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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>  

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Jason Bourne


It's been awhile I'll admit since I blogged, but I've seen three movies worth reviewing, so those will be put up over the next three days. Sorry for the inactivity, but you will still see me around here and there whenever there's a good movie to talk about. So without further-a-do, Jason Bourne!



J A S O N B O U R N E



Jason Bourne has been living off of the grid for a number of years after the events of The Bourne Ultimatum. He's been going around fighting for money, knocking them out with only one or
two punches. Nicky Parsons has also been off the grid trying to expose the CIA’s secret operations. She goes to a warehouse and hacks into the CIA’s mainframe and pulls out files on all of their operations from Treadstone to Black Rock, a new op that, we find later on, will spy on everyone in the USA through an app.
When Nicky downloads the files, Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander), a computer analyst, puts a malware on the files so that once they're opened, the CIA can track where the files are. So Nicky gets the files and then goes to find Bourne in Germany during a protest. All the while, the CIA follows Nicky and they are trying to get the files back.
They send an agent there to go take her out, but the they soon find out that Bourne is involved. Heather Lee is the head of the operation to get Parsons and hopefully bring Bourne in or to kill him. Tommy Lee Jones was the one to give Heather the operation and wants Bourne dead. So there's a whole skirmish where Bourne takes out the Alpha Squad that was sent in and is trying to avoid Bravo.
Nicky and Bourne split up so they can meet up somewhere else. The agent sent in to take out Nicky arrives and is about to run Nicky over but Bourne comes in on a cop’s motorcycle. They book it and the agent receives instructions from Lee to go to a building, assume a sniper position and take out Nicky. He assumes the position and while he's waiting for the shot, Nicky tells Bourne there's more to Treadstone that involves his father.
Just as she says that, she gets shot and Bourne and Nicky fly off the bike. The sniper however does not move out. He stays behind waiting for Bourne, which Lee picks up as the two having history. Bourne doesn't show in time so the sniper finishes Nicky off just as she throws the drive containing the CIA files to Bourne. Then he leaves. Bourne grabs the drive and goes to a hacker who opens the files.
As soon as the files are opened, Lee tracks Bourne down as he's reading the files. Should I say what they're about? Well, all I'll say is that they reveal more about Bourne's origins. Lee accesses
a phone nearby and uses the phone to wipe the drive, then she calls Bourne. She wants to bring him in. Tommy Lee Jones doesn't.
So he takes the phone from Lee and keeps Bourne occupied while a police force is inbound. Lee texts the phone telling Bourne to get out. She does some research on Bourne and finds out that she could use his feeling of missing a part of himself after leaving Treadstone to bring him in. She asks Tommy Lee Jones to head an operation to get Bourne cornered. He agrees but calls the agent that killed Nicky and makes his own operation with him. As Nick Fury would call it, Jones compartmentalizes. The day of Lee’s op, the agent kills Lee’s Alpha and Bravo Teams and goes to kill Bourne.
There's a lot more that happens afterwards, and I've told enough. It's worth watching trust me. There's plenty of action, punching, explosions, and a lot of cool CIA Agent stuff that only Bourne can pull off because he's a freaking boss. I think they should have him say "I'm Bourne," because he's just as badass as Batman, if not more so.



Ratings:
Story-line- 8/10 Stars The story isn't very important, but it does carry the movie so that it doesn't seem like it's just another Michael Bay film where everything blows up. It's also interesting to see how this one kind of ties off the other four Bourne films, and gives more insight into who Jason is and why he joined.
Family Friendliness- 7/10 Agents More for your 13 year olds and up, there is a lot of blood and fighting and violence. A lot of things go BOOM but it's really cool to see.
Story-Action Balance- 8/10 Pistols There is a nice balance of where the story is continued and how the action comes into play because of the story. There really isn't a place where you'll lose where the story left off, so you'll be able to keep up.
Overall- 8/10 Agencies This is a phenomenal movie, and I loved seeing Matt Damon coming back to reprise his role as the agent that could kick James Bond's butt anytime anywhere. They should make a movie about that, I'd love to see Bourne kick Bond in the face. Sorry 007 lovers.


J A S O N B O U R N E