his first appearance hoisted high above the enslaved assemblage on his airship. (It remains a mystery why the characters in a 1940s-era nonmusical story are singing Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" -- or later, the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" -- and that's only one of many jarring and questionable choices by the filmmakers.) Peter is soon brought before Blackbeard for a minor offense, and is forced to walk the plank into a rocky abyss. But when he steps off, he begins to fly instead of falling to his death. Blackbeard immediately realizes that Peter is the chosen one of prophecy, a messiah-like figure who can fly, was born of a fairy prince and a human mother, and who will one day rise up and defeat him. Peter is imprisoned, but he eventually escapes with the help of wisecracking fellow miner James Hook (Garrett Hedlund, desperately trying -- and failing -- to channel Harrison Ford as both Indiana Jones and Han Solo) and bumbling buddy Smee (Adeel Akhtar). The trio hijack one of Blackbeard's ships and quickly crash-land in a wooded area occupied by Neverland natives, who are enemies of Blackbeard and are also awaiting the arrival of the chosen one. The ethnically diverse community (their multicultural vibe might have been a way to justify having the Caucasian Rooney Mara play the originally Native American Tiger Lily) take in the escapees, and together they work to bring down Blackbeard.

Curiously for an origin story, there isn't an original idea anywhere to be found on Pan's bloated canvas. Screenwriter Jason Fuchs steals liberally from Dickens, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Avatar, and utilizes tired themes (a hero who doesn't realize his true destiny, to name just one example) to spin a new tale out of recycled parts. Wright does generate some arresting action sequences, especially in the film's final showdown with Blackbeard, but they aren't enough to lift the movie out of its sullen state. Younger viewers, however, will likely be absolutely delighted by all of the onscreen derring-do and impressive CGI work, which includes a massive crocodile out to consume our heroes. Pan is never boring and families who flock to it will be entertained, but it's still a shipwreck of jumbled ideas that never quite pan out.

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Watch Online The Dark Knight (2008) - MovieTimeUs

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The caped crusader gets a stunning dose of hardcore dramatics in The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's ambitious follow-up to Batman Begins. Hailed as the first real big-screen adult take on a popular comic mythos, the film goes to great lengths to show that costumed characters can indeed exist in genres outside of their comfort zone -- which in this case, spells gritty crime drama. Nolan's Gotham City might be beautiful, but it's decaying from the inside out -- as are most of the people in control of it. So at what point do the efforts of a costumed vigilante cease to have an impact on the city he vows to protect -- and when does his mere presence become a detriment to that society? It's these kinds of hefty issues that embody what could accurately be touted as a reinvention of the entire superhero film altogether. Thick with rich dramatics, daring performances, and a few knockout scenes of action gusto, The Dark Knight strives to not only one-up its predecessor, but also to lay down a measuring stick of quality for the rest of Hollywood to live up to.

Viewers' strong reactions to the picture likely have a lot to do with the casting. Heath Ledger's sad passing gives his fearless performance -- and in effect, the movie -- a sense of importance that is hard to counter. For his part, the talented performer gives a full-on show each time he is onscreen. His approach to this anarchist embodiment of The Joker is something truly special to behold and easily one of the boldest portrayals in comic-to-screen history. Take him away and there's still plenty of A-game being brought to the screen, thanks to the talents of Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Aaron Eckhart, whose solid performance as Harvey Dent makes up the tragic backbone of the film. For his part, Christian Bale does a fine job embodying the lonesome hero of his city, even if he persists in giving Batman's voice the same guttural growl that hurt his performance the first time around. Thankfully, the costume has been given an overhaul to address some of the "rubber suit" issues that have plagued the franchise since its Tim Burton days.

Yet just as Burton reshaped the character to fit his own gothic tastes, so does Christopher Nolan paint a picture all his own. By luring audiences in with a consistently light first half and then turning things bleaker as the movie progresses, the filmmaker has created a truly engrossing tale of modern decay. By the end, much has changed and no one is left unscathed. It's not an easy story to either tell or sit through. There are casualties -- and this most certainly is not a crowd-pleaser in the typical sense of the word. By eschewing what many others in his field are doing with similar comic properties and seeking out his inspiration elsewhere, Nolan shows that mature thematic material can have new life when adapted for even the most beloved heroes of the printed page. Critically, he does overshoot things a bit by bringing in slightly heavy-handed messages into the final chunk of the film -- and it seems that a few characters really get the short end of the stick (Scarecrow, anyone?). Perhaps the rumored three-hour cut would iron out a few of the film's issues, including rushed character arcs and especially one seemingly needless late set piece. The action, while improved in this installment, also is a bit hampered by some confusing techno-gadgetry (in one of the only moments where the action is dictated by fantastic spectacle).

Still, with its virtuoso vision and near avant-garde score from James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer fueling the picture's ever-growing dread, The Dark Knight stands on its own in a world full of easy entertainment. Perhaps someday someone will be able to happily marry the best that both Nolan and Burton have brought to the screen -- until then, this remains an impressive feat of studio-backed artistry. Like its own crime-fighter, the movie is a symbol that aspires to greater things; where it will lead is anyone's guess.

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Watch Online The Last Witch Hunter (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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"How do you know when there is magic in the vicinity?" a baby-faced priest (Elijah Wood) asks Vin Diesel's witch hunter early on in this would-be supernatural thriller, as the two search an apartment for signs of sorcery. Seeing none, the priest says, "No magic here." One assumes he's referring to the lack of witchcraft evidence found in the room, but he could just as easily be expressing his thoughts about the insipid movie he's stuck in.

Diesel stars as Kaulder, a valiant 14th-century warrior who is cursed with immortality by the Witch Queen (a maggot-encrusted Julie Engelbrecht) just before he slays her in a cryptic underground lair. Kaulder intended to perish with the merciless queen so he could be reunited in the afterlife with his late wife and daughter, who died from the Black Plague that the queen unleashed upon Europe. Now, he's condemned to be forever separated from his loved ones and dwell in eternal loneliness. What to do? Become the Catholic Church's go-to guy to track down the world's most wicked witches and put them under lock and key in the "witch prison," of course.

Jettison ahead to present-day New York City, where Kaulder lives in an ultra-plush apartment with a killer view of Central Park, drives a newly minted Aston Martin, collects a horde of deadly weaponry, and beds the occasional stewardess. Kaulder receives his witch-hunting assignments from his longtime mentor Dolan the 36th (an always welcome Michael Caine), the latest in a succession of priests charged with aiding Kaulder with his missions. Unfortunately, an ancient Nordic warlock named Belial (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) murders Dolan, plots to resurrect the Witch Queen and unleash a new global pandemic. Kaulder teams up with Dolan the 37th, the aforementioned baby-faced priest, and Chloe (Game of Thrones' Rose Leslie), a sexy white witch, to combat Belial. Naturally, the fate of the world depends on them.

A movie titled The Last Witch Hunter should provide plenty of thrills and chills, and raise the level of a viewer's pulse, but instead the Breck Eisner-directed film continually flatlines with uninspired overdoses of CGI mayhem and convoluted witchy mumbo jumbo that come at us so fast and furious they create fatigue instead of intrigue. It doesn't help that Diesel delivers his usual one-note, guttural performance without a trace of humor, and on the whole is given very little to do, other than look gravely concerned and lethargically react to all of the weird stuff happening around him. The fact that Kaulder can't be killed and that any injuries he suffers heal almost instantly also sap the story of energy. It's a dull superhero who doesn't have a weakness. Fortunately, Caine, excellent as always, lends the tale a necessary touch of believability, while Leslie enlivens every scene she's in with a heartfelt and often comic sensibility that lifts the film occasionally out of its doldrums. But not even she can work enough magic to prevent the movie from casting a spell of absolute boredom over its audience.

The Last Witch Hunter is Vin Diesel's attempt to launch a new action franchise and it just might work. Teen boys and Diesel diehards will flock to the film, but repeat visits will likely be few. Here's hoping The Last Witch Hunter lives up to its name and is indeed the last we see of Diesel's dreary hag hunter.

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Watch Online Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the second film based on author James Dashner's young-adult adventure series, picks up right where the first movie ended: Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and his fellow Gladers, having escaped from the deadly labyrinth of the first story, are taken via helicopter to a fortified WCKD (World Catastrophe Killzone Department) compound, where they are promised safety and a new life. But once inside, Thomas learns that WCKD is up to some very wicked things indeed. The shadowy organization, led by the mysterious Ava Paige (an underused Patricia Clarkson), want to drain their blood, since they are immune to a nasty virus called "the flare" that turns humans into zombie-like creatures known as "cranks." Paige's ultimate goal, or so she claims, is to find a cure for the flare, and she believes that Thomas in particular might be the key. But he doesn't want anything to do with her blood-sucking research, and persuades his friends to escape once again. When they do, they discover that the outside world is a barren, apocalyptic landscape that has been scorched by solar flares. The gang then spend the rest of the movie running from WCKD soldiers and fighting off terrorizing cranks -- along with an interlude in which they are captured by a mercenary leader (the always reliable Giancarlo Esposito) and must persuade him not to sell them back to WCKD -- as they attempt to reach a distant mountain safe haven where the Right Arm, a resistance group also working on a cure, are located.

And that's about it. Unfortunately, The Scorch Trials doesn't do much to advance its dystopian tale. It offers very little in the way of character development, answers zero questions about the flare and the deadly virus it spawned, and its plot ends up pretty much where it started. Worst of all, the story plays out in sluggish fashion, with long dry spells between the action set pieces (the best one takes place in an abandoned mall populated with menacing, fast-moving cranks). Its bloated running time (131 minutes) also doesn't help. Fortunately, O'Brien, who is in nearly every scene, is immensely watchable as Thomas. We always cheer for him and fear for him, although we know nothing bad is really going to happen to the movie's protagonist. Kaya Scodelario is equally good as Teresa, the lone female who escaped the maze. She is the one character we do get to know better, and her questionable actions propel the story into its next (and presumably) final installment, The Death Cure, in which Thomas plans to bring down WCKD and exact revenge on his persecutors.

The Scorch Trials isn't a disaster, but it is a disappointment. Director Wes Ball manages to stage a couple of impressive action scenes, but it's all to little effect. Sadly, the movie feels like a placeholder, and it suffers from the problem of many middle films in a trilogy: It isn't nearly as good as the original, and it serves as little more than a bridge to what one hopes is a rousing finale. Mostly, though, The Scorch Trials is just a trial to sit through.

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Watch Online San Andreas (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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Nature begins rebelling against the state of California during the first scene of San Andreas, and she does not relent for almost two straight hours. The film itself is an onslaught of special effects, panicked citizens, and, of course, explosions. There is no subtext here: Chaos reigns supreme as rescue pilot Ray Gaines (Dwayne Johnson) tries to save his daughter from the constant barrage of mayhem brought on by a series of catastrophic earthquakes. Although it takes place in a real-life setting, San Andreas fits in the tradition of apocalyptic natural-disaster flicks like The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and 2012 (2009); it's an unapologetically bombastic exploration of Murphy's Law. This is a summer movie through and through, with zero subtlety and a ton of wide shots of buildings getting bashed, crashed, and mashed.

In terms of gratuitous destruction, the effects and camerawork in San Andreas are truly outstanding. Johnson may have earned top billing on the posters, but the demolition of the Bay Area takes center stage. The filmmakers clearly know what their audience are buying tickets for, and most of the movie is dominated by large structures toppling over in loud and aesthetically impressive fashion. Ray and his soon-to-be-ex Emma (Carla Gugino) journey through this calamity by land, air, and sea as they search for their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario).

Viewers will be mesmerized by the extreme carnage and the shots of buildings collapsing as the fault literally tears and splits the ground. Sure, it's not so much style over substance as style instead of substance; the results, though, are certainly something to behold for anyone who craves spectacle in his or her summer cinema. A considerable amount of credit and respect should be given to the sound-effects and production-design departments, which are largely responsible for making San Andreas' visuals a cinematic achievement.

During the dialogue-driven parts of the movie, however, the myriad special effects are not enough to overcome the lackluster character work and writing. Director Brad Peyton (previously best known for Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore) will no doubt get more chances to helm blockbusters in the future, but he is clearly too preoccupied with capturing physical wreckage in this film. That's to the detriment of the actors, who are forced to overemote in order to compensate for their characters' lack of depth. Everything we are supposed to feel and understand about the Gaines and those in their orbit is explicitly stated, including how the death of their first daughter broke up their marriage. None of these characters have any nuance, and as a result, there's a clear lack of authenticity in the actors' line readings and their emotional reactions to anything that isn't immediately hurtling at them. There's damage to the Bay Area, to be sure, but there is also a great deal of wreckage in any scene dominated by conversation. That's especially disappointing coming from screenwriter Carlton Cuse, one of the co-creators of the masterful and thematically rich television series Lost.

The lead in this all-flash, crackerjack thriller is Johnson, whose often-wooden acting is counterbalanced by his natural charisma, earned from his time as the hugely popular professional wrestler "the Rock." As a result, he is perfectly suited to deliver lines that wouldn't be out of place in a high-school creative-writing course (amusingly, the camera typically zooms in on his stoic face whenever he has to say another groaner). Johnson's presence reminds us not to take San Andreas too seriously, and to just sit back and be entertained. While he'll never win any awards for his acting, here's hoping that more blockbusters cast him to run around onscreen during disasters. Gugino, who worked with Johnson before in Faster and Race to Witch Mountain, does exactly what she's expected to with her boxed-in role: scream, look scared, and shed some tears.

Alexandra Daddario is serviceable as Blake, who has clearly learned a lot from her dad about disaster scenarios and how to be prepared. The presence of Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt), a prospective employee at Emma's boyfriend's firm, gives viewers at least one fully developed character beyond the Gaines clan. Ben and his adorable younger brother/skilled wingman Ollie (Art Parkinson) are genuinely sympathetic, especially as Ben begins to fall for Blake. Johnstone-Burt and Parkinson are two bright spots here, and audiences will hopefully see more of them in future films worthy of their acting chops.

But the acting honors in this movie go to Paul Giamatti, playing a Cal Tech professor and seismology expert who frantically tries to warn California's citizens of the impending doom heading for them. The former Oscar nominee is a pro, and he elevates every single scene he is featured in. Although the film often seems like the most expensive natural-disaster PSA of all time, his presence and commitment to craft allow the sound and fury of San Andreas to signify slightly more than nothing. Explosions become less thrilling the more viewers see them, and anyone expecting more than a sugar rush should search for other fare. As far as eye candy goes, however, San Andreas' visuals are pretty sweet.

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Watch Online The Martian (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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Led by Commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), the Ares 3 space mission has been tasked with collecting soil samples and data on Mars. An unexpected dust storm launches debris at the crew, impaling botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) with a rogue satellite and cutting their mission short. Lewis and her crew (Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, and Aksel Hennie) have no choice but to leave the presumed-dead Watney behind and escape the planet before the storm irreparably damages their spacecraft. Watney awakens the next day, injured but still alive, and treks back to the crew's home base. All contact to NASA has been lost in the storm, and Watney soon realizes that not only is he stuck on the Red Planet with limited supplies and infrastructure, but that it could be years before the next manned mission will arrive to save him.

Watney immediately begins work on developing sustainable sources of water and food, using his remarkable set of scientific and botanical skills to create a functioning greenhouse. He also determines that, in order to be spotted by NASA, he must fix the Rover left behind so that it can travel to the area of the planet that will host the next mission. Meanwhile, on Earth, NASA scientists notice the movement of the Ares vehicles and pods left on the planet, and determine that Watney survived the storm and is modifying the base to provide extended shelter. They make contact with him using a buried signal transponder, and shift the attention of the entire agency toward mounting a rescue mission.

The brain trust at NASA weigh their options for saving Watney, all while considering the potential PR disaster that could come with any decision they make. NASA head Teddy Sanders (a measured Jeff Daniels) clashes with Mission Chief Vincent Kapoor (the always wonderful Chiwetel Ejiofor) over possible strategies, as well as whether to inform the remaining Ares 3 crew that Watney is indeed still alive. Kapoor works closely with developers to quickly build a spacecraft filled with life-sustaining supplies, which will keep Watney alive until the Ares 4 mission reaches him in four years' time. Foregoing safety precautions due to time constraints, this unmanned mission to deliver provisions is a disaster, which forces NASA to reach out to the Chinese government for technological help. Eccentric astrophysicist Rich Purnell (Donald Glover) eventually devises a last-ditch plan for the Ares 3 crew to save Watney by using an orbital slingshot as they approach Earth -- a risk that Sanders is unwilling to take. When secretly informed of the idea via an encrypted e-mail, Lewis and her crew immediately change course to follow Purnell's plan, forcing NASA's hand in aiding this improbable rescue mission.

Staying true to Andy Weir's 2011 novel, director Ridley Scott's surprisingly light flick is a science-heavy study of one man's determination to return home. Watney is far more focused on technical wizardry and cracking wise about his predicament than the existential crisis of being stranded alone on Mars. Even during his video-diary entries, which he knows will likely never be viewed by another human being, he relies on his sense of humor as a defense mechanism to deal with the crushing odds stacked against him. It's a clever way to sidestep the usual characterization you'd expect from a character in this situation, allowing The Martian to opt out of the emotional turbulence of a movie like Cast Away, or even the desperation of Damon's turn in Interstellar.

However, while it might be true to the source material, it also leaves the main character feeling half-realized. Watney has a brief breakdown after a disaster involving his crops and his Rover, but his unflappability and devotion to methodical problem solving keep any negative thoughts safely out of view. Screenwriter Drew Goddard gives the ancillary characters in this story the same treatment; their dogged determination to figure out a plan to save Watney outweighs any individual motives, emotions, or even viewpoints. The Martian isn't particularly concerned with the psychological toll of isolation or guilt, but instead focuses on the triumph of human ingenuity under duress. A balanced account of both the emotional and logistical aspects of the rescue mission would have made this feel like a more complete picture.

Regardless, the movie is a great example of crowd-pleasing cinema. Scott is undeniably a master of spectacle, and as a result, The Martian contains plenty of great popcorn-flick moments. With the help of cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, Scott even utilizes subtle 3D imagery in order to deepen his already breathtaking environments. At the same time, so much of the film is firmly trained on Damon, and the veteran actor injects his magnetic charm and braininess into the everyman protagonist. Despite a lack of psychological depth, The Martian succeeds as a tribute to humanity's collective resolve, as well as the problem-solving skills of one hell of a botanist. 

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