Spoiler Free Review: Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens

Prepare to be blown away, this movie is the one all star wars fans have been waiting for! Director J.J. Abrahams has brought us a cinema masterpiece this year. The Force Awakens delivers in absolutely every way. The effects both practical and CGI are spectacular, the story is engaging, the Actors both old and new perform in top notch fashion.

This new saga has found the perfect blend of the narrative from the originals mixed with the eye catching effects of the prequels, and succeeded in on both fronts. It brings back all the things we knew and loved about the series and meshes it with modern movie magic that leaves you with chills both from nostalgia and amazement.

Mabey I sound like I’m going a little bit over the top but once you see the movie you’ll understand. Normally when driving home from the theater I always have one little complaint about something that I would have changed, but today I literally can’t think of a single fault. John Williams retuned with yet another music masterpiece that I will most certainly be trying to find it on iTunes tonight.

All I can really say is prepare to leave the theater with a smile on you face because this is one wild ride that I’m happy to say is just getting started.

Captain America 3: Civil War Trailer Review

 

It finally happened. After months of speculation and patience and even a bit of frustration, the much anticipated trailer for Marvel's Captain America 3: Civil War has finally arrived. Few superhero movies have been surrounded by so much speculation as this one. Starting with a conflicting release date with Batman v Superman (which eventually led to DC caving and moving the release date up a few weeks) and culminating in the addition of both Black Panther (the first ever black superhero) and the brand new Spiderman. Avid fans who knew of its eminent release in just 6 short months from now have been waiting for some shred of information on this sure to be block buster hit, and were finally rewarded this week with a not just a teaser but a whole two and a half minute long trailer! If you haven’t seen it yet then please make your life just a tiny bit better and enjoy the awesomeness I’ve linked for your below

go on I’ll wait  …

Holy smokes right! I mean that last 30 sec there had my jaw drop the first time I saw it! They were literally (not figuratively) LITERALLY beating him into the ground there!!!

With all the criticism of superheroes being repetitive cookie cutter plots lately this movie looks to be a refreshing break form the mold. In this convoluted story of allies turned enemies has a yet unseen opportunity to deliver a compelling narrative fraught with betrayal broken trust and a universe of heroes all being pushed to the breaking point. 

Will they have the guts to actually kill one of our favorite heroes? The comic book versions imply a very real possibility for one or more of our avengers to meet their end in this epic show down. I won’t go into details so it’s hopefully a surprise in the theaters but I will say this. Brace yourselves, I think this ones gonna hurt…

Now this trailer while amazing as it is leaves many questions still yet unanswered, such as, where in the world did the hulk fly off to at the end of Avengers Age of Ultron, how does Black Panther get involved with any of this at all, and most importantly, where is Spiderman and what the heck does he look like now! Hopefully the latter will be answered soon but I expect the first two questions won’t become clear until we see the movie its self, and I’m okay with that, a little mystery in between films can be a lot of fun.

So all in all this film looks like it’s going to be an epic, emotional, and hugely successful continuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So much is likely going to change with this film that our expectations for the future movies will likely be completely different once all the smoke has cleared from this battle of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Fantastic 4 is it worth it?

             

              I honestly went into this one with an open mind, but if I had to sum up the movie in one word it would be, disappointing. Clocking in at 1 hour and 45 min in length this movie just feels like its missing a 30 min segment right smack in the middle. Now be warned I’m not going to bother sparing any spoilers in this review (though I’ll do my best) because my first recommendation would be to not bother spending your hard earned cash on this summer action flick. Instead I would recommend you go see the new Mission Impossible instead. 

                One of the first issues right off the bat for this movie was its timing. Coming out so soon after Ant-man swept the Box office, was a poor decision. I honestly forgot this movie was even coming out until I started seeing news about it on the web. I’m all for having 3 superheroes movies a year but releasing them this close together didn't do them any favors.

However the overall issue with Fantastic Four is the simply empty story. Completely devoid of anything remotely original, and simultaneously trying too hard to be nothing like its predecessors ended up creating a dull and pointless experience that literally had me saying to myself “wait that’s it” as the final fight scene began. Another major fault of this film was its complete predictability. Not only is the entire film shown in the preview, but from 20 min in I could already explain to you how the entire plot was going to play out.

The movie spends basically the first half just getting to the point where they get their powers and then skips a year ahead to where they supposedly have now mastered their abilities yet still are not a team. The whole time I was wondering why we didn’t get to see them learn how to use their new found powers and was missing out on all the cool action that seemed like it would have actually added more depth to the plot. Especially since one of the biggest parts from the trailer (the Thing falling out of a plane to break into something) wasn’t even included in the actual film.

The final fight came down to the same lame fight as the first Fantastic 4 movie, with the whole “lets all attack him one at a time and get our butts whooped then learn our lesson and fight together so then we’ll win!“ cliché. All of which is accompanied by the now standard blue energy pillar of doom that has been used far too many times recently.

 

 I’m a firm believer that a good villain is what can truly make or break a story. It’s villains like Joker, Bane, Loki, Ultron, Vader, and Voldemort who are compelling, engaging, and sometimes witty. The kind who make you go oooh this guy is awesome (or scary). They make you think, they have complex and interesting motives for their actions and in the end, often make a more lasting impression than the actual heroes.

Dr. Doom unfortunately fails to be any of these things.  I still can’t really tell you why he wanted to destroy the world. He basically was just suddenly evil for no real reason. It was almost like they said "hey he’s been off screen for 30ish min, now he’s the bad guy. Ok now everybody fight!" Even his master plan of coming back to earth for no reason just to then turn around and return to the other world to destroy earth makes absolutely no sense to me. What was the whole point? Why not just stay there in the first place? I can honestly say that i enjoyed the first set of Fantastic 4 movies better than this one and I didn't even really like those much either.

While I have nothing bad to say about the acting, the visuals were nothing special and the action scenes always felt like they about to get awesome just before they ended. The same goes for the drama and relationships between the characters. Each time it felt like some sort of real depth was about to be reached between the variety of team members, the scene would end, leaving you with just a feeling that something was missing. Unfortunately that’s just the general feeling I was left with after watching this film. If it had been 30 min longer then maybe I would have something good to say about it but overall it just was lacking anything of real worth.