Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review (Spoilers)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is out and it feels good. The movie is almost as good as the original trilogy with a lot of action and enough for those who went to enjoy the nostalgia to leave the theater happy.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE SO IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE PLEASE COME BACK LATER

Right from the beginning this movie is action packed and all the new characters are to be enjoyed. There is no Jar-Jar in this movie or anything that comes even close to it. There is also a lot of fun to be had as this movie has a lot of laugh lines without ever going into the realm of comedies. Chewbacca and Han Solo have a lot of the best lines and Chewy was definitely the funniest of the bunch.

The new droid BB-8 was amazing and if you do not have the action figure yet, you have like 3 seconds to get it before the prices are too ridiculous. The little fellow steals the scene every time that he is around. He is expressive, funny, fun and all I can say is that if he were around I would give him thumbs-up.

In a rare event, every new character in the franchise is really good and every one of the actor delivers what they need to and more. Poe Dameron (played by Oscar Isaac) is an amazing character and left us wanting a lot more of him. Finn (John Boyega) was fun and brought a lot of energy to the film and Rey (Daisy Ridley) is one of the best female heroes in film history. The villains are a bit more complicated as we do not know much about Snoke and Hux for example and Kylo Ren was the only character to give us mixed feelings.

The older generation was also great, especially Han Solo and Chewbacca. I would have wished a little more of Luke in the movie but I get why we didn’t. Leia was also back and in a position we all imagined she would be after the events of return of the Jedi. I also wished for more R2 and C3PO but I got that this was BB-8’s turn to step into the spotlight.

Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) started off as an amazing and powerful villain. That scene where he stops the blast from reaching him at the beginning was pretty badass and it was clear that his soldiers feared him; he was shaping up to be a perfect villain, but then once the mask came off all that changed. After that, it felt as if he was just a brat and Hux who at one point had fear in his face started flat out disrespecting him.

The other thing that needs an explanation is how in the Star Wars universe a character like Kylo Ren can lose a fight to two untrained individuals. It is clear that Rey had some experience using the force in the past but she hasn’t since she was a kid so it should have been an easy fight against a guy that had been training since he was a kid. There is not even such benefit of the doubt with Finn though. He was stolen from his family as a kid and it could be that he was force sensitive and that is why he was kidnapped by the First Order but there is no hint of that in the movie. Kylo Ren should have won that fight easily, but he didn’t and that is one of the problems we had with the movie.

The other problem that we had with the movie is that it was a bit predictable. Was there anyone watching that did not know that Han Solo had his future written out the moment that Leia asked him to bring their son back? Even if you did not realize it then, you should have the moment that Han saw Ben on the bridge. We all knew that Poe could not be dead in the crash and we knew R2D2 would come back at the end.

All that said, the movie was very enjoyable and we left the movie theater excited once again for the franchise. It is not the perfect movie and it is not even the best Star Wars movie, but it is up there. We are giving it 4 stars out of a possible 5.

X-Men Apocalypse Trailer Recap/Review

 

Yes, we are going on a mission

So the first wide-release tráiler for X-men: Apocalypse is out and I have a couple of thoughts about it. First of all the trailer does not look bad and it was good to see Cyclops, Beast, Angel and Jean in it. I hope that they have Ice-Man in it so that we can have the entire original team. We also saw Storm, Jubilee, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Magneto, Havok, Quicksilver and a very bald Professor Xavier which made me just say “finally!” I think that will be his look at the end of the movie, and that shot that you see may be the end of it.

Go-go Power Rangers

They also made sure not to give us too many shots of Apocalypse and not a single shot was from an angle like the one in the picture that made him look like a Power Rangers villain. There is also a scene where you see Apocalypse grow in size which is one of his iconic powers, but I am not sure how that will look in the big screen. Officially I am still not down with the look of the character, but that has the potential of being a good thing because it lowers expectations. You can have a bad looking character that is also awesome at the same time. His voice is not menacing, but until I see the movie I cannot tell you if that will matter as much.

The next thing I will bitch about, because that is what I do better, is the fact that they cast Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. Don’t get me wrong, she is an awesome actress. I think Jennifer Lawrence is the best young actress in Hollywood at this time and that is the problem that I have with the casting. They must feel that because it is such a huge name and an amazing talent that you are dealing with that they have to make her good. I would rather see her being evil and in Apocalypse’s side and I know that Lawrence can pull it off and she would be great at it, but they won’t do it because she HAS TO be a hero.

"And Emo Kid, go write a song"

The one thing that people say about this movie that I am not too concerned about is that there are a ton of characters. As I said before in the list of people that we saw, there are plenty of characters is true, but we don’t know how they will be used. We know that Magneto, Angel, Psylocke and Storm are going to be the 4 horsemen and we know that some of the mutants will go on the mission to stop Apocalypse which is fine because the X-Men are a team. We know that Quicksilver, Jean Grey, Psylocke, Beast, Nightcrawler, Mystique, and Charles are going to be fighting, but we don’t know what role Havok, Jubilee and Wolverine will have.

Now on to the positives, I think the movie looks good for what they are trying to do. I am pretty sure that we will get a great movie because this is the one Fox property that they have started doing right. Fox may have no idea what in the hell they are doing with Fantastic Four, but as long as Bryan Singer is involved with X-Men, they are in safe hands. I like the casting choices for this movie (minus Mystique and Beast), because they seem right for the role. The stakes look really big which I like and the villain despite the look and sound of him, will be the biggest threat that the X-Men have faced on film.

I cannot wait to see this movie. You can bet that we will be there on the day it is out and I do not mind that I will be there probably at 10 AM to the matinee show. The movie looks like it will be great on IMAX too.

That look you get when you are watching someone sleep and they wake up

Star Wars Episode 3 Is Better Than Episode 4

One of the biggest complaints that people have with Star Wars is the Prequels. Most fans think that George Lucas should not have gone back to the series and for the most part they are right. Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith however is not the bad movie that you would think it is based on fan reaction. Yes, the movie has its flaws, but at the same time it has several redeeming qualities.

I feel that I am about to commit geek Dom sacrilege by saying this, but Star Wars revenge of the Sith is a better movie than the Original Star Wars, AKA Episode 4: A New Hope. Ok, not put down the middle finger because I cannot see it through your monitor anyway and hear me out. Episode 4 did a great job setting up the hero and an entire universe, but it is full of inconsistencies and bad acting. If you thought Hayden Christensen was annoying when he was bitching throughout episode 2, then why do you not think the same of Luc when he was whining to Uncle Owen?

Think of all the inconsistencies of episode 4 when you look at the canon of the universe and you will find a lot of them. Then you have the fights between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker. Are you really going to tell me that two old geezers tapping lightsabers is better than the fight they had at the end of Episode 3 when they were young and full of energy?

Fine, Episode 3 has its faults too. Mainly the problem was with the direction of the movie though. Some of the problems it had were in the writing, I mean dies because she gave up on life? Anakin goes bad and she has no reason to live anymore? She just had a couple of babies, you’d think that they would give her a reason to live, but they were not all that important to her I guess. Say what you will about your parents, but they never died out of sadness and left you unprotected.

In the end, most people get blinded by their love for Star Wars and they do not see a lot of the flaws of Episode 4 which was epic, but not as good a movie as people think it is. There is a difference between having an epic movie and having a good movie.

I am seeing the difference between the two because I recently watched all 6 movies in preparation for episode 7 which I will be seeing on the day it comes out. Maybe it is that Episode 2 was so bad that episode 3 seemed like a masterpiece and my expectations were too low, but if that is the case then why did episode 3 feel better than episode 4?

Episode 3 gets an A-

Episode 4 gets a B+

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Review

When it come to the Paranormal Activity movies I have been split. On the one hand I think they were creative and kind of creepy, but on the other hand they have been repetitive and predictable. I am also not a fan of the “found footage” films that a lot of studios like to make because they are cheap.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is different from the other movies in the franchise, but that does not mean that the change is all positive. The difference is that unlike in previous movies there is a camera that can capture the demon, so instead of being afraid of something you cannot see, the movie bets on putting a monster in front of your eyes. That unfortunately did not work as well as it does in other movies. The good thing about the previous installments was that you could not see the thing that you were afraid of, and they took that away in this film.

As for the movie itself, it is the same thing that you have seen all over again. There is nothing that feels new or fresh about it except for the 3D which The Ghost Dimension relies on in order to get a few jump scares. The problem with that approach is that you see the scares coming from a mile away, so those that are used to scary movies are not likely to get as much of a thrill. The 3D in this movie is just a gimmick that does not really work.

Just like in the other Paranormal Activity movies you are left to wonder who in their right mind would still be holding a camera if all that stuff was going on around them. I found myself laughing more than being scared which is definitely not something that you want when you are watching a scary movie. There are a couple of funny lines in the movie, but for Halloween this movie was a fail. It is not the worse scary movie ever, but it is not even close to being decent.

Overall the movie was predictable and relied too heavily on the 3D gimmick to scare the audience. Overall I cannot see myself giving Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension more than 1 ½ stars, and that is actually generous. So what did you think of this movie if you saw it? Let me know in the comments section.

Mad Max Fury Road Review

One of the movies that people seemed to like a lot in 2015 was Mad Max Fury Road. While we can see why people loved it, the truth is that overall we were not all that impressed.

We are not saying that the special effects were not great and that we were not entertained by it. I think that the reason people liked the movie was that it has cool scenes (it really does), but at the same time it has several flaws that I could not ignore.

As cool as the scenes were, I found myself wondering what in the world I was looking at. The movie felt very unorganized especially in act 1. There is a lot of action in this movie, but it seemed like uncontrolled action. I guess if anything like that were to happen in real life that is what it would be like, but in movies we want to be able to follow the action. Maybe it is just me and maybe I just have to watch it one more time, but as of right now I am not very impressed, especially considering other movies that were released this year.

I think this movie aimed to make something fun and exciting and while the scenes were both of those things it failed at making sense of it ll. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to make sense (I have not watched the Mel Gibson Max movies). I cannot say that the 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes is wrong, because it may be that I am wrong on this one but I cannot give Mad Max too much credit.

I did like the character of Furiosa more so than I liked Max (Fool). I thought she was as badass as you can get from anyone in Hollywood be it a man or a woman. Yeah Furiosa was the one character in the movie that I was able to follow and really like. I hope that she does make a comeback in future movies because she was the reason I made it through this one.

Overall I am giving Mad Max Fury Road 2.5 out of 5 stars, now don’t hate me for it.

Open Letter To Joe And Anthony Russo

We know the Russo Brothers already brought us one of the (if not the) best superhero movies of all time in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I firmly believe that their talent will show in next year’s Captain America: Civil War which I am now predicting will be THE best movie of 2016, and you can bet that Infinity War 1 & 2 are in the best hands.

Now of course I am just a comic book geek who is watching his diet and exercising just so that I do not unexpectedly die before watching those two movies (I am having so much pizza the day after). So what could I possibly hope for with this open letter? I am just thinking of what could possibly add to the epic-ness of those movies and I can only think of one thing that would make my inner-nerd die of excitement.

Imagine while our heroes are fighting Thanos, we get a view of what that fight is doing to the universe, and those characters in the MCU that we have gotten to know since the first Iron-Man. Think about it; it has been said that it is all connected and this is the chance to show that connection, all in one place.

We get a view of the earth and the Defenders trying to keep people safe in New York, then a cut to the agents of SHIELD with Mocking Bird, Quake, May, Coulson and Deathlok doing their thing, The Punisher somewhere being badass, then we cut to Xandar and the Nova Corps and Asgard with Lady Sif and the Warriors Three and other Asgardians. Even if you were to spend 5 seconds on each take it would make for a moment that no one would ever forget.

Come on Russo Brothers, we know that if someone can handle hat epic moment it is you. Just picture those 20 seconds of film history where the Marvel Universe came together. There would not be a moment that could compare to it. It would be the kind of scene that people would go back to the movies to see and when the Blu-ray is out we would all pause just to see everything that you showed us.

Of course it is only a dream and I am not even sure that you will read this, remember and picture it. You will not want to pass that opportunity. Or just give us the movie that you want… I am sure it will be awesome anyway. 

San Andreas Review

Every time you have a mega star like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson you have a certain level of expectations. Those expectations may not be that you will watch an Oscar-worthy film, but that you will have a lot of fun watching that movie. That is exactly what you have with San Andreas; the movie is not something that you would expect would ever happen, but instead it is billed as a disaster film. If you are expecting a fun time in front of a screen, then that is what you will get, just make sure that your expectations are not that high.

There is a lot of action in the movie, but there is a feeling that you are focusing too much on things that are not all that important to the plot if there is any. One of the things that really took my attention away from the main plot of the movie is that I was waiting for a certain “fantastic” character to die, and once that happens it is all much better and it allowed me to focus on the main characters.

The special effects were good, and the movie is a lot of fun, but nothing that will make you want to see the movie more than a couple of times if that. Even so, it is a good movie to watch and keep in your collection. The acting from Paul Giamatti is as good as always, but Will Yun Lee could have been used a lot more. Ioan Gruffudd did a good job as someone you are supposed to hate and Alexandra Daddario had a good amount of screen time and showed that she could have a great future in film. Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino were good individually, but I never really bought their relationship.

The movie does what it is supossed to; it is a fun ride, and a good disaster movie which is what you should be looking for if you are interested in it.

Overall, San Andreas is fun if you are not willing to think too much about it. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

   

Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

Avengers: Age of Ultron is one of the comic book movies which has gotten a lot more hate than it deserves. We actually have it ranked in the top 5 comic book movies of all time with the first Avengers movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and the surprise of the summer Ant-Man. While Ultron had a few flaws, the things that it does right way outweigh those that went wrong.

First let’s talk about what went wrong with the movie; I think that it is pretty obvious that Ultron was setting up phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That is fine by us because it is not as much as you would expect from what people have spoken against. Sure, the “Thor in the cave” movie could have been deleted or done in some other way, but it was less than 2 minutes so it is no big deal. That’s it! That is the only thing that we can think of that was wrong with Ultron.

A lot of people were also concerned that the trailers had given too much away, but that was not the case. Ultron was advertised as a menacing character, but he was more than that. Ultron was a good villain that was in fact very menacing, but at the same time had a lot of the unexpected fun lines in the movie.

Age of Ultron was not as dark as we expected and that is a good thing. While “dark” can work for some characters, it is not the case for a team like the Avengers. There is a feeling of dread when everything is happening in the final battle and while the audience knows that the world is going to be saved, they did not know at what cost. Those that saw the movie already know that the cost is pretty high. There is a chance that the “cost” we are talking about could be erased in future movies, but I am not that much against it if it is done right.

The special effects were great, the script was pretty good, the acting for a superhero movie was spot on and you can tell that these actors are out there having fun. It is sad to know that director Joss Whedon will not be back any time soon for another Marvel movie, but he does leave the franchise in great shape.

We give Avengers: Age of Ultron 4.5 out of 5 stars

Sinister 2 Review

If you saw the first “Sinister” movie, then chances are that you were looking forward to the sequel. The first movie was a refreshing new horror movie and for the most part we loved it… except for the “monster” in it which is supposed to be the boogie man, but even then we loved it because it really creeped us up.

The second movie is not as good, but that does not mean that it is not worth the admission price. The “Sinister 2” movie has its share of problems, but it still managed to give us a few scares. My personal problem with Sinister 2 is that I was able to figure out the ending after watching about 25% of the movie. We got to the ending and though I did not know how we would get there, the end result was what I predicted.

The other problem that I had with the movie is that it relied way too much on the jump scares. Some of those jump scares you will be able to see from a mile away. The moment that you see a space behind the actors, you know that something will be happening behind them. That could mean that if you see a reflection or enough space by them you and bet something will be jumping out of there, and yes it happens every time.

Now to the good things about Sinister 2. The movie manages to give us a story is believable when it comes to what the family interactions are. You have a mother that is willing to protect her kids against earthly dangers and if you see the movie you will know what I am talking about.

There are somethings that I did not see a connection to the story for like the “confession” or why James Ransone’s character was so into helping the woman and her kids. I see why he wanted to take care of the home, but after that the motivation is not clear; I mean once he sees that there are people living in the house then it would have made sense to tell the mom and get the hell out of there… that is what I would have done, but that would not make for a good movie I guess.

Overall I liked Sinister 2, but just in the pure “entertainment” sense. I am not telling you that the movie is something that you just have to watch, but it is good enough that if you see it you will walk out of the movie theater not sorry that you saw it. What I am saying is that it is not a waste of time and you should watch it… or not.

I give this movie 2 ½ out of 5 stars.