Review-Baby Driver

Baby Driver is the newest film from director Edgar Wright, whose brought us such movies as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The movie focuses on Baby (Ansel Elgort), a young getaway driver that constantly listens to music to offset an injury that he got as a kid. He is trying to work off a debt he owes to crime boss Doc (Kevin Spacey) so he can get out of that lifestyle. As Baby's future seems brighter as he meets a waitress named Debora (Lily James), his criminal life is not so easy to escape. With the arrival of the psychotic Bats (Jamie Foxx), greed and instability spreads throughout the crew. Can Baby escape his criminal past or will it take him and others down? I would definitely recommend checking this film out to find that out. Baby Driver is an amazing film that get you going from start to finish. The movie has a hyperkinect mix of action and comedy that has elements of Pulp Fiction and Drive mixed into it.  It also has a Bonnie and Clyde touch with the characters Buddy and Darling(Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez). The performances are very good and has different layers to it. The soundtrack is amazing good and is the heartbeat of this film. You will want to buy the soundtrack after you watch it. Edgar Wright has proven that can pull off different genres before and does it again here.  With all this pieces beautifully balance, Baby Driver is great entry into the bank heist film genre.

Rating: 9.7 out f 10

Review-Wonder Woman(2017)

Wonder Woman is a live action movie adaptation based on the same character in from DC Comics. The movie focuses on Diana(Gal Gadot), princess of the Amazons, and her journey from her homeland to a new world. The Amazons is a race of trained warrior women that lives on an island that is hidden from the outside world (the first fifteen minutes will explain that backstory). Their island becomes exposed as a plane carrying WWII pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes into their waters. Diana rescues him and vows to help him return to England to end the war. She believes the war was started by Ares, the god of war. Also, they are trying to stop Dr Manu(Elena Anaya) and Nazi general Ludendorff (Danny Huston) from developing a bomb that would wipe out millions of people. I loved the movie and I thought Gadot's performance was amazing. She gave Diana so much depth in her actions and facial expressions. She makes you feel every emotion and it draws you in. The rest of the cast(especially Chris Pine) was very good as well. The movie flows very well and you barely notice the running time(which is at two hours and twenty one minutes). The one issue I had was certain characters did not have that much depth or explanation to them but that is a small point compared to the whole picture. There is a theme of "you can do anything you set your mind to" that should resonate with audiences. I would definitely recommend this movie for anyone to watch.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10

Review-Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Men Tell No Tales

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth and latest film in the Pirates movie franchise. The movie centers around Henry(Brenton Thwaites), whose in search of the trident of Poseidon in order to free his father from a curse(won't say whom his father is but if you watch the franchise, you'll know). He searches for Capt. Jack Sparrow(Johnny Depp) to help him in this endeavor. Along the way, they run into Carina Smyth(Kaya Scodelario), whose interest in astronomy allows her to be their best guide to find what they seek. Meanwhile, Captain Salazar(Javier Bardem), captain of a cursed ship filled his dead shipmates, is hunting down pirates ships one by one on his path to exact his revenge on Jack. In the mix of it all, Capt. Barbossa(Geoffrey Rush) shows up with his own agenda. The movie is a better improvement than the fourth movie(On Stranger Tides), which they barely reference in the film. They made sure that they did not make Jack the center of the story. I thought it was a fun and enjoyable ride. The theme (like two other movies this summer season) focuses on family and also searching for something that is missing in life. You can tell Javier Bardem had fun being over the top with his character but there was not too much characterization to work with. You may see that certain elements or scenes that may have been done before in other movies, including this franchise. If you can overlook that aspect, you will enjoy this movie. Remember to look for surprise cameos and stay after the credits.

Rating: 8.9 out of 10

Review- King Arthur:Legend of the Sword

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is a new interpretation of the classic story of King Arthur. Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) has been living on his own since a young age. He is very resourceful and living under the radar while growing up. When he pulls the sword from the stone from many men attempting to try (think everyone trying to test out the glass slipper in Cinderalla), Arthur could no longer keep hidden. King Vortigern (Jude Law) has been hunting for the son of the former king(hint: Arthur) because he is the only one that can stop his rule. The movie is a straight up fantasy movie with tales of sorcery and epic battles. The director of the movie is Guy Ritchie, who has giving us movies like Snatch, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Sherlock Holmes. There is dialogue through the film that reminds me of his earlier works. Most of it reminds of his work of the Sherlock Holmes movies. The movie is hyper kinetic, which is its plus and minus at the same time. The montages throughout the film(there is a bunch of them) plays like a three to five minutes music video. They keep mentioning a character that never shows up, which is annoying. Overall, I did like the movie and it was pretty entertained. I would recommend it to people that love fantasy movies and like playing games that are similar.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10

Review-Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

The original Guardians of the Galaxy came out in 2014 and was beloved by both audiences and critics.  I say that it's sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, earns the same level of praise.  The movie focuses on family(one of several movies in 2017 which has that theme) and does a good job exploring each level throughout. I also love the different references that is in the film.   One of the opening scenes includes Baby Groot(voiced by Vin Diesel) dancing to music, a staple of certain 80's movies, while there is a battle going on. Also, there is several action scenes in the movie that pay homage to the 1984 movie The Last Starfighter. The cast gives great performances, including Kurt Russell playing a mysterious character named Ego. My only grip is there is one scene where a certain action happens to come out of nowhere just to further the action(you will know it when you see it).    The movie will keep you laughing and engage with every action scene. Watch out for cameos in the movie and ,and always with a Marvel movie, stay past the credits.

Rating: 9.3 out of 10

Review-Fate of the Furious

Fate of the Furious is the eight installment of the Fast and the Furious series. This movie starts as Dom(Vin Diesel) is approached by a mysterious woman named Cipher(Charlize Theron). Soon afterwards, Dom went rogue and betrays his team with no explanation. Dealing with the aftermath, Mr. Nobody( Kurt Russell) gathers a team of Dom's former crew to help hunt down Cipher. He also enlist the help of Decker(Jason Statham) on this mission, which doesn't go well with most of the team, including Hobbs(Dwayne Johnson). Fate of the Furious is a wild, action packed movie with a lot of twists and turns. The overall theme, like most of the previous films, is about family and never giving up them. The cast was great and their performances keeps you engage throughout the whole running time, which is at 2 hour and 16 minutes. The movie plays like a James Bond movie, which is evident in Theron's villainous performance. I would definitely recommend this movie for fans of the franchise and even newcomers to the series.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10

Review-Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Beauty and the Beast (2017) is the live action adaptation of the beloved 1991 animated movie of the same name. In the live-action movie, Belle( played by Emma Watson) is a woman whose love of books makes her less than popular with people of her village. Belle lives with her father Maurice(Kevin Kline) and helps her around the shop. When he turns up missing, she searches for him all alone. To save him from imprisonment from the Beast(Dan Stevens), she offers to take her father's place. Meanwhile, Gaston (Luke Evans), whose love for Belle is more for vanity purposes, leads the hunt for her return. The movie, just like the original, deals with inner and outer beauty. Overall, except for running time (a few extra scenes here and there), this movie is just like the original. The only thing I recommend is not to watch the original and the new movie back to back. You'll feel like you watched the same movie twice.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review-Kong:Skull Island

Kong: Skull Island is the latest movie featuring the legendary character King Kong. The movie takes place in 1973 right after the withdrawal from Vietnam.  Bill Randa (John Goodman) arranges a team of scientists and soldiers to travel to a mysterious island for research. The leader of the military escort is Preston Packard (Samuel L Jackson), a lifetime soldier that welcomes another tour of duty. Randa also hired tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and reporter Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) to lend their expertise on the journey. Once arriving to the island, they soon realize danger is all around them. This movie is amazing and a great addition to the monster genre. There are so many different layers that this movie brings. The comparison between Vietnam and Skull Island is very noticeable.  Also, the theme of powerful men blindly leading other people into war runs throughout the film. Packard's character has a Captain Ahab/Moby Dick relationship to Kong and underscores an inability to find peace. Jackson's performance is outstanding as well as John C. Reilly in the film. Reilly's performance as Hank Marlow, a fighter pilot that has been on Skull Island since World War II, is Oscar worthy in my opinion. There is a lot of good action scenes and was well directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. I definitely recommend people to watch this movie (wait through the credits when you do).

Rating: 8.9 out of 10

Double Review-Fifty Shades of Grey and 50 Shades Darker

There is a book that you may have heard of before called Fifty Shades of Grey.  I didn't read the book that the movies were based on. I watched them back to back recently, which is the reason for the double review.

Fifty Shades of Grey-The movie centers around a college student named Anastasia Steele(played by Dakota Johnson) and a billionaire named Christian Grey(played by Jamie Dornan). From the opening scene of the movie, it lets you know it is textbook good girl meets bad boy story. Well, in this story, the bad boy has a woman that he gets intimate with sign a sexual contract(in case you didn't hear about that part before). He does part of that for control and fear of intimacy. This movie poses this question: Can the curiosity between two different types of people result in love or heartbreak?  The problem is it doesn't do a good job to give us a reason to find out the answer. The script doesn't give us anywhere to go. The little bit of a trip it gives wasn't that enjoyable. I had no idea why characters did anything in the film. The dialogue was pretty bad. There was no texture to it at all. For example, Christian said to Anastasia"You're biting your lip again" when they just showed us on camera that she was doing that. That's partially to do with directing too. I didn't really care for either one of these characters, especially Christian. He had a creepy stalker vibe going on throughout the movie. That would be fine if it was a drama suspense thriller but it's not. Anyone else that would have displayed that type of behavior would have been arrested by now. This is what Bruce Wayne might have turn out to be if he didn't have the fighting crime thing to keep him occupied. Last, but not least, the main actors showed no chemistry at all. Which leads me to...

Fifty Shades Darker-Fifty Shades Darker is like the people involved in making these films heard the criticism of the first movie and corrected them. Script was better and so was the dialogue. The chemistry between the main actors was so much better in this film. You can actually believe there is something between these two characters that is genuine. The only issue I had with the film was two dramatic parts of the film felt forced to move the story along.

So, in summary, I didn't like the first one but liked the second one. If you watch to second one, there is something a little bit after the credits starts. Just remember that the theme of the films is not for everybody.

Fifty Shades of Grey: 7.1 out of 10

Fifty Shades Darker: 8.2 out of 10

Review- John Wick: Chapter 2

The first John Wick film, which came out in 2014, is hyper kinetic movie with simplistic story of a grieving ex hitman out for revenge. John Wick: Chapter 2 begins literally where the first one left off. The opening scene features a task John Wick (Keanu Reeves) needs to finish to return to a peaceful retirement (think of bumper cars during that scene). John's second retirement is brief as a blood oath with Santino(Riccardo Scamarcio) brings him in for one more hit. The ramifications of the hit will be felt not only in John's life but in the whole criminal underworld as well. John Wick: Chapter 2 delivers on great action scenes and a decent plot. The movie does pay homage to different action movies throughout, including a very noticeable nod towards Enter the Dragon. There are also scenes between actors that will remind you for another films, most notably the scene with Reeves and his Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne. I definitely recommend seeing this movie,especially if you like the first one.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Biggest movie disappointments (that I've seen) in 2016

Biggest movie disappointments(that I've seen) in 2016

Movies/shows I geeked out to in 2016

Movies/shows I geeked out to in 2016

Top 10 movies (that I've seen) in 2016

 

Top 10 movies (that I've seen) in 2016