Movie News and Reviews

(7/10) Fantastic Beasts is an occasionally problematic expansion of the Harry Potter mythos, that is ultimately entertaining and intriguing.

Synopsis

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is a Magizooligist hoping to write a book about every magical creature in existence. Things for wrong for Newt when he loses a creature while passing through New York, and a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, witnesses him perform magic.

These events get him in big trouble with the American magical government, and he's forced to fix it.

Where Fantastic Beasts Succeeds

Fantastic Beasts breaks out of the normal Harry Potter setting by going outside of a school and also by going to America. This allows for a joint British and American production and an expansion of what the Wizarding World franchise is.

The actors are strong actors and do a great job, and the movie is as fantastical as the name implies. Overall, I was happier than I expected with the film, however it wasn't without flaws.

Where Fantastic Beasts Fails

This is probably really subjective but I feel like this film’s plot has a lot of explaining to do. It doesn't make an awful lot of sense if you think very hard about it, and a lot of that was very surface to me when I watched it.

I also felt like the whole Grindelwald thing was way too predictable in its outcome, and isn't on par with the mysteries that Harry Potter is known for.

Final Verdict

(7/10) Overall, I was pleased with the film and thrilled to have new stories in the Harry Potter universe that are both entirely new to me and not set within the walls of Hogwarts.

(7/10) Teen Titans is a fun kid’s movie that centers on childish humor but there’s no lack of subtle jokes to make the film enjoyable for adults.

Synopsis

Robin, the leader of the Teen Titans is upset that other heroes get movies but he doesn’t. Robin and the other Titans set out to get themselves an arch-nemesis, arguing that having a scary enemy would make them movie-worthy.

Where Teen Titans Go To The Movies Succeeds

Teen Titans Go To The Movies is a ton of fun and could be described as a kid-friendly alternative to Deadpool. It actually even mentions Deadpool.

There are tons of references for hardcore fans of DC comics, movies, animation, and even Marvel. It’s a lot of fun for anyone who likes superheroes and really any big movie buff.

I thought Will Arnett’s performance as Slade Wilson was his best performance all year, and honestly, the cast of this entire movie is just on point. The casting of both Nicholas Cage and Michael Bolton are both used as fantastic subtle jokes.

A lot of its jokes are far less subtle but it does do its more subtle jokes really well. I honestly think you'd have to watch it three or four times to catch every joke, and I already noticed a bunch of them.

Where Teen Titans Go To The Movies Fails

If there's anything I could remove or tone down it would be the poop jokes, the fart jokes, and the singing. I know it's a kid’s movie, but a kid’a movie can be smarter than a bunch of poop jokes. Which this film generally is.

Final Verdict

(8/10) Regardless of whether you are a comic book fan, movie fan, or superhero fan, everyone should watch Iron Man.

Synopsis

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the billionaire CEO of weapon manufacturing giant Stark Industries, is conducting weapons tests overseas when he is kidnapped by terroists. Forced to build the terrorists a devastating weapon, Stark instead builds an armored suit and escapes. Upon returning, Stark refines the suit and uses it to combat crime and terrorism.

Review

Iron Man was the first part of Marvel’s cinematic universe, and it definitely still holds up. Tony Stark is a very likeable character who manages to consistently bring laughs and Robert Downey, Jr. is exactly perfect in the role. They couldn’t cast a better Tony Stark.

The supporting cast take a noticeable backseat to Tony Stark, who spends a lot of the runtime by himself building the Iron Man suit.

Paul Bettany does a fabulous job as the AI software, Jarvis. His voice fits the role perfectly, and the performance lends itself nicely to the humor of the movie. Terrance Howard does a good job but that doesn’t matter does it?

For all of its strengths, this film has one major flaw: its villian, weak and underdeveloped. Jeff Bridges is absolutely wasted on the role of Obadiah Stane, whose motiviations for his wrongdoings seem flimsy. It’s really a shame since Stane had some very interesting tools, and Bridges’ villainous dilivery is always quite chilling.

I feel like these issues could’ve been resolved by giving him more time on screen, and fleshing him out a bit more. Some of Downey’s scenes could’ve been streamlined to foster more character growth for Stane and other characters.

Final Verdict

(8/10) Regardless of some flaws with the film’s antagonist, Iron Man is a 2000’s superhero film that still holds up today and it is probably as close to perfect as a superhero origin film can get. And it’s easily one of the most important films ever made, especially in the last ten years.

(10/10) If you care about caring and kindness, you should see Won't You Be My Neighbor. Don't forget tissues.

Synopsis

Filmmaker Morgan Neville examines the life and legacy of Fred Rogers, the beloved host of the popular children's TV show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Review

I don't review documentaries very much on this blog because most of the documentaries do a good job of showing you what they want to. I'm scoring this film based on how it made me feel as a person and because I think that it tells a very important story.

Fred Rogers is a personal hero of mine. He was a kind man who cared for others and taught children to care for others by teaching them about things like war, racism, divorce, and grief. He taught children about these things by working very hard to create hundreds of episodes of educational children's TV.

Like many documentaries, this film does a good job of telling his story. In fact I cried a lot watching it. There just aren’t many people like Fred Rogers.

Final Verdict

Synopsis

Steven Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a rich and successful doctor, with extreme talent. After a horrible car accident ruins his hands and prevents him from doing accurate surgery, he desperately searches for a way to repair them.

This leads him to The Great One (Tilda Swinton), a master of the mystical arts, who will teach him a great and powerful magic.

Where Doctor Strange Suceeds

Doctor Strange looks completely insane in the coolest way, and accomplishes its mission of taking one of the weirdest comic book characters and adapting it to the screen.

That being said, Doctor Strange is basically just Iron Man, but with magic. Basically, a rich jerk with a goatee gets into a debilitating predicament and must use their own skills to engineer a life-changing situation.

While Tony Stark became Iron Man, Dr. Steven Strange became Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystical Arts and protector of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

Doctor Strange is a better movie than Iron Man. It tells the same basic story, and has the same villain flaws, but it does those same things with a brilliant visual style.

The casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as Steven Strange is impeccable. It’s almost as if the character literally jumped out of a comic book. It doesn’t hurt, that Cumberbatch is an award-winning and renowned actor.

Final Verdict

Although Marvel’s Doctor Strange is very similar to their first film, Iron Man, it manages to offer us a unique visual design. Something that was previously unseen (at least to this level) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s definitely worth a watch.

(10/10) There is a reason that this classic kid's film is still 100% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Synopsis

Woody (Tom Hanks), a cowboy doll, is worried he won't be Andy's favorite toy anymore when a Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) action figure enters the house. To make things worse, Buzz thinks he's a real spaceman on a very important mission. After a few mistakes, Woody and Buzz find themselves in the clutches of Andy's horrifying neighbor, Sid (Erik von Detten). Now, the toys must find a way to escape and get back home.

Review

Toy Story takes an interesting premise (toys that are alive) and interjects the ideas of jealousy, and missing identity, into a short and sweet buddy-comedy that completely revolutionized computer animation.

Tim Allen and Tom Hanks are fantastic in the lead roles, entertaining the viewer by constantly bickering with one another. Their dynamic is the backbone of this movie and, like the rest of the story and the characters, it really stands up.

The supporting cast of other famous actors (Jim Varney, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, etc.) round out a supporting cast of interesting new toys, and even some licensed toys. Sidenote: Laurie Metcalf plays Andy's mom. Didn't even know that! 

Randy Newman's music is used to stunning effect, underpinning the feelings and emotions of the characters who keep their emotions mostly concealed.

The computer animation isn't exactly stunning by today's standards, but it is still the first full-length computer-animated film, and still one of the best.

Final Verdict

Hi, there everyone! Been noticing a few people following and engaging with the posts! That's super exciting! It's one of the main reasons that I moved over to Tumblr.

Because of that I also wanted to let everyone know that I make videos too! Like this!

If you like the blogs I write then I'm sure you'll like my movie based video content as well. I've been making videos for a long time, and I really enjoy it.

Also, sorry I'm only posting a few times every few days. I'd love to post more, because I do watch loads of movies but right now my wife is pregnant and everything is super hectic. Soon, I'll be off work for a few days and I'll update the banners and line breaks and pull over some old reviews, and in the meantime I'll try to keep posting everything I can.

Thanks for reading!

(7/10) Better than the original, but still a musical.

Synopsis

It's 2018, Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep) has passed away, and her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is planning a wedding for herself, hoping that it will be something her mother would've loved. This puts the story into a reflection of young Donna's (Lily James) life in 1979. On her journeys, she makes the acquaintances of Harry (Hugh Skinner), Bill (Josh Dylan) and Sam (Jeremy Irvine), while also becoming acquainted with her future home.

Where Here We Go Again Succeeds

If you read my recent review of Mamma Mia, you might be surprised to hear that I actually had an enjoyable time watching the second film. Like many other good sequels Here We Go Again is much bleaker than the original. Donna Sheridan has died and everyone is sad about it, even while planning for Sophie’s wedding. This allows them to tell stories of Donna’s past which parallel Sophie’s present. In a lot of ways, this is a rehash of the original but the writers have gone into more depth, giving this film a lot more purpose than the original. It's a sequel and a prequel and it's honestly pretty effective. I'm not a huge fan of the songs, but Waterloo and Mamma Mia are pretty fun numbers, with Waterloo being my personal favorite. It's charming and fun and fully embraces the absurdity of musicals.

Where Here We Go Again Fails

A lot of the movie is very cringey. The unending musical numbers constantly interrupt the story, and not all of the songs are the best. Young Bill came off as particularly sketchy to me.

This movie isn’t the best, but you will probably enjoy it if you enjoy musicals.

Final Verdict

(5/10) Book Club isn't anything you haven't seen before.

Synopsis

Diane (Diane Keaton) is a widower looking for love. Vivian (Jane Fonda) has chosen a career over love. Carol (Mary Steebburgen) is married but her and husband haven’t been intimate in a long time. Sharon (Candice Bergen) has been divorced for eighteen years and is considering dating again.

Together, these four older women are part of a book club. A book club which has apparently run out of book choices and has decided to reach into the bottom of the barrel and read Fifty Shades Of Grey, a sexual fetish handbook/Twilight fan fiction.

Review

Thankfully for everyone, a knowledge of Fifty Shades Of Grey isn’t a necessity to follow the movie. In fact, the movie isn't even rated-R and hardly mentions the book at all, which is kind of weird for a movie called book club. But it allows the movie to stand on its own, so I guess it’s okay.

The movie tells each of the characters stories side by side. Diane meets a ’charming’ pilot. Vivian is falling for an old flame. Carol can't get her husband to satisfy her. Sharon hasn't played in a long time. It’s basically four romantic comedies at the same time.

However, despite focusing on an original story instead of focusing on Fifty Shades, it doesn't actually manage to tell an original story. The characters are all classic romantic comedy tropes, they are everything you would expect and there's not much else to say about it.

Final Verdict

(5/10) Mamma Mia is occasionally fun but it's sort of pointless and very forced.

Author’s Note: I am not a huge fan of musicals and I know nothing about the play. Any criticism is based on the movie solely.

Synopsis

Longing to discover the identity of her true father Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) has invited a trio of her mother Donna’s (Meryl Streep) ex-lovers (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård) to her wedding. Donna's lifelong friends Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski) will both be present at the wedding, but only Sophie knows about the arrival of her parental candidates.

Where Mamma Mia Succeeds

The film is well shot, and the setting is beautiful. The story is simple but mostly entertaining with a lot of strong performance from stellar actors and actresses.

Meryl Streep is the star of the show. However, strong actors such as play really well in this film and offer a good deal of entertaining comic relief.

The story isn't terribly well put together but the charming cast, stellar cinematography, and fabulous choreography almost carry the movie through its downfalls.

Where Mamma Mia Fails

Downfalls such as stopping to sing an ABBA song every few moments. I know that is the whole point but, I have to say that a lot of the songs feel very clunky and very forced.

I’m not a fan of musicals. I think they are a generally bad way to tell a story. I think they work better as a live show, and this is no exception.

Sure, it’s well choreographed and some of the actors are pretty strong, but the overall story feels super weak and even worse; pointless.

By the end of the film nothing has really changed, and the character development is sparse. Ultimately, it feels like a lackluster use of 90 minutes despite the film’s strengths.

Final Verdict

(1/10) I'm not sure it should even rank at one, but in the event that my eyes are cursed with witnessing an even poorer quality movie, I'm leaving some wiggle room.

Synopsis

The film follows Max (Ludacris), a CGI police dog, and Frank (Will Arnett), a human FBI agent, who are forced to work together to find a stolen baby panda, even though they don’t get along. Oh, man! I just can’t believe it.

The two disgruntled co-workers are forced to compete together in a dog show to track down the baby panda because that's where their information led. This leads them to meet other dogs voiced by other famous people. These dogs say stupid things in annoying voices for the rest of the movie, and that's about it.

Where Show Dogs Fails

Honestly, I hated watching this, and I don't even want to talk about it. It's poorly animated, and poorly written. I have nothing good to say. At one point, I had considered I was just too jaded to enjoy it. Then, a dog stood up and started dancing on a runway. Seriously.

The plot is baffling. The jokes are idiotic. The special effects are some of the worst in a very long time. Talking dog movies are generally bad, and this is no different at all. Show Dogs is the latest in a long line of bad talking dog movies, and it might actually be the worst one. I expected this to be a disaster, to be totally honest.

It has gained some notoriety for a really weird subplot about the genital examination aspect of dog shows. I don’t think it's fair to compare it to sexual consent, but it was definitely weird, and it shouldn't have been in the movie. The cast shouldn't have been either.

Shaq should've stayed away. Ludacris should've stayed away. Natasha Lyonne should've stayed away. And for goodness' sake, Will Arnett should've stayed away. I have no earthly idea how the heavily concussed minds behind this film actually managed to cast these celebrities, or why they agreed. I'd say money, if I had to guess, but I wish it weren't that easy.

Consensus

(10/10) X2 is a masterpiece. It is masterfully arranged sequel that everyone should see.

Synopsis

After a mysterious mutant attack on The President, he allows William Stryker (Brian Cox) to detain Professor Xavier’s (Sir Patrick Stewart) school for mutants. Unbeknownst to the president the attack was Stryker’s doing and he plans to kill all mutants.

With Xavier and Cyclops (James Marsden) missing in action, it's up to Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Magento (Sir Ian Mckellan), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) and the X-Men (Famke Jansen, Anna Pacquin, Hallie Berry, Shawn Ashmore, and Aaron Stanford) to stop Stryker from eradicating their entire race.

Where X2 Succeeds

The second X-Men film excels at expanding upon what the first film did, and it is honestly better in every single respect.

The acting is on point. My personal favorite Magneto is back again. He's got some awesome moments and he is a good guy this time. Mystique is also more fleshed out and takes a bigger role in the film.

Even against modern superhero films, X2 is one of the best. The nature of the story allows you to learn things with the characters, and when you finally understand everything that's happened, it raises the stakes. This film really starts to further explore the power of Xavier and Jean and is well remembered for it's importance to Wolverine's character.

Where X2 Fails

With all of the good that I have to say about X2, I still have one major complaint. It's actually a complaint of the X-Men franchise in general:

They keep wasting Cyclops.

This movie is easily one of the best superhero movies ever made. It might not be visually impressive by today’s standards but it is a wonderful story, and it is so sad that it’s potential was wasted with X-Men 3.

Sure, they could make a better X-Men movie now, but considering what the first film set up, this is a perfect sequel.

Final Verdict

(4.5/10) Hotel Transylvania 3 has an entertaining visual style and some funny moments but languishes in a lot of mind-numbing stupidity.

Synopsis

A few months after Hotel Transylvania 2, Dracula (Adam Sandler) is feeling a bit lonely and thinking about dating again. Misinterpreting this as work stress his daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), plans a cruise for their entire family and all of their closest friends.

While on the Monster Cruise Ship, Dracula becomes attracted to the ship's mysterious captain Ericka (Kathryn Hahn), the great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), a notorious monster slayer and Dracula's ancient archenemy.

Where Hotel Transylvania 3 Succeeds

The third installment in the hotel Transylvania series is an interesting one. The film definitely has an interesting premise and a distinct visual style that is the source of a lot of great comedy.

Additionally, the entire cast should be commended on how appropriate their performances are to their characters.

However, despite a few good laughs and some decent acting, this film has several shortcomings.

Where Hotel Transylvania 3 Fails

Where this film starts to fall apart is in its delivery. A lot of the jokes in this film have been made hundreds of times in the movies and they are incredibly juvenile.

And, yes, I know it's a kids film but I have seen kids movies that made me laugh harder with smarter jokes. For instance, if you haven't seen Incredibles 2 that would be a much better pick right now than this. (My review of Incredibles 2 can be found here)

A lot of humor comes from the animations and the absurdity of the film. Very few jokes that the characters spoke actually elicited a response from me.

The ending was ghastly. It was absurd like the rest of the film, but it was absurd that it came off as just plain stupid. I can't say more about the ending without spoiling it, but it was downright aggravating.

Final Verdict