(film review) - Justice League

You could say it is the beginning of superhero fatigue as to why this film didn't do well.  You could also say it is because of the negative or mixed reviews which came out just before release, but I really do believe that the projected $110-120m for the weekend was hampered for many many reasons and Warner Bros. would never have reached it.

Not something I want to really get into, but I do believe the films shortcomings has come from many different things circulating the movie alone and the movies that came before it, in which I feel I need to give context and clear the air a little.

For example, Man of Steel opened to mixed to Positive reviews.  The film was divisive between critics and fans.  A really good film but the story was slightly hammy as certain characters were not portrayed accurately and the execution was just OK, albeit, some things never explained.

Four years later, Batman v Superman came out to very mixed to Negative reviews by critics and fans.  A film with great potential, but the execution was terrible.  Two of comics greatest and most iconic characters in a film together and the film was not as great as it should have been.  For the most part you'd enjoy moments of it, but the story and the third act was not great.  This was not well received.  Not to mention the terrible trailers.

Within the same year followed Suicide Squad.  A film which could have been told in a different way.  A film which was actually decent-ish, but had problems that weighed almost as heavy as the good elements of the movie.  This meant that critics and fans generally liked it, well better than WB's last Comic book outing, but the problems were there.  WB wanted re-shoots.  WB wanted to change the tone thinking it was the tone which was wrong with Batman v Superman.  It was choppy.  The jokes didn't all land well and the movie was all over the place tonally.  It should have been better...especially with the final act.  The cast were not the issue as the acting was good.  A little annoying that it centred on two specific characters, mostly.

Then came Wonder Woman.  A movie that basically did everything right from the ground up.  As DC Movies have slowly got marginally better over time, Wonder Woman opened to really great and excellent reviews from critics and fans.  Because of WW being such a great movie, WB decided to make changes to make her more front and center in this movie.

On top of the re-shoots and editing to make this film more attractive for all those who watched Wonder Woman, the tragedy with Zach Synder's family, knowing Warner Bros wanting to truncate their movie from 2hrs and 45mins to 2hrs, from knowing Henry Cavill had a moustache and it had to be digitally removed for filming the re-shoots, from learning that Ben Affleck doesn't want to play Batman any more and from Warner Bros being soo reactionary with all their previous comic book movies after BvS and not having someone like a Kevin Feige to take the lead and be the head honcho of the Franchise, WB would have always had an upward struggle with this movie and their predicted $110-120 million on opening weekend was never going to be met.  Ever!  Why? Because you did not control the narrative and you gave away too much of the film's behind the scenes problems.  You have lost the trust of the audience, the critics and the fans.  Batman V Superman literally made nobody care for them.  Only a little trust was gained with the outcome of Wonder Woman, but Gal Gadot can only do soo much.  Damn, Katherine Bigalow single-handed "Saved" WB.

Now with saying all this, is by no way a means to be a disclaimer to Justice League because the film is bad and you will not have fun with it and thoroughly dislike it, not at all.  The film does have it's problems, but it is still a good film as like Suicide Squad, or should I say, unlike suicide squad, the balance of what is good out weights the bad, 70 to 30, in my own personal opinion.

Superman is dead.  With the visions Batman received from The Flash, he teams up with Wonder Woman in order to recruit a few extraordinary people to help him in his cause to stop an unknown threat.  This threat is Steppenwolf, a being of great power who has come to Earth to collect these ancient boxes, called 'Motherbox' and use them to take over all life on the planet.  While Steppenwolf and his Parademons, scour the planet for these three boxes, will loner Batman be able to gel with his potential new recruits and will they have what it takes to thwart Steppenwolf and save all life on Earth?

This is the general gist of the film and if I'm honest, it's decent.  The villain doesn't have much layers but sometimes that isn't necessary.  The film has some great scenes, the beginning scene with Batman, the scene with the Amazonians was excellent, the quieter scenes with Cyborg was cool and even the scenes with Aquaman was ok.  The best and more funnier scenes are the ones with The Flash as Ezra Miller is absolutely hilarious in the movies and it helps to break up the serious tone.  What I will say is, while the film is very choppy and goes from scene to scene quite quickly, the film still works.  The scenes with the scientists are great and the scene at the memorial of Superman is possibly THE BEST SCENE IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE! Second is the final fight where they all come together.  But the main problem with the movie is the third act and the Joss Whedoning of it all.  Yeah, there are some great bits and he is a great director, but Joss and Zack are two completely different directors and it shows.  Weirdly enough, Zack is akin to a Michael Bay, but at a more elite level.  They both go for style over substance, but Zack has more style AND substance in comparison.

Visually, the film is amazing and it IS just a fun movie at the end of the day, but with the current track record and the handling of this movie and everything surrounding it, it is probably best if Zack handled it.  If it was a mess, then it's Zack's fault.  This film reeks of studio interference and a hodge-podge of trying to piece together another man's genius and doing it wrong.  Plagiarism at it's finest!  It's a pity we couldn't see what Zack was cooking!

(film review) - IT

Me and scary movies is really touch and go.  I'm not even sure where I stand with them because I would watch a Paranormal Activity, Annabelle or Exorcist (well some of them), but I didn't watch the first IT movie.  I knew about it and I don't think I was scared per se, I just wasn't really bothered; and where everyone around me was talking about it and the famous sewer part, I just wasn't keen on watching IT and ultimately, to THIS DAY, still don't know what the infamous sewer par, was/is.  So, I think to myself, I may not have been scared by the movie itself, so I didn't want to watch it OR the thought of it scared me so I was disinterested in it.  Either way, it was a "who cares!" mentality that won.  So, as this is my first IT experience, let me tell you what IT is all about and what I thought of IT.

IT is about a bunch of young teenagers who live in a town named Derry.  Derry is the sort of place where it is a quiet town that seems semi detached from the real world; and the people there...hmmm, let me not get into that just yet, but a boy named Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) makes a paper toy boat for his younger brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) to play with.  Georgie goes out into the torrential rain and sails his boat until it sails into a sewer.  Georgie attempts to retrieve the boat from the sewer but is met with a clown and that is the last we ever see of Georgie.  As more and more people go missing in the town, ' The Losers', Georgie's older brother Bill and his mates call themselves all see the Clown dubbed as IT, and while they try to deal with "regular life" in Derry, IT finds ways to torment and scare the losers and they must come together to confront the clown and find a way to kill IT.

Brilliant movie, I thought.  From casting, to acting, to delivery and direction.  IT had the right amount of tension and scares.  In this day and age where you can guess where a scare is coming or how, I found this scary movie somewhat refreshing; just like the story and the modern changes they made from the book.  I hadn't read the book as it's meant to be longer than the Old Testament, but since it was written in a different time, I can only assume there are old themes/scenarios in the story in which the director (Andy Muschietti) has adapted and given a modern spin/take to it which has also made the film very enjoyable.
Stand out actors in this movie is obviously the rising star that is Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things fame who plays Richie; he is hilarious.  His banter with Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer) is exactly what it is like being a teenager in the earlier years throwing insults left and right at each other and their parents as adolescent banter - with that said, Eddie is also great as the guy who is somewhat allergic to and terrified of everything (because there IS always one).  Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Dancing Clown is equally terrifying, scary, goofy and funny and at times I felt he was soo good at being a clown, I wondered at times why he didn't simply do what he wanted to do straight away than drag it out and parade himself, well, like a clown.  The other children actors are really good but when some characters aren't given much dialogue or screen time, it's hard to have all of the children stand out bar the ones they want to focus on, or at least that's how it felt, unless their story/performance just wasn't strong enough.  Derry as a town has a huge a mount of lore in which they touch upon in the movie and it makes you think how people in the "real world" do not know about the missing people which occur every so often.  I mean it must make you wonder, right?  Why would you move into a town where kids play in the rain by themselves and go missing, or people just go missing.  It's a bizarre place.  All in all, IT was a very good watch and I really enjoyed the movie.  It is not for the faint hearted as there were some legit scares that made me jump as well as those gross moments that are visually impactful.  You'll float too!

(film review) - War for the Planet of the Apes

"Does this film end the Trilogy?  Is it all over now or do we get more?" The questions which were plaguing my mind having seen this excellent movie.  I just don't know what to say other than, I saw some real Apes talking and it was....and it was Amazing.  I was not aware Apes could do that yet and I want more of it, like...yesterday!?

The movie picks up several years after Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) which is the third film since Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and stars Andy Serkis as Caesar, an intelligent Chimpanzee and reluctant leader of all apes who finds himself stuck in a war with the Humans who want to exterminate his kind.  Having moved from location to location, Caesar struggles to find peace with humans and becoming who he hates the most.  With the support of his fellow Ape, Caesar must battle the Colonel (Woody Harrison) in order to save his kind from extinction as well as trying to find a peaceful way to settle the situation without any more bloodshed.

I wish I could write more, but If I did, I would give too much of the film away.

Beautiful.  This movie is great and having seen the 3 recent movies, I can only say, I want to see more as they story is soo great and it can most definitely reduce you to tears.  Not me, though...I fought them back (Damn you tears, not today)... but although this wasn't the greatest out of the Trilogy and could likely be the second instalment where we actually see 'Apes on Horses', this movie is a great book-end to the story-arc of Caesar (if we are talking trilogy story arcs).  Where he came from and what he did for Ape kind against the evils of humanity.  I mean, in the movie, Woody explains, human's created the Apes and now they are trying to kill the apes before the Human's are extinct.  But then, doesn't this just make you think, well if there is a threat to you and your people, what are you willing to do to remedy the situation? It also makes you wonder, who is the bad guy here?

I cannot stress how beautiful this movie is.  The cinematography is excellent, the acting is excellent, the story is very good and not to mention how it fits with the recent films, this film definitely belongs are there with the best Trilogies of all time.

Go and see it if you haven't