Unless I'm attending a secret screening and on the off chance, I have not seen the movie trailer for the film I'm about to see, it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY for me to sit down in a cinema and watch a movie I have no clue about. That being said, a friend of mine told me to watch the trailer as it is funny, but I only went to see this movie because it was something different from the superhero and sci-fi movies I usually review. I mean, c'mon guys, I do watch other movies, heck, I watch a ton of movies and a lot of them have not been reviewed on here yet, but as it is 2018, I'm going to do my best. And with THAT said, this movie; I thought was some small town story about some small town issues of family dramas and something that doesn't interest me a great deal. And boy was I right and soo damn wrong at the same time. I'll explain.
3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri is about a white woman who lives in a small town who has some outrageously terrifying, horrific and brutal actions taken out on her daughter in which leaves her daughter dead. Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), having mourned for her child, puts up 3 controversial Billboards for the attention of William Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), the towns revered Chief of Police which leaves the town divided. Not only has nothing been done to capture the culprit, half the town side with Mildred whilst the other half are against her and her methods. When mother's boy Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell) with a penchant for violence gets involved, things only get from bad to worse for Mildred while she does everything she can to get justice for her daughter.
I honestly thought this film was brilliant. I was pleasantly surprised. Very dark humour, in a crime film written and directed by Martin McDonagh which not only pulls on your heart strings but also makes you laugh out loud if you are not already crying. I almost cried a few times because I kept thinking and putting myself in Mildred's situation. The acting in this is great, Frances is excellent, Woody is excellent and Sam is also excellent. I mean the acting is great all around and the dialogue is more than witty, not to mention very tongue in cheek, but the movie comes together very well. Was shocked when it ended, but wasn't surprised.
A great film I would recommend to anyone who likes crime films and/or comedy. I think the best way to think of this might be to think of 7 Psychopaths, same director.
It had been a while before we got Star Wars in film. The OG Trilogy is very beloved and the Prequel Trilogy, well, it is hated my many. The next Trilogy is now set with the first one being 'The Force Awakens' and while reboot specialist JJ Abrams did a good job with it (like Star Trek), they have decided to go with 'Brick' and 'Looper' director, Rian Johnson.
I've not seen Brick but I've heard good things. I've seen Looper and I loved it. A great film where Bruce Willis isn't "Out to Lunch Phoning It In". With that said, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, although marginally looked like Bruce with all the make-up, it didn't take away from the performance and what Rian ha accomplished.
The Last Jedi, although going into production and filming, Rian clearly dictated he was doing his own thing, this film clearly shows it and I'll explain, without spoilers of course.
The Last Jedi, begins only moments after the last movie, The Force Awakens and the Resistance have managed a small victory. They are now on the run with the aim to relocate at another secret base but when a delayed tactic by Poe (Oscar Isaac) helps with the evacuation only to be tracked down by The First Order, moments later, The Resistance need to devise a new plan, with Rey (Daisy Ridley) tracking down Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) for help and with the aid of Finn (John Boyega) and Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) with an assist, in order to lose them once and for all.
I will start with, this movie is very different to many movies that came before it. It is a long movie and for the most part, that was refreshing and cool. The choices Rian also made, were also refreshing and, well, cool, but I can see why people night have their grievances with the choices made. Ever since 'Return of the Jedi', people have wanted to know what Luke has been up to all this time and what he was doing. Was he being a bad MF with his Lightsabre? Was he training new Jedi? What was Luke doing? We see at the end of The Force Awakens and Luke is on an Island somewhere and although it was cool to see him there and even more in this movie, one of my minor discrepancies is that Mark Hamill was underused or Luke's story in this movie seemed lackluster. A pivotal role, but lackluster. Another moment in the movie I didn't like and the movie dragged for me a little was halfway through the movie with Finn and Rose. I didn't really enjoy it and for the most part, didn't seem to sit well with the film at all. It was a slap in the face that this movie is for kids and grown adults alike.
Other than that though, Rian did an amazing job.
There was a scene I won't get into which involved General Leia (or Princess Leia) and as you know, Carrie Fisher passed shortly after filming finished, so every moment seeing her on screen wasn't awkward, but it was just, weird. The woman we all loved as Princess Leia Organa on screen acted well by Carrie who has passed several months ago was still fresh to us watching. Watching this in the cinema gave the performance an eirie feel to it. For the most part, I know people were crying and I couldn't blame them, especially if you are in your 30's, 40's and 50's, you know? Other than these things though, the movie was courageous and I liked what Rian did with the lore of Star Wars. He introduced new ideas and a new way of looking at the way The Force is used. For example, instead of using The Force to pull something towards you or towards something/someone, you can use the same objected to pull, but pull yourself towards it. You see how that works? It's just the reverse. Rian also left some subtle clues in the 3rd act which telegraphed what was happening, but for the most part, visually it was stunning. Better yet, the entire movie was. There is an inherent difference between both directors JJ and Rian, and love them for what artistic flare they bring when directing but I do feel Rian has a bit of an edge when it comes to cool visuals and concepts over JJ. It's kind of like an 'outside the box' way of thinking and seeing things.
As per usual, although there were a few jokey jokes here and there, the actors did a great job and having Mark back properly acting and not doing Voiceover work was truely refreshing. The little kid in me wanted more and I'm sure that is with a lot of the viewers who watched this, but if you want more of the same, look for JJ. If you want something different, look for Rian. For example, there is a Lightsabre fight on this movie which was visually stunning and cool. Everything in that moment was superb, just not something JJ would have dreamt of I feel.
I can see why people may feel funny about this but for the most part, it's great and I hope they carry these new ideas etc over to part 9.
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!
