(film review) - Star Wars: The Last Jedi

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.

(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

(film review) - Spider-Man Homecoming

So, they have released another Spider-Man movie because Sony Pictures (Sony) who have made Spider-Man movies since 1977 and while technology has got a lot better over the years, the last few memorable movies over the last 15 years have been good and somewhat great in parts, to me, has not really captured the essence of Spider-Man.  Shout out to Tobey Maguire but, I DID prefer Andrew Garfield.  But the Spider-Man 2 film can arguably be the best Spider-Man movie they have ever done.

The reason why we have another movie is due to Spider-Man having a soft Reboot of the character when they put him in Captain America Civil War after striking a compromise with Sony, Marvel are able to use Spider-Man in their MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), renting him whilst Sony are basically leasing him out as they currently have the rights to use him as agreed by Marvel.  Long story short, the character belongs to Marvel but marvel sold the rights off to Sony.  Sony need to do a movie with Spider-Man every so often or the rights will revert back to Marvel.  So this deal to use Spidey in the MCU is short-term at the moment but we will never know at this moment in time if this will become longer term.

As for the Movie, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has been Spider-Man for around 6 months and the movie basically picks up after Captain America Civil War, where Peter Parker enjoyed being an Avenger and wants to continue crime-fighting and thwarting bad guys. Peter is at school and between studying and wanting to be Spider-Man soo bad, Peter is finding school tedious.  When Peter discovers The Shocker (Bokeem Woodbine) only to later find out that he is working for Adrian Toombs aka The Vulture (Michael Keaton), Spidey finds himself in an impossible situation where he is trying to impress Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and stop the bad guys in his Amazing Spider-Man suit, but is being knocked back by Tony because he wants him to focus on the smaller scale crimes and to leave the major criminals to the bigger guys who handle bigger threats.

This film is spectacular and even more superior in the 4DX experience.  The direction in this movie is great and I do not have a single complaint.  Having seen this twice, I might need to see it again to break it down a little more to comb through it with a fine toothed comb, but I understood everything Sony/Marvel were going for.  Also, great in 3D, but 3D does take away some of the finer details, visually.

To explain, this is another reboot of the character EVERYBODY and their Grandparent knows and we totally did not need another Uncle Ben death OR 'With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility' speech...AGAIN!
I understood that they wanted to focus on a kid playing a kid rather than a 30+ year old man playing a kid.  This played out through the characters, the acting, the things they say and how they say it, what they are doing and the general setting/environment.  Spider-Man is a geeky kid with a few geeky friends and this film plays into that a lot.  There is even a part in the movie where Spidey is shown as being vulnerable and emphasises, this is just a kid.
I understood the motive of the villain and is one of the more fleshed out villains in recent years from Marvel. You understand his plight and wasn't just moustache twirling.
The side characters were well cast and although they have been picking and choosing between different comic book iterations of Spider-Man, I really enjoyed what they did here and it didn't bother me that some of the characters are not as "Traditional" as they were in a comic books written how many years ago with a mostly white cast.
I also understood how they were trying to make this Spider-Man film a different one to it's predecessors and how they tried to connect it to MCU and for the future and not just cramming 'the future' down our throats.

There are soo much things in this movie, soo many villains they either tip the hat to or subtly point at or elude to with big comical or small comical moments. A VERY minor spoiler here, so SPOILERS (although this doesn't really give much away at all), There is a scene we see in the trailer where Tony and Peter are in the car talking. In the background, Happy is trying to take the suitcase out of the boot and is obviously struggling. When Peter comes out the car and the car drives off, Peter is casually holding the suitcase making those who spot the small detail that, Spider-Man is incredibly strong.  I mean, who caught that?

I'd definitely recommend you see this.  Charming, has heart and is a very well grounded film with a much more loveable Spider-Man because he is KID.  It is very funny without it being a comedy and the drama isn't half-baked.  Definitely the BEST Spider-Man there has been who absolutely captures the essence of Peter Parker the way he was initially intended to be like.

P.S. there are a few things in the trailers which are not in the movie, but to be honest, I don't think you would even care to notice.

Go watch it.

(film review) - John Wick: Chapter 2

Just when you thought the brilliant story had ended.  Just when you thought The Babayaga came out of the shadows to play and now playtime is over!  Just when you thought the guy that everybody is afraid of, was going to return to his life of solitude with his new dog! YOU. WERE. WRONG!!!

The story picks up only four days after the events of John Wick, where after seeking revenge for the murder of his cute dog, John hasn’t forgotten his beloved and stolen 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1, where he continues his rampage to rescue it from a chop shop owned by Abram Tarasov (peter Stormare), brother of Viggo and Uncle of Iosef.  Having retrieved his Mustang, john is later visited by Italian crime lord, Santino D/Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio).  Santino forces John to honour the promise upon his marker and carry out one last job, which is the only thing that will allow him to return to retirement life.  But will john honour his word and carry out the task and fulfil his marker or will he carry out his retirement life as planned?

At this rate, John should change his home address if people keep knocking on his door like girl scouts, right?  I’m sure WE are ‘in agreement here!?’  This movie is just what the first movie ordered, nothing but fight scene after fight scene after fight scene after brutal kills after fight scene after more brutal kills after even more brutal kills, a splash of car chasing and debauchery and with the most, if not ALL kills ending with a headshot or two in an art gallery and such.  The last movie had an epic gun-fu fight in a night club which went WITH the music.  This movie!  Sigh.  There is a scene where two men are casually stalking each other firing their guns at one another in a crowded street without ANYONE noticing.  There is a scene where John throws a gun at a man’s head because he was out of bullets.  I cannot express my joy and odd laughs you get during this movie from somewhat, graphic violence or the absurdity of certain situations and scenarios.

I feel like everything I said in my last review, this review is basically that x2 and a gold star. Keanu Reeves is no longer Neo, his name is John Wick.  And if the director and the people behind this movie, such as the writers and producers, continue to deliver such a fun-filled romp of violence in this neo-noir action movie in the continued style and finesse, visually, we will continue to want this until Keanu is physically unable to do it anymore.  I mean, he is 54 and kicking ass!