Film Phantom Movie Review

La La Land

2017-02-22T10:58:00.000-05:00

A struggling actress and a struggling Jazz musician meet and fall in love over the course of a year in a throw back style of movie musicals. It's an affair that is hanging on by a piano string to begin with and when dreams and reality are entered into the mix, it becomes even more of a challenge to maintain. But true love concurs all, right?

Cast

Ryan Gosling as Sebastian Wilder

Emma Stone as Mia Dolan

John Legend as Keith

Rosemarie DeWitt as Laura Wilder

Finn Wittrock as Greg Earnest

Jessica Rothe as Alexis

Sonoya Mizuno as Caitlin

Callie Hernandez as Tracy

J. K. Simmons as Bill

Tom Everett Scott as David

Who will like this

Although this may have all the markings of a "chick flick", don't be fooled by its romantic storyline or the fact that it is indeed...a musical. The heart and soul of this movie is taken from movies such as "Rebel without a Cause", "Casablanca" and "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg". It also has parallels with "Moulin Rouge". It's a good date movie and definitely a must watch for lovers of classic movies.

Phantom Thoughts

La La Land is a movie I didn't have a lot of knowledge about going into it. But I do now. I had to do some research after seeing it. Let me explain: as I sat watching it, it brought me back to when I was a kid, watching old movies with my Dad on the weekends. Although this was a totally new and unique movie, it still was like watching something familiar. Something I've seen before. And as it turns out, that was done on purpose.

Damien Chazelle wrote the screenplay in 2010, but couldn't get it off the ground. However, after the success of Whiplash which he also wrote and directed, La La Land finally landed the backing it needed. His vision for his movie was uncompromising, thankfully so. And that vision is so clear to me: Ryan Gosling's character, Sebastian is obsessed with jazz music the way it's meant to be played, the old style of the music, which is dying. But he sees the beauty in it. In order for others to see the beauty in it, it has to be changed. It has to evolve. The film mirrors this in a beautiful way. It's shot with all the similarities of an old movie, from the wipes to the edits to the pacing and styles to the all-in-one-shot scenes (or at least the illusion of one shot. Some of those are done with almost seamless editing.) It is a remarkable achievement. There are shots that could have been easier to do in the studio that were shot on location with the perfect lighting. They did these dance scenes as many times as they could with that light all in one shot to get it just right. Simply amazing.

Ok. Enough love. Let's get down to it. Ryan Gosling, although the perfect actor for the part of the brooding, closed off Sebastian, for a musical where you have to sing and dance....his performance was a little....flat footed.

And while I give him credit for learning how to play the music on the piano for the role, not knowing how to even PLAY the piano, maybe he should have had someone sing for him.

Emma Stone is tremendous. Seriously. She owned this role like no one could imagine. Her acting is so on point, it seems like she is just living the life we see on screen. It's effortless. And although her singing is not spectacular either, it's just the right amount of emotion for the part of Mia.

Could there be a spoiler for a movie like this? Surprisingly .. yes. And if you haven't seen it yet, stop reading as I will now get into the SPOILER. The ending. I've heard some people bicker about not liking the ending of the movie. But it was brilliant in this regard: as the movie is rolling along in it's classical way of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy and girl break up and then boy and girl get back together and live happily ever after....the movie throws a curve ball at the last scene. They don't actually end up together. They move on with their lives in separate directions....because THAT'S what happens in real life. People change, things change and not every love IN your life becomes the love OF your life. There's a whole "Dream Sequence" if you will, that maps out how the typical movie ending SHOULD have played out. (Did you notice that the set they were looking at when Seb first meets Mia in the coffee shop was the set of the dream sequence at the end? No? Hmmmm...maybe you should watch it again then) And that's the same feeling you get when you see an old lover from long ago. It's brief and emotional, but in the end, you are living your life and can't turn back time. Just move forward.

I may sound like I'm praising it a little too much...and maybe I am....but I thought it was brilliant and wonderful and nostalgic all at once.

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

Ghostbusters

2016-08-07T22:30:00.001-04:00

Three paranormal scientists reluctantly come together to form a group that investigates and ultimately ends up catching ghosts during an increasing upturn in spiritual manifestations. The women are joined by an MTA worker who adds a knowledge of New York City that helps the group out. They run into a few roadblocks along the way, but eventually find out about a plot to unleash a myriad of ghosts upon the city. They are the only ones equipped to stop it, if they can get to the cause on time!

Cast

Melissa McCarthy as Dr. Abigail "Abby" Yates

Kristen Wiig as Dr. Erin Gilbert

Kate McKinnon as Dr. Jillian Holtzmann

Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan

Chris Hemsworth as Kevin Beckman

Cecily Strong as Jennifer Lynch

Andy García as Mayor Bradley

Neil Casey as Rowan North

Who will like this

Well....it's been over 30 years since the Original "Ghostbuster" was a Summer Blockbuster. But fans of the original will still want to check it out, as well as their kids who may have grown up hearing their parents recite some memorable lines from it. The Millennials, especially young women, will be drawn to the prospect of the talents of the cast. As well as a good special effects disposable movie to just sit back and enjoy.

Phantom Thoughts

Buckle up, kids. It's gonna be a bumpy ride in the Ecto-1.

If you're a faithful Phantom Phollower....you already know my love of the original Ghostbusters. If not, you can get some background on my post here: Ghostbusters 30th anniversary Blog . So, that being said, I may be a bit more critical on this one. To be fair though, I have had a few friends who went to see it and their impression of it was going in not expecting much, but coming away saying it was funny and enjoyable to them.

I'll say this...if this had been a sequel instead of a reboot, I would have enjoyed this a HECK of a lot more. In my opinion, sometimes you just don't have to reboot a movie (like in the case of Willy Wonka- which was just horrible) , and sometimes it is necessary (as in the case of The Incredible Hulk- where the Edward Norton reboot was so much better than the Eric Bana disaster).

I understand Paul Feig's reasons for doing it. he wanted to re-introduce the franchise to a new audience. To bring them through a journey of these new characters in an environment that is not familiar with ghosts invading NYC, as a sequel would have been. But even though they wanted this to be it's own movie, it was PACKED with references and nods to the 1984 film. Not to mention cameos from almost EVERY actor from that movie. Including a bust of the late, great Harold Ramis seen outside Kristen Wiig's office early on in the movie.

The above mentioned references are way too many to mention. But, I will mention that the ghosts Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man are back to cause havoc with the new team. You can see the new Ecto-1 in the trailers which is very similar to Dan Aykroyd's Ecto-1. The theme song has been re-done, but Ray Parker Jr's is still featured throughout. And remember all those "memorable lines" I pointed out that parents may be reciting to their kids? Yeah.....they're all in there....sometimes multiple times. This reboot just didn't want to be a reboot. It wanted to BE Ghostbusters. But it was only a ghost of the original. (Too corny? Nah....)

I also have to say...I was extremely disappointed with the second trailer that came out for this movie. Let me refresh your memory:

So why was I so pissed about his? Because as I stated on my Facebook page months ago (Not a fan of that page? Why not? Go follow me now! Film Phantom Facebook Page ) I stated that I think I had figured out the plot of the movie from it. And you know what? I was right. That annoys the shit out of me. I almost didn't watch it just based on that fact alone.

There were a few bright spots in this slime covered mess. First off, props to Leslie Jones for doing what a lot of us wanted to do for a long time.....slap the shit out of Melissa McCarthy for making un-funny comedies for years now.

And Chris Hemsworth as the 'Himbo", eye candy receptionist. A little over the top at times, but he still has some funny lines and good moments that shine through.
But the under-rated star of this one without a doubt is Kate McKinnon . Her portrayal of the Egon Spengler role, "Dr. Jillian Holtzmann" had a mad scientist vibe that was entertaining and funny. She had the best lines by far. Her quirkiness mixed with wise-ass attitude is a winning combination.
Plus, there was good banter/funny lines thrown about during the final battle scene.

I can't really say stay until the end of the credits, because you really can't help it. A little bit like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", the movie kinda continues through them. But the final end credit scene sets up the next movie of course....and surprise, surprise....SPOILER....it seems like the carbon copy of the original one will continue as we hear Jones ask the crew after listening to an EVP, "What's Zuul?"

Ahhh well....

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

Independance Day :Resurgence

2016-07-25T20:51:00.001-04:00

20 years have passed since the aliens first attacked the Earth on Independence Day. Since then, the World has been united in peace and taken the alien technology and made it their own. Creating vehicles, spacecraft and weapons. We've built stations on the Moon, among other celectial sites in anticipation for another attack. The question is....have we done enough? Some familiar heroes, along with new ones come together in an epic battle to save humanity.

Cast

Liam Hemsworth as Jake Morrison, a U.S. pilot serving as a lieutenant in ESD, Patricia Whitmore's fiancé

Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson

Jessie Usher as Dylan Dubrow-Hiller, the son of Jasmine Dubrow-Hillier and stepson of the now-deceased war hero Steven Hiller

Bill Pullman as Thomas J. Whitmore, the 42nd and former President

Maika Monroe as Patricia Whitmore, the former First Daughter

Sela Ward as Elizabeth Lanford, the 45th President of the United States

William Fichtner as Joshua Adams

Judd Hirsch as Julius Levinson

Brent Spiner as Dr. Brakish Okun

Patrick St. Esprit as Reese Tanner, the United States Secretary of Defense.

Vivica A. Fox as Jasmine Dubrow-Hiller, the widow of the late war hero Steven Hiller

Who will like this

20 years is a long time to go between sequels. And fans of the original will want to check out how they decided to continue the story. Younger viewers, however will probably have to download the movie from '96 to get caught up to speed. Although parts are explained, you really do have to see the original to follow this one. It's a Summer Sci-fi movie. Lots of special effects. The late teen/twenty-something crowd may relate this to a Pacific Rim.

Phantom Thoughts

Oh....guilty pleasures. Some movies are just bad and you don't care. You love them anyway. For whatever the reason, they make us happy. In 1996, Independence Day was one of those for me.

Mind you, it WAS 20 years ago and it didn't take a lot to make me happy. There were issues with it, of course. Most people point to the fact that Jeff Goldbum's character hooked into the alien tech using just his laptop. But if you think about it, that can be explained. See, the ship he "hacked" into was a crashed ship from the Roswell incident. They had over 50 years of experimentation on the thing to figure out how to hook into the control panel. Who's to say the scientists working on it didn't figure it out during that time and then David just used human computers that were already in it to run his programs?

So if you suspend belief a little bit with the original (and remember that you're watching an alien invasion movie, after all. You should ALREADY be suspending belief) then you can enjoy it that much more. It had a slow start, and by that I mean that it built up to a crescendo. You knew what was coming, but you were intrigued and curious on what would happen next right up to the point of the first spectacular attack.

This one....not so much. They did try though. They tried to really tie itself to the original....but maybe more so than you might think. FOR EXAMPLE: in the 1996 movie, we learn that Jeff Goldbum's character punched the now President Bill Pullman back when they were younger. In this one, Will Smith's step-son punches Pullman's daughter's fiancé. Did you follow that? It got a little confusing. Which is how I felt watching . There was no build up, no crescendo, no story flow.

I know what they were trying to do...bring back as many original characters while bringing in new blood. But they just couldn't meld the two together. Dr. Okun is back....turns out he didn't die in the original (Oh c'mon....that wasn't a spoiler! He was in the trailers, after all) He was in a coma this whole time and wakes up on the eve of the new attack. Sorry....but some characters should just stay dead. They also used the "alien-in-a-glass-prison-communicates-through-a-human" bit again but this time it's Ex-President Whitmore who is the vessel of choice. Same gag. Different character. Ho Hum.

Speaking of President Whitmore....Pullman delivered the greatest Sci-Fi Presidential speech in history in the original. Let's face it, it's greater than most political speeches in real life today. Whitmore for Pres. 2016!!!! That speech couldn't be topped, and they knew it. So instead of trying, they just inputted quotes from that one anywhere they could. It felt forced. And it was.

Ok...here's an ACTUAL spoiler for you: ID:R also took notes from a far more successful alien sequel- Aliens 2. Just like that one, they introduced the idea of a "Queen" alien that controls all the others. Same as that one, this Queen is MUCH bigger and tougher than the others we met before. Bonus ENDING SPOILER: once they defeat her, the others all just give up, and the massive ship that covered the entire Atlantic Ocean (Yeah....that wouldn't cause cataclysmic effects just by it's presence on our planet, would it?) leaves. Why? Once we defeated the aliens 20 years ago, all the ships crashed to the ground and humanity had to rebuild from that. Why would THIS ship leave? I didn't understand that at all.

But the most disappointing and confusing part was the appearance of a different alien species. This one remains a mystery until about half way through when it is discovered that the orb is a warning of the attack and has the answer to defeating the "bad" aliens. That ship and message delivery system is in the shape of a sphere....which looks like a mixture of another sci-fi movie ship and character:

Turns out the answer to defeat them is "42". No...not really. But it could be. See, they came to warn us, but can't TELL us how to beat them. It's not until we do on our own that this globe says it can share with us the secrets of the universe now that we proved ourselves. It was just completely unnecessary and too broad a "reward" for fighting for our survival.

To sum it up, it was confusing and disappointing for the most part. But a special effects delight with moments of humor and action. I would probably watch it once in the theater.....then maybe catch it again once it works it's way to Spike or FX.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Finding Dory

2016-07-06T23:04:00.001-04:00

A year after the events of "Finding Nemo", absent-minded Dory has an arrant memory of her Mom and Dad. That memory sparks her desire to find them and be reunited with her family. With the help of old friends, Marlin and Nemo....and also a few new ones, the adventure begins in a trek across the ocean to find them.

Cast

Ellen DeGeneres as Dory

Albert Brooks as Marlin

Hayden Rolence as Nemo

Ed O'Neill as Hank, a cranky East Pacific red octopus

Diane Keaton as Jenny, Dory's mother.

Eugene Levy as Charlie, Dory's father.

Kaitlin Olson as Destiny, a near-sighted whale shark

Ty Burrell as Bailey, a beluga whale

Idris Elba as Fluke, an easygoing sea lion

Dominic West as Rudder, a sea lion

Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray

Who will like this:

This one is a little tricky. It's a kid-friendly Pixar movie, but not as kid friendly as the first, considering it is rated PG as apposed to the G rating of "Nemo". And because of the 13 year gap in in time, little ones who liked the first are a bit out of the age range of this one and not quite old enough to have little ones of their own to take. So it's really a "Finding Nemo" for the next generation.

Phantom Thoughts

This movie is a bit special to your favorite Phantom. See..."Finding Nemo" was the very first movie I took my daughter to see in the theater when she was only 3 years old. And the Pint-Sized Phantomette sat through the whole movie in amazement. Only once climbing onto her Daddy's lap during the part where the screen went completely dark as the characters there sank into the deep abyss. I took my daughter, now a 15 year old young lady Phantomette to see it and complete the circle.

But that's the issue. She is on the very fringe age of enjoying the two movies. Very young when the first came out, and a bit too old to fully enjoy the second. The 13 years between movies is too long and not long enough at the same time. I guess the next wave of little ones can watch Nemo on Netflix or Blu-Ray before going to the theaters of course, but it's not quite the same. So let's just focus on the movie itself.

This whole thing came about at the persistence of Ellen DeGeneres wanting to play the character again. And why wouldn't she? With over 25 million likes, Dory is the most liked character on Facebook from any Disney or Pixar film. That's quite a statistic if you think about ALL the different and loved characters Disney and Pixar has created.

All the standard Easter Eggs found in Pixar movies can be found here as well. Such as the Pizza Planet Truck (found sunken in the wreck where the Giant Squid battle takes place), The "A113" (on the tags of Fluke and Rudder) and of course the voice talents of John Ratzenberger (who goes from a school of Moonfish to a crab named Bill). Just to name a few.

There is, however, the problem of movie flow.....pun intended. The first is the story plot, which gets a little spastic and convoluted at times. Finding Dory's parents took a few more twists and turns than it needed to. In "Nemo", the story was simple....it was the story of Marlin's journey to get to where is son is captured. It's a linear story that is as straight as the path he takes. "Dory" goes from the reef to California, into a Marine Biology Institute and then to different parts of that location and back into the ocean...all the while sprinkling in flashbacks of a young Dory to get her backstory. It just was a bit messy in my opinion. Speaking of flow.....in "Finding Nemo", Marlin lives on the Great Barrier Reef which is just off the coast of Queensland, Australia. To find his son, Marlin needs to travel to......Sydney AUSTRALIA! To be fair, the trip is over 1200 miles and the EAC (East Australian Current) does in fact run down the length of the country to make it a feasible story. However, in "Finding Dory", the gang travel from the reef to California...which is over 7500 miles! And as where the first movie takes the entire time on that voyage, THIS movie takes that 7 times as long excursion and condenses it to a mere few minutes.

I know, I know.....it's a KID'S movie. Who cares about the inaccuracy in the two trips? The Film Phantom. That's who. As a personal experience, it was a great time that I wouldn't trade for the world. But strictly from a movie experience, it was cute....but lacking.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass

2016-06-17T00:03:00.002-04:00

Years after the original Alice in Wonderland, Alice is now the captain of her Father's ship "The Wonder". But when the ship, her Mother's home and basically her whole life is on the verge of being taken away, she finds herself returning to Underland through a mirror. She arrives to find the Hatter's health deteriorating. He believes his family is alive after they are presumed killed by the Jabberwocky. It's up to Alice to travel through time to find them....but Time is against her.

Cast

Johnny Depp as Tarrant Hightopp, the Mad Hatter

Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsleigh

Helena Bonham Carter as Iracebeth of Crims, the Red Queen

Anne Hathaway as Mirana of Marmoreal, the White Queen

Sacha Baron Cohen as Time

Rhys Ifans as Zanik Hightopp, the Mad Hatter's father

Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Alan Rickman as Absolem, the Caterpillar

Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat

Michael Sheen as Nivens McTwisp, the White Rabbit

Timothy Spall as Bayard, the Bloodhound

Who will like this movie

With it's bright colors and wondrous effects and action, young viewers will certainly be entertained. Not too young, however because of it's sometimes dark themes. Fans of the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaborations may be disappointed by this, their 9th work together.

Phantom Thoughts

This review didn't exist when the original "Alice in Wonderland" came out in 2010. That's right....it's been 6 years since the last movie. That's kinda significant. But more on that later. And although I am quite the fan of The Depp, I was not really too impressed with that adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic.

Needless to say, I wasn't overly excited to see the "sequel" this past week. And I put sequel in quotes because Alice in Wonderland was already a mix of the two books: Alice Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. So when they wrote this one, they had to come up with a brand new story to tell with no reference to pull from. Add that to the fact that Tim Burton only produced this one, as opposed to directing it like he did the first, and it spells out failure from the start. Still, I've been pleasantly surprised before, so I gave it a shot. Seems my first thoughts were the correct ones unfortunately.

The story centers around the search for the Mad Hatter's family and looking for them through time. Time is personified as a new character and brought to life by Sacha Baron Cohen. Poor Johnny Depp has almost no lines that doesn't include the word "Family" in it....and it gets annoying really quickly. So rather than suffer through it, I suggest changing it into a drinking game.....everytime the Mad Hatter says "Family" while watching this movie, take a drink. You'll be hammered in 20 minutes and won't care that you're basically watching a colorful passage of two hours of your life.

The Mad Hatter is not as "mad" as he was before.....and Cohen is not as whimsical as most of his characters are. But there is one interesting twist on his portrayal of Time....see, he is first presented as most older people see him... a villain. But as the movie moves forward, you come to realize that Time is not bad or good. It just is.

One other small perk that the nerd in me found....the slight Doctor Who theme that rose for just a moment as Alice and the Hatter are racing through the time vortex.

Well played, Sir....well played.

I mentioned that they had to write a new story for this one, but they still needed some connection to the first. So references were written in to accomplish just that. Here's the problem...I told you it has been 6 years from that one, so for me at least, the references were lost. Except one. We do see the ironic fate of the Knave of Hearts who was played by Crispen Glover's disembodied head. For half of Alice in Wonderland, I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong with that character. Then I realized that his WHOLE BODY except for his head was CGI. I figure it was to make him look more comical and dream-like....but I just found it unnecessary. Oh....and the irony I referenced? The Knave of Hearts dead body is seen sitting in a chair at one point....and then his skull rolls off his body. Haha!

The thing that disappoints me most is that THIS was the final movie of the great Alan Rickman, the voice of Absolem, the Caterpillar (the Butterfly in this version). He deserved such a better send off than this. Maybe I'll go watch his other winged role....Metatron, the Angel in Kevin Smith's Dogma. It would be a much better use of my...Time.

Until next Time, see you in the center seat.

X-Men Apocalypse

2016-06-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

One of the most powerful mutants to ever have lived is trapped for thousands of years, only to awaken in the year 1983. After he does, Apocalypse looks upon the world and is angered by how the weak have taken over the planet and worship "false Gods". Having lived with immeasurable power for so long, he and his followers viewed him as a God and he intends to take back that title. Apocalypse recruits 4 powerful mutants to help in his quest. World domination is not in the cards with the X-Men, so the young students of Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted led by Hank McCoy, Moira Mac Taggert and Mystique take up the battle for the Earth.

Cast

James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier
Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
Jennifer Lawrence as Raven / Mystique
Oscar Isaac as En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse
Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy / Beast
Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert
Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers / Cyclops
Sophie Turner as Jean Grey
Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe / Storm
Olivia Munn as Psylocke
Lucas Till as Alex Summers / Havok
Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff / Quicksilver
Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
Josh Helman as Colonel William Stryker
Ben Hardy as Angel
Lana Condor as Jubilee

Who will like this Movie

This is certainly not the "Hey, let's go see a movie" type of choice to make this Summer. If you haven't been following along with the prior X-men movies, you may be a little lost. Comic book fans will enjoy seeing this storyline unfold on the big screen. I also think if you were a fan of "Stargate" (the movie....not the TV show) you will find parallels that are interesting.

Phantom Thoughts

I have one word to describe this movie...............blue.

Holy Shit! I think they pulled out every blue character in the Marvel universe for this one! Mystique, Beast, Apocalypse, Nightcrawler.....even Professor X donned his famous blue suit at the end of the film! The only one they passed on (and I have no idea why....at this point, why not?) was Angel. With his metal wings, he was more similar to "Archangel" who had blue skin in the comics. They DID give him a blue light when he got those new wings. Maybe as a nod to the character.

OK. Let's put that aside for a moment. Something else that has made it's way around the internet is how similar Apocalypse looked to Ivan Ooze in the old TMNT movie. I, on the other hand, couldn't help but notice a similarity to a DIFFERENT Marvel villain in a more recent past:

Ronin from Guardians of the Galaxy was also Hell bent on becoming God-like with power, wanted vengeance on a World that he felt superior to....oh yeah.....he was also blue.

This was also the second Marvel movie to reference Star Wars in as many months. But this reference wasn't as appreciated by the Phantom as the one first brought up by Spidey in "Captain America: Civil War". Here we find some young X-men exiting the movie "Return of the Jedi", where a comment is made that "....the third one is always the worst." In as much as this is a shot at the Holy Trilogy for Star Wars fans, it was actually meant as a reference to "X-Men Last Stand" which was criticized by many of it's fans. But someone should have reminded these youngsters that "Apocalypse" is the third movie for THESE X-men as well.

It has to be noted as well, that I have seen ALL the X-men movies (including the Wolverine stand alones and Deadpool) and I have to say that even I got a bit confused on the sequence of events. Between jumping around in time and the new timelines in "Days of Future Past", I don't know what I'm watching anymore. I think Deadpool said it best:

But was it a total disaster? No. Of course not. I'll tell you what saved it: Quicksilver. Played marvelously by Evan Peters, the scene in which (SPOILERS) Quicksilver saves almost everyone in Charles Xavier's Mansion as it is blowing up was brilliant. And seeing as that whole thing took 4 months to film, using 3-D Phantom cameras (not named after yours truly, but I'll take credit) traveling at near 90 mph, while shooting at 3100 frames per second, the effort paid off immensely.

A few good parts in this one was just out weighed by the bad and confusing. It makes me happy that this arc is over. I just hope they don't try and drag it out by making more. I'm kinda done with the X-men.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Captain America: Civil War

2016-05-16T20:43:00.001-04:00

After the events all around the World showcased in "The Avengers" movies and "Winter Soldier", there is a rising concern that the "Enhanced" people in this Super Group are not held responsible for the fallout to innocent people who are hurt and killed while they are saving the Earth. The UN initiates a panel to oversee the actions of the Avengers. This causes a rift within the organization as some of the Avengers are opposed to the idea. A fact that is highlighted mostly between Captain America and Iron Man. All the while, a new threat has risen silently that may just destroy the Avengers for good.

Cast

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America
Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon
Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes / War Machine
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye
Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa / Black Panther
Paul Bettany as Vision
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch
Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man
Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter
Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow / Crossbones
William Hurt as Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross
Daniel Brühl as Helmut Zemo

Who will like this

Unlike many of the other Marvel movies which can stand on their own, I believe this to be geared more toward the fan of those movies and have watched at least the last few years releases. Obviously, with the action, explosions and fight scenes, the target is male dominated, starting in the older tweeners. But with strong female leads and just a touch of romance, the female demographic will have a slight interest as well.

Phantom Thoughts

Would it be too cliché to say "Marvel has done it again"? Well if it is, I don't care. They have. And in a big way....and in fact, a few DIFFERENT ways. Here's what I mean:

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown, they have implemented more and more characters in their movies. This may be a Captain America movie, but it could very easily be labeled "Avengers 2.5" due to all the "cameos". And yet, they have not fallen into the most common issue when a movie has so many characters, which is conflicting plot lines, scattered focus and confusing character development. Civil War follows the bar set with the first "Avengers" movie where everyone helps move the plot along, while still being individuals. I can't explain it. I've always been a fan of the less-is-more school of movie casts, but somehow....Marvel makes it work.

And unlike the OTHER comic book movie which pitted Superheroes against each other, this one has a crux that is believable and relatable to it's viewers. How much liberty should one be willing to give up in the name of freedom? Both sides are viable and there is no clear cut right or wrong. Which makes it that much more compelling.

Ok. Let's talk about some secrets....the worst kept secret of Civil War is the appearance of the new Spiderman. Marvel went to not-so-great lengths to keep him out of most of the trailers, but everyone knew he would make an appearance even before the last trailer aired. But that was not always the case. Actually, the Black Panther was slated to have a much smaller role than he ended up having. But when negotiations between Sony and Marvel seemed to be going nowhere, they expanded the Panther's role to fill in if they could not get the rights to use Spiderman. By the time they got those rights, The Black Panther was too intricate to the plot to scale him back again, so they left it in.

Speaking of Spiderman, that is another thing they got right! I have been a long time fan of the comics and all the movies of him thus far have had some lacking in one way or another. But Tom Holland not only nailed the shy, bookworm of Peter Parker, but also the wise-cracking playfulness of Spiderman. And even though the suit was not exactly as I would have liked it to be, it was a GREAT improvement over the first Andrew Garfield incarnation. Oh.....and Spiderman referencing "The Empire Strikes Back"? Can you say NERDGASM?!! The only thing I didn't like about it was the casting of Marisa Tomei. While a great actress (and still a hottie even at the age of 51. A fact that even Tony Stark himself remarks about in the movie) she just doesn't fit the description of frail, old Aunt May.

If I can say one other negative point about the movie, it would be that the fight scenes, although plentiful, had a shaky cam effect that I found distracting. It may have been done to give a more real feeling, cinematic effect and a trick to put the viewer into the middle of the action, but it didn't do that for me. Maybe I'm in the minority on that one.

But these are minor flaws in a 2.5 hour extravaganza. It gave a powerful message, while delivering some of it's famous comedic one liners. Truly entertaining on so many levels. Even including the iconic scene of Iron Man blasting Captain America against his shield from the cover art of the original Civil War Comic Book. As the start of Phase 3 to the MCU, I'm hopeful that this is an indication of great things to come. While many believe the comic book movie genre may be slowing down and the bubble could burst, Marvel looks to be just getting started. And that is exciting to anticipate.

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

2016-04-09T18:50:00.001-04:00

Taking up where "Man of Steel" left off, the events of which hang heavy in the hearts of those affected by the final battle between Superman and General Zod. Including Gotham's Bruce Wayne AKA Batman. He is among the growing number of people that think that one man with that much power, could be dangerous. Their paths start to speed toward each other with an inevitable cataclysmic conclusion, spurred on by the maniacal plans of Lex Luthor. Lex is obsessed with finding out all about Kryptonians and what he calls "metahumans" in his quest for power. This is a foreshadowing of a possible league.....of justice!

Cast

Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Henry Cavill as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman
Amy Adams as Lois Lane
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor
Diane Lane as Martha Kent
Laurence Fishburne as Perry White
Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth
Holly Hunter as June Finch
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman

Who will like this

Naturally following the chain of events of "Man of Steel", this movie picks up where it left off. It also is loosely based of the graphic novels "The Dark Knight Returns" and "The Death of Superman". It has very dark undertones and heavy subject matter for your average Superhero movie, kinda in the same way that "Watchmen" did back in 2009. (not surprising as both films were directed by Zack Snyder) It's not for the casual fan of these characters, and needs to be viewed by those who are fully invested.

Phantom Thoughts

There has been a lot of talk and fuss about this movie. A LOT of opinions. So here's mine:

This movie was.....ok. Not fantastic, not great. Just ok. And here's some of the reasons for making that statement.

Ben Affleck received TONS of flak when it was announced he would be playing Batman. I was on the fence and wanted to see what he could do. And you know what? He did GREAT. I think his Bruce Wayne was a perfect example of a billionaire, ex-playboy businessman. Not that I know any personally to refer to, but it's what I imagine one would be like. ("Daily Planet...is that one that I own?") And on the other end of the spectrum, his Batman was the older crime-fighter who has seen his share of shit and has no time to put up with any more. I especially like the voice changer built into the suit. (BTW- Fun Fact: This was an idea that had been suggested by Affleck's friend 'Kevin Smith', as he felt Affleck's natural speaking voice was too high-pitched for Batman.)

I don't know whose idea it was to have Lex Luthor played the way he is portrayed in this movie, but I didn't like it. Not one bit. Jesse Eisenberg came across more Joker-ish than powerful, smart, super-businessman and super villain Luthor. His mannerisms were chaotic and his ideas were half-assed. Hell, the man couldn't even get through a speech at the party he was throwing. It made no sense and was distracting at the very least.

SPOILERS:

Here's a point on Superman....OK...you're telling me that he was unable to save his Mother from being captured by Luthor's men, but saves Lois Lane at least 3 times in this movie alone? C'mon. And while we are on the subject, the whole point of this movie was SUPPOSED to be about the fight between Batman and Superman. But I just didn't see enough evidence to push these two into an altercation of that magnitude. Yes, Batman saw him as a possible threat to humanity, but he never showed signs of being evil in any way. I saw where the filmmakers wanted to go, but don't feel like they GOT there. And Superman was blackmailed into fighting Batman. Really? You mean to tell me that Lex Luthor, with no access to Kryptonite himself, could threaten Superman to do this? As soon as he found out his Mother was being held hostage, he would have saved her. What could they do to stop him? He's faster than they can react and more powerful than anything they could come up with to stop him. That didn't wash at all for me.

Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman was pretty good for the little time she was on screen. Even though her Diana Prince character came off as a little more Catwoman than Wonder Woman.

Doomsday was just ridiculous. He looked like a generic CGI monster more than anything else. This blend of Orc/Cave Troll/Abomination/Ninja Turtle was a huge let down as the main baddie the Superheroes teamed up to fight.

This movie was 2 and a half hours long. If they cut out all the dream sequences, it would probably be about 6 minutes long. Ok.....I'm exaggerating, but there were more dreams in this than a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Maybe Bruce Wayne should lay off the Ambien for a while, it's not doing him any good.

I've heard from more than a few people that this was just a set-up movie for the upcoming Justice League movie(s). Even if that was the case, the movie needed to stand on it's own. And while we did get introduced to other members of that group in brief glimpses, I don't think the focus was merely to set up the following films. (BTW- Ezra Miller who plays a young Barry Allen/The Flash looks a bit Asian, even though that character is not. Ezra is not either.....but he DOES have that look)

Alrighty then....I've cut into this quite a bit. Here are some more Fun Facts that I noticed/found out about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:

1) Star Wars in-joke: note the number on Lex's prison uniform, part of it reads TK-421, the same as the Stormtrooper with the 'faulty transmitter' in the original movie.

2) There is a boat yard in the scene where Batman first meets Superman and is named Nicholsons Boat Yard. A reference to Jack Nicholson playing the Joker in the 1989 Batman Movie.

3) Ben Affleck asked Christian Bale for any advice he could give about playing Batman. Bale told him to "make sure you can piss in that suit." The two men met quite by accident in a costume shop. They were each buying a Batman costume for their kids.

4) Perry White says, "It's not 1938 anymore," while talking to Clark Kent about people not reading newspapers anymore. Superman was created in 1938.

5) Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan play Bruce Wayne's parents in the film. They also both appear in the television series The Walking Dead as Maggie Greene and Negan, respectively. They were both in Supernatural as well. (While watching in the theater, I did make a "Where's your Bat?" joke referring to Morgan's TWD character and his barbed wire baseball bat "Lucille" and his son in this film becoming Batman)

Let's hope the NEXT film about Superheroes fighting each other that comes out next month is better than this one.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

10 Cloverfield Lane

2016-04-06T22:20:00.000-04:00

A young woman (Michelle) has a car accident after having a fight with her fiancé. She wakes up in a survival bunker built by a conspiracy theorist named Howard Stambler. He and a young man who helped him build the shelter ( Emmett) believe that the end of the World has happened and everyone on the surface is dead. Michelle is unclear if she has been kidnapped or saved by her host, and every clue she comes across only leads to more questions. Her journey to find the truth is filled with incredible suspense and unusual turns that pushes her emotional sanity to the breaking point.

Cast:

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Michelle

John Goodman as Howard Stambler

John Gallagher, Jr. as Emmett DeWitt

Bradley Cooper as Ben (voice)

Who will like this Movie

If you are looking for this to be a sequel to the 2008 movie "Cloverfield", you will be disappointed. If you go in looking for an intense, suspenseful thriller, then you will be incredibly satisfied. It has some elements of "After.Life" with Liam Neeson and Christina Ricci. And most of the movie takes place with minimal characters in an enclosed space, which is reminiscent of the very first "Saw". It also had an element of "Signs" to it as well. It's definitely a thinking movie for more mature audiences.

Phantom Thoughts

So here's the thing....J.J. Abrams went to a lot of trouble keeping this movie a secret. So much so, that no one even knew it was being made until about 2 months before it's release. There is a reason for that. And I am not about to ruin that, even after it's been out in the theaters. I WILL being giving my opinion on the spoilers, but not until the very end of this review....and with many warnings before I do. So feel free to read on.....for now.

The one question everyone was asking was "Is this a sequel to the 2008 movie 'Cloverfield' ?". The answer is not a spoiler. The answer is no. Even though they have similar titles, the two films are not connected (at least, not on the surface). But there is a tie-in that I will get into later. And the other reason would be that the two are about a different way of viewing these types of movies.

Now to the essentials of the matter: John Goodman was BRILLIANT as the role of the conspiracy theorist: Howard Stambler. When you work on a big movie, it's easy to hide sub-par acting (Hello, Kristen Stewart in 'Twilight'). But in a small movie, taking place in a small, confined area, the acting better be fucking brilliant. Both Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead nailed it to the wall. No knock on John Gallager Jr., but his role was not as important. See, John Goodman keeps you guessing throughout his whole performance as to whether he an over protective pessimist whose worse fears have come true, or a broken kidnapper who has cracked. Same goes with Winstead. She is not the "damsel in distress" of your normal horror movie. You don't question her actions, in fact, you hope that you would be smart enough to make the same ones. And you are as confused as she is on what is the truth.

These things are what made the original "Saw" so good. Both were not dependent on big special effects or major gore. But the suspense and great story were what made them riveting. Same as the before mentioned (and much smaller in popularity) "After.Life". Liam Neeson plays a mortician and Christina Ricci plays a car crash victim. Liam's character says he can "speak" to the dead which is why he can communicate with Ricci, who refuses to believe she's dead. And the whole movie is the journey to find out which is correct.

OK.....here's where I talk about the big reveal and plot twist of the movie. So if you haven't seen it, stop reading now.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

I MEAN IT......STOP SCOLLING UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE

You've been warned!

I'm not kidding.......

Fine. I think I have been more than fair. If you are still reading, then I will take it that you have already seen the movie. I take no responsibility for revealing any secrets from this point forward.

So this is a space alien movie that has different creatures than the one in the original "Cloverfield". Which right away lends you to believe that it's not connected in any way. Ehhhhh......not so fast. One thing that Howard says is that he worked for a satellite company. Bold Futura is seen on letterhead in the bunker, and we already know that a satellite from Bold Futura is seen crashing into the ocean at the end (or actually beginning) of "Cloverfield". So this COULD be a tie-in.

So why do I mention "Signs" in the Who will like this section? Because there is a connection. Yeah, yeah, I know....there was a HUGE gapping hole in the plot of "Signs". But aside from that, they both had a very unique way of looking at an alien attack. See, most movies follow a character or chain of events that explains EVERYTHING to the viewer. They set a story and guide the viewer through it. But in both "Signs" and "10 Cloverfield Lane" it's more like you really were in the middle of an alien attack. I mean, especially out in the rural parts of the country....how would you know what was going on? You wouldn't. That's the point. These movies put you in the middle of it....with very little information and even less knowledge of what to do. It also helps to put your doubt on whether it's actually really happening or not. I love that aspect of these movies.

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

Deadpool

2016-02-14T17:43:00.002-05:00

Wade Wilson is an ex-special forces operative who spends his time now as a for-hire mercenary. But after being diagnosed with an incurable disease, he agrees to be the subject of experimental tests that leave him with super human healing abilities, but also horribly disfigured all over his body. The one man who intentionally tortured Wilson during these experiments is also the man who can cure him, and so Wade Wilson assumes the alas of Deadpool, to hunt him down. Through it all, Deadpool maintains his sick and twisted sense of humor and continually breaks down the 4th wall with the audience.

Cast

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool
Morena Baccarin as Vanessa
Ed Skrein as Ajax
T.J. Miller as Weasel
Gina Carano as Angel Dust
Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead
Stefan Kapičić as Colossus
Leslie Uggams as Blind Al

Who will like this movie

Deadpool stays true to it's comic book inspiration with very little changes. And it is a Superhero movie even though Deadpool is not your typical superhero. But even anyone who has never read a comic book can find pleasure in it. It has a LOT of pop culture references and is very funny in many ways similar to Hangover or Ferris Bueller's Day Off (with a great nod to the latter in a spoiler moment)

Phantom Thoughts

I will go on record first by saying I'm not a Deadpool the Comic Book fan. That's not to say I don't like it, just that I've never read it. So that being said, I had to get the advice of those who have for the comparison. Those sources have told me that this movie draws most of it's inspiration more from when Deadpool got it's own title and not so much from when he was introduced in The New Mutants storyline. And as I mentioned before, there are just a few changes that were made.

First off, Wade Wilson had a few failed relationships before meeting his missing jigsaw piece of Vanessa. And in the comics, Vanessa was a shape shifting mutant similar to Mystique. But just because this was not explored in this movie, doesn't leave out the possibility of introducing this aspect of her in a sequel.

Then there is the character of Negasonic Teenage Warhead. This X-Men character was chosen for the movie simply based on the fact that they thought the name was cool. But they changed her abilities from telepath and precognitive mutant to one that has explosive powers to more accurately go with the name and to fit in better with the movie itself.

But other than that....damn! What a fun movie! I mean, from the opening title sequence to the inevitable Marvel end credit scene. (SPOILER: the end credit scene is a recreation of the Ferris Bueller after credit scene almost exactly) It was filled, and I mean FILLED with pop culture, comic book and movie references. I will have to see it more than once for sure in order to get all the ones I missed from laughing so hard. (ANOTHER SPOILER: one I DIDN'T miss was the fact that the final fight scene was done on an abandoned S.H.E.I.LD Heli-Carrier.)

Almost everyone knows the story of how this movie almost didn't get made. In May 2000, Artisan Entertainment announced a deal with Marvel Entertainment to coproduce, finance and distribute a film based on Deadpool. In February 2004, development for the film began with New Line Cinema. However, in March 2005, New Line Cinema put the film in turnaround and 20th Century Fox became interested. In May 2009, 20th Century Fox lent the film to writers and a 3 minute reel was shot in 2012 to convince producers to go ahead with making it. In 2014, that footage was leaked to the internet and there was such a wave of positive response from it that the studio was all but forced to begin production.

Part of what makes Deadpool so good is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. And it makes fun of Ryan Reynolds, his Green Lantern movie role and his previous Deadpool role in X-Men Origins just to name a few. All the while he breaks down the fourth wall by talking to the audience. Yes, he mentions the fact that he's doing this too, which makes it even funnier.

There was lots of swearing, blood, violence and nudity (other than Ryan Reynolds ass, there were plenty of boobies!) to give it the R-rating. But in this Phantom's opinion, you couldn't do this movie any other way.

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

2016-01-03T19:54:00.001-05:00

30 Years after the fall of the Galactic Empire, a new threat in The First Order has risen from it's ashes. The Republic is failing, so a Resistance has formed with General Leia Organa as one of it's leaders. The First Order has new Clone-Free Stormtroopers who are raised to be fighters. But one has second thoughts about which side he's on. FN-2187 and Resistance Pilot Poe Dameron escape from the Command Ship of Kylo Ren, a new villain determined on finding the last Jedi....Luke Skywalker.
FN-2187, who is dubbed "Finn" by Dameron, stumbles across a scavenger named Rey and a droid named BB-8 who is carrying important information on Luke's whereabouts. They team up with Han Solo and Chewbacca and go on an adventure to get the information in the little BB-8 unit back to the Resistance before Kylo Ren and the First Order can get their hands on it.

Cast:

Harrison Ford as Han Solo
Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa
Adam Driver as Kylo Ren
Daisy Ridley as Rey
John Boyega as Finn
Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron
Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata
Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke
Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca
Max von Sydow as Lor San Tekka

Who will like this:

If you are one of the very few who have never seen a Star Wars movie, picking this one to see is not recommended. However, it does hold it's own as a stand alone movie, but just barely, as you won't get the whole story or be as invested in the characters if you haven't seen the others. Star Wars fans who prefer the Original Trilogy better than the entire filmography will be greater fans of Episode VII.

Phantom Thoughts

I think it goes without saying, but I will give you the warning just in case....*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD* Please do not read on unless you have seen the movie.

....OK, still here? Good. Then either you've already seen it or don't care. Either way, here we go:

To put some perspective on this, I will tell you that I saw the first Star Wars in the theater in 1977. And I have been a major Star Wars fan ever since. You may already have figured that out by my other blog entry: 4 Reasons Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was a good movie . That being said, JJ Abrams did a great job in bringing this new chapter to life. To be honest, I was a little nervous when I heard that he came on to direct. I watched the Star Trek movies and was not impressed. His annoying use of lens flare and the direction it was taken was disappointing to me, and I'm not even a Star Trek fan! But he redeemed himself in my eyes with "The Force Awakens".

Now I'm going to nit pick at some things that bothered me. First of all, this movie marks the third time a massive planet like weapon was used by the bad guys and destroyed using a weak spot by the good guys. Think they've learned their lesson by now? Perhaps the Sith would be better off figuring out a way to be the ultimate power in the universe without such a massive target for the Resistance to concentrate upon? I hope they have for the sake of the upcoming sequels.

Kylo Ren. Here is the new mysterious masked villain who wants to pick up where Darth Vader left off. But does he really? His use of the Force is very powerful as we see in one of the first scenes by him stopping a blaster shot in mid-air. Impressive. What's not impressive is him taking the mask off to interrogate Rey. Once he does that, the mystique is gone. He seems more human and less threatening even after he puts it back on. However, if they had let him keep it on until the SECOND time he takes it off (when Han Solo, his Father, asks him to do so) it would have made for a much more powerful scene. If he had to take the mask off, THAT should have been the first time to do it.

And just how evil IS Kylo Ren? He mentions a few times of the struggle within him between the Light and Dark sides of the Force. He is the offspring of Han and Leia. He trained under Luke when he was young. And here's the kicker....he blatantly ignores the orders of Supreme Leader Snoke in trying to get the map to Skywalker's location. It will be interesting to see his role unfold.

Chewbacca, Han and Leia have had years of history together. They have a closeness that only decades of friendship can accomplish. So I'm a bit confused as to why there was no moment between Chewie and Leia when he gets back to her after Han's death. That emotional moment was given to Rey, who she hardly knew.

Here's something I never thought I would say....I was unimpressed with the new score by John Williams. It was no where near the epic music he added to the prequels. This one was of the most unmemorable and un inspiring pieces he's written for any Star Wars movies. So disappointing.

Getting back to that massive weapon...Starkiller Base. There were a TON of references, nods and Easter Eggs in this movie. Way too many to get into here, however, Starkiller is one of them, being the original name of Luke before it was changed to Skywalker. Anyway, my question is this, it looks like they created the weapon out of an actual planet. it then used the Sun that was close to it as it's power source for the weapon. So then, how does it move to the next sun for another shot? And wouldn't the planet "die" in the meantime?

Again, these are just a little nit picking. But another complaint that I've been hearing is that it is pretty much a carbon copy of "A New Hope". And there is no denying the obvious plot similarities. In fact, you can use the same general description to narrate both films. "But Phantom" you say, "Isn't this the exact same gripe you had against Jurassic World ? " Yes it is. But let me tell you why it's different. See, in Jurassic World, they just re-hashed the same scenes and stories of the previous films. For no reason other than they had no new ideas to discover. In The Force Awakens, it's used as a reflection of the past to start a new story. If I am right, this will unveil itself in the following sequels. Am I just being biased because I am a fan? I don't believe so. But you draw your own conclusions after the next films.

But after all is said and done, it was a magnificent movie to watch. They got back to using real sets and a lot of practical effects that were lacking in the prequels. The BB-8 droid that was an ACTUAL remote controlled robot was a technical masterpiece! The inclusion of the original members of the Trilogy were a continuation of the story and not forced cameos. New characters were introduced and were relatable and people we cared about. There was a good flow to the movie with a lot of action and decent story development (although we do need some gaps filled in. Hopefully this will be addressed in future movies) .

Most importantly, I walked out feeling 7 years old again, seeing Star Wars for the first time and completely hooked for life. And seeing young viewers exiting the theater with that same wonder in their eyes, I know I wasn't the only one.

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

....and May the Force be with you.

Krampus

2015-12-06T14:36:00.000-05:00

Young Max (Emjay Anthony) is barely hanging on to the belief in Santa Claus and the magic of Christmas. However, the actions of his dysfunctional and insensitive family are the final straw this year, and he tears up his letter to Santa and gives up on hope for the traditional family holiday he used to know. Those actions unknowingly unleash the wrath of Krampus: a demonic force of ancient evil intent on punishing non-believers. A bizarre blizzard knocks out any contact from the outside world and this family is targeted by Krampus and his evil minions to pay for their lack of festiveness. Only Max's Grandmother "Omi" seems to know what is really happening and tries to warn the family. But is it too late?

Cast

Adam Scott as Tom
Toni Collette as Sarah
David Koechner as Howard
Allison Tolman as Linda
Conchata Ferrell as Aunt Dorothy
Emjay Anthonyas Max
Stefania LaVie Owenas Beth
Krista Stadler as Omi

Who will like this:

As a "not too scary/not gory/not too funny" kind of movie, it makes for a good date movie. Something that couples in a relationship who just want to get out of the house or young dating sweethearts can go see. It's in the same category as the movie "Drag me to Hell".

Phantom Thoughts

I will start off by saying this: the idea of making a movie about the German mythology of "Krampus" who is supposed to be the shadow of Santa Claus, is intriguing to say the least. It has all the makings of telling a good horror story that is set on such a joyful time of year.

This is not that movie. In fact, I have no idea what they were thinking when the studio put this thing together. As a horror movie, there were very little scares. There was some build up to set up for a good scare, but no pay off. There was no gore or even the implication of gore that makes a good horror movie successful. The funny moments to break the tension was not very humorous and extremely few and far between. Michael Dougherty, who directed and co-wrote this movie obviously just didn't know what he was doing. Apparently, Legendary Studios didn't take heed on his OTHER holiday "horror" movie "Trick 'r' Treat" that never even made it to theaters and was released on video.

Krampus' helpers were not to menacing either. Aside from the Jack-in-the-Box, which had good potential, the killer, badly CGI-ed Gingerbread Men, the Teddy Bear and the "I-wanna-be-as-scary-as-Annabelle-but-I'm-not" Angel were just laughable. There were mysterious, creepy snowmen that appeared on the front lawn of the family's house that were never explained, nor were they ever a threat. The Krampus elves were nothing more than left over Mardi Gras masks worn by cloaked characters who didn't add any depth either.

The main issue I had also was....I was ROOTING for Krampus. The family members had no redeeming qualities and at no point did I feel bad that they were being picked off one by one. In fact, whenever someone survived an attack, I was disappointed. Usually if you start off with assholes who are the main focus of a movie, they go through an awakening to see the error of their ways and make you want them to be saved to make things right. Unfortunately, the only ones I had any feeling of wanting to save was the little boy Max and his Grandmother "Oni". I even wanted the obligatory baby they threw in there to be an appetizer for the monsters coming to get them.

But the biggest disappointment was Krampus himself. There are plenty of reference materials to draw from to bring this character to life. The silhouette seen at first was promising, the horns sprouting out from a slumped over cloaked figure and draped in chains down to his hooves was impressive. But when the face of evil was finally revealed....well....it can only be described as a demented Santa who was suffering the effects of a stroke. The gaping mouth was a bit disturbing at first glance, but as it continues to stay open the rest of the movie, just makes it look like a guy in a mask.

The ending is purposely confusing as well. It's suppose to make you think and try to come up with what "really" happened. But at that point, I just didn't care anymore. But I'll save you the trouble: sometimes what you wish for becomes your own personal Hell. There. Now you don't have to see it.

Until next time, I'll see you in the center seat!

Vacation

2015-08-09T21:45:00.000-04:00

Rusty Griswold is all grown up with a family of his own. But that family is in a rut and he wants to shake them out of it. In order to bring them closer together, he comes up with the idea of driving across country to Walley World, like his Father did when he was a boy. Things don't go exactly according to plan, of course. And the trip has as many detours as it does cameos. The movie has the curious distinction of simultaneously being a sequel (the prior films are acknowledged and referenced), a remake (the plot and some scenes are the same as or very similar to those of the earlier film) and a reboot (new film in a dormant franchise with a new cast).

Cast

Ed Helms as Rusty Griswold
Christina Applegate as Debbie Griswold
Leslie Mann as Audrey Griswold-Crandall
Chris Hemsworth as Stone Crandall
Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold
Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold
Skyler Gisondo as James Griswold
Steele Stebbins as Kevin Griswold

Who will like this movie

Along the fans of the original "Vacation" movie, I believe that anyone who enjoys the recent wave of adult comedies such as "The Hangover" and "Bridesmaids" will find this one good for a few laughs as well.

Phantom Thoughts

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not really a big fan of reboots or remakes....with very few exceptions. However, as I stated in the summary, "Vacation" is all these things, and yet none at the same time. But for me personally, I view this as more of a sequel than anything else. It was a very risky move. If it was too similar to the first movie, it would be seen as a poor knock off, too much of a deviation, and it would be discounted as not really part of the series. But in this Phantom's humble opinion, they got it right. And in many different levels as well.

Let's start with the cast. Ed Helms plays grown up Rusty perfectly. (He is the sixth actor to portray this character) You can see the apple does not fall far from the tree as there is a bit of his Father, Clark, in the performance, but not so much so that he's not his own man as well. Christina Applegate's time growing up on the TV comedy "Married with Children" proves she learned a lot about comedic timing. If she isn't delivering a punchline, she is setting one up in genius fashion. Skyler Gisondo and Steele Stebbins are not just throw away roles as Rusty and Debbie's boys, but rather real, fleshed out characters. And I will say this: if you think women swooned over Chris Hemsworth when he takes his shirt off as "Thor", they will be fainting in the aisles on what he shows off here.

The plot itself does a great job of balancing old and new too. There were throwbacks to some of the original story and gags used while giving it's own, newer spin on it. Some of you may have already seen the trailer that shows the now classic scene with Christie Brinkley in the Ferrari revamped for this version. There's a couple more enjoyable instances like that.

Now for some things you may or may not know: (FYI- this is the point where the SPOILERS start) The goal for Rusty is to take his family on the fictitious new rollercoaster "The Velociraptor" in the fictitious amusement park of Walley World. The cast filmed this scene on an actual rollercoaster, as they did in the original. But for this one, they used Six Flags Magic Mountain on what I believe to be Revolution. One of the directors, John Francis Daley plays the ride operator in the movie.

Christina Applegate has an unusual connection to the Vacation Series. During the opening credits of the show she made her debut on: "Married with Children" there was stock footage of Chicago used, which included a shot of the Griswold Truckster station wagon from the original movie.

The opening date for this "Vacation" was moved to July 29th because that is the 32nd anniversary of the release of the original "Vacation". And like that one, this one also has photos during the credits at the end. But the added (very comedicly well done) real vacation photos at the beginning of the credits included one of the late John Hughes who wrote "Vacation", "European Vacation" and "Christmas Vacation".

There were so many things that was working against pulling this one off, but I think the risk was worth the reward. It worked. And it worked well.......and funny.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Minions

2015-07-21T21:22:00.000-04:00

Where do the Minions from the "Despicable Me" movies come from? Here is the answer. We follow the yellow-gibberish speaking blobs from single cell organisms through evolution and then there decade long search for a villain to serve. After multiple failures in this goal, they go into hiding, where eventually they fall into a deep depression. One Minion named Kevin comes up with a plan to find a new villain to follow. He takes Stuart and Bob with him on his quest. The year now is 1968 and after going to Villain-Con in Orlando, they decide that the greatest villainess, Scarlett Overkill (Sandra Bullock) will be their new master. She takes them to England to pull off the greatest caper of all time. But will it all go according to plan? Does it ever when the Minions are involved?

Cast

Pierre Coffin as Kevin, Stuart, Bob and the Minions
Sandra Bullock as Scarlet Overkill
Jon Hamm as Herb Overkill
Michael Keaton as Walter Nelson
Allison Janney as Madge Nelson
Geoffrey Rush as the Narrator

Who will like this:

A family film that young kids will especially like. Moms and women over 30 are drawn to the cute little buggers for some reason. So let Mom take the kids while Dad goes to see Terminator Genisys.

Phantom Thoughts

I happen to like the Minions. I thought they were a great form of amusement in the "Despicable Me" movies. But they are, in fact, just supporting players. When you go about making a movie with them in the staring roles, it proves to be difficult. It's like making a movie starring the Dozers from Fraggle Rock. Or the Jawas from Star Wars. Nice additions, but not the main focus.

So in order to move the story along, you add in some English speaking characters. Because really....there's only so much of a cute made-up language you can take. BTW- the "minion-ese" is taken from several different languages, including American, Spanish, French, Indonesian and Hebrew, to name a few. So enter in Scarlett Overkill and her inventor husband Herb, voiced by Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm. This is Bullock's first role as a bad guy and plays the part of the armed-rocket-powered-dress-wearing Super Villain pretty well. She's no Gru, of course, but being that she's in virgin territory, we'll cut her a break.

There were a few things I did find interesting though. Kevin in this picture was a bit different from the minion Kevin in the first movie. Bob's two different colored eyes were not present in the original or even the trailer for this one. And all three minions were designed to resemble Gru's daughters: Margo, Agnes and Edith.

The Villain-Con Expo was done in a very Comic-Con fashion, down to the main event being held in "Hall H" just like all the big panels of the San Diego Comic Con. In the audience we catch a glimpse of Gargamel from the "Smurfs". As a nice tie-in as well, in the background on the Con vendor scene, we see a young Gru and his Mother being shown a new invention...the Freeze Ray!

Possibly lost on most viewers were the references to Mozart's opera The Magic Flute scattered throughout the movie. Not so lost though, was Stuart playing Van Halen's "Eruption" on the guitar. (A good 10 years before Eddie played it).

But it was a fun movie. Not as good as the originals, but not bad. Probably worth waiting to watch it at home and not necessarily a movie you HAVE to see this Summer. But if Mom needs to get the kids out of the house during Summer Break, then by all means, go for it.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Jurassic World

2015-06-17T21:11:00.000-04:00

It's 22 years after the events that"Jurassic Park" take place, and the park is finally open and working for 10 years under the new name "Jurassic World". Claire Dearing, the parks' operation manager, has her two nephews visit for the weekend. But she is too busy to spend time with them and gives her assistant the job of looking after them as they are given passes to anywhere in the park. Her main concern is convincing investors to fund the new project they are working on. After 10 years, the public has become bored with just seeing real dinosaurs and so the genetics department has created a new, more impressive one....one that has never existed before now.
After seeing this new creature, the owner of Jurassic World, Simon Masrani tells Claire to consult with the Raptor wrangler in the park, Owen Grady. Owen is skeptical of the care of the new dinosaur and asks what they used to create it. But Claire is tight lipped on the matter. As it turns out, his concerns are well founded as the creature escapes.

Cast

Chris Pratt as Owen Grady

Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing

Nick Robinson as Zach Mitchell

Ty Simpkins as Gray Mitchell

Vincent D'Onofrio as Vic Hoskins

Irrfan Khan as Simon Masrani

Omar Sy as Barry

B.D. Wong as Dr. Henry Wu

Jake Johnson as Lowery Cruthers

Who will like this:

Young parents, who have become parents about 10 years ago or so, will want to bring their children to experience their own Jurassic Park memories and create new ones for themselves. Jurassic World is the Summer blockbuster movie in every definition of the word. If you need to be entertained in the air-conditioned theater for a few hours, you can buy your ticket at the door.

Phantom Thoughts

Have you seen the other 3 Jurassic Park movies? Yeah? Ok.....then you don't need to see this one.
"But, Phantom..", you say, "aren't you being a bit harsh? This is not a reboot, it takes place AFTER the events of Jurassic Park." No. I'm not. Watching this movie, they took the ENTIRE story from the previous ones. And I do mean everything. Let's go down the list:
- You've got the head of Jurassic World welcoming in her two nephews = Hammond welcoming in his two Grandkids (JP1)
- Owen Grady is the "expert" who is the voice of reason = an amalgamation of Dr. Grant and Ian Malcolm (JP1-3)
- "evil" InGen corporation is motivated by greed and makes things worse instead of better (JP2)
- Although he doesn't create the situation like Wayne Knight did, Vincent D'Onofrio's decisions to prove his theory that the dinosaurs can be used as a military weapon causes even more chaos ( JP1)
* side note: this is also the same running theme of the Alien movies with the Weyland Industries Corporation
- The couple of the kids on the island are getting a divorce = The Kirby's (JP3)
- The kids find themselves being attacked in an island vehicle by the BIG dino = (JP1)
- The Pteranodons are freed from their "birdcage" and attack the visitors = (JP3)
- The T-Rex is lured by a flare by Claire = Same scene with Dr. Grant and Ian Malcolm (JP1)
I literally can go on and on. I mean, they even end up in the original building from the first movie which has been abandoned. So I think the point was to just make a new version of the old movies. They figured that if they put in all the same elements that made the originals so popular, they would get the same results. But it felt forced. The pacing was off. The way the tension built to a crescendo in the first one was missing in this one.

There is a bright side to all this. I have long been an admirer of movies that give nods the original inspiration, if there is one. They are called "Easter Eggs" in popular circles. And because they wanted SO much to connect to the original movies in this one, Jurassic World is filled with them. From "Mr. DNA" to a statue of Hammond himself, there are many obvious (and not so obvious. Did you see Ian Malcom's book: "God Creates Dinosaurs" in the film.....twice?) little gems to find. And the only returning character from the original, B.D. Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, gives a little "Fuck you" to everyone who complained that the dinosaurs in all these movies don't look (or sometimes act) like ACTUAL dinosaurs would. When questioned why he would spice different animals together to make Indominus Rex, he says "because we've always done it that way. To fill the holes in the DNA." Duh. Doesn't anyone remember the South African tree frogs? "Life finds a way".

And here's the biggest SPOILER ALERT. I mean, if you're still reading this, you probably don't much care about spoilers, but I'll alert you anyway. The biggest "reveal" toward the end....the big secret of what did they splice together to make this new creature....comes out. I don't know about you, but I kinda guessed right away the thing had Velociraptor in it. It looked like a Raptor, it hunted like a Raptor and it was smart like a Raptor. Hell, they even had a shot of it's eye peering through the bushes at you like in JP1! If that was their idea of keeping a secret, no one better tell the writers what's really in Area 51.

Also, the way the villain, Indominus Rex, was finally brought down was kinda anti-climatic. Yes, the fight scene with it and T-Rex and the Raptors was good, but I felt a bit jipped that at the climax of the fight, Mosasaur comes out of nowhere and chomps him down.

Finally, I have to mention this. I saw this in the trailers and was sickened by it and after watching the actual movie, it didn't ease my mind much. We see one of the kids asking Chris Pratt who is the "Alpha" of the Velociraptors. To which he replies: "You're looking at him." Riiiiiight. So you're saying that the most vicious, deadly and SMARTEST of all the dinosaurs as depicted in all the Jurassic movies including this one, chose soft, pink, chewy, yummy, no-claws-or-sharp-teeth having Star Lord as their leader? Are you fucking kidding me? That's like me and 3 of my friends listening to a piece of bacon for advice. And although it's not as bad as I had first imagined it (there are still glimpses of the ferociousness we know the Raptors to be) it's still laughable.

But my 14 year old daughter liked it. It broke all kinds of records at the box office. I spent a few hours of a very humid day in an air conditioned theater. Bryce Dallas Howard is nice to look at. So I guess it wasn't a total waste of my time.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

2015-05-12T20:55:00.000-04:00

The second installment of the Marvel "team up" movie bringing together the World's mightiest superheroes. In this one, Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man, and the gentle side of The Hulk, Dr. Bruce Banner, unknowingly create Ultron, an AI program that was supposed to be a program for World peace. As Ultron becomes more self-aware, he decides that in order to save humanity, he must destroy it. Now it is up to The Avengers to stop him before he succeeds.

Cast

Robert Downey Jr. ... Tony Stark / Iron Man
Chris Hemsworth ... Thor
Mark Ruffalo ... Bruce Banner / Hulk
Chris Evans ... Steve Rogers / Captain America
Scarlett Johansson ... Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Jeremy Renner ... Clint Barton / Hawkeye
James Spader ... Ultron
Samuel L. Jackson ... Nick Fury
Don Cheadle ... James Rhodes / War Machine
Aaron Taylor-Johnson ... Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver
Elizabeth Olsen ... Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch
Paul Bettany ... Jarvis / Vision

Who will like this:

The easy answer, obviously is anyone who has seen any of the 10 previous Marvel movies, including the first Avengers movie. However, due to the increase in violence, action and even language to some degree, I may not recommend this to a very young viewers. Hence the PG-13 rating. It is also is not a movie for the casual fan as was the case for the last one. The stronger follower of the movies and/or comics will get more out of it than others will

Phantom Thoughts

Well....here it is. Finally the movie we've been waiting for since the last end credit scene from the last Avengers movie in 2012. You've gone through Marvel's "Phase 2" of movies like Iron Man 3, Captain America: Winter Soldier and maybe even started watching Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. and Agent Carter on TV in anticipation for this....the BIG PAYOFF! Ummmm......not so much.

You know how when you start a new job, and you are told how much you will be making and think to yourself "OK. That's sounds pretty good". But after you get that first paycheck, you realize that "Wow. After taxes, insurance and....hey,what's this OASDI thing? " You didn't end up with as much as you expected? Yeah. It's kinda like that.

Now don't get me wrong. That's not to say it wasn't good, it just didn't live up to expectations and hype. But anything that is the magnitude of Avengers: Age of Ultron rarely does. The most common criticism I've heard about this movie is that it falls into the same pit a lot of other Superhero movies suffer from in the past: too many characters. And they're right....to a point. The difference is Joss Whedon. His storytelling skills juggle the characters so effortlessly that each one is handled individually without dropping any one of them or having them knock into each other. And while the amount of players do not cause the film to crash and burn, it doesn't help much either.

James Spader's mesmerizing voice breathes incredible life into the sentient robot Ultron, but Ultron's development into the villain he is supposed to be is not quite as fleshed out as he is. We are introduced to "The Twins" that we met at the end of Captain America: Winter Soldier, who become Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, but they are also under-utilized. There is a love story that seems to be thrown in out of nowhere between Banner and Romanoff that, although an interesting side plot, probably could have been avoided.

BIG SPOILERS AHEAD--------

So in the movie, Ultron is basically created by a mix of Tony Stark's attempt to create an AI program for World peace, mix in the mystical Mind Stone from Loki's scepter in the last Avengers and finally taking over most of Iron Man's JARVIS system. In the comics, Ultron is created by Hank Pym from Ant Man. And with THAT movie set to come out later this year, it seems like a missed opportunity to introduce it. Then again, that would mean adding even more characters to an otherwise overcrowded credit list so I can forgive that. On the other hand, Ultron created Vision in a very similar way to the comics, enough to satisfy the die hard fans, I would assume. Bringing Vision to life was also a saving grace for actor Paul Bettany , who was the voice of JARVIS in the previous Iron Man movies. Since JARVIS "died" and was replaced by FRIDAY at the end of the movie, being on screen to act as Vision is a step up for Bettany. (He also has the second awesome Thor's hammer: Mjölnir moment in this movie)

One thing that DID live up to the hype, was the Hulk vs. HulkBuster Iron Man fight. First off, I love the fact that the pod carring the suit and it's replacement parts is called "Veronica", an in-joke based on the Archie comics. Archie Andrews is always torn between the two women that love him, Betty and Veronica. Banner already had a girlfriend, Betty Ross. And seeing the Hulk get his payback for one of the funnier moments in the original Avengers was welcome nod as well.

But the most DISappointing thing about AOU is....no end credits scene! This is one thing that Marvel movies are famous for (next to Stan Lee's almost guaranteed cameo, which might I add, was one of his best ever! Marvel geeks twitched in their seats when he gave his famous sign off line "Excelsior! ") although there were rumors and a what we now know to be a faked Spiderman end credits scene talked about, I was disappointed not to find anything there.

It was a wild ride for your senses. And not the typical fun for a few hours fare Marvel usually dishes out. It's one that will have to be seen more than once to catch and follow everything that happens. And although I wouldn't say it was better than the first one, it wasn't that much worse either. There were a LOT of things to find and see. Much too much to get into here. Maybe too much for one movie as I have already pointed out. Still, I will watch it again....and again to catch everything.

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

4 Reasons "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" was a good movie

2014-11-28T13:57:00.001-05:00

I don't usually do this. The main reason for this blog is to review movies that I see in the theater, not for my thoughts on something you can see on a Spike Marathon during the Summer. But with the upcoming Disney owned Sequel Trilogy making a lot of waves through the Nerd Kingdom, the Prequel bashing has been stirred up again. Especially a hatred for Episode I . There is even a sequence of watching the Star Wars Movies called: "Machete Viewing" where you would watch Episodes 4, 5, 2, 3, 6 in that order. Completely eliminating Episode 1 altogether! Which is why I felt the need now to show you why The Phantom Menace deserves some respect.

Now...I can hear the haters already saying "OH YEAH? WHAT ABOUT JAR JAR BINKS? HE SUCKS!" Calm yourselves. While I agree that they went a little over the top with him, he was basically there for comic relief. And wasn't that the role of R2-D2 and C-3P0 in the original trilogy? They were the Laurel and Hardy of those movies, just not to the Binks degree. And to the fans who only hold the original trilogy as gospel, least we forget the backlash to the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi? But the hatred for Jar Jar was loud and vicious. So you know what Lucas did? He pretty much said "Oh....you don't like Jar Jar? Ok...I'll give you a REASON not to like him!" and in the following movies, made HIM the reason the Emperor comes into power which causes the creation of the Galactic Empire.

But not liking one character is not reason enough to condemn the whole movie. Here are 4 reasons (in no particular order) to remember why Episode 1 is... at the very least worth a re-watch:

1) A New and Classic Soundtrack

John Williams. Multiple Academy Award winning composer and creator of the most famous music associated with a Galaxy far, far away returns and makes an all new epic musical backdrop that resonates through all three Prequels. Not only does he incorporate the music we all know and love into this story beginning, but introduces a score that reflects the history of this franchise while breathing new life into it. Just listen to it. It gives me chills on how good it is.

2) Darth Maul

Darth Maul is the most bad-ass bad guy since the undisputed greatest movie villain of all time: Vader. Ray Park, who was a stuntman previously, plays the sinister apprentice to the mysterious Sith Master. This allows him to do all his own moves and battles himself. But that's not what makes him awesome. His look is simple and complicated at the same time. He is clearly humanoid, but with horns that surround his head like a crown, eyes that glow yellow and red like the Devil himself looking into your soul and the red and black Sith markings that are reminiscent of Mexican Day of the Dead make up. But his demeanor is so calm and reserved at all times until he is in the heat of battle. That is where the wraith comes out! And no one had ever seen a double bladed lightsaber before, and it remains as one of the most incredible weapons in the Star Wars Universe. Maul's mastery of it was mesmerizing.

3) The Pod Race

No. You are wrong. It was not boring or unnecessary. It was not like watching someone play a video game. These are arguments I've heard against this part of Phantom Menace. The Pod Race was essentially a sporting event that the locals gamble on, similar to a Football game or NASCAR race. But it was also a dramatic moment in the movie because the outcome determined whether our Jedi Ambassadors and their landing party including Queen Amidala will be able to continue their mission. It also would determine whether the driver of the pod, a young slave boy named Anakin Skywalker and his Mother would become free. So...what about the race itself? A young boy from Tatooine in a high speed, one man vehicle, racing along an obstacle ridden terrain to get to the goal. Sound a little familiar? It should. The scene resembles the run Luke Skywalker takes to blow up the Death Star in Episode IV: A New Hope. Being introduced to the boy who would become Darth Vader was very intriguing to say the least. How does this innocent boy become the most feared man in the universe? But we see a few glimpses of his Jedi and future Sith skills in his driving of the pod. Watch it again and see for yourself:

4) The Lightsaber Battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul

This is clearly the best lightsaber duel of ANY of the Star Wars franchise movies. Hands down. As I stated before, Darth Maul's double sided lightsaber and his mastery of it thanks to Ray Park is simply incredible. And the sequence....when played without interruption, is brilliant. My favorite part is when Maul tries to strike at Kenobi's back, only to have it blocked when Obi-Wan raises his weapon over his head and behind him. Then Maul counters with a quick swing of the second blade to the front, only to be met with Kenobi bring his lightsaber forward. Here is the battle without the rest of the plot points sprinkled in and just try to argue otherwise:

I think I've made my point. Go back and watch it again. You may find that your disgust of this movie is not as well founded as you may have thought.

Until next time, see you in the center seat. And may the Force be with you.

Ouija

2014-10-27T19:42:00.000-04:00

When Laine Morris' childhood friend Debbie, mysteriously commits suicide for apparently no reason, Laine and her devastated friends try and find answers behind her death. In an act of desperation, they use a Ouija board to try and communicate with her on the other side. However, Debbie isn't the only one who is communicating with them and they unknowingly unleash less amiable spirits who start to hunt them down one by one.

Cast

Olivia Cooke as Laine Morris
Daren Kagasoff as Trevor
Douglas Smith as Pete
Bianca A. Santos as Isabelle
Ana Coto as Sarah Morris
Shelley Hennig as Debbie

Who will like this movie

There are similarities to other horror movies such as Annebelle, Mama and The Conjuring to give you an idea of what to expect. Guys who want to take their very skittish girlfriends to see a movie so the girls will grab their hands and bury their faces in their chests can buy a couple of tickets to this one.

Phantom Thoughts

For the record, this was NOT on my list of "must see" movies this week. I would have been perfectly happy waiting for this to come on Starz or Encore to see it. I wouldn't even waste a Netflix selection on it. However, I was invited to go see it, and I could not resist the opportunity.

Let me get straight to the point, this was very predictable. Not only was the plot as see through as the ghosts that were supposed to be in it, but the "scares" were mostly of the pop out variety that is cheesy like my brothers fingers after tearing through a bag of Cheetos.

I am not familiar with any of the actors in this movie either. I think there is a reason for that.

Here's some background info though: Universal bought the rights from Hasbro to make a Ouija movie back in 2009. The original concept was to make a big-budget film based on the board game on the same scale of "Pirates of the Caribbean". The script was written and tossed around different directors for a few years before they decided it was not worth the money and they dropped it. In 2012 Universal picked it back up with the intention of making it for a much cheaper and more like "The Lone Ranger". And we all know how THAT worked out, don't we? But on a positive note, Ouija is the FIRST horror movie, or movie of any kind, based on this board game.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary

2014-08-30T23:53:00.000-04:00

This is going to be a little different "review" than I've done in the past. I have always done reviews of movies I've seen in the movie theater, and although I DID watch this in a theater, being that it is 30 years old, I don't feel the need to explain what this is about or who it is geared to or who will like it.

That being said, I HAD to go see this on the big screen....again. You see, this was one of the first movies I became obsessed with after first gazing my eyes upon it. (Star Wars holds the top spot on that list, which I saw 7 years earlier) The movie came out June 1st 1984, and I spent the next 4 months making my Ghostbusters Halloween costume. I had a pirated VHS copy (and a good, professional copy considering this is in 1984!) that my uncle had gotten me. I had the record...yes, you heard me...an actual vinyl record of the soundtrack. I hung the movie poster on the inside of my bedroom door. I was hooked.

I listened to that record all Summer long, working in the basement of my parents house. I used what I could see from the poster and paused the movie tape over and over to try and get all the details I could. Using mostly cardboard, tape, a water gun rifle, some spray paint and lights from old battery powered toys, I fashioned my own Proton Pack. I recorded the theme song over and over on to an audio tape and put a tape recorder inside it. It was finished off with my Dads coveralls, a Ghostbusters emblem that I painstakingly drew and attached with some duct tape and an electrical tape name tag. It is, to this day, one of the costumes I am most proud of. It's a shame that I have no photo of it.

But the real reason I had to see this on the big screen again was that for the last 30 years, if I am in a conversation about watching a movie at home vs. watching in a theater, Ghostbusters is my go-to example of why it's better in the theater. A point that I am happy to say was reinforced tonight. You see, no matter if it was the pirated VHS tape, the official videotape, DVD or even the collector's edition widescreen DVD....NONE of them has been able to put on a television screen what you get to see on actual aspect ratio. The best example of this is the obligatory montage scene that movies at the time all had. If you remember, this particular montage was the rise of fame of the Ghostbusters in New York City. Various magazine covers were on screen along side shots of the crew capturing ghosts all over the city. Try as they might with clever editing, all the home versions never get the full view of this. This also happens in other parts of the movie as well.

This was a guilty pleasure for me and I enjoyed every minute of it. Does it stand up against the test of time? Well...maybe not as much. For one, all the characters are smoking...indoors....all through the movie. (Something they quickly did away with in Ghostbusters 2. NO ONE is seen smoking in that one.) Also, there are a lot of product placement that when you see the labels of the items, you just know it's from quite a while ago. Lastly, the special FX. Great for it's time, but flaws are accentuated when seen 30 ft. tall. Most notably a scene that is looking down at the street over the shoulder of one of the Demon Dog "statues", and you not only see the lines of the road through the statue image, but cars going by as well can be seen coming through it.

But you know what? I didn't care. I loved sitting there in a darkened theater, with my popcorn, soda and Milk Duds watching Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis and the late, great Harold Ramis utter those now famous lines in surround sound.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.......and maybe I will be wearing my Ghostbusters emblem patch. A step up from the drawn paper one.

Guardians of the Galaxy

2014-08-05T11:43:00.000-04:00

Peter Quill is a human boy who was abducted by aliens and grows up to be a space outlaw working for a bunch of space pirates called Ravangers. After stealing a mysterious orb, Quill (who refers to himself as "Star Lord") finds himself being hunted down not only by his employers and the law, but by fearsome baddie Ronan the Accuser. He is thrown together with an unlikely group of characters who, although they start out as rivals, discover they share a common goal. As they work together to achieve this goal, their allegiance to each other gets stronger, and they become "The Guardians of the Galaxy."

Cast

Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord

Zoe Saldana as Gamora

Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer

Vin Diesel as Groot

Bradley Cooper as Rocket

Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser

Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta

Karen Gillan as Nebula

Djimon Hounsou as Korath

John C. Reilly as Corpsman Rhomann Dey

Glenn Close as Nova Prime Irani Rael

Benicio del Toro as Taneleer Tivan / The Collector

Who will like this movie

I see a lot of similarities and parallels to Star Wars: A New Hope and on certain levels: The Usual Suspects. I have heard those say (and I agree with) there is a reminiscence to the TV Show: Farscape. In that regard, I suspect this to be appreciated by a wide range of fans. There are very few curse words and "intense" scenes that very young viewers with over sensitive parents may object to, but this is the perfect just about all ages movie.

Phantom Thoughts

I would like to start out saying that out of all the Marvel movies I have heard about being made, this was the one I was looking forward to LEAST. I had never even HEARD of this comic/graphic novel before and seriously.....a talking raccoon and tree? How good could it possibly be?

Boy, was I wrong.

This was a wonderful blend of action, sci-fi fantasy and comedy. The story moved along well and the characters were fleshed out and congealed at a good pace. Guardians didn't have to talk down to it's audience, but at the same time, you didn't have to over-think it. You just sat back and experienced it along with the main characters.

Now let's talk about those main characters for a moment...and I'll start with the ridiculous ones. Rocket is a raccoon that had been experimented on to become a walking, talking, thinking being. He is extremely intelligent in all things mechanical which is countered with his short fuse and low morals. He is voiced by Bradley Cooper, and if I didn't know that, I would never had guessed. He didn't use a funny or different voice for the role, but rather he gave the Rocket such unique life that he himself is hidden away. Groot is the walking tree-like creature who is the muscle of the duo. That being said, there is a sensitivity, almost a sadness in his demeanor. Vin Diesel says the words: "I am Groot" for the part (because that is just about all Groot says throughout the whole movie), but it's the WAY he says those 3 words at various stages that gives a communication to him. This was the most blatant similarity to Star Wars I felt, as Groot was a parallel of the Wookie Chewbacca.

Zoe Saldana is becoming synonymous with strong, female, alien women. And am I the only one who thinks it's just a little bit ironic that in the original Star Trek series, Kirk banged a green alien. And now the same actress who is Uhura in the NEW Star Trek movies, is playing a green alien in THIS one? Maybe it's just me.

Michael Rooker basically plays his Merle from the Walking Dead character only with blue make up on. Right down to the fact his weapon of choice is a mind controlled space arrow! If we find out he has a space crossbow-yielding brother played by Norman Reedus in the sequel....I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

As for the rest, Chris Pratt did a fantastic job balancing comedy, drama and action in his Peter Quill.

Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close and Benicio del Toro were all great in their roles as well. Even Dave Bautista, who I thought was merely cast for his physic, brought Drax to life impressively. But the one I was most floored with and surprised at was Karen Gillan. She plays Thanos' daughter Nebula, who is reminiscent to Star Wars Clone Wars Ventress. Let me preface this by saying that I am a HUGE Doctor Who fan. And Gillan played Amy Pond in that series for 5 years. But even I did not recognize that it was HER playing Nebula until the end credits. I knew she had shaved her head for a role, I just didn't know it was THIS one. But it wasn't just the make-up and the bald head that threw me, her jealousness, viciousness and bad-ass/kick-ass portrayal was so infinitely remarkable, she was unrecognizable even to a fan such as myself. Geronimo, Pond!

I wanted to go see a regular old 2-D showing, but it was sold out. So I was "forced" to see this in 3-D. The 3-D effects were not fantastic, but there were a good amount of "things flying at you" moments that were effective. But where the 3-D really shined was in the scenes in space and fight scenes.

As you can imagine, a movie with a talking raccoon and tree set in outer space has quite a bit of CGI involved in it. However, unlike the "Oz the Great and Powerful" all the CGI scenes and characters were un-noticeable. By that I mean, it was as if someone pointed a camera at Groot and Chris Pratt on a distant planet surface and yelled: "Action!" It was never distracting or out of place.

I found myself laughing and applauding with the rest of the audience in the theater. To me, this one came out of no where and hit all the right marks. Nicely done, Marvel. Excelsior! Of course, since it is a Marvel movie, I don't have to tell you to watch for the "extra" scene at the very end of the credits. Although there have been many links around the web giving this scene away, I will not play into the spoilers....(my Brother just choked on his Doritos with that statement).

I look forward to this new franchise and my hope is that they can keep the bar as high as they have set it.

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

The Fault in our Stars

2014-07-08T19:27:00.000-04:00

Adapted from the novel with the same name by John Green, The Fault in our Stars follows Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16 year old girl who is a thyroid cancer survivor due to an experimental drug she was given when she contracted the disease 3 years ago. Her parents decide that attending a support group would be best for her, despite her protests. But there she meets Augustus Waters, a boy who lost his leg to osteosarcoma but is currently in remission. The two almost instantly bond over a book written by mysterious author Peter Van Houten who ended the book mid sentence. As Hazel and Gus go on a journey to find answers to the novel, they fall in love...and the real journey begins.

Cast

Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace Lancaster
Ansel Elgort as Augustus Waters
Nat Wolff as Isaac
Laura Dern as Frannie Lancaster
Sam Trammell as Michael Lancaster
Willem Dafoe as Peter van Houten
Mike Birbiglia as Patrick

Who will like this

It is always a safe bet that if you liked the book, you will enjoy a movie made about it. Having not read the book myself, I have been assured by many different sources that THIS movie follows the book almost to the letter. As the novel was geared towards the "tween-ager", it follows suit that they, especially female tweens, will be a large part of it's audience. It's a tear-jerker. It makes for a good date movie, although I would advise against it being a FIRST date movie.

Phantom Thoughts

This was not one of the Phantom's top picks to see last weekend. However, my 13 year old daughter REALLY wanted to see it, so off to the theater we went. And although I went expecting kind of a young person's movie, I have to admit that there a few times my eyes welled up a bit.

But more on that in a moment. For now, I would like to focus on the cast. Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Willem Dafoe are all fine actors, and as such did a fantastic job in the parts they played. However, there was a surprise that took me out of the movie for a moment. Mike Birbiglia. Mike Birbiglia? For those who don't recognize the name (and I assume most of you won't) he is a stand-up comedian. And the part he played was a far cry from his on-stage persona. He played the support groups' counselor, a Jesus-loving, self-focused, mediocre guitar playing musician. I have to admit that a smile crossed my face during his on-screen performance, but not for the reasons the filmmakers intended. His uncomfortable counseling methods were cringe worthily humorous, but seeing Mike Birbiglia do it....well....THAT was where the real humor was.

The story itself was a decent one. Even with the expected "plot twist" (SPOILER: one of the main characters die. PLOT TWIST SPOILER: it isn't the one you think it is) it's still well done enough to pull at your heart strings enough to force an emotional response. So the fact that I knew what was coming, didn't interfere with the message of hope, love and loss enough to deter bringing those emotions to the surface just as what I believe was the goal of both the author John Green and Director Josh Boone.

The only thing I think I'd change....was to end both the book, and the movie, in mid-sentence. This is the crux of why Hazel and Gus come together and the fuel in continuing down this road together. What better way to wrap it up than to do the same? Now, I'm not one for leaving loose ends. I like a conclusion as much as the main characters do (although some of my favorite movies do have unresolved endings) so part of me would have hated it ending like that. But I could definitely respect a decision to do so.

Until next time...see you in

X-Men: Days of Future Past

2014-06-22T20:30:00.002-04:00

In the year 2023, mutants and humans alike are being hunted by machines called Sentinels. These relentless predators are designed to destroy all mutants and have evolved to hunt humans that have mutant potential or who are mutant sympathizers. They can adapt their appearance and weapons to any attack they come up against. In a last ditch effort to defeat them, Professor Xavier and Magneto come up with a plan to stop their creation in 1973 by sending Wolverine into the past to change history. Wolverine must convince the younger versions of Charles and Erik to help him in his mission. This is no easy task considering that they are not only at odds with each other, but themselves as well.

Cast

Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine
James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X
Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique
Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy / Beast
Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask
Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde
Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm
Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman

Who will like this

The obvious audience for this movie are fans of the previous X-Men movies. With a balance of action and storyline, this should appeal to a wider range of moviegoers. There is a time-travel element as well that is similar to the principles found in "Looper", "The Butterfly Effect" and "Terminator" movies. The film is rated PG-13 and is intended for older teens and above.

Phantom Thoughts

I have been looking forward to this sequel for quite some time. The question I have been asking myself is "How do you make a movie that includes the original X-men characters and the younger versions introduced in X-Men: First Class?" It took me a while to see it, but I finally found out the answer to that question. And the answer is: very well done!

Of course in order to do this, there would have to be time-travel involved. And the method they used was scientifically sound and actually made sense, unlike some other movies that used time-travel as a plot of the story. "Back to the Future 2" comes to mind as an example of this. In that one, Biff goes back in time and changes the future, but is then able to return to the original timeline. However, when Doc Brown and Marty do the same thing, they are unable to return to the original timeline, because events have changed that timeline and formed a new one. Oh...and they also have to avoid running into themselves in the past or they could cause a paradox that rips the universe to pieces. Confused yet? Yeah well...that WAS just a comedy/adventure movie and really can't be held too much accountable for it's gaping plot holes. X-Men: Days of Future Past (DoFP) does not fall into that mistake. In sending back Wolverine, they only send is conscious back into his younger self. Also, events do not change until he "wakes up" back in his original body. At that time, any changes that are made in the past take effect and only he would have knowledge of each history.

The story was really good too. There have been a few changes to the script in it's development that is usually not a good thing for a movie. Couple that with Halle Berry's unexpected pregnancy that limited and ultimately shortened Storm's role in this, the end result was flawless and not seemingly pieced together as it could have been. It flowed well and was not confusing considering it takes place between 1973 and the future 2023.

I liked the look of the 1973 Sentinels in DoFP. They were similar enough to the original comic book version with just enough modifications to make them seem feasible and real. Conversely, I did NOT like the look of the 2023 Sentinels, which looked like knock offs from 2011's "Thor" baddie The Destroyer. They also had a look of the villains in the Doctor Who episode: Journey to the Center of the TARDIS.

The only other problem I had was the same issue I had with 2009 re-boot of "Star Trek", in which they essentially wiped out the entire original series. SPOILER: the result of this movie basically wipes out the existence and events of all the X-Men movies that take place after X-Men: First Class.

The clothes, look and feel of 1973 was pulled off beautifully, with some VERY minor mistakes that only a few observant, older moviegoers may notice. But overall, I really liked this one. Watch for some great cameos and a set up for the next movie; X-Men: Apocalypse. It was well worth the wait and I would go see it again.....if I didn't have so many other movies I need to catch up on already!

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Godzilla

2014-06-02T21:47:00.001-04:00

The iconic Japanese movie monster returns to America to celebrate it's 60th anniversary. We follow two generations of the Brody family who have been devastated by seemingly natural disasters. However, as the plot unfolds, we find out that these disasters are a result of a new species of monster that have emerged as a result of scientific mistakes. As this species emerges and wreck havoc across different countries, another monster makes it's first appearance in decades to try to restore balance to nature. Godzilla will try to retain its title of King of the Monsters!

Cast

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Lieutenant Ford Brody, USN

CJ Adams as young Ford

Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Bryan Cranston as Joe Brody, Ford's father

Elizabeth Olsen as Elle Brody, Ford's wife

Who will like this

Director Gareth Edwards said that among other films, the original "Jaws" was an inspiration to him in making the new Godzilla. I can also see a bit of 2005's "War of the Worlds" and a LOT of "Cloverfield" in this new adaptation of the classic. Speaking of the classic, fans of the "Godzilla vs. _____" type movies can appreciate this. Although this would seem like it's geared toward a male audience, I believe it can be enjoyed by both genders. Teens and Twenty-Somethings will gravitate to it as well as older true Godzilla fans.

Phantom Thoughts

I feel this movie shouldn't have been called "Godzilla", but rather "The story of a family who's life was ruined by huge monsters". I understand Gareth Edwards taking a page from Jaws in the respect of not showing the monster....the star of the film, until the very last moment. But in Jaws it worked...this did not. Instead of building up the suspense, it was just frustrating. There was just way too much time spent telling the story of the plot, and too much focus on this Brody Family (another nod to "Jaws") and the effects the monsters have on their lives.

I mentioned that it had a similarity to the Tom Cruise film "War of the Worlds". In that, we find out about the aliens through following Tom Cruise's character. But the highlight was always the aliens and the invasion. In Godzilla, the Brodys at times overshadowed what the movie was supposed to be about.

I also mentioned "Cloverfield". There were 2 main reasons for this: 1) Again, that movie tells the story of the monster through the eyes of the main characters, but in a much more intimate way. "Cloverfield" gave a "Blair Witch Project" type of movie experience, telling the story with a video camera tape that was "found" after the fact. 2) Much more to the point, the species of the MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) had a VERY similar look to the Clover monster.

All that being said, when we finally do get to see Godzilla and watch him do battle with the MUTO, it is spectacular! As these mammoth creatures made their way through different cities and started to do battle among the buildings, it looked like they had taken the classic Godzilla vs ______ movie and had actually done it in real life. It didn't look like actors in rubber suits, but still had that same nostalgia of those movies. It was topped off with a fantastic shot of our "hero" walking off with (Ummm....sort of spoiler alert) the head of his slain enemy. (Really? Is it THAT much of spoiler that Godzilla wins? Especially after the announcement that they have already green lit the sequel and have actually planned a trilogy.)

But now we go back to the original problem. After the fight scenes actually start, they CUT AWAY from the action to go back to that damn Brody Family again! There was a scene where they literally shut the door on the audience as we watched what I can only assume would be a great fight sequence through the eyes of Elle Brody.

I don't know if the awesomeness of the final fight or the magnificent "reveal" of finally seeing a full Godzilla 3/4 of the way through the movie is enough to make up sitting through all the bullshit beforehand for most movie goers. It wasn't for me.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Amazing Spiderman 2

2014-05-11T19:22:00.001-04:00

The sequel to the 2012 Amazing Spiderman, finds Peter Parker not only wrestling with bad guys on the streets of New York, but with relationships in his personal life, bad publicity from the Daily Bugle and ghosts from his past. Along with all of that, there is an underlying plot from Oscorp, that is now under the leadership of his old friend Harry Osborn, to take out the web head. His most powerful foe to date, Electro, also gives Spiderman a unique challenge. Not your typical life for a teenage boy!

Cast

Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man / Peter Parker

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy

Jamie Foxx as Electro / Max Dillon

Dane DeHaan as Green Goblin / Harry Osborn

Paul Giamatti as Aleksei Sytsevich

Sally Field as Aunt May

Who will like this

Fans of the 2007 Spiderman 3 with Toby McGuire will relate most with this latest addition of the Spiderman character. Anyone who felt that the first Amazing Spiderman was too far off from the comic book series will be happy to see that they stayed a bit more true to the comics in this one. However, as with the first one, it moves a bit too slow and may be too extreme in it's action sequences for very young viewers. Parents should use their own judgments, but my suggestion it should not be viewed by children under 8.

Phantom Thoughts

Anyone who knows me or is a follower of this blog knows that I wasn't a big fan of the first "Amazing Spiderman" movie with Andrew Garfield. But leading up to the release of this one, I had read about some of the changes that were made that made it more similar to the comic books. Although this was encouraging, as I started seeing trailers and commercials, I was once again disappointed in the direction they were hinting toward heading. I had every intention of going in to see it with an open mind as a reviewer, but as fan, I did not have very high hopes.

Within the first few minutes...I was pleasantly surprised. Along with the changes to the costume that made it look more like it should (the wider, whiter eye lenses, the brighter colors and the "belt") they also made his character more of the quick-witted Spiderman rather than the snarky, egotistical jerk he was in the first. The CGI was a lot better as well, which was apparent when he jumped off a skyscraper and you could see his costume fluttering in the wind as he fell.

Emma Stone returns and continues to portray Gwen Stacy in the same brilliance she did in the first. Not only that, but the film makers did not try to "Hollywood up" the storyline between Gwen and Peter. In that I mean...HUGE SPOILER ALERT....they not only dressed Emma's Gwen in the same outfit she died in in the comic book, but they actually kept her death in, instead of having Spidey save her in the end. This was a major plot development and will prove important in shaping who Peter Parker/Spiderman is to become in further sequels.

Contrary to what you've read so far...this was not the perfect movie it could have been. It suffers the same fate that Spiderman 3 did in 2007. Just too many characters and villains and the storyline gets bogged down with sub-plots and obvious set-ups for a third movie. And in the midst of all that, the character development of this movie's main villain is lost. Jamie Foxx plays both Max Dillon and Electro very well, but why there is such a dramatic transformation in his personality once the change in his body happens is very weak.

Speaking of Electro....there is one small detail that no one would notice that bothered me. The CGI that made Electro glow with power and electricity was really cool, but the "Power Meter" that Oscorp put on the side of his head was digitally added as well. Why? That's something that could have been put together by any amateur model maker and applied with a small amount of Spirit Glue. Did they really need to CGI that as well? But that's just nit-picking.

One thing they also managed to correct was Spiderman ripping off his mask every other second like he did in the first film. Unfortunately, that's because Spidey spent so little time on screen. I mean, the name of the movie IS "The Amazing Spiderman" so I would think that the web-slinger would have a bit more screen time. Something that could have been corrected if they got rid of some of those problematic sub-plots I mentioned before.

One of those sub-plots being the mystery of Peter Parker's parents. More specifically his father, who we learn in more detail about what he was working on in Oscorp and why he mysteriously disappeared. Things that I did not like in the first film, and like even less in this one. There WAS one small bit of info that was divulged in these sequences that I like though. In a flashback, Richard Parker explains that they biogenically created the spiders at Oscorp lab using radio-active isotopes. This is more of a life line toward the original comic where Peter Parker was bitten by a radio-active spider than implied in the first film of just being biologically engineered spiders. SPOILER: he also claims to have used is own blood in his experiments which mean that ONLY his son Peter could possibly be Spiderman. Ummmm....what?

So the final verdict is this: "Amazing Spiderman 2" was better than the first, which is an extreme rarity in movies in general. However, being better than the disaster that was the first one is not that much of an achievement. And although I liked a lot of aspects of it, the movie gets in it's own way and tangles itself in a web of stories and characters that is to sticky to move smoothly through.

Until next time, see you in the center seat!

The Wolf of Wall Street

2014-01-19T16:17:00.003-05:00

When young Jordan Belfort loses his new stock broker job after Black Monday in 1987, he takes a job with a small Long Island company selling penny stocks. Through corruption and lies, he builds his own firm using his friends and drug dealers who he turns into stock brokers. Sex, Drugs, Corruption and lots and lots of money is what drives this real life story of how Jordan built an empire with his scams and the inevitable fall at the hands of the FBI.

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort

Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff (based on Danny Porush)

Margot Robbie as Naomi Lapaglia (based on Nadine Caridi)

Matthew McConaughey as Mark Hanna

Kyle Chandler as Patrick Denham (based on FBI Agent Gregory Coleman)

Rob Reiner as Max Belfort

Jon Bernthal as Brad Bodnick

Jon Favreau as Manny Riskin

Jean Dujardin as Jean-Jacques Saurel

Joanna Lumley as Aunt Emma

Who will like this movie

Although you could make the argument that it is comparable to "Wall Street" with Michael Douglas, I would more likely compare it to "Goodfellas" set on Wall Street instead. In fact, I think anyone who enjoys gangster movies like "Casino", "The Godfather" and "Scarface" should add this to the list of favorite movies. I would expect this to be popular among 20 something males. Due to the excessive language, nudity and drug use, it probably should not be seen by ANYONE under 17, even though it only has an "R" rating.

Phantom Thoughts

I can say this is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. The cast was brilliant, the direction was spot on and the cinematography was genius. Am I over-stating? Perhaps. You'll have to decide for yourself.
   First off, let me say that I am not a fan of Jonah Hill. He just is annoying to me. But even I have to admit that he was nothing less than extraordinary in "Wolf of Wall Street". He earned recognition last year in "Moneyball", but his depiction of Donnie Azoff was beyond compare. He earned more of my respect once I learned that director Martin Scorsese asked to have a meeting with Jonah, but he insisted instead to audition for the part. Hill has not auditioned for ANY part in 6 years. Truly deserving of his Oscar nomination for best supporting actor, and my front-runner for winning it.
   Leonardo DiCaprio bought the rights to make this movie in 2007, winning out over a bid from Brad Pitt. I mentioned the similarity to "Goodfellas" above, and that was in part due to Scorsese's style of film making, but also for how similar DiCaprio was to Ray Liota's character. Leo delivers once again and does not disappoint.
   I think it's important to note that there has been a lot of talk about the record setting amount of times the word "Fuck" was said. Not only that, but there are a plethora of naked tits throughout movie. And let's not forget the huge amounts of cocaine that was snorted. (The actors used crushed up vitamin B to simulate those scenes. Although it did hurt their noses, ironically it gave them more energy to do the following scenes)
But as all this seems over-the-top (and it was...but on purpose) it was also necessary to the story. In order to accurately depict what it was like to be living that life, it needed to be as abundant as it was.
   Speaking of naked boobs, Margot Robbie is introduced to the American public by showing off every inch of her spectacular body. Yes, her performance was great, but My God....she has got to be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Every curve of her is...perfection.
   I don't talk much about cinematography, and most people don't really notice it, but I have to give credit where credit is due. The lens change between when the characters on screen were high and sober immersed the viewer into the moment so well, I think I got a contact high. There was green-screen work on scenes you would never expect, in order to layer images to make the flow of the movie even more spectacular.
   If you've been a follower of this blog, you may have realized that I love those little hidden gems and nods to the originals. One of those special moments happened at the end of the movie. Don't worry, there's no spoiler to the plot here. The actual Jordan Belford introduces "himself" played by DiCaprio to the stage in the final scene. How awesome is that?
   So...do you think I over-stated it? If you're over 21, then go see for yourself. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.