Trailer Talk: Rogue One "a Star Wars Story"

I did not expect to like this as much as I did....

I knew I would enjoy it, I mean it's Star Wars so why wouldn't I right? I just wasn't AS excited for this trailer as I was for say the Episode 7 trailer, mostly because it is a "spinoff" of sorts. But boy was I wrong.

First we're introduced to Jyn Erso and given a quick rundown of what her role in the movie will be. The trailer looks and sounds great! The swelling of the music and the jarring alarm sound at 0:56 just perfectly conveys the tone of the movie making it seem like the world is in a state of emergency and the fate of the galaxy depends on Jyn stealing the information on the Death Star. The trailer is damn near perfect aesthetically speaking but if you're interested in some of the finer details of why this movie is so high on my list now we'll have to talk about this cast and crew.

Felicity Jones seems right at home as the rebellious Jyn and is a mixture of Rey's resourcefulness with just enough of that Han Solo badassery that we've come to expect from this type of character.

While I'm sure her character will be great there's one actor whom I'm most excited for in this movie!

Ben Mendelsohn as "Grand Admiral" looks amazing and if his previous work is any indication of what kind of villain we're going to see I personally think we're in for quite a treat. I highly highly recommend watching Starred Up with Jack O'Connell or Slow West with Michael Fassbender if you'd like to see some of his best work as an antagonist or supporting character.

The director is possibly the most important position that needed to be filled when it came to this project and I was cautiously optimistic when Gareth Edwards was announced to be helming the film. Why? You ask? Godzilla (2014) was somewhat panned by critics but while I completely understand most of the criticism I know when certain aspects of a film are done right. The way Edwards used godzilla in the film by not fully introducing the monster immediately was refreshing and made the final fight scene that much more impactful. This can also be seen in Edwards 2010 film "Monsters" which is what got Edwards the job of directing Godzilla in the first place. He does not focus on the aliens and instead opts to make the human characters and their relationship the main focus and the setting of an alien invaded mexico the backdrop. Why does any of this matter? Well it is heavily rumored that Darth Vader will make an appearance in the film and since this (Rogue One) is about a group of non force sensitive rebels who would never stand a chance against vader, it'd be great if Edwards could give Vader the same treatment and have his ominous presence looming in the background. I can't wait to see Edward's vision come to life come december! 

So that's my thoughts on the trailer and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Be sure to check out this blog and any of my social media pages for more info on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

What to watch: Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice (SPOILER FREE REVIEW)

 It's finally here! Everyone please calm down!! There's enough seats and tickets to go around so please do not trample the children you brought as an excuse to see this movie multiple times.

  That's right the highly anticipated My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is out today and the masses are flocking to see it by the millions! 

I'd like to formally apologize for that terrible joke and get started on what you came here for!

My review of Batman V. Superman

It's the greatest gladiator match the world of comics has ever seen and we're smack dab in the middle of it. So does the film deliver? Well.....it's a little more complicated than just yes or no. Let's break this down and talk about what makes this film great and what makes it not so much. Of course like the title suggests this is a SPOILER FREE review and I won't be mentioning anything that hasn't been revealed by the films announcement and it's promotional footage. First i'd like to talk about just that, the movies promotional footage! The first trailer was amazing and left me with a wonderful sense of excitement much like other trailers did last year (Star Wars, Civil War). Sadly some time after that another trailer was released and it included footage of a secondary villain in the film (Doomsday) which I personally feel would've been a very great thing to save for the film. I honestly believe that anyone who is familiar with the superman story enough to know who Doomsday is would've already have planned to see the film, so who was the marketing team trying to "reel in" when they chose to include him in the second trailer? Anyway that's a topic I should save for another day.

This film is exceptionally tough to review because sometimes I have to go into a movie and decide whether I want to see a movie and review it as a film or if I want to shut my brain off and enjoy the mindless explosions and revel in the fact that these things that I and many other people did not expect to ever see are happening and on the big screen. 

It's Batman taking on Superman for heaven's sake!!

So here we go I guess i'll give it a try. This film is exactly the hard hitting and gritty super human throw down that a lot of people want to see but it's wrapped in a shitty shiny wrapper of a story.

Let's talk casting....Ben Affleck is (waiiiiittttt for ittttt) in my opinion the BEST portrayal of both Bruce Wayne and Batman that i've ever seen! Yep he is by far the best thing about this movie and if that's all that you care about well there you go! Henry Cavill is mediocre as Clark Kent/Superman but even though some might assume that would completely derail this movie since he is half of the main cast, I'm happy to say that there's enough cool stuff happening around this dull and forgettable Superman that you just kind of accept that this is him and you just move on. Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman was in my opinion a strange choice but I had to eat up my words when she demanded the attention of the viewer without saying much as the Amazonian warrior princess. Next up I guess is Lex Luthor.....I defended the casting of Jesse Eisenberg as the evil and calculating genius who even as a mortal has given Supes a run for his money. Sadly i'm eating those words today as I watch a strange and oddly uncharacteristic portrayal by Eisenberg. He was more weasely and annoying than he was menacing, so he will go down as a failed attempt at trying something new with an already established and perfectly fine character.

The story starts slow but does a good job of introducing Wayne/Batman without going full "origin story" with it. Meanwhile we get a look at an unstable world that's divided on whether Superman is a savior or an impending threat. Much of the first act goes in depth about the politics of this matter and some (especially younger viewers) will find this first hour or so of the film boring. Fortunately the movie picks up the pace and we start to get a glimpse of what we came to see. The action especially the fight scenes are very well done as expected from director Zack Snyder but a lot of the plot seems convoluted and hectic which leads me to assume that the director and writers were trying to juggle way to many things at once and unfortunately the movie suffers for it. Even though the film felt exceptionally long at Two hours and thirty minutes I don't think they spent that run time properly and were left with some underwhelming character aspects and a lackluster story over all. Special Effects seemed way more polished than what we saw in the trailers and that is a huge relief because that was one of my biggest gripes going in. Another flaw this movie has that for me personally was the most distracting was it's editing. Many scenes transitioned very awkwardly and was reminiscent of how you would edit a trailer instead of an actual film if that makes any sense. Of course I understand that the not everyone came to see this movie for it's top notch editing or masterful writing but these are just things that I found to be flaws in the overall film. So let's recap some things before wrapping up here.

The movie had Batman fight Superman

Good 

The movie sets up further movies such as WW, Batman and the Justice League 

Super Good

The movie has an awesome portrayal of said characters

Good

The movie was sloppy in it's execution and is a mediocre film at best

Bad??...I Guess??

The movie is longgggggggggggggggggggggg.

Bad (depending on who you ask)

Included cool cameos and easter eggs that will hype us up for the future of the DC cinematic universe

GOOD.

So let's just put it this way, if you saw the trailer or poster and said "I can't wait! Fuck the haters!!"

then you will more than likely enjoy this so go see it regardless of what I or anyone else thinks.

Normal Rating: 6/10

Fanboy Rating 9/10

I'm Back??? (excuses, excuses)

Hello!

  If you're reading this i'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to read something i'm very passionate about. First of all i'd like to explain why I haven't kept up with this blog and why I plan on changing that this year.
  I am very very critical of anything creative I do, including but not limited to Drawing, Writing, and anything involving being on camera (I wouldn't say I am camera shy but I can't sit here and talk to the camera without picking it apart and eventually deleting it.)
As you would imagine this gets in the way of both writing out reviews and filming myself talking about them. At first I blamed my job for taking up most of my time that I had to do these kinds of things but unfortunately that wasn't always the case.
  Today I realized that some special people actually care about my opinion on movies and that made me very very happy as well as determined to continue this little hobby. So there you have it folks, I gave you a lame excuse and I guess this is me making somewhat of a promise that as long as one person is willing to listen to what some nobody film lover has to say about all the latest movies and movie news, I will be here writing and hopefully once I don't hate my face on camera i'll make more video reviews.
  If you ever notice that I start to fall behind on this, I would greatly appreciate some positive reinforcement even if it does come down to yelling at me in CAPS LOCK to get off my lazy ass and talk about movies.
  Once again i'd like to thank you for going out of your way to read this and invite you to drop a comment here or on any of my social media if you'd like to discuss anything movie related!


I'm also terrible at finishing off things like this so bye I guess...