The Tomorrow War (movie review)

 The Tomorrow War

Cast: Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, JK Simmons, Betty Gilpin

            Taking place in the near future, this action flick stars Pratt as a former Marine who gets 

   passed over for a job he wanted. He realizes he has no purpose in life until people from the 

   future show up on TV & ask citizens to come fight with them against an army of aliens that 

   has been killing people. He willingly joins and heads to the future. He ends up meeting a

   grown up version of his daughter (Strahovski), who works as a scientist trying to figure out

   how to kill the aliens with a virus.

           I really enjoyed this movie alot that has heart. The casting is excellent and features 

  a prominent male action hero something that is lacking in today's progressively woke 

  Hollywood . The special effects are top notch considering the nearly $200 million

  price tag Amazon had to pay for the rights. The father/daughter dynamic will hit you right

  in the feels. 

       Grade B+

              

Movies watched during quarantine/lockdown

           With the way 2020 has been going and Gavin Newsom closing down businesses to 

    control COVID outbreak, I thought I'd share some movies I watched during this time:

   1). Willow (fantasy/epic)- producehd by George Lucas and directed by Ron Howard, this 

   fantasy tales revolves around a little guy named Willow who protects a baby whom an 

   evil witch wants. I really liked this movie and found it to be enjoyable (7/10)

   2). Ford v Ferrari (bio/drama)- This biographical racing drama involves American car 

   designers pitted against Italian designers to see who could make the fastest car. Christian

   Bale really shines in this one (7/10)

   3). Die Hard (action)- In this fun action movie, Bruce Willis stars a John McClane, an off 

   duty cop who must save his wife's co-workers as they are held hostage by some evil terrorists.

   This movie was my favorite among all of them. (10/10).

   4). Robocop (scifi/action)- This 1987 classic is about a cop who is gunned down in the line 

   of duty and is brought back to life through as a cyborg. This actionfest perfectly captures 

   corporate 1980's America. (8/10)

    5). The Terminator (1984)(scifi)-  James Cameron's scifi classic stars Arnold Schwarzenegger

    as a killer cyborg who travels back in time to stop a young woman (Linda Hamilton) from 

    giving birth to a son who leads the resistance against the evil robots in the distant future. 

    This movie was good but the sequel was miles better (7/10)

     6). The Blues Brothers (musical/comedy)- Starring the late and great John Belushi and Dan 

     Aykroyd, this film stars as two brothers on a mission from God to raise money for a 

     Catholic orphanage. The chase scene at night was my favorite part (7/10).

Shazam

Shazam

Dir: David F. Sandberg

Cast: Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Glazer, Zach Levi, Mark Strong, Grace

Fulton

         Ever since Chris Nolan made his Batman movies, DC has been a dark somber place.

    Thankfully, this movie is a light of sunshine among them. Nickelodeon star Asher 

    Angel is Billy Batson, a foster kid who keeps running away from his problems. Until

    one day he meets an old wizard who turns him into a grown man with superpower
    based on pure of heart.

         Billy and his best friend/ foster brother (D. Glazer) attempt to keep Billy's alter
    ego a secret from their foster family. Meanwhile, evil scientist Dr. Sivana (Strong)
    becomes obsessed with learning about Shazam and the magic behind the power.

         This movie is hilarious and a lot of fun to watch. Despite copying the MCU in
    their light hearted tone, it works in just the right way. Sandberg joins fellow horror
    turned superhero directors such as Richard Donner, James Gunn, James Wan & 
    Zack Snyder.

       Shazam is the perfect blend of action and comedy. The message of importance of
    having a family, even chosen ones, is the central theme. It may not be a critical 
    darling but it has heart and that's what this movie aims to be. 

Grade: B+

My Favorite Movie: Ghostbusters

          One of my favorite movies is the 1984 scifi/comedy "Ghostbusters". It stars SNL 

   alums Bill Murray & Dan Akyroyd as paranormal scientists investigating paranormal 

   occurrences in a woman's (Sigourney Weaver) apartment. The late Harold Ramis
   is Egon Spenger, the inventor of the team. Ernie Hudson joins the team as Winston
   Zedmore, an ordinary guy looking for a paycheck. They have a secretary named Janine
   played by Annie Potts. This movie features good comedic moments & decent action
   scenes. Despite this movies effects not holding up, it's still worth a watch. 

  

Venom

Venom

Dir: Reuben Fleischer

Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate

       After the way that Sony handled Venom in Spider-Man 3, most comic book 
   fans have been clamoring for Venom film ever since. Venom is based on the 
   popular Marvel anti-hero of the same name & directed by Zombieland director 
   Reuben Fleischer.

     The Plot

      Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, a mild mannered journalist looking to uncover
   the truth about a shady biochemical lab known as The Life Foundation. The lab 
   experiments on humans using alien slime known as Symbiote.

     One day while sneaking into the lab for evidence, he inadvertently gets infected 
  with the alien slime that lives inside of him and transforms into the creature. Now
  the lab wants it back and hunts him down for it. 

What Did Work

    After a really clunky beginning that deal with his personal life involving his girl-

   friend Annie (Williams), there are some great action sequences. Everything after 

   Venom shows up is much better than the 15 minutes that try and set up the story.

What Didn't Work

   The beginning. I didn't know what kind of movie it wanted to be, a horror, scifi, or 

    even a rom/com? Either way it'd didn't matter. The villain of this movie was just
    forgettable. The CGI was really bad like it was rushed out for the sake of it. I
    personally found it to be really boring as well.

Overall

     This movie is neither good or bad just decent. It is an unnecessary movie made 
   by Sony just to keep the Spider-man rights with them. If Sony Pictures is starting
   their own cinematic universe, they're doing it the wrong way. This is akin to 
   Catwoman that had nothing to do with Batman. Maybe rent this one. 

Grade C-

Ant Man & the Wasp

Ant Man & the Wasp

dir: Peyton Reed

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, Michael Douglas, Abby Fortson,

Hannah J. Kamen, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Pena, Randall Park,

Walton Goggins, Michelle Pfeiffer

(spoilers ahead)

         Ant Man & the Wasp comes right off the heels of an emotionally draining Infinity 
     War. This time around, we find our hero Scott Lang (Rudd) under house arrest after
     violating the Sokovia Accords during Captain America: Civil War. Before his 
     parole time is up, he spends it with his young daughter Cassie (Fortson).

        Scott gets a call from his mentor Hank Pym (Douglas) and his beautiful daughter

     Hope (Lily) looking for Hank's wife Janet (Pfeiffer) who is missing somewhere in

     a subatomic zone called the Quantum Realm.

        A young woman named Ava (J. Kamen) becomes the villain Ghost, and steals
     Pym tech. Pym's former business partner Bill Foster (Fishburne) helps try and 
     cure her of her phasing affliction.

  

        Scott and his former prison buddies band together and stop Ghost before she 
     can get to Janet.

     The Good: The acting was good because the characters played off each other well.
     The shared father/daughter dynamic was handled well so as to not to be forced.
     Pena once again borderline steals the movie with his hilarious performance as 
     the likable Luis.

     The Bad: The plot was quite predictable and the villain was very forgettable. 
     Some of the jokes fell flat and there wasn't enough action to justify a good
     Marvel film.

    Overall: Ant Man & the Wasp was a welcome palate cleanser after the intensity that
    was Infinity War. With Marvel's Phase III saga coming to a close early next year,
    it'll be interesting to see where Phase IV will be going and whether there'll be an
    Ant Man 3 to close Scott Lang's tale. It's a good summer movie to watch but quite
    forgettable one unfortunately.

 Grade: 6/10 (B-)

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War

Dir: the Russo Brothers

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman,

Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo,

Zoe Saldana, Tom Holland, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Karen Gillan,

Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper (voice), Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan,

Pom Klementieff, Benedict Wong & Don Cheadle

       It's all been building to this. Marvel's biggest team up yet and the culmination of 

  eighteen films & ten years in the making. Immediately following the events of Marvel's

  Civil War, The Avengers are no more and our heroes are scattered across the globe

  (and beyond) and this time the stakes they face are high. 

       

(spoilers, proceed with caution)

      After laying waste to a ship full of displaced Asgardians, a cosmic entity named

   Thanos (Brolin) sends his minions to Earth looking for the last gem of his Infinity 

   Gauntlet, a powerful glove that grants the wearer unlimited power if all the stones

   are found. 
                              

       Tony Stark (Downey Jr.), Dr. Strange (Cumberbatch) & Spiderman (Holland) 

    team up to chase after the powerful being into outer space. They then meet up

    with the Star Lord (Pratt) and his ragtag group of alien friends. Thor (Chris
    Hemsworth) and Rocket Raccoon (Cooper) travel out to the farthest reaches 
    of the galaxy to craft a weapon to defeat Thanos.

       Meanwhile back on Earth, Scarlet Witch (Olsen), Black Widow (Johansson),

    Capt. America/Nomad (Evans) and Bruce Banner (Ruffalo) head to Black

    Panther's nation of Wakanda to protect it from the incoming alien invasion. 

    I felt some sympathy for Thanos as he had to sacrifice his adopted daughter 
    Gamora (Saldana) to do what was right in order to maintain balance in the 
    universe. 

                                    (spoilers over)

      I have very mixed feelings about this film. I can't say that I hated or liked it at all.

    I felt like that there was so much exposition going on that it dragged to the point 
    of tedium. The one thing that this movie did right was balance out the comedy
    with the scifi action that happened during slow scenes.

       Certain characters had to be killed off to show that Thanos wasn't messing 
    around. But knowing Marvel's M.O., they'll probably bring them back to life 
    just like they've always done.

       Marvel Studios has done a good job of tying in the previous movies like a 

   chapter in a book. It is also a big undertaking for the exec producer Kevin 
   Feige to bring all the superheroes together in one big movie such as this. 

      It is not the best movie of the MCU but the biggest that they have made. 
   When the credits came up, it left me wanting more hoping it ends on a positive
   not. It seems Marvel painted themselves in a corner and I just don't see how 
   they can continue. We'll find out next summer in 2019.

                                                         Grade: B-

 

Black Panther

Black Panther

dir: Ryan Coogler

Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forrest Whitaker

Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman. Sterling Brown

      Black Panther isn't just another a superhero flick but the first in the MCU to feature a 

  black protagonist. Ryan Coogler, whose critically acclaimed Creed, is the first African

  American director to get his hands on a Marvel megaphone. 

      Shortly after the events of Civil War, T'Challa returns to his home country of 

  Wakanda to become king. But an old enemy, Dr Klaue (Serkis) shows up to steal his 

  homeland's supply of vibranium to sell on the black market. Also showing up 

  is fellow Wakandan Eric Killmonger (B. Jordan) to help him out.

    T'Challa is challenged to a fight by Killmonger where he wins and throws Black

   Panther over a large waterfall to his families horror. His family secretly rescue him 

   and heal him back to health to reclaim this throne. 

    The Good: Despite the sparse action scenes, there isn't much to like about this film.
    The character of Shuri was adorable as Black Panther's tech-savvy sister. Black 
    Panther is a good hero for little black kids to emulate since as don't have one.

    The Bad: The excess CGI is suffocating and the plot felt contrived and nonsensical.

  It dragged the film down to the point of boredom. This was a weak Marvel entry 

  and I left feeling disappointed. The lack of tension killed my enjoyment for this movie.
  The "what are those!!?!!" line was cringe-worthy and will become outdated within a 
  few years. 

   Overall: Despite all the hype this film is getting, I didn't think it was that great. The 

  characters were bland and I had hard time caring about them. 

               Grade: C (7/10)

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Dir: Luc Besson

        Cast: Dane Dehaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke

             

          Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the latest from acclaimed 

    French director Luc Besson ( The Fifth Element, Lucy ) and is based on the 

    comic of the same name. In this adaptation, Luc transports us to a futuristic world

    wild beyond our imagination. After a montage of explorers and aliens being 

    welcomed set to David Bowie's Space Oddity, we witness a Utopian like planet

    and their pale skinned inhabitants get wiped out. The magic pearls that they

    harvest help the remaining species survive.

     

     First off, the visuals are outstanding flooding the screen with eye popping CGI &

   nifty scifi gizmos. Some of the aliens depicted are very reminiscent of other alien 

   creatures such as the ones in Avatar and Star Wars. Unfortunately, the aliens here

   become a background noise to the thin and tiresome plot. 

      British actress/model Cara Delevingne is Agt Laureline alongside Dane

   Dehaan's Valerian as the pair play two young intergalactic agents who must 

   protect an alien species before it faces extinction. They go to identify the cause
   of a fatal radiation leak in a gigantic space station called Alpha before it's too
   late. 

     Pop star Rihanna shows up as a shapeshifting jelly like alien stripper named
   Bubbles whom Valerian befriends. Dane sounds weirdly like Keanu Reeves.

   Good: The visuals are stunning and rich if not completely mind warping. 
   The action scenes are energetic and fun and comes across as if watching 
   a video game but with more color. 

   Bad: Cara and Dane's characters are about as bland as a bowl of oatmeal. The
   two young actors shared absolute zero chemistry that made their romantic 
   subplot feel just forced. The fact that they looked more like teenagers suited
   for an MTV reality show made their roles hard to believe. The pacing teetered
   on the brink of boredom with its slow, drawn out exposition. The trio of alien
   platypuses were Jar Jar levels of annoying.
  
  Overall : The passion project for Besson was just average in its storytelling and
  lacked the kind of humor that made the Guardians of the Galaxy so good. Had this
  movie have more brevity it would've been a better film. Adapting a French comic
  to the big screen was a no easy task for Besson. Valerian is a crazy mess but a 
  fun mess in it's pure artistic vision.

Grade: C- (6/10)

War for the Planet of the Apes

War for the Planet of the Apes

  Dir: Matt Reeves

Cast: Woody Harrelson, Andy Serkis*, Steve Zahn*, Amiah Miller

(* motion-capped)

     The "War for the Planet of the Apes" is a boring movie. I worked as hard as I could

 to find an opening statement but couldn't. This third movie in Planet of the Apes prequel

 trilogy opens with US Forces hunting down monkeys who have evolved from the last

 film. Most of humanity has been wiped out due to a deadly Simian virus to make 

 chimps smarter.

     The apes leader Cesar (Serkis) has a family with a young son named Cornelius

 (a nod to the 1968 film). Most of the movie deals with him and his fellow primates

 going on a quest to meet the human dictator known as the Colonel (Harrelson). 
 Along their journey an older ape named Bad Ape (Zahn) joins them and wants
 to help fight the humans. Cesar adopts a human girl they called Nova (Miller)
 who cannot speak due to being afflicted with the Simian flu.

     The crazy Woody Harrelson is the Colonel. He plays a psychotic maniac 
  whose son died because of the ape virus. Because of that, he believes apes
  cannot co-exist with humans and has them locked up in a harsh, gruesome
  concentration camp. Now it's up to Cesar and his monkey friends free them
  before they all die.

  The Good: The score which was reminiscent of the original movie along with 

  cinematography. Bad Ape was my favorite character with his funny quips and

  comedic timing. The grand finale made up for some sparse action scenes during

  this film. I appreciated the nods to such classic war movies such as "The Great
  Escape" and "Bridge on the River Kwai". Woody Harrelson does a cool Brando
  impression from Apocalypse Now.

  The Bad: Somehow despite the battle and going-ons, the pacing dragged on. I 

  didn't like how depressing it felt in tone that deals mostly with genocide which 

  is still going on today around the world. I felt that this movie fell into the war/

  drama genre and just became boring. 

  Overall: Although I'm not a big Planet of the Apes fan, I was rather disappointed

  considering the James Franco Apes movie was really good. It was unnecessary 

  to inject social commentary in a summer flick that didn't need one. Thankfully,

  this is the last in the trilogy and should it continue, a better director is needed.

Grade: C- (6/10) (2.5 stars)

Spiderman: Homecoming

Spider-man: Homecoming

Dir: Jon Watts

      Cast: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marissa Tomei, Zendaya,

Laura Harrier, Jacob Batalon

        Spider-man has finally come home to the MCU in this joint venture between
  Sony and Marvel Studios. Newcomer Tom Hollland stars as Peter Parker, a 
  regular teenage boy who lives in Queens, NY with his unusually attractive
  Aunt May (Tomei). By day he goes to school but by night he fights crime as
  the iconic webslinger.

     Acting as the young boy's mentor is billionaire playboy Tony Stark (Downey Jr.)
  who checks on him from time to time and offering him advice. But the eager
  Avenger wannabe soon finds himself in over his head. 

        

      Michael Keaton, whose career is going through a resurgence, plays a salvager 

  named Adrian Toomes who finds alien tech leftover from the battle during 2012's

  The Avengers. When his salvage business gets shut down, he is left with no job.

  The only way he can support his family is by pocketing the alien tech and trades

  it with local criminals. With some spare tech lying around, Adrian becomes

  The Vulture and turns to a life of crime.

  

      Now it's up to Spider man to not only stop The Vulture but to also prove 
  himself worthy of being an Avenger to Tony so that he can hang with them. 
  An unknown director named Jon Watts directs this reboot from Marvel Studios.

   The Good: I liked that it didn't have to retell the same story of Peter getting bit

  by a radioactive spider, it just jumped right in as soon as he got his powers. The

  action scenes were fun to watch along with the funny interactions between Peter

  and his best buddy Ned (Batalon). Making Keaton's character with a blue collar
  background made hist portrayal of the Vulture more relatable than most Marvel
  movie villains. The trailers made this Spider-Man feel very generic but I was
  pleasantly surprised how it turned out in the final product.

  The Bad: Zendaya is pretty much a pointless character who just adds filler to the
  movie with a quip here or there. The decision to change the ethnicities just for 
  diversity's sake didn't sit right with me but somehow it worked without it
  becoming a stereotype. 

  Overall: It's a fresh take on the Spider man character that brings him back to the 

  fold in the MCU. The tone of this movie is a stark contrast to the moody version

  that Andrew Garfield's take lacked. But just as Peter has some growing up to do,

  so does this young franchise. 

Grade: B+ (8.5/10)

Transformers: The Last Knight

Transformers : The Last Knight

Dir: Michael Bay

   Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Laura Haddock, Isabela Moner, 

Josh Duhamel

    $260 million dollars is a lot of money to spend on a movie and it's a total disaster. The

  term movie doesn't apply here. Movies have plots and character development, this one

  has neither. 

     It begins in medieval England during the Crusades where a drunken Merlin (mostly

  plays for laughs by Stanley Tucci) asks an ancient Transformer for an alien spear to

  help him defeat the Saxons.

     Fast forward to the present where Autobots are living among humans in peace. 

   The macguffin of the movie is a medallion in which the Autobots & Decepticons

  want to save their home planet of Cybertron from extinction. An evil alien queen

  brainwashes Optimus Prime in destroying Unicron (which lies on Earth) to save it.

     Meanwhile, mechanic and aspiring inventor Cade (Wahlberg) comes across the

  medallion and does what he can to protect it from the wrong hands. Izabela (Moner)

  an orphaned street smart girl, joins Cade in helping the Autobots to defeat the

  Decepticons. The TRF led by Capt. Lennox (Duhamel) and his men hunt down

  Cade.

     While this is happening, historian Sir Edmund (Hopkins) helps a young woman 

  Vivian (Haddock) to find a magical sword that controls the fate of the Transformers.

   The Good: The non stop action scenes along with some funny one liners.

   The Bad: The non stop explosions just for the sake of having them. The many 

  subplots made it difficult to follow. The talents of the famous Anthony Hopkins

  are completely wasted here for nothing. Optimus Prime turning evil only lasted

  for a few minutes unlike what the trailers had you believe otherwise. Even 
  though filmed on IMAX cameras, the aspect ratio kept changing every other 
  minute from full screen to letterbox format.

  Overall: The plots of these movies are getting dumber each time and should be 

  rebooted with better writers. Thankfully the franchise that started with Bay 

  directing is ending with him. If you're a fan of the Transformers franchise like 

  me, skip this one. Don't waste your money or time with this one. In fact, for a 
  much better plot, watch the original 1987 version instead.

Grade: D (5/10)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

           

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Dir: James Gunn

        Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillian, Bradley Cooper &

   Vin Diesel (voices), Kurt Russell, Pom Klementieff

   some spoilers ahead

       At some points during the GOTG 2, Gamora (Saldana) shoots a refrigerator sized 

  cannon while Yondu (Rooker) slaughters alien men with a whistle controlled arrow.

  But no weapon can control the cuteness that is baby Groot, a tiny tree that dances 

  to ELO during the opening scene.

      Marvel's favorite band of cosmic heroes are back in this sequel from 2014's

  surprise hit. This time, Peter Quill's (Pratt) lineage is explored and learns who

  his father may be.

      

      After fighting a ginormous alien, the team is attacked by a race of golden

  skinned aliens called The Sovereign. They are after valuable batteries that 

  Rocket Raccoon (Cooper) stole from them. Our heroes make the jump to 

  hyperspace where they crash land in a forest world. There they meet a middle

  aged man (Russell) claiming to be Peter's dear old Dad. 

      Hot on their trails are the Ravagers, a group of intergalactic pirates who raised

  Peter since being abducted as a boy. Silently working with the Guardians is
  their disgraced leader Yondu (Rooker) who vows revenge against the men
  who ousted him. The muscle of the group, Drax (Bautista) is treated like comic
  relief with funny quips.

     This movie felt like a step down from the original probably because this scifi

  flick is more story driven than action oriented. Each character is better fleshed
  out and we get to learn more about them. The plots themselves are contrived
  while the humor felt forced making the jokes fall flat. The touching scene made
  me want to cry hard. 

     Russell's subplot smelled awful alot like another well know space opera that

  explored the father-son dynamic. But they did it better and it was more believable.
  This story was watered down and contributed little to the MCU. The first one was
  so good because it had heart and characters that we've never seen before. Perhaps,
  next time James Gunn can return to what made the first GOTG movie so great,
  a sense of fun and adventure. 

     Grade: C (7/10)
Baby Groot: A

Kong: Skull Island

Kong: Skull Island 
Dir: Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Cast: John Goodman, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson,

John C. Reilly. Toby Kebbel

       The summer blockbuster season gets off to an early start in this feature from 
  WB and Legendary Pictures. It also pays homage to classic monster movies of
  the 1950's & 60's.

       It's the early 70's and during the Vietnam War, a group of scientists studying 
MUTOs  (Massively Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) send some researchers 
to a remote island hidden deep in the South Pacific. There, they come across 
a gigantic ape the size of a building that inhabits the island.

       Leading the expedition is Gov. agent Bill Randa (John Goodman).To help him 
are a Ber Grylls type adventurer James Conrad (Hiddleston), a cute photographer
girl, Mason (Larson) and strict colonel Preston Packard (L. Jackson).

      When the army begins to drop napalms, Kong is awakened and starts attacking
 the military copter. Col Packard makes it his personal mission to hunt down and 
 kill Kong after witnessing this. The survivors band together and try to get off 
 island when they meet a wacky Navy pilot (Reilly) whose been stranded there
 for almost 30 years. His quips during the film make for a good comic relief.

     The cinematography is amazing and the panoramic shots are incredible along with 

some great closeups. The CGI used during the monster battles looks fantastic. While

it plays out like an average monster film, the story is nothing to write home about. 

The film focuses more on King Kong fighting the monsters that inhabit his island 
than the characters who aren't fleshed out as one hoped. They're just fodder to move 
the story along.

    All in all, it's a fun popcorn movie that doesn't take itself seriously. You can turn
off your brain for awhile and enjoy it for it is. While it may not win any major awards.
it's serviceable in it's own right in the WB/ Kaiju universe. 

  Grade: B+ (7/10)

Passengers (2016)

Passengers 

Dir: Morten Tyldum

       Cast: Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne

    Being on a spaceship thousands of miles from home can get lonely. Just ask Jim
 (Chris Pratt), a guy who's been awakened from suspended animation early into the
 120 year journey. Searching the ship for others, he finds no one around. To keep
 himself company, he makes use of the ships facilities like dining at a fancy 
 restaurant to socializing with the robot bartender (Sheen). The bar scene
 was reminiscent of Stanley Kubrik's The Shining.

    Soon he realizes he needs human companionship. So he opens the pod of
a beautiful young write named Aurora (Lawrence). They spend the rest of the
film trying to find out why his pod was opened early.

   This movie felt like a soap opera rather than a space opera. The pacing of the 
film and story were very slow. I got to about halfway before turning it off. It 
is one of the few movies that I haven't been able to finish and that's saying alot.
I'd rather have been put in one of the pods just to see how it ends.

    While the trailer looked promising, Pratt and Lawrence share zero chemistry. In 

a nutshell, he's boring and she's helpless. This film doesn't know what kind of 
movie it wants to be. Is it an action? a drama ? a comedy ? Either way it doesn't 
really matter as the script should've been put back in the pods. It makes for a 
dull, tiresome scifi flick. It's not the worst scifi movie but worst with a big budget.

Grade: D (5/10)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Director: Gareth Edwards

    Cast: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Forest Whittaker, Mads Mikkelsen,

 Alan Tudyk (voice)

       When Disney bought out the Star Wars franchise in 2012, it set out to not only 

  make more movies but spinoffs as well. Rogue One is set just before A New Hope.

       Felicity Jones plays Jyn-Erso, a young woman who learns her father worked 

 for the Imperials and helped building a moon sized weapon called the Death Star.

 She and a few handpicked soldiers from the Rebel Alliance guide the effort to 

 destroy what her father had created. A reprogrammed droid, K2-S0 (Tudyk) joins

 them and provides comic relief during the intense battle scenes.

        

      While the movie is quite long, clocking in around 2h/15m, it doesn't shy away 

 from the grittiness that is war. While I enjoyed most of the movie, I couldn't help

 but think that this was nothing more than a big budget fan film. Director Gareth

 Edwards took the beloved Star Wars franchise and made it completely dark. 

  

       Despite the PG 13 rating, this movie is definitely not for small children who

 are easily scared. Not that it's gory but is just grim and serious in tone. It's not 

 a story worth telling. 

Grade: C (6/10)

Dr Strange

Doctor Strange

Dir: Scott Derrickson

      Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelsen,

Tilda Swinton

       At a time when superhero movies have reached their peak comes the most trippiest

  since Inception. The popular Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Stephen Strange. He

  plays an arrogant neurosurgeon whose hands become mangled after a nasty car wreck.

       Travelling to the far East to repair his broken hands, he meets the Ancient One

  (Swinton). In order for his hands to heal, he has to learn the mystical arts and paths

  to alternate dimensions. He gets help from another sorcerer Karl Mordo and they

  must stop another evil sorcerer (Mikkelsen). The gemstone that Strange wears

  in his necklace helps him travel through dimensions.

      This move was painfully average with its mediocre story and forced humor. The

  visuals during the dimensional travel scenes were top notch as they were ripped

  straight from the Strange issues drawn by the famous Steve Ditko in the 1970's.

      The best scene was when the sorcerers were bending the buildings & streets while

   Strange was fighting them.

       Strange's backstory felt rushed and poorly done in the time frame given. The evil

  villain like most Marvel movies was utterly forgettable. Strange's love interest 

  (McAdams) was dull and contributed nothing to the overall plot.

      Despite the MCU releasing three movies a year, it almost feel like superhero 

 movie fatigue is setting in. It's not a bad movie just passable at best. This film 

 may feature the bells and whistles but it lacks the proper story to make this movie

 even better. It's my least favorite Marvel movie.

Grade: C (6/10)

Star Wars : The Force Awakens

     

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Director: J.J. Abrams

     Cast: Daisy Ridley, Oscar Issac, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Harrison Ford,

     Domnhall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie

           Thirty years after the last movie is a long time for a franchise that still keeps 
  making money. In Episode VII: The Force Awakens, we find our hero, Rey (Ridley),
  a plucky young woman who is stranded on a desert like planet called Jakku. She 
  dreams of being somebody. Until one day, she meets a soccer ball sized droid, BB8,
  who carries a secret message. She learns that the Evil Empire is after the droid.
          Along the way, she meets a former Imperial Stormtrooper named Finn (Boyega)
  who defected after refusing to carry out orders to kill innocent civilians. Finn 
  befriends a Rebel pilot Poe (Isaac) and become close friends. Rey, Finn and Poe
  join forces with the legendary bounty hunter Han Solo (Ford) and Wookie pal
  Chewbacca.
          They are pursued by their evil leader Kylo Ren (Driver), a Jedi obsessed 
  with honoring Darth Vader's legacy and wants to follow in his footsteps.
           Director JJ Abrams is good at making scifi films but his overused of lens 
  flares becomes quite distracting. The plot structure is very close to the original
  A New Hope. The acting is good and the characters are fun to watch as well. 
  I couldn't help but feel like this movie has more loose ends than a tailors shop.
  Perhaps, the plots for the next movie will tie those up.

 Grade: B- (7/10)