Golden Age of Comic Book Movies

            I am a fan of Twitter. You know why? I’m able to get tweets sent directly to my phone as texts. Yes, I know I can just check the Twitter app, but when you follow a lot of people, getting to see what you really want to see might take a while. That’s why I like getting notifications sent to my phone. Probably my favorite one’s to get these type of notifications from are Schmoes Know. They are an awesome group of people that love movies as much as anyone. And thanks to them, I am fanboying to its fullest extent right now. That’s because I just read that Warner Bros released the full DC movies lineup and oh boy! (Yes, I know the CEO stated the lineup, but I’m just saying I read it from Schmoes Know first.) Let’s do this. Here’s the lineup :

·         Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice – March 25, 2016

·         The Suicide Squad – August 5, 2016

·         Wonder Woman – June 23, 2017

·         Justice League Part One -November 12, 2017

·         The Flash – March 23, 2018

·         Aquaman – July 27, 2018

·         Shazam – April 5, 2019

·         Justice League Part Two – June 14, 2019

·         Cyborg – April 3, 2020

·         Green Lantern– June 19, 2020

First off, we are set until 2020 guys! That being said, I don’t see a “Man of Steel 2” or a Batman movie. I’m actually surprisingly OK with that. Over the many years since the creation of Superman and Batman, all we got on TV or in movies were Superman and Batman. That’s part of why everyone knows who these two characters are. We have been exposed to just these two titans which is why they’re so iconic. It’s come to the point where our lives have become oversaturated with Batman and Superman.

By giving stand-alone movies to these other DC characters, Warner Bros is planning to show off what the lesser-known characters are all about. Seriously, Cyborg or Shazam (be it Black Adam or Shazam) are the least recognizable to the general public. If you take a moment to look at the schedule in the eyes of a person who isn’t as well-versed in the DC universe, they are looking at the schedule like this:

·         YAY! BATMAN V SUPERMAN! Superman is going to kill Batman. There’s no way Batman has a chance. It’s not even a contest. Batman’s stupid if he thinks he’ll last more than 10 seconds with Superman. Why are they even fighting? Aren’t they best friends?

·         Suicide Squad? I don’t know how I feel about that. Suicide Squad is not an appropriate title especially for children to go out and see.

·         Finally a Wonder Woman movie!

·         Justice League! So it’s a movie just like the Avengers? How do you think it’s going to go? Are they going to come together to fight aliens? So it’s just like the Avengers then. Oh, they’re supposed to fight an alien that is really smart and is crazy good with technology and stuff like that? Then it’s Avengers 2.

·         The Flash? Isn’t there already a TV show about him where lightning gave him abs? What’s his name? Bart Allen?

·         Aquaman sucks. They’re giving a movie to a guy who can’t fight on land! The Big Bang Theory would always say he sucks.

·         Shazam sounds really lame. Imagine you’re at a football game and you yell out Shazam when your team scores a touchdown. You’re gonna look stupid.

·         Another Avengers movie?

·         Is he the Terminator?

·         HEY! I KNOW HIM! IT’S THAT MOVIE WITH RYAN REYNOLDS!

So basically, these movies have to be great in order for the public to truly accept them. One thing I’ve noticed is that the Shazam movie isn’t until 2019. I just don’t understand why we kept getting teased about the Rock as Black Adam if his movie isn’t until 2019. Yes, I know he’ll be in the first Justice League movie, but that just seems really odd to me. Also, the fact that they’ve casted Ezra Miller as the Flash isn’t sitting well with me. Don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed his performances everytime he's onscreen. It’s probably because I’m a fan of the Flash TV show (so far), and I just really like Grant Gustin’s character as Barry Allen. Because of that, I feel that Miller might end up playing Wally West. This, to me, seems very likely especially if the Flash continues to air and continues to be a positive success for the CW. WB has to keep in mind that the new movie Flash will have an effect on TV Flash. Just like if they ended up casting a separate Green Arrow for their movie universe or if a different person is casted as Batman for the Arrow TV show.

All in all, I’m just crazy excited knowing that we could potentially have 6-7 (2-3 Marvel, 2 WB, 1 or 2 Fox, and 1 Sony if they can ever make a proper plan for Spidey) comic book movies every year until 2020. That’s not even counting movies based on graphic novels or other lesser known comics such as a possible Hellboy 3 that might not ever be made unfortunately. Otherwise, there is a lot to look for to if you are a fan of comics in general. 

So Little Time...

It's tough juggling life when attending college full-time. Most, if not almost all, of my free time has been dedicated to just working on homework and studying. Therefore, I must apologize for not spending as much time on this.

I can assure you that even though I may not be posting about movies, I really do in fact love them. Just recently (basically today), I saw David Fincher’s Gone Girl. Before that, I had gone to Target to purchase the blu-ray steelbook release of Edge of Tomorrow (or Live. Die. Repeat. Or whatever they’ll change it to next). I had begun to waver in my decision to continue to collect blu-rays. Once I finally opened it, I knew I could not stop. I have so much fun buying movies I enjoy and know I will watch again.

Back to Gone Girl, I am basically a David Fincher fanboy. I’m also a fanboy to other directors, but I’ll stick to talking about Fincher for right now. (Also, what is a fanboy?) Up to the release for the movie, I was worried we would not get a “solid” Fincher movie. From all the trailers I saw, it did not seem to fit the style Fincher had developed after all these years. I can assure you that he did not disappoint. At first, it does not even seem like a Fincher film. I swear, in the beginning, I thought it would end up being some average mystery movie where the story would never eventually develop. Thankfully, I was incredibly wrong…I’m noticing this is turning into a review…I didn’t mean to do that. I’ll end my thoughts on Gone Girl here until I post a short review about it.

Anyways, because Gone Girl dispelled all this worry I had about it, I am even more in love with film. I also feel that it’s a good movie to start the Oscar season with especially with October being stacked with some big Oscar players. It’s also almost inspired me to kind of want to write a screenplay or a book of my own. I know it takes a lot of work, but I just feel like that aspect, be it literature or film, would be a lot of fun. Therefore, I think it would be wise for me to continue on with this blog since I really like talking (or typing, but whatever) about how movies impact me. Since I am a full-time student, this might even give me more incentive to work even harder in school than I already am since I am now going to dedicate a portion of my time to this blog.

I promise you, I am not done and I will not quit. Good luck my friends. :D

Rushmore (1998) Short Review

I love this movie. It’s probably one of my all-time favorites. It’s simple, yet it has lots of depth behind it. I liked how it’s about a kid in high school who is quite grown up, but at the same time, he has a lot to learn before. It’s truly a movie I would recommend.

        I loved how the movie portrayed Max Fisher. I never saw him as a child, even when he was in either of his schools. I really ended up feeling for the guy as he struggled with his affections for Rosemary, yet I knew it was an impossible goal for him to reach because of the age differences.

I ended up taking issue with 2 characters, namely Bill Murray’s character, Henry Blume, and the character of Margaret Yang. Henry, in my opinion, was boring and dull and, at times, felt flat. I didn’t feel like he had any depth. Yes, he was struggling with his own life, but that was pretty much it. I didn’t end up caring for the guy. This is probably attributed to my strong attachment to Max Fischer who was played wonderfully by one of my favorite actors, Jason Schwartzman. As for Margaret Yang, she was unnecessary to the overall plot of the film. She was only in the movie to basically sway the viewer from wanting Max to be with Rosemary Cross. It was obvious from the beginning that Max and Margaret would end up together in the end. That bothered me somewhat, but I ultimately went along with it.

So overall, I give this film an A- but I’m debating whether it deserves a B+ instead. Look, I really enjoyed this film, but the secondary characters fall short of my expectations. Too many felt unnecessary and almost useless. But nevertheless, this movie’s story feels incredibly relatable since I’m pretty sure most of us have had feelings for someone we probably know will never reciprocate those feelings, as well as the inevitable notion that all of us have to grow up at some point. By growing up, we must give up some of the things we enjoy. In Max’s case, he has to give up the many extracurricular activities he participates in, so that he may raise his grades which help him for the long-run in terms of his education. And with that education, he can gain acceptance into a good university to which he would learn a trade that better suits him instead of having to become a barber like his father. Even his father acknowledges that he does not want his son to be a barber like him meaning he wants Max to be something. And after this movie, you could tell he has that potential. All in all, it’s a wonderful film that many can enjoy.

Wes Anderson Binge Watch

       The Title of the post says it all. I’m currently binge watching Wes Anderson’s movies, meaning the one’s he’s written (even co-written) and directed. Currently, before the writing of this post, I’ve seen Bottle Rocket, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and, of course, Fantastic Mr. Fox. From these 3 movies, I’ve been able to distinguish some common traits especially the wackiness of his films, yet I like how they don’t really delve into become comedies. I’m really interested in writing a few reviews for all of these, so I think that might be done in the upcoming days, so stay tuned for those.

       And well, I’ve been watching these in order of their release date. I enjoy watching movies from directors in this way simply because you’re able to see them develop and master their style and vision. And even in some cases, I really like how at one point in their career, they just do the opposite of what you expect from them. So the ones I have left to watch are Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, and Moonrise Kingdom. I’ve seen only one trailer for each of these, and I must say, I am like freaking excited. I also think it’s interesting how in many movies of Wes Anderson’s we get to see Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. Being new to movies, I never would have associated Owen Wilson with some of the movies he’s done with Wes Anderson since I’ve always seen him as the pretty boy who’s only in romantic comedies. I like how I’m currently being proven wrong. As for Bill Murray, I think I’ve only seen him in only a couple of movies, so I don’t really know much about him. But well, we’ll see how this binge goes. Starting with Rushmore tonight, having just finished watching Bottle Rocket, which I really enjoyed. Hopefully I’ll get to The Royal Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic tonight. 

The Flash TV Show (2014) First Impressions

          I was shocked to have found out that the pilot for the new Flash spin-off had leaked online almost a month ago.  So of course, I had to check it out. Therefore, this first impression really won’t have major spoilers, just explanations of what I saw regarding Easter eggs, but I am still going to give my thoughts on the episode and outlook of the show as a whole. However, it won't necessarily be a review either. I do caution when reading this though.

          First off, I’ve really liked the Barry Allen character since his appearance on Arrow. I grew up a Wally West fan where I only saw him as THE Flash, so it sort of took me a while to get used to Barry as Flash especially in Young Justice and on Arrow. And boy, I am excited to see where this show is going. I like how this episode sort of continued from the Flash episodes on Arrow, yet it still showed what he did when he arrived in Central City before the collapse of the Particle Accelerator.  When you see the STAR Labs team, it makes you wonder if there were ever more employees and what kind of people they had to have been since the group we’re shown are so different from each other. The head of STAR Labs, Dr. Harrison Wells, always struck me as a villain in the trailer for the show, and you kind of get that same vibe when he’s on screen. Because he’s this shows’ John Diggle, as in created solely for the show, you don’t really know what route the showrunners are planning to do. I would love it if they made him a villain. Being a villain would counteract how Diggle is Oliver’s voice of reason and conscious, while Wells could make a great foil to Barry so as to not have to use Zoom too early on in the show. 
      Transitioning to Barry, the charm his character had in Arrow is almost completely gone in this episode. Basically, we don’t really get a nerdy, suave, confident Barry. What we do end up with is a more reserved individual who has that typical friend-zone struggle. Also, this show is about him, yet he almost felt nonexistent at times where the focus of the episode shifts to secondary characters. However, he is still very likable, but he has a different type of aura about him this time.

In regards to secondary characters, I took issue with two specifically. Iris West’s dad, Joe West, felt much weaker especially when compared to other comic book police dads portrayed in recent live action media. I’m mainly referring to Gwen Stacy’s dad George Stacy (The Amazing Spiderman film series) and Laurel Lance’s dad Quentin Lance (Arrow TV Series). These two men are strong characters especially on-screen when they are dead-set on hunting these vigilante. Because of this, they actually help both heroes in having to prove to these men, who are the fathers of the women they love, that they are not just some vigilante in the way of the law, nor are they criminals. They are men who stand up for what they deem to be worth fighting for, risking their lives for citizens day in and day out. By proving their worth, they show what a real hero in that a hero must be a beacon of hope. But in The Flash, Joe West is not the guiding force Barry needs. That role ends up going to Dr. Wells. It almost makes you wonder if Joe West could become almost too expendable early on especially given the fact that he was Barry’s guardian for most of his life since the loss of someone you love always has a profound impact on the hero and provides a challenge to see what path they choose next. I don’t know if it was the actor, but unfortunately Joe West felt weak overall.

          Another character I wasn’t too fond of is the character Cisco Ramon. His role at this point is to be the anti-Felicity. He’s the tech expert, building Barry’s equipment, as well as the comic relief of the show…which can get annoying and cheesy. His character really has no substance at this point unlike his co-worker Caitlin Snow. I can almost make out that his role as the comic relief will wear thin. Hopefully they can build the character later on. This really takes away from his character since he’s supposed to be this incredibly smart tech guru that talks as if he’s in middle school. And yes, I know he’s supposed to be the youngest in STAR Labs, but wouldn’t he at least act a bit more like a scientist should especially given the situation they’re in?

The villain was mediocre. Defeated too easily by the often used Flash cliché of running the opposite direction to stop something like a tornado. Thought it was funny how quickly he became a hero to Central City almost overnight while it took ***SPOILER*** the Arrow two seasons and two major events to be considered one ***END OF SPOILER***. Also, the metahuman aspect sounds intriguing especially since Dr. Wells states that it has traversed into Starling City as well meaning more possible team-ups in the future with the Arrow??? We’ll see, but either way I can’t wait.

Overall, it was a good introductory episode. In some ways it could have been handled better especially in terms of the writing, but nonetheless, it’s basically an origin story. It is meant to simply give us a quick sense of the direction the show is supposed to go. No matter what, I’m still going to watch it. I’ll try to give my thoughts on the show here and there as it premieres. Also, one major development that has me a little uneasy is how easygoing it feels compared to most DC incarnations. I just hope it doesn’t get too cheesy and run its course almost like Smallville had with its characters and their costumes.

For those that want to know about some Easter Eggs I saw and have at least some sort of DC knowledge either through the comics or any other type of adaptations (i.e. animated works), continue reading, otherwise don’t since spoilers are likely. Also, bear in mind that these probably won't be in order of appearance and I might not cover all of them.

1.  We're told who killed Barry's mom indirectly. Most of us probably know who but I won't put who it was especially for casual fans. Took me a while to figure out who he was since I wasn't able to hear his first name correctly, but his last name gave it away. For those that don't know, I don't want to spoil the show for you, so I'll just say that he's in the Police Department building.
2. We see a frame of a cell with a name-plate on the bars with the word Grodd. Having just seen Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I'd like to see the intelligent Gorilla Grodd ride a horse now haha.
3. John Wesley Shipp is Henry Allen, Barry's father, who once played Barry Allen on the previous Flash TV Series in 1990.
4. There's a reference to Bruce Wayne existing in this universe. No mention of Batman, but in a newspaper, it states that a merger has occurred among Wayne Tech and Queen Inc.
5. In that same newspaper, the title of Barry Allen's Flash missing ("Flash Missing, Vanishes in Crisis") can be a reference to Crisis on Infinite Earths where the Flash of another timeline dies, deeply affecting that timeline's Justice League. However, it could mean a number of things as well such as Infinite Crisis, or maybe even a new storyline by the writers.
6. Reference to Ferris Air which is the aviation corporation that employs future Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.
7. Not really a comic book reference, but Barry's dad Henry at one point yells "Run, Barry, Run!"

Godzilla (2014) Rant

        So I have a Cinemark theater in my town that shows movies a couple months (sometimes a few weeks) after their initial release for a $1. Because of this, I usually wait to see movies I feel are “dollar movie” worthy. Today, I finally watched Godzilla and I must say, it was definitely worth that dollar, but not more than that. I hated how it wasn’t a Godzilla movie. It’s a movie about a soldier whose main purpose is to make sure a nuclear bomb is launched on time…that’s it…with cameo appearances by Godzilla fighting these monsters…BRYAN CRANSTON WASN’T EVEN THE MAIN CHARACTER LIKE THEY MADE HIM APPEAR TO BE IN THE TRAILERS!!!!! He was in it for like a total of 15 minutes! Yet, even he had more screen-time than Godzilla! It just irked me beyond belief.

The few moments we had with Godzilla were great because by then, you’re practically falling asleep! Before the “fight” in San Francisco, I was yawning every minute which is attributed to Aaron Taylor Johnson’s character. He was boring and didn’t really do much to help the plot. I’m sorry, but Aaron Taylor Johnson could not carry this film. I know many like the guy. That’s cool. I, however, can not stand him when he’s on screen. I hated every time he talked during Kick-Ass, which is probably when I began my dislike of the guy. The run-time didn’t help either. It’s too long for a movie that is supposed to be about giant monsters duking it out.

The few moments we had with the King of Monsters was great. It’s tough to say that the fights were great since not much was shown. Every time he (or she? Wasn’t really established in the film so don’t know if it’s a continuation of classic Godzilla lore) roared, it made you feel how fearsome and powerful this beast is. My favorite moment has to be the final scene where Godzilla ***SPOILER*** finally takes out the female Muto with his blue flames of awesomeness ***END OF SPOILER***.

I'm sorry, but there were a few more cons I'd like to address. Ken Watanabe's character was useless. I love the guy, but they seriously mishandled his character. He literally did nothing the entire film. They never explained why he was even brought into the Janjira nuclear power plant. He never said anything. Even when the US Navy (if it's not the Navy, I forgot who it was) took over control of the monster situation, every time they showed him, he looked like a scared puppy the entire time who didn't know what to say besides "Let them fight". It bothered me how badly the script was written especially for a film that's 2 hours long. Also, I don't think radiation just magically disappears after 15 years. They really glared over that. Yes, you can assume that the Muto spore absorbed all the radiation, but I'm pretty sure there had to be some residue of it left, like Cranston's picture for example. I'm not an expert, but that's just what I assume. Also, when did the dang monster couple mate?! They mention that the male that just hatched is echoing a mating call, yet a day later, you see that the female in Nevada is pregnant...that doesn't make any sense. She's supposed to be the second Muto spore, but they ignore the fact that one of the spores from the beginning hatched and made its way into the sea. But during the movie, they make it seem like that's the female Muto that was in Nevada and ugh! I'm done. 

All in all, this movie is a C-. I knew what to expect coming into this, but that didn’t help at all. The movie makes you think otherwise such that it manipulates the idea that Godzilla or another monster is going to appear because of certain events, but it’s all a lie. Probably until halfway do you even see your first monster. Main cons were that it’s too long, Aaron Taylor Johnson, a couple plot holes and inconsistencies, and the big one…NOT ENOUGH GODZILLA!!!!!!! Sorry for this huge rant. :/

Godzilla First Impressions

First I'd like to start off by saying that to me, first impressions are meant to be short quick thoughts. Basically a couple paragraphs explaining what you thought about something is good enough. If it starts looking like an essay, then you should probably stop. I had to take my own advice when making this because it ended up becoming a long rant. Because I still want to post my rant with my grade of the movie, I’ll post this first reaction to Godzilla. Here you go:

For me, it was too long especially since Godzilla appears for basically less than 15 minutes altogether. I hated how the main character was Aaron Taylor Johnson (terrible character) when in the trailers, they clearly make Bryan Cranston appear to be the main guy. It was a human-centric movie that began to get more complicated and convoluted when it really didn’t have to. There were too many plot holes and inconsistencies regarding actions humans do and say. Rent it first before blind-buying it, otherwise, you’ll be very disappointed.