Friday, December 23, 2016

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (In-Depth)

Alright, so this is the in-depth edition of the movie. Enjoy!


WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

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                  Jyn Erso is the daughter of Galen Erso, an engineer of the Death Star. The film begins with Jyn as a child. She's running towards her home, and an Imperial Aircraft is approaching the surface. Jyn gets home and packs up quick and light, and her mother does the same. Saw Gerrera
contacts Jyn's father, Galen, telling him to hide Jyn and her mom.
Jyn Erso
                 Jyn and her mom begin going to a bunker, but Jyn's mom tells her to continue on. Galen faces off with Director Orson Krennic, the lead director of the Death Star's construction, and Krennic tells Galen that he's gotta come back to finish the Death Star's plans. But before he can concede, his wife pops up and challenges Krennic. Krennic's Stormtroopers kill Galen's wife, and in the brush, Jyn watches it go down.
                 So she books it to the bunker and stays until Saw Gerrera comes to pick her up. Fast forward about ten or fifteen years and Jyn is in an Imperial camp. She's about to be transported in an Imperial truck when a gang of Rebels busts her out.
                 The Rebels are led by Cassion Andor and his Imperial turned Rebel droid, K-2SO. Cassion hears rumors about the Death Star, and is worried. After he busts Jyn out of her transport truck, he takes her back to the Rebel base, where they learn that Jyn actually has a significant role in helping the Rebellion against the Death Star.
                 The Rebels decide that they should go to see Saw Gerrera in order to find the location of
Galen Erso. If they find Galen, they can get the plans to the Death Star, and destroy it. However, the man at the head of the operations isn't interested in leaving Saw or Galen alive. He orders Cassion to kill both when he has the chance.
                 Elsewhere, there's an Imperial pilot deserter. He goes to see Saw to tell him about the Death Star with a message from Galen, but Saw isn't too sure. So he uses this giant eel thing that can read people's thoughts, and he finds out that the pilot was telling the truth.
Saw Gerrera
                 Almost immediately, Jyn and Cassion arrive. Saw's men take them into custody, and Jyn requests that she see Saw Gerrera. They take her to Saw, and Saw tells her that he got a message from Galen. They watch it together, and Galen reveals that he's put a weakness into the Death Star to allow the Rebellion to destroy it. However, it's so small that the Empire would never be able to find it in time.
                 The Death Star has been completed in the mean time, and the Emperor doesn't want a planet to be blown up yet, but in order to display its power, it flies on over to the planet where Saw is. They figure out that the deserter went there, and in order to take him and Saw Gerrara out, they're going to blow it up. They fire in the general area of that city, and while Jyn finishes the message from her father, the city begins to collapse.
                  Cassion busts out of the prison with K-2SO, the deserter pilot, Chirrut Îmwe, a blind man who's in touch with the Force, and his friend Baze Malbus. They get an Imperial ship and pick Jyn up, but Saw stays behind. As they fly away, the city is literally blown up right behind them, and the blast radius can be seen from space.
                  Now, the mission is to find Galen Erso. They fly to the planet where Galen is, and Cassion prepares to kill him. Jyn's plan is different: she wants to see him and find out exactly where the structural weakness is in the Death Star. When the crew lands, Cassion and the deserter go to scout
Galen Erso
the area, and they find a group of engineers preparing to meet an Imperial ship.

                  Galen is the head engineer, and he meets Krennic. Krennic wants to know who put the weakness into the Death Star, and Galen admits his fault. Before Galen can be killed, a Rebel bomber flies in and bombs the platform, killing most everyone on it. Krennic survives and escapes, while Galen slowly dies. Jyn rushes to her father's side.
                  "Stardust. I have so much to tell you."
                  Those are Galen's last words to Jyn, and 'Stardust' is pretty important, so please remember that, because that's the name of the Death Star plans. Jyn gets back to the ship and they escape, leaving to the Rebel base. There, a council is held to decide whether or not to pursue the Death Star plans. The unanimous decision is no.
                  That doesn't stop Jyn or Cassion, and they take the captured Imperial ship they flew in. Coming along is a small band of rebels, willing to die for the plans. The Rebel Tower asks them to identify who they are and their permissions to leave the base. The deserter gets on the comm and says
"Rogue. Rogue One."
                  They fly away, and they reach the Imperial base where all of their files are stored. They get in successfully, and Jyn and Cassion are able to make it into the file house. Things go a little nutty, but the important part is that the rebels got the plans. The cost was high, but just as the rebels are getting away, Darth Vader boards the ship. He freaking annihilates so many Rebels and just misses the ship that leaves carrying the plans and Princess Leia. So now you'll know why Darth Vader is so pissed at the rebels playing dumb as to where the plans are.





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Thursday, December 22, 2016

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Well folks, it's been a bit, and I wasn't able to do my "PoC's Christmas" Special like I wanted to, but hey, we got a new Star Wars movie we can take a gander at. So enjoy! I'll do a non-spoilers edition, and then an in-depth edition.




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                  Rogue One is a thrilling prequel to Star Wars: A New Hope, and is full of surprises that makes you wonder how the rebellion was able to pull of the feat that led to the destruction of the dreaded Death Star.
                   Jyn Erso is the daughter of one of the engineers of the Death Star, and is the key to finding those plans. She joins Cassian Andor, his former Empire droid turned Rebel K-2SO, Chirrut Îmwe, and Baze Malbus to lead an attack on the planet holding the Empire's files of all of their projects. Their raid is successful, but how it becomes so is a crazy adventure that you won't want to miss.




Ratings:
Family Friendliness: 6/10 Blasters  Now, of course, there isn't blood at all, but there is a lot of death. The Death Star's power is shown on an incredible scale, and only a fraction of it is used twice throughout the film. Both instances show massive destruction, and it's awful to see. You don't see the people die, but the implied amount of lives taken makes the Death Star all the more frightening.
Story-line: 9/10 Planets Everyone knows the gist of the story: the Rebellion attacks the Empire and gets the plans in a daring attempt to save the galaxy. Their effort is greatly rewarded, and the plans come at great cost. The story's execution is beautiful, and there are many references to A New Hope.
Story-Action Balance: 8/10 Droids  The story is kind of meant to be a sitting on the edge of your seat type, but there are little breaks that make the overall intensity of the film bearable. The droid K-2SO makes it pretty funny with his overwhelming amount of sarcasm.
Visuals: 9/10 AT-ATs  Spectacular visuals. The CGI in this film is incredible, and it all looks so crisp.
Overall: 8/10 Stars  The movie isn't better than The Force Awakens in my opinion, but it is definitely a movie worth the price of admission. I would highly recommend you going to see it.



Bibliography: "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frdj1zb9sMY>

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Announcement!!!

Hey folks! Emmaus here, just wanted to letcha know that I will begin construction on a new website very soon!!! It will still bear the same name, but the domain site will be a bit different. I will link it to this blog, and hopefully it goes very successfully. I will continue to post movie and video game reviews on here until the new site is up and running, projected to be around this time next year. It'll be my 2017 Christmas present for you and me!

Monday, November 14, 2016

Doctor Strange

W A R N I N G ! ! ! SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK


With that out of the way, onto the review!





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                  Stephen Strange is a world-renowned surgeon who jams out to classic 70s and 80s music while performing extremely difficult procedures with ease. He's got the biggest ego you could possibly imagine, but he's brilliant. Right in the beginning of the movie, he performs an almost impossible surgical procedure in order to save the life of a man that was shot in the head. Yes, with a
bullet.
                  All of that changes however, when he gets into a devastating car accident. He's rushed to the ER and operated on, and when he wakes up, his hands are absolutely destroyed. They look terrible, and the doctor tells him that his hands' nerves are too badly severed. Therefore, he can never operate again. His hands are constantly shaking, and there's nothing he can do about it.
                  Naturally, he wants to fix himself. So he starts doing research. He finds out about theoretical procedures that could cure the nerve damage in his hands. He squanders his wealth on seven of those different experimental procedures; and they all fail. Then, he finds one man that tells him about someone called "The Ancient One." This person can fix him, Strange is told. So, using the last amount of money he has, he takes a plane to Nepal and finds the Ancient One.
                  When he finds the Ancient One, she tells him that she can teach his soul how to find harmony and balance, therefore healing his body. Strange is outraged by this fairy-tale and demands that she operate on him, when she casts his astral form out of his body. He still doesn't believe, and then the Ancient One sends him on a wild and brilliant journey of cinematic effects. They are definitely worth the 3D Ticket price.
                 He is launched out from those different dimensions and lands on the floor at the Ancient One's feet and says, "Teach me."
                 So his training begins, and his incantations are perfect, he is a brilliant book worm and will read books for hours, poring over their information. He learns the spells word perfect, gets the hand motions down, but nothing ever happens. To fix that, the Ancient One takes him to Mount Everest
and tells him to build himself a portal back to the Sanctum (Temple in Nepal where the Ancient One resides). Within two minutes, he does it. Otherwise, his body would have gone into shock, and he would have died within an additional five minutes from hypothermia.
                 One day, as he's in the library, he looks at a specific book that you will be able to quickly identify because of the beginning minutes of the movie. It's a good ride, so I won't spoil that for you. But basically he's looking at it, and then uses the Eye of Agamotto to manipulate time. He tests that power on the apple he's eating.
                For those that don't know, the Eye of Agamotto is a magical relic, created by Agamotto, the First Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, if my knowledge is correct. And yes, the theories are true, it is indeed the Time Stone. Whether or not it is the Time Stone itself is still a mystery, though.
               Strange goes on reading the book, and then he comes across the name "Dormammu." Wong, the Librarian, and Mordo, the Sorcerer Supreme's best student, bust into the library and freak out.
They tell him to never utter that name again and that Dormammu is no power to trifle with.
From there, the action picks up as Kaecilius, a former student of The Ancient One that stole some pages from a book at the beginning of the movie, starts attacking the different sanctums of the world.
                The Sanctums, as Wong and Mordo explain, are the three magical places that place a barrier over the Earth to keep Dormammu and other evil entities out. So while the Avengers fight aliens, the Sorcerers fight battles within the mystical realm.
                Eventually, Kaecilius storms all three (New York, Hong Kong, and London) and Dormammu begins his descent in Hong Kong. Strange, bearing the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation, reverses time so that the collateral damage can be minimized. But before he can complete the spell, Kaecilius and his goons break from it and start causing trouble. So what Strange
does is he goes up into the Dark Dimension and finds Dormammu.
              If you haven't already seen the memes, this is where Strange says multiple times: "Dormammu, I've come to bargain." After Strange dies about 80 or so times, Dormammu gets pissed and finally agrees to leave Earth alone if he can get out of the time loop.
So yeah, that's basically the film. Make sure you stay for the after credits, though. They set up "Thor: Ragnarok" and the second "Doctor Strange" films.




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Ratings:
Family Friendliness: 9/10 Sanctums There wasn't much in this movie to really point out that would be really worthy of noting. I mean, there's violence obviously, and then there's a lot of graphic injuries especially in the beginning when Strange is all screwed up because of the car crash. There's minimal swearing, and overall, it's a pretty fun movie.
Story-line: 7/10 Magic Books Overall, it's the typical story. This guy has got an issue and a big ego, wants to fix the problem, then ends up becoming a great hero that saves all of humanity. But the fact that it's magic makes it amazing. 
Story-Action Balance: 8/10 Spells There was a nice balance between the actual plot and then the action that ensues as a result of the story is nicely played out. The visuals are stunning, and I'll even give those visuals a rating below.
Visuals: 9/10 Sorcerers Nuff said, just watch it.
Comic Accuracy: 8/10 The origin story is spot on, except for the fact that the Ancient One was not a woman, Mordo was originally a bad guy already when Strange came along, and that Strange did not face Dormammu until he was about 10 years into his training. But then again, Marvel can't cover ten years of training in about two and a half hours. Other than that, swell movie!
Overall: 8/10 SEE IT



Bibliography: "Doctor Strange Trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNdM7b1Lm04>
"Doctor Strange" <http://www.twincities.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/doctorstrangereview.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: The Ancient One" <http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/doctor-strange-tilda-swinton.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Mordo" <http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Doctor-Strange-Movie-Mordo-and-Strange-Banner.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Kaecilius" <https://typeset-beta.imgix.net/rehost/2016/9/22/b9a22007-da46-4913-89c7-eff981e66f85.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Dormammu" <https://images.moviepilot.com/images/c_limit,q_auto,w_710/deiyyyc5akea97zypabu/doctor-strange-challenges-dormammu-credit-disney.jpg>

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

PoC's Halloween: I Am Legend

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                  There is a cure for cancer. The answer? Virology. A leading scientist played by Emma Thompson comes out with a huge story where she says that she has cured cancer by genetically altering measles so that it will fight the cancer cells. So far, she has treated 1,009 patients, and all 1,009 are cured. Hooray right?
                          Fast forward three years and Manhattan is overrun with vegetation, deer, and lions gotten out of the zoo. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville is a former US Army Virologist, and the last survivor of "Ground Zero." That's right, the virus started in Manhattan, and spread from there. That means that his Base of Operations is the most heavily infested area with Darkseekers. 
                          Darkseekers aren't like any other monster you've ever seen. They're not even like the Abbys in the T.V. series Wayward Pines. They are their own class of monsters, very similar to Vampires in that they die within seconds of being exposed to UV rays, but different in that they are not as intelligent let alone sophisticated as the vampires you may know from Underworld. They are still pretty scary, though. There's a picture of one to the right. 
                           For the past three years, Neville has been attempting to make a cure from his blood, because he was one of the 1% of the entire population of the planet that actually survived the virus, both airborne and through contact with bodily fluids. His everyday routine is getting up, exercising, going out and doing some raiding of abandoned apartments with his dog Samantha, a gift from his daughter, and going to the docks. 
                            His routine however, becomes quickly interrupted, and by what remains to be seen.
                            As Neville goes to sleep and wakes up to new days, he has dreams of his last moments with his family. Through these small fleeting glimpses, we understand that his family was attempting to escape Manhattan via chopper, but were killed by another chopper that was weighted down by a bunch of people and crashed into Neville's family's chopper.
                            Can Dr. Robert Neville find a cure to the virus that has plagued the entire planet? Can he survive in the world that has been left behind by the "cure for cancer"? Go ahead and find out.




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Ratings:
Family Friendliness- 7/10 Cities This film has some bloodiness, scary images, and intense violence. The Darkseekers aren't exactly scary, but definitely disturbing. 
Story-line- 9/10 Rifles This film has an excellent story-line, and it doesn't take a genius to follow it. However, it does have a very intense feel, and does a nice job of giving moments where you can feel like you are relaxed along with Dr. Neville, although when the action picks up, you can definitely feel the heat.
Thriller Level- 7/10 Darkseekers This isn't exactly scary. I mean, none of the movies I have reviewed are scary. There are definitely moments where you're on the edge of your seat, hoping and praying to God that something doesn't jump out, worried about the dog, and of course, Will Smith. Because hey, who doesn't love Will Smith?
Acting- 9/10 Houses Will Smith does an excellent job portraying a scientist concerned with finding a cure for the virus that has overtaken the world. He wants to turn the monsters back to humans, not just survive. After all, he believes that he is the last one. 
Overall- 8/10 Stars The average for this movie does actually come out to 8, and I'm happy with it. I could actually be gracious and give it a 9, so you can give someone that rating if you ever feel better about this movie than I do.




Bibliography:
"I Am Legend Doctor Robert Neville" <http://data.whicdn.com/images/60811697/original.jpg>

Friday, October 14, 2016

PoC's Halloween: 10 Cloverfield Lane

                  Hiya everyone! I haven't really seen any new movies as of late, so that's on me. But the other day I decided hey, let's get a Redbox film, and I saw "10 Cloverfield Lane"! So we'll dive right into it. Part 2 of PoC's Halloween!
               


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                   The movie begins with a woman who is packing up her things. She finishes up and the last thing she has gotta pick up is her phone, which is sitting on a dresser. She stares at it for a solid minute or so and decides to finally pick it up. She calls someone, and the sound is taken out at this point and you see her talking and ends up kind of distressed. She then hangs up and leaves the house.
 
As she walks out with her last box, the camera unblurs on a section in the lower left hand corner... a wedding ring. 
                    She drives far away. Not just like down a few streets far. Like FAR FAR AWAY. She's on the move for the majority of the day and then she makes a stop for some fuel. However, a sketchy truck comes up and makes her a little uncomfortable. So she finishes filling up and then she's on the road again. 
                     Her phone rings and the caller is labeled Ben. She takes a second and considers answering, and eventually does. "Michelle, please come home." Ben starts pleading with Michelle to come back, and says that they just had a small fight and that that was no reason to just pack up and go. So now we know what kind of a person Michelle is. She hangs up on him.
                    She turns on the radio and there's been reports of city wide and worldwide black outs. They are mostly in major cities, but a lot of people have lost power. Michelle isn't really paying attention, though. Her phone rings again and it's Ben. 
                    She starts considering whether or not she should answer the second time when she looks
at her driver-side side mirror, and a truck is driving up behind her. It has an odd similarity to the sketchy truck that she saw earlier at the gas station. The truck slams into her and she spins out of control, crashing off of the road and then coming to a halt upside down in a patch of grass.
                    Michelle wakes up with a I.V. in her left arm. She follows the trail of tubing up into the pouch of fluids. But what she notices is that she isn't in a hospital. There's a gray brick wall behind the mounted pouch. She looks around and sees that in fact, this is no hospital. She was kidnapped.
                    She tries moving away from the bed after seeing her stuff across the room from her bed, but is cut short. She looks to her right and sees that there's a brace on her leg that is cuffed to a metal bar. She starts wrestling with it to free herself but is unsuccessful. Well, she needs her phone for sure.
                    Here we see the genius that Michelle has. She knocks down the stand that was holding the pouch for her fluids and disconnects the pouch and the I.V. from her arm. She uses the stand as a sort of hook and successfully gets her phone. But... of course, there's no service. There is no way that she's calling 911. This means she's underground. 
                    John Goodman unlocks the giant metal door and comes in with a tray of food for Michelle. He sets it down in front of her and she puts her hands up in an innocent sort of way and pleads with him to not hurt her. In reply, John Goodman says, "You need fluids." 
                    He takes the I.V. pouch and stand away and then returns with a pair of wooden crutches.
He tells her that she better get used to using those. He also gives her the key to her cuffs and then leaves. 
                    Michelle uncuffs herself and then immediately tries working on a way to escape. First thing she does is pull off the rubber covering off of the bottom of one crutch and takes the key for her cuffs and sharpens the end of the exposed crutch so that it's got a nasty cutting edge. She then plans to wait for John Goodman to return. But there's no luck. She waits for awhile and he doesn't come back. So naturally, make a way for him to come back, right? Sure, let's make the creepy man come back. Brilliant. 
                   She rips off a piece of cloth from her bed sheets and wraps it around the end of one of her crutches and then lights the cloth on fire and puts it into the small vent that is a little higher than the door and slightly to the right. She reassumes her position of waiting for John Goodman to return and the smoke quickly spreads. 
                   John unlocks the heavy door quickly and walks in looking around for Michelle, and as he is doing so, Michelle charges him with the sharpened crutch. He is able to see it coming but Michelle
hits him good and stumbles out. John gets her though and puts her back into the room.
                  John comes in again and then sets another tray of food in front of her. He talks with her and tells her that he saved her life, but from what he doesn't exactly say. Before leaving, he says, "I'm Howard by the way." Good thing, too. Cuz writing John Goodman over and over again is a pain in the butt.   
                   Okay, later on, Michelle is released from her confinement and is able to roam around the bunker. She makes a friend called Emmet. No it is not Chris Pratt. But Emmet and Michelle work together to try and get out of their confinement, while avoiding Howard, who poses their biggest threat... until we see the outside world.



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Ratings:
Family Friendliness- 6/10 Bunkers There's not really anything suggestive about this film. It's another thriller, and there are some inappropriate references from time to time. John Goodman's character is a bit of a creep. Also, there's some disturbing images of disfigured and slaughtered pigs right in the beginning, and then near the end when there's a body in a tub of acid. I'd recommend to parents that you watch this first.
Story-line- 8/10 Tubs The story is really well-done, and I've gotta say that the plot twist at the end of it all really made me mad. Basically, Howard is suggesting that aliens took over the planet, but at the same time, you know that he's absolutely crazy. What's revealed at the end is just... aggravating.
Thriller Level- 8/10 Vents This was beyond stressful. There's a point in the movie where Michelle, Emmet, and Howard are playing a game where you have to guess what the character they're describing is, and Howard gets Santa Claus. So what he says as hints is "I'm watching you. I see you when you sleep." And that just freaked me out because Howard is a real nut case. Not to mention there were the scenes where Michelle is crawling through the vents of the bunker. That may not stress you out, but I'm claustrophobic, and even seeing people in those kinds of situations gets me really worked up.
Acting- 8/10 Generators Alright if you haven't noticed already, I'm experimenting with a lot of different aspects of movies. For thrillers and other things where you can't really measure comic book accuracy, I'm trying to figure out what you guys would like to read about. So just bear with me. But anyway, the acting was phenomenal. I have to say that the actress who played Michelle did a fantastic job, and I don't even know her name. John Goodman contributed too, so obviously that makes it all the better.
Overall- 8/10 Stars The rating should be 7, but I like to be gracious to movies because hey, that's the entire reason I blog.


"10 Cloverfield Lane trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQy-ANhnUpE>


Thursday, October 13, 2016

PoC's Halloween: Shutter Island

Alright guys, it's October. And you know what that means: scary movies. Now, I'm not one for paranormal films, but I'll definitely do thrillers. So these reviews aren't really gonna be too long, but hopefully you'll check some of them out. First off, "Shutter Island."




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                  Leonardo DiCaprio is Edward Daniels, a Federal Marshal in 1954 on his way to a mental asylum for the criminally insane. He has been assigned a new partner: Chuck Aule. Their case is to find a missing patient. This patient's name is Rachel. She just kind of disappeared from her cell, and no one saw her leave. 
                       Daniels and Chuck go to her cell, and Daniels finds a sheet of paper that reads: "Rule of 4, Who is 67?" Later, Daniels and Chuck read through the files of all of the patients and find that there are 66 patients. So what is being implied is that there is a 67th patient, even though there is no such patient. 
                        Daniels then interrogates all of the patients and with each one of them, asks if they know an Andrew Laeddis. Most of them deny it, or cringe and cower at the name. So while Daniels is looking for Rachel and Laeddis, he begins having migraines. He also has nightmares, and they repeat every night, almost all of them the exact same. 
                        But in the end... nothing is as it seemed.







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Andrew Laeddis...?


Ratings:
Family Friendliness- 4/10 Any child under 13, this kid is a big NO. There are a lot of disturbing images with blood. Also, there's a few creepy guys like the one above.
Story-line- 9/10 This plot is phenomenal. It absolutely messes with your head, and if you've seen Inception, you know how much that screws with you. This movie is Inception level and will leave you absolutely mind-blown at the end. You have been warned.
Thriller Level- 7/10 It's not exactly the kind of movie to give you jump scares, but it's definitely terrifying. I am no fan of anything paranormal, so I am very prone to being freaked out, and this movie makes the list. This would definitely go above "The Sixth Sense" (review on sidebar).
Overall- 8/10 The actual rating would have come out to be a 7, but this movie was just so good. I mean, I was not for a moment bored, I was constantly thinking, and Leonardo DiCaprio delivered a phenomenal performance. Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley were also primary characters, which definitely boosts the rating because they both did amazing. Overall, I highly recommend this movie to anyone not wanting to go see the new Ouija: Origin of Evil, but would like to stay in the Halloween and freaky spirit.

Bibliography:

Friday, September 23, 2016

Star Trek: Beyond

Alright so I just got back from vacation in El Paso, Texas, and I gotta put this movie review up before I go and see another movie like... Tarzan??? Possibly. But I will try and stay up to date. Thanks for bearing with me guys.


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                  I actually really like what I pulled off up top. Kudos to me, right? Thanks to those who agreed. But anywho, this was a fun movie. Now, I was kind of disappointed that J.J. Abrams didn't direct this, but I always keep in mind he directed Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, so I can forgive
him. But I'm still kinda sad.
                 The movie is about the five year journey that the Enterprise goes on, like in the original T.V. series with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy (may he rest in peace). We pick up on year three (that's "III" or "3" or "1+1+1" just in case you got a little confused XP) of their journey and Captain Kirk is attempting to make peace on a planet in front of an alien council. Well, they don't like it.
                  Kirk presents them a gift, which the council immediately rejects and starts flipping out about. "Where did you get that?!" they demand of him. "It was a gift to you," he responds, not realizing the significance of it. Obviously, we've got no idea either. It looks like one of those
Jaylah, who helps Scottie
hologram projectors from the
Star Wars: The Clone Wars T.V. Series (I loved that show).

                   So the council members jump down at Kirk and start attacking him, which means that diplomatic ties have failed. The Enterprise beams Kirk outta there and they leave the planet. On board, Kirk and Bones have a drink together in celebration for Kirk's birthday, which is the next day. Kirk asks Bones to keep the whole thing low-key, because he doesn't like others knowing about his birthday. Bones agrees.
                    The Enterprise's next stop is the newest and biggest Starfleet Space Station to date. It reminds me a lot of the bigger Death Star in The Force Awakens. There, they're going to get some rest, refuel, restock, and then be on their way.
                    Alright so fast forward a bit and the crew is crash landed on a strange planet in the middle of an uncharted Nebula, a little ways away from the giant Starfleet Space Station. The Enterprise is totally trashed, the majority of the crew is captured, and Bones is with an injured Spock while Kirk and Chekhov are together trying to find Bones and Spock and Scottie. Scottie meets a woman who leads him to an old Starfleet Space Craft, which she has made her home. 
                    What you need to know is that Bones, Spock, Kirk, Chekhov, and Scottie all reunite to save the crew of the Enterprise, and in the process stop a plot to basically wipe out the entire galaxy, usual space kind of stuff. It's a wild ride though, and I loved the visuals and CGI. 




Ratings:
Family Friendliness- 8/10 There's some minor blood, a whole lotta fighting, shooting, punching, kicking, action sorta stuff. It's more action-packed than story really, but the story is... there. I still think that J.J. Abrams would totally have rocked this one had he directed it. 
Story line- 6/10 Like I said, there isn't really that strong of a story. In fact, the story doesn't really show up until halfway into the movie, and by that time you've just lost all hope for a story when it slaps you in the face and you're forced to pay attention again. This wasn't like the previous two Star Treks where the story was there right in the beginning and you have to follow the entire time, leaving you satisfied at the end. But still... it's Chris Pine. He's a fun guy!
Story-Action Balance- 6/10 Personally, I love a movie where it's just action and things blowing up every now and then. But I was honestly expecting a pretty solid story from this third installment of the revamped Star Trek series. 
Miscellaneous- 8/10 It's not that much miscellaneous stuff, but I just wanted to throw in there that I really enjoyed the fact that there was a lot more character development, especially with Kirk and Spock. Their stories were virtually the same (I won't spoil anything) but it also delved deeper into Scottie, Bones, Zulu, Chekhov, and Uhura as a family of sorts. Also, since Leonard Nimoy's passing, they do pay homage to him in the film, which contributes to Spock's development further into the story. Kirk is still growing up a lot, and I like how they show his maturity grow as each film passes. I feel like he is becoming more and more of a man, and by the time the series ends, Kirk will be just as wise as William Shatner's Kirk... hopefully.
Overall- 7.5/10 The math actually checks out to 7/10 but I gave it a little bit of a boost because it's Star Trek. I absolutely love this series and I can't wait to see how J.J. Abrams picks up the story. Hopefully he does a better job than this director. I know he will, I mean, look at what he did with Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens! J.J. will rock it. 




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Monday, August 15, 2016

Suicide Squad

                  I've gotta admit, this movie rocked. I haven't really been a fan of DC Movies much what with BvS being such a disappointment (except for Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman) and Green Lantern being a flop (except for Blake Lively, I think you know that the girls were the only good parts in those films). But I highly respect Christopher Nolan for making The Dark Knight Trilogy (one of the best trilogies I've ever seen). So anyway, I really enjoyed this movie. It was real fun!



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                  Superman is dead. The US Government is afraid of future superhuman threats. The question that they have been asking is “What if the next Superman comes and kills us all?” What are
they gonna do? The idea of one particular individual, Amanda Waller, is to assemble a team of very dangerous people who can take on a threat as big as a superman.
On this team are Deadshot (Will Smith, Concussion, Independence Day, MIB Trilogy), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie, The Wolf of Wall Street), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney, Terminator: Genisys), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez, Quarantine), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Pompeii, Concussion), Katana (Karen Fukuhara), and the Enchantress (Cara Delevingne, Paper Towns). The film takes some time to give background to some of the villains in the beginning, then continues onto the main plot.
I will relay the story of the Enchantress, seeing as it is quite important to the rest of the
film. An archaeologist by the name of June Moon goes hunting for ancient artifacts, and she landed in the wrong hole. She found a little voodoo doll it looks like, and she accidentally snapped the head off of it. Then a dark being came out of it and possessed her. June now hosts the Enchantress.
The US Government then read up on the Enchantress and saw that whoever had her heart would be able to control her. So they looked for her heart and found it. Alright so the trouble starts when June and her boyfriend, Rick Flag, the military leader of the Suicide Squad, are in their room together. June starts writhing and then when Rick goes over to her, she's turned into the Enchantress.
She teleports out of the room and goes to the military vault where they are holding another voodoo doll that holds her brother. She then teleports to a local subway men's bathroom and breaks the head off the doll. The spirit comes out and possesses the man closest to it. The Enchantress tells her brother to gather his strength, because she's got a plan to make the humans bow down to them again. Apparently, they were considered gods back in the time before they were confined in the dolls.
So the Enchantress poofs outta there and back to Rick and turns back into June. Meanwhile, the brother goes destroying the subway and eating people… I guess? I think that's what
happens. But basically, he gets super strong and starts to destroy all of New York. So June is called in by the US Government while the Suicide Squad is being rounded up. June and Rick go into the sewers to blow a bomb at the brother. In order to do that, June has to let the Enchantress out.
June turns into the Enchantress, but instead of taking the bomb to the brother, she sets it off and then poofs outta there. Rick shuts it off and reports that the Enchantress bailed. Pissed off, Amanda Waller starts stabbing the Enchantress's heart. The brother gives her sister some power so that she can start executing her plan to rid the world of its armies so that they'll bow down to the Enchantress and her brother.
The Suicide Squad comes together and they go in to stop the Enchantress, and well… I'll let you see how that plays out. It's worth your time, probably one of the best DC Films since Man of Steel. Yes, I enjoyed that movie, but hated BvS. Sorry folks.





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Ratings:
Family Friendliness- 7/10 Stars This isn't a film to take your kids to. I mean, it's funny, but it's kind of dark. The fact that it takes place during one evening contributes I guess.
Story Line- 7/10 Bats (as in baseball bats) It was a good story, but it was kind of weak. I mean, it was enough to carry the movie through to completion, but it wasn't astounding. Now I haven't mentioned the Joker at all because his role was so small, it's like they didn't even need him. He wasn't that important. But everything was well done.
Story-Action Balance- 8/10 Guns  For the amount of story that was present, there was a very good balance between the action and what the story being told. The action was really cool, especially El Diablo. He was awesome near the end of the movie. I won't say what happens but it was awesome
Soundtrack- 10/10 Skulls Now I don't normally do this with my movies, and it might become something that I regularly include, but I cannot neglect how amazing this soundtrack was. There was an awesome blend of classic 70's and even some rap like Eminem that really brought the whole film together and gave it so much character. I absolutely loved it, and I've been listening to it on Spotify over and over again. PLEASE GIVE IT A LISTEN!!!
Comic Accuracy- 8/10 Enchantresses  I don't really follow DC Comics, but for what I know, they did a very good job for their casting. Margot Robbie was a gem, Adewale was a funny but menacing Killer Croc, Jay Hernandez was a cool Diablo, but the only thing I wasn't too happy with was Jared Leto as the Joker. I will always love Heath Ledger, and I don't think that Leto could live up to Ledger's legacy. But I'm hoping that they'll take Leto's Joker into a new direction where I can learn to respect him for his context as the Joker, like Jack Nicholson in Michael Keaton's Batman.
Overall- 8/10 Hearts  Now I will admit that I gave this an additional rating (soundtrack) to give the movie review a bit of a boost for its overall score, but I really loved this movie. I would see it two more times in a row and I'd still love it. I highly recommend this film. DC Fanboys and Fangirls... here is a DC Film worth seeing and giving credit. The critics were definitely wrong about this one.



Bibliography:
"Suicide Squad Trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmRih_VtVAs>