Theatrical Review: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Date: Saturday July 1 2023
Time: 11:40am (movie started at 12:05)
Party: 2 (my mom and I)

Review:

Introduction 

I might one day go back and write about the other films in this series but for now, I’ll do my best to discuss this one without giving too much away.

In a world of franchises and remakes, there are two kinds of people. Those who hold a torch for the earlier/original films so any attempt at a modern interpretation will be met with low expectations and/or won’t be good enough. And those who enjoyed the older movies and enjoy the new ones anyway.
This has happened so far with the latest Star Wars trilogy and the Jurassic World trilogy. They have their naysayers and detractors but they still have fans.

Speaking from personal experience, our attitude about these movies has been the same. They might not live up to the hype or compare to the original films— but we’re just as happy to return to these fictional worlds anyway.

In the early years of my parents’ relationship, my dad took my mom to see the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies. She’s has a fondness for them (and Harrison Ford) ever since while my dad jokes about regretting doing so. He makes playful jabs at us about our various fandoms but it’s all in good fun.

Obviously once this film was announced, it was a given that we’d go to a theater to see it. What we didn’t expect was finding the time to do it on opening weekend and the theater had plenty of openings.

In the Context of the Franchise 

Was it as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark or Last Crusade? Probably not.
Was it better than the panned “installment hardcore fans considered so embarrassing they pretend it never happened” Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Probably…
I know most Indiana Jones fans hated the Crystal Skull for various reasons but we still enjoyed it.
It’s one of maybe two films in the series my sister will watch with us. For one of the reasons a lot of people wrote it off for.

For better or worse, this film did a couple of things as their not-so-subtle way of sweeping the Crystal Skull under the rug.
They not only wrote Shia LaBeouf out of the story but the fate of his character became the reason Marion wound up filing for a separation. Which is where we find Indy at the start of the film (after a lengthy flashback to the mid 40's).

What the heck did happen to Shia LaBeouf anyway? I never really got a straight answer... other than him being another Disney Channel alum that lost it and faded away into obscurity. Or at least became a walking punchline...

Movie Discussion 

In terms of writing, the movie was good. Maybe a little overblown and unbelievable at some points but what Indiana Jones movie isn’t?
If you spend enough time with these movies, you recognize a pattern and the cliches that are bound to follow. It might take a little away from the suspense but ultimately it’s best to buckle up and enjoy the ride.

The titular object is an invention of Greek mathematician Archimedes.

For those unaware, that’s the same man who coined the term “eureka,” leapt out of his bathtub and ran to the king’s palace naked to divulge his latest discovery. The principle involved how objects of different masses displaced different amounts of water— not sure how true the rest of the story is but I always found it hilarious.

Anyway, the clock is essentially a Time Machine and the nazis (yeah, there’s always nazis in these movies…) led by Mads Mikkelsen want to find it to rewrite history.
This entourage has the typical cast of characters. The leader/mastermind. The trigger-happy sharpshooter. The strong man of few words (don’t think he had a single line in the whole movie).
The scene stealer was Mason (played Shaunette Renée Wilson). Her character deserved more screen time than she got- simply on the grounds that she was the moral compass of the group. Or at least the antithesis of Mr. “Shoot first ask questions later”.
Reminded me of Lally Hicks (Jessica Williams) from the latest Fantastic Beasts movie. There’s been a lot of demand for strong well-written black female characters and both are prime examples of that being done right.

One interesting thing that sets this movie apart from the others.
Typically Indiana Jones is a man of two worlds. He teaches archeology in college and he pursues archeological relics in his spare time. (Or is it the other way around?)
In this movie, the line separating the two realities blurs and vanishes. He’s actually confronted by the Nazis when he’s still in a civilian environment. Considering he doesn’t have his trusty fedora and whip on hand (plus he’s not as young as he used to be), he handles himself pretty well.
It was sort of like when a superhero is caught off guard by a villain when they’re not currently in their suit. Like Iron Man 3 or halfway through the original Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie.

The triggering incident is when his goddaughter, Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) shows up out of the blue and demands to know what he knows about the dial.
Apparently it was an object her father (Toby Jones) was so obsessed with that it drove him to madness and her ultimate goal is to make a load of money off it.
It just so happens he has half of it in his possession. Which is why the Nazis come after him— although they’re really after her because they know she’s been pursuing it. She’s gotten a big reputation for selling a lot of antiquities on the black market. Meaning she’s gained a lot of enemies.

This results in a multitude of wide goose chases spanning the globe. You never really know what side she’s on. Her only ally is Teddy (Ethann Isidore), a teenage pickpocket she picked up off the streets of Morocco. He fulfills a similar role to Short Round in "Temple of Doom" but today's P.C. culture ensures he's not just another stereotype.

If there’s one big negative about this movie, it’s one too many chase scenes. It opens up with one that goes back to 1944 and it feels like 15-20 minutes before you’re allowed to take a breath. The visual effects that made Harrison Ford look the way he did in the Last Crusade (the events of which take place 5-6 years before this one) are really well done and we get a good introduction to the main bad guy and Toby Jones. But it was maybe a little too long.
And there were way too many Nazis on that train ride…
The older Indiana Jones movies probably had the same amount of chase scenes but they didn’t last nearly as long. At least I don’t think they did… might be worth looking into.

Part of the journey is tracking down the second half of the dial. This leads us to an underwater expedition led by Antonio Banderas. There’s no snakes but there are eels. It’s a funny moment where someone comments that eels are like snakes and Indy is like “no they’re not” in this whiny tone so unlike him.

What the Nazis plan to do with the device and whether they succeed… that’s part of the fun. Although I kept thinking about how much time is left and how far things would go before reaching that terrifying point of no return.
Let’s just say that they succeed… and then fail in a completely unexpected way.

Grade: A-


Trailers


1. Oppenheimer

- I've spoken on this plenty of times already... it'll probably do really well at the box office and come award season

2. a 4th Expendables movie

- I hadn't seen any in this franchise so I can't say too much. But based on the first few seconds, Jason Stratham and Megan Fox being married and fighting each other-- I thought this was going to be another Mr. and Mrs. Smith movie.

3. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning part 1

- as if it wasn't enough in a previous MI movie, Tom Cruise was hanging off the side of a plane taking off. Now he's on a bike and diving off a mountain... and that's probably just the tip of the iceberg

4. Gran Turismo

- same preview I saw during Mario. Don't need to add further comment

5. The Marvels

- might see this when it comes out... they're making it out to be very humorous and light-hearted

6. Next Goal Wins

- another "based on a true story" sports movie about a coach taking on an underdog team. This time, it involves soccer

7. Haunted Mansion

- I never saw the Eddie Murphy version but I also can't help but wonder why this was being made again... although the special effects look good and Owen Wilson is always entertaining to watch. At least for me

Theatrical Review: Star Wars Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker

Date: Sunday December 29 2019
Time: 10:35am*
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Director: J.J. Abrams
Composer: John Williams

Cast:
Rey- Daisy Ridley
Rylo Ren/Ben Solo- Adam Driver
Poe Dameron- Oscar Isaac
Finn- John Boyeda
General Leia- Carrie Fischer (RIP 2016)
General Hux- Domnhall Gleeson
General Pryde- Richard E. Grant
Lando Calarissan- Billy Dee Williams
Emperor Palpatine- Ian McDiarmid

Duration: 142 minutes (+10 trailers)

Opening Remarks

Going to be doing things a little bit differently... because I'm probably going to spend many paragraphs fuming about how many commercials and trailers we had to sit through... I decided to move the movie discussion to the front of the post and the other stuff to the back.
It'll all be there for anyone who cares to hear some strong opinions.
Why include it at all? This blog is about being a "movie-goer"... that includes the entire experience.

But here's the Star Wars part of the post...

The Star Wars Part of the Post

I'm not going to give anything major away, other than what was in the cast list..
It's kinda unfortunate, really... they spent all this time and effort bringing down the Emperor Sith in "Return of the Jedi"... Darth Vader gave his life to defeat him and save Luke from obliteration. And it was for nothing... unless you want to get into the psychological conversation about how they felt fulfilled for doing what they thought was right...
It also makes for an interesting final battle involving this guy. But what I find strange... there's talk about ending the Jedi so the Sith can prevail... aren't they all Jedi anyway? They all can manipulate The Force and use lightsabers. Am I missing something? 

But this battle is just one of many moments where it was great culmination of everything in the series. Well, everything except for maybe the prequel trilogy... it seems like the powers that be want to pretend they didn't exist. 
This movie is easily the best of this last trilogy... it's just too bad it's the final installment. When they finally get everything right and all the pieces are together.

Of course, I'm sure there are people that will complain... there always are... that there weren't enough casualties on the good side or how much of this movie was fan service to the fanboys (and fangirls) of this franchise. 
So what? Many of us hardcore Star Wars fans will be very happy with this movie and how everything went down.

Anyone curious about how Carrie Fischer was used in the movie, considering much of it was filmed after she'd passed away (she and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, were the final casualties of the horrific year that was 2016-- I'm speaking about celebrity deaths specifically)... they had enough footage of her where she was given the tribute she deserved. 

One part I really liked about this movie was how much of the new core trio was together. One thing that really annoys me about ensemble casts in movie and TV is where they are constantly split apart and worrying about each other and having to find a way to reunite while trying to complete their main objective. 
Rey, Poe and Finn spent a lot of time together and if they were split apart, it was temporary. More often than not, it was Rey who separated from the others, but she had her reasons. I was waiting for her to do what Luke did in "Return of the Jedi"- he left the camp of rebels because he thought his presence was putting everyone in danger. 

There were some light moments scattered throughout with bits of humor. Unlike the previous film, they didn't feel too forced. The exchange between Poe and General Hux in the previous movie... yeah, it was kinda lame and cheesy and not quite in line with the humor the series typically has. Some jokes, they tried a little too hard, but others were well played. 
C3PO has some comical moments that didn't lean on the Abbott/Costello routine he and R2D2 typically have. There's one part where the trio needs him to translate something in a Sith language and he says something in his programming forbids it. I don't know what it was, but his dialogue sounded a lot like something Sheldon from "Big Bang Theory" would say. The similarity between them was SCARY. 
What's funny is that he got compared to C3PO once by Leonard and Sheldon shakes his head and says "...I'm flattered, but I just don't see it." 

The amount of screentime Oscar Isaac had between this and the previous movie... more than made up for the fact he was M.I.A. for much of "The Force Awakens"... we also get to find out more of his past and how that comes about is a nice touch. In their travels, Finn also meets fellow former Storm Troopers and they contribute to the Resistance in the final battle. Particularly the lead female of the group. 
There's a lot of great strong female characters in this movie. I'm glad they brought back Rose, who was a scene-stealer in the previous movie. But it feels like her role in the Resistance got vastly reduced. I'm just saying they could have given her more to do.

Probably the one thing I can't go into is what happens with Kylo Ren's character because that's a huge part of the movie. His connection with Rey only intensifies... how they use it may be a bit of a stretch for some people... but it gets used in a lot of creative ways, accomplishing things that couldn't have been otherwise.

The writing from start to finish was really good and there wasn't a moment where things were too slow moving or boring. Some of it, I found myself predicting... some of it was "I don't think this person is actually dead." But others were just inklings that a certain situation would play out a certain way. Maybe that makes the movie a little too predictable, but it kinda helps to be a Star Wars fan and to pay attention. 
The events of the film are kicked off by getting intel from a spy in the First Order. I had my suspicions of who it would be... it's kinda hilarious when their identity is revealed and how that's handled. 

Grade: A+
(I really can't take too much away from this movie. It's practically perfect... if you're a Star Wars fan who likes everything tied up in a nice bow) 

Theater Commentary

Now for some bits about the movies... we decided not to Fandango it because the movie had been out for at least a week. Maybe we should have. We were close to the front of the screen, row C in fact... so we had our heads kinked back to try to get the whole picture. There were a couple of warnings abound about there being strobe lighting that could cause seizures from this movie... there was nothing that intense. Possibly the lightning that comes from the Emperor's lair, but I can't think of much else.

There was barely anyone in the theater, but come 10 minutes to "movie time"-- it was nearly filled. Pretty impressive. There was one hilarious moment where the movie was finally starting and a guy nearby was like "oh, holy sh**", as if completely surprised the movie was finally starting. He had a good point.

Ok... so let me break it down...

the movie time we signed in for was 10:35... the trailers didn't start until 10:41... the movie itself didn't start until 11:07...
I mean, WHAT THE HELL? Granted, a movie like this was worth the wait... but considering that it takes half an hour to get to the theater, we sit through 100's of commercials in the meantime and most movies run over 2 hours... you use up an entire day just for a trip to the movies. It's ridiculous and it isn't necessary. 

Also- 10 trailers?! That's insane. Were any of the movies good? ...yeah, there were some that I'll definitely need to see. 
But that's not the point... 

Coming Attractions

Free Guy
Geesh... Ryan Reynolds has been freaking everywhere since he became Deadpool. I mean, we just saw him yesterday doing the voiceover for Pikachu in "Detective Pikachu" (yeah, I've got some thoughts for that too- just as a Pokémon fan going on 20 years).
I don't know if this movie is supposed to be Grand Theft Auto or an ode to video games... it starts with everyone doing what they're supposed to be doing, but then he decides to play hero and he enters another world. Not sure where it's going to lead, though

Dolittle
Yeah, this will be my first movie of next year. Anything to shake off the funk leftover from Endgame... I have not seen anything with RDJ since that movie... but it looks interesting. I'm just glad it's not going to be a remake of the Rex Harrision musical. They're taking the idea of a person who talks to animals to new heights. 
I gotta say that they're doing a bang-up job on Twitter promoting this. There was a 2 minute promo where they were auditioning the animals portraying iconic movie scenes with RDJ (without the British accent) giving feedback. It's hilarous! 

Tenet
The star of this movie is John David Washington, Denzel's son. I'd gotten to know him as Ricky Jared from "Ballers"... maybe it's that Denzel swag, but no matter how rotten his character could be at points, I could never bring myself to write him off.  All this time later, I can't remember much about this trailer, but supposedly he gets ushered into another realm called "The Afterlife" and it's an action movie. It's also directed by Christopher Nolan, so it might have some similarites to Inception.

Top Gun: Maverick
During "Noovie," they had a brief moment where they were talking about the new air-based technology they were going to use for the pilot sequences in this movie. So it makes sense that it was going to be part of this brigade of trailers. And it lookes IMPRESSIVE. I mean, it'll probably conjure up a lot of nostalgia for the fans of the original (and yeah I'm one of them), but it should be interesting to see how Maverick does as a Top Gun instructor. The fact Miles Teller will be part of it as Goose's son, that's going to make things very interesting. Unfortunately, the trailer doesn't give us a lot to go on as far what happens in the story.

Wonder Woman 84
Wonder Woman is back... and she's going to be kicking butt in the 80's... that and the fact her love interest, Steve, is mysteriously back from the dead... I don't have much more to go on. But cuz I love anything 80's, I'm game for anything!

Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar
I honestly don't know what the hell this is supposed to be... it's a teaser trailer that's oddly self-depracating. There's one line where they joke about sitting through 45 minutes of movie trailers and how they sometimes do that and leave right after... makes me wonder how many people are tempted to do that... 
But I feel like these are characters we should be aware of, but I'd never heard of them before. It could be completely hilarious, but I don't have a lot to go on. 

1917
I guess they're really pushing this movie. Cuz it's R-rated and they're showing a trailer for it in a theater that might include children. Granted, there's nothing R-rated in the trailer or anything over the top. But it's kinda nuts how much they're pushing this movie. On the other hand, people are saying it's supposed to be one of the best WWI movies ever made and how there aren't many about The Great War... WWII steals its thunder about as much as Vietnam does from Korea

Black Widow
FINALLY this movie is happening... and it looks like it's gonna be AMAZING. Natasha is going back to face her past and we get to meet her family. I just hope we got more flashbacks like we did during Age of Ultron to go more into her backstory because I don't know a lot. Her sister seems like she's as much a bad-ass as she is... but I just hope she doesn't wind up being her enemy the way they did with "The Girl In the Spider's Web"... I still feel ripped off that Lisbeth was nothing like "Black Widow" cuz I thought that's what I was signing up for. (That's the first and last time I'm ever watching a Dragon Tattoo movie. That and I can't stand it when a character has to constantly fight back in constraining situations)

Onward
I went into this Pixar movie before... I have no interest in seeing it, so I won't go any futher. 

Mulan
Dang, this looks impressive... at the same time, I have problems... Shun Yu has a female assassin assisting him? Mulan has a younger sister? This movie is already about female empowerment, they don't need to overdo it. I mean, wasn't China back in those days about the 1 child policy? It also looks like Shun Yu's cohort shapeshifts into his falcon- if so, that wouldn't be so bad.
But it looks like Mulan isn't going to be a klutz and there's no sign of Mushu... the movie has some light comedic moments amid the drama... are they just taking that out completely? 
I'm still going to go see it cuz I gotta, but still... It's one thing to try to be more historically accurate, but it's another to shove an agenda down our throats because that's what is "in" right now.  

...speaking of that, they did have a moment in Star Wars where there was a kiss between two females after the end of the final battle that got edited out in some foreign countries... first of all, shame of them for still being in the Dark Ages about these things. And second, to me, it wasn't too over the top. It was just one small part of the whole picture. 

Theatrical Review: Avengers- Endgame

Date: Sunday April 28, 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater at Stroud Mall
Time: 12 noon
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo

Cast:
(oh god... so many...)

Tony Stark/Iron-Man- Robert Downey Jr. 
Steve Rogers/Captain America- Chris Evans
Thor- Chris Hemsworth
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow- Scarlet Johansson
Clint Barton/Hawkeye- Jeremy Renner
Bruce Banner/The Hulk- Mark Ruffalo
Rocket- Bradley Cooper
Pepper Potts- Gwyneth Paltrow
Rodey/War Machine- Don Cheadle
Scott Lang/Ant-Man- Paul Rudd
Nebula- Karen Gillan
Thanos- Josh Brolin
Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel- Brie Larson
Peter Parker/Spider-man- Tom Holland
Doctor Stephen Strange- Benedict Cumberbatch
Peter Quill/Star-Lord- Chris Pratt
Gamora- Zoe Saldana
Groot- Vin Disel
Drax- Dave Bautista
Mantis- Pom Klementieff
T'Challa/Black Panther- Chadewick Bosman
Sam Wilson/Falcon- Anthony Mackie
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier- Sebastian Stan
Okoye- Danai Gurira

...if I forgot ANYONE, I'm really sorry... it's a lot to remember... 

Duration: 181 minutes (+ 7 minutes)... ok, the last LOTR movie was 3 hours and 21 minutes... so this movie wasn't nearly as long as that, but it came close... 

Opening Commentary
I was actually trying to hold off on doing this as long as I could... but considering I had a dream last night where I attempt to tell one of these people how great they were in these movies, the time is about right to do it... admittedly, it's been a weird past couple of weeks and I'd been in a weird state of mourning between a lot of different things in my work life and personal life and this movie added a bit on a top of that... 
However, I will try my best to go into this movie without spoiling anything... as much as there are some things I really do want to go into, that will be a separate post. It's something that will need to be done... after all, I did invest a lot of time and money into keeping up with these movies since 2010. It's a big investment monetarily as well as emotionally. And above all else, it's difficult saying goodbye. I will still see Marvel movies (I'm already looking at Spider-Man for sure), just not every single one. It'll be all about the characters involved. 

As for seeing the movie itself... I feel kinda lucky I got there that first weekend. Granted, this theater is has a couple dozen movie houses, so they're able to show it on multiple screens. But the fact the first 2 shows were sold out and we had to wait to see the 12 noon showing, yeah, that tells you all you need to know. 
We went into the theater and literally sat there for 90 minutes waiting for it. The one big negative I take away from this... they are pumping music through the speakers so it's not completely quiet, but it's the same program played on a loop... at least 5-6 songs they played several times... they do this "Noovie" thing before even showing commercials and trailers and that didn't even come on until T-15 minutes. It's just a pet peeve of mine to have things repeated. Come the third time, I just put on my iPod. I got through Side A of "Abbey Road" before the screen turned on-- it was a good way to kill time for sure. 

Trailers... yeah roughly 17 minutes of trailers on top of an already long movie... at least we did bathroom breaks before all this cuz there was no point in the movie where I could have left and come back without missing anything

"21 bridges"- not only written/directed by the Russo brothers, but it stars Black Panther himself, Chadewick Bosman. Kudos for them putting this guy into position to make more great movies. I just hope this was a good movie. Supposedly, this is about trying to hunt down a cop killer and they have to close the 21 bridges leading in and out of the city to do so. It's also very current and topical and if it's well-received, will stir up some good conversation. 

"Hobbs and Shaw"- I already voiced my opinion on the Fast & Furious series... pass!!

"Godzilla: King of the monsters"- my dad loves Godzilla movies, so he'll probably want to see this one. Supposedly 17+ monsters have risen and are threatening mankind and they want to bring Godzilla to take care of them. Particularly the alpha. All the while, they're playing some version of "Somewhere over the rainbow"... don't know why, but it got me a little choked up. Somewhat of a weird music choice, but this haunting rendition oddly worked...

"Dark Phoenix"- the more I see trailers for this, the more I think I might be interested in seeing it... Jean Grey has always been a tortured character and it really goes all in.

"Men in Black: International"- yeah, I don't think this necessarily needed a remake. And another nod to Marvel- it has Thor and Valkyrie (Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson) teamed up as H & M... it did have some funny jokes, though... 

"Lion King"- first time I'm seeing a proper trailer for this... it looks AMAZING... wow, this is gonna be a great year for Disney movies

"Star Wars- the Rise of Skywalker"- this was a teaser trailer really... but considering how the Last Jedi ended, the title confuses me a bit... unless it turns out that Kylo Ren lied and Rae  really is related to someone we knew from the original trilogy. 
The other night, I saw Return of the Jedi for the first time since Luke came back in the previous movie... it was a little strange... also the fact Luke's Jedi powers seemed to have grown exponentially between episodes V and VI... 

The Main Event
Again, as spoiler free as I can manage... but I'll give the basic details...

We catch up with the Avengers remaining immediately following the events of Infinity War. And some of them got a rawer detail than others about the people that were lost... I just had to say "that's not fair!"... 
As shown in the trailers, Captain Marvel joins them and those remaining get to finally rectify the way the previous movie ended... my only question was... why couldn't they have just added these 10 minutes to the end of the previous movie? Maybe the ending of the previous movie wouldn't have been as somber... 

Then we catch up with everyone left 5 years later... you see those words come up and I'm thinking "whoa"... it kinda knocks the wind out of you.

However, despite all the time that has passed, a sentiment remains about fixing things. And this is brought into motion because Ant-Man comes back after being MIA... I did not see the most recent Ant-Man movie, so I was completely lost about the events that transpired. (yeah, I'd seen all of the movies but this one and it wound up being the most crucial detail... go figure!)
And the solution is... wait for it... TIME TRAVEL... 
pretty much every pop culture reference is made in relation to this and I cheered when "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" was among them. Love that movie. 

One fascinating turn of events... Tony Stark's role in all this... back with the Ultron saga, he was the one who wanted to "build a suit of armor around the world" and everyone thought he was crazy... he's the only one who isn't really into this because he'd actually moved on and found his happy ending. But Captain America, who still never got over losing his past (after being defrosted and after these 5 years), is the one pushing for this chance at fixing things. It's almost like Civil War all over again where both of them take different sides on an issue and it's because Tony wavers in his position that the events follow as they do. 
Ultimately what we get from all this... those who have followed these characters after all this time know and understand why they decide to take the actions that they do... and actually, that's the theme for the entire movie. 

CGI comes into play a lot in these movies, but they really upped their game with physical transformations whether it's Tony being emaciated after being stuck in space for 21 days or what happens to Thor 5 years later (why they did that- I think it was strictly comic relief and Tony getting to finally use that Big Lebowski reference he'd been saving... I remember RDJ being on the red carpet, talking about how Jeff Bridges is "The Dude" and his son Indio had no idea what he was talking about)... it also made me think whether Thor and Aqua-Man have more similiarities than I realized. I got a very similar vibe and I'd only seen Aqua-Man in the Justice League movie. 

So with this movie... not going into great detail... 
I actually looked at my phone 3 times throughout the movie to try to gauge time stamps and I think I managed to get each hour perfectly. 

Hour 1- finishing off the previous movie, catching up with the characters, establishing where they are and getting the plan together
Hour 2- Time travel and putting those plans into action
Hour 3- the final epic battle with ALL the characters and the epilogue 

In this respect, the three hours really didn't feel that long at all. At least not to me. 

Much of this movie is fan service- it rewards the fans who saw all the movies because we get to revisit moments from previous films. And the dialogue makes dozens of references to previous movies. I think YouTube had a video that showed all 300+ Easter Eggs in this movie that harkened back to the previous ones. 
And all things considered, I got nearly all of the references and it felt empowering. Almost like following a book series and it's transitioned to the big screen and I get things that other people don't because I read the books. (Also a double-edged sword because I'm upset when things from the books are omitted or completely changed). 

These characters (and the actors playing them) are so well established that none of their actions are surprising at the end of the day. 
I liked how they focused more on Nat and Hawkeye's friendship. Instead of getting a few hints in the first few Avengers movie, they really get a lot of screen time together. I'm still hoping that they shoot a prequel where they really show what happens in Budapest. I just know they were both there and they "remember it very differently." There's so much call for a Black Widow movie, but why not have a movie with the both of them, their different bios and how their paths inevitably cross. Plus, as much as I wanted them to be romantically involved, they're not and it'd be good to see a movie with a male and female working together and it doesn't have that romance. Because romance more often than not ruins these things- particularly in TV shows. Castle and Blindspot are among several that went down or lost viewership because of that.

Of course the time travel thing isn't completely foolproof and one extra stop needs to be taken by Tony and Steve... where they go, I really had no clue about, but it was a really special scene for both of their characters. (This is also where Stan Lee makes his cameo).

One moment that happened made me think about "Heart and Souls" where RDJ makes a comment "It's been an emotional time for us all"... in the movie, he's the "corporeal being" that 4 departed souls use to complete unfinished business. The emotional exchange that happens makes sense for that particular person, but with him conveying the action, it's more than a little bizarre. Especially he had encountered this character a number of times throughout the movie and he happens to be connected to someone's unfinished business. 

The final battle is pretty insane... all the battles really are and they all get to a point where the actions more or less blur together... but like with the previous movie, it's absolutely painful how difficult Thanos is to kill... every single split second is crucial. And Doctor Strange mentioned how it was 1 chance out of 7 billion (it was some huge number- I forgot exactly what that they can win)... he wasn't kidding. 

I also got to thinking about Harry Potter and how that movie ended... and Snape's comment to Dumbledore when he reveals that Harry must face Voldemort when he's at his weakest... saying with sarcasm how he was raised as a lamb for slaughter.
It made me also wonder if certain characters were entrusted with the full truth of what would happen with this movie or these movies, just like J.K. Rowling told Snape what happened with his character. Apparently, that was true for at least one person. 

Yeah, everything in this movie happens exactly as it is meant to. Even how it ends and who makes it and who doesn't. I accept that there was a reason for all of it. I even said at the end of my post on Infinity War that I'd be ok with things ending a certain way... 
but it is nice to see character arcs finishing as well as small hints of future movies. 
There are no post-credits scenes. But it's just as well.
I'd like more Marvel movies... I just don't want all of them to build to a massive climax like this again. Not because it's emotionally taxing, but it's just a massive committment and I'm ready to move on. 

I revisited a bunch of the movies leading up to this... admittedly, I started getting sick of them... but after this, I was happy with the conclusion, but it's very bittersweet at the end of the day. 
It'll be a while before I watch anymore. But I know I at least have to rewatch Spiderman before the new movie comes out (plus I need subtitles to catch EVERYTHING going on- those first 10 minutes were going so fast, it gave me a headache) and Doctor Strange (cuz I got it for Christmas and still haven't watched it- I saw it in the theater ages ago and it's time to revisit that)

Grade: A
(pretty close to perfect, but I can't quite give it an A+... even if its length is justified, it's still an unnecessarily long movie)

Theatrical Review: Justice League

Date: Sunday, November 26 2017

Location: Cinemark Theater at Stroud Mall

Time: 12pm

Party: 3 (my mom, aunt and myself)

 

Director: Zach Snyder (of 300 and Watchman fame. I know him as the writer/director of SuckerPunch. The rest of the world probably knows him for Batman vs. Superman)

Writers: Chris Terrio (of Argo and Batman vs. Superman fame), Zach Snyder and Joss Whedon (TRAITOR!)

Composer: Danny Elfman (it's been a while...)

 

Cast:

Batman- Ben Affleck

Superman- Henry Cavill

Wonder Woman- Gal Gadot

The Flash- Ezra Miller

Aquaman- Jason Momoa

Ray Fisher- Cyborg

Lois Lane- Amy Adams

Steppenwolf- Ciaran Hinds

 

Duration: 120 hours (+7 trailers)

 

 

Opening remarks

 

Well... it finally happened. I thought this movie would never happen cuz- cmon- you can’t get Superman and Batman together in one movie. They’re just too huge.

But yeah the movie happened. Trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Marvel universe of superhero movies. The question is- is DC so late to the party with this movie that nobody cares for these movies anymore. Wonder Woman got the pot brewing again but perhaps this movie is a step backwards- depending if critic reviews and box office totals matter to you.

It was a full but not satiated theater. We got good seats with no tall people in front of us and we were in middle of the action. Some time the crowd laughed and they actually applauded at the end. Not ravenously but out of respect for a job well done. Or at least they found it enjoyable.

Trailers

There were so many I had to write them down on my phone so I wouldn’t forget any.

Black Panther

Like all marvel movies the action and scenery is fantastic. As a movie though I’m not sure if it holds a lot of interest for me. I might wait for the critics to sound off on this one. (As much as I don’t trust them half the time they were my deciding vote about seeing Wonder Woman.)

The Commuter

I saw Liam Neeson and I’m like “oh no it’s not another Taken movie is it? That family needs to never leave their house again). But nope it’s another Liam Neeson thriller- this time Vera Farmiga seems to be the sociopath he needs to cooperate with and then defeat. (She’s such a good psycho- I know this for a fact). With her in this movie, just maybe, it won’t be another cliched effort from this guy.

Rampage

It’s kinda like Mighty Joe Young meets genetic engineering/alien artifacts meets King Kong. Dwayne Johnson (who has been freaking everywhere lately- at least he’s not John Goodman) is a man who has a friendship with an albino gorilla. Not only is this friendship tested when the gorilla finds some sort of technology in the jungle and mutates into a giant, but there are other hostile animals also infected and involved. Considering this is from the same people behind San Andreas, I’m not holding my breath.

Pacific Rim Uprising

To fight giant aliens invading a city apparently you need giant robots. I knew this movie was coming from the Microsoft Surface commercials. Although later in the trailer, I thought it might be Halo. Except I think that world was post apocalyptic and they weren't giant robots. Either way, another pass.

Tomb Raider

Heard about this one as well. Geesh Alicia Vankander won an Oscar and all of a sudden she’s everywhere. Brie Larson too but that’s another movie.

Do we really need to resurrect this franchise? I didn’t like it the right time but I also don’t care a lot for Angelina Jolie.

A Quiet Place

This movie looks creepy as hell. The trailer is shown with no dialogue and no sounds except music that builds until the end.

Supposedly real life husband and wife John Kraskowski and Emily Blunt and their family live in a cabin in the woods and can’t make a sound cuz if they do they’ll alert a terrifying creature. :shudder:

Deadpool 2

I almost forget all about this one LMAO.

Yeah it’s a funny teaser trailer where Deadpool does his best Bob Ross inspiration. Keep an eye on the painting and how it changes.

Then we get a major flurry of activity and footage I can’t make heads or tails of. Anyway- the only movie out of these I’m excited for.

Considering how few movies I’d seen this year (in theater and at home) I hadn’t been excited about many movies at all lately.

The Main Attraction

 

Yeah... there are different parties involved but like the Avengers movie, the earth is under attack from alien forces and superheroes need to come together. Except the villain is an ancient being from another dimension that dates back as far as the Amazons (like Wonder Woman) and Atlantans (like Aquaman). And instead of S.H.I.E.L.D. it’s Bruce Wayne getting everyone together.

Some participants (like Aquaman and newly created Cyborg) are unwilling at first but everyone eventually comes together.

And there’s also a plot about resurrecting Superman cuz they apparently can’t do this without him.

 

Good news first: Ezra Miller (who I know best as Patrick from “The peeks of being a wallflower”) is great as The Flash as the token young guy still getting to know his newfound super powers. He had some hilarious jokes and one scene where he ate a whole pizza pie. My aunt said he needs to eat a lot. Considering his powers it’s easy to see why.

Cyborg was the reluctant participant, nearly into his transformation and we get a good back story how he was a promising athlete and tragedy befell him. But as a result everyone he knew but his father believe he’s dead.

There’s also a funny running joke (not that kind of running- although the flash is involved) how he keeps trying to fist bump Cyborg but the timing is never right.

Wonder Woman is maybe the glue holding everything together. Not just the group but the whole movie. She still feels like a breath of fresh air. Not as naive as she was in her origin movie (clearly a lot has happened between those events and her cameo in Batman vs Superman- which I still haven’t seen but maybe should to fill some gaps for myself) but yeah, Gal Gadot is great.

Of course I’ll keep with the avengers comparisons and maybe it’s cuz they’re both female but she kinda occupies the same field as Black Widow. But I like Wonder Woman more right now- I’m still kinda mad that they put her and hulk together as a possible romantic pairing just cuz the avengers apparently HAVE to have one. (No, it doesn’t...)

 

Then Aquaman gets involved cuz the villain paid him a visit in his home world as well... my compliments to the writers on this... I was so terrified when this villain visited his world and wonder woman’s that their entire families would be massacred cuz that’s what the cliche is. They didn’t. And I am so grateful cuz that just would have been painful. Especially after falling for the Amazons in the Wonder Woman movie. Not to mention they are bad asses and if they were all killed, it totally would have taken that away.

There, the compliments end. And I hate to say it but the issue lies with Ben affleck playing Batman. It just feels like nobody can play that role anymore. One too many recasts. (At least the kid from Gotham is still nailing a young Bruce Wayne- although not liking the destructive teenager story arc this current season has).

And I don’t really care for Ben affleck that much. Argo was maybe the one exception even though it was a long ass movie that had too many low boring points.

So it looks to me like Ben Affleck is getting this group together not Bruce Wayne and he made one comment how the aliens are going to affect climate change and ocean levels will raise. (Of course he says this to Aquaman and he doesn’t mind that... he adds that waters will also boil). Ugh! You and Leo, just shut the hell up! Do your jobs as actors and leave the politics out of it.

Also he goes toe to toe with Wonder Woman about how they respond to grief of lost loved ones and he said she couldn’t lecture him cuz she didn’t get over hers for years. Yeah, dude, but she eventually did. You haven’t and you’re insensitive to the fact she can’t bring hers back.

Once Superman is back in the mix, not as much screen time but maybe that’s why I thought he was good. Although it is kinda pitiful that the justice league can’t do this without him. The avengers have a demi God in Thor but he doesn’t contribute nearly as much as Captain America does and he isn’t as strong as him or Superman (although he is pretty strong- since he goes through punching bags pretty quickly).

But yeah all the action in the finale is great and it’s really cool how something the villain says throughout the movie winds up being his undoing.

It’s only a 2 hour movie but it felt like it took SO long to get there.

And as interesting as some of these character arcs are, I really don’t care enough about any of them to feel invested. That’s kinda what summed this all up for me.

Grade: B

Theatrical Review- Thor: Ragnorak

Date: Sunday, November 5th 2017
Location: Cinempolis in Roxbury Township, New Jersey
Time: 1:40 pm
Party: 3 (my mom, aunt and myself)

Director- Taika Waititi (his most significant credit is directing some episodes of Flight of the Conchords)
Writers- Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost
Composer- Mark Mothersbaugh (I think he was originally in an 80's band, but I know him best as the composer of the Rugrats music)

Cast:
Thor- Chris Hemsworth
Loki- Tom Hiddlestone
Odin- Anthony Hopkins
The Hulk/Bruce Banner- Mark Ruffalo
Hela, goddess of Death- Cate Blanchett
Heimdell- Idris Elba
Grandmaster- Jeff Goldblum
Valkyrie- Tessa Thompson
Skurge- Karl Urban
Doctor Strange- Bendict Cumberbatch

Write-up:

Opening Comments and Coming Attractions

Gotta start off in saying the amount of commercials was so annoying! It's bad enough we get them at home and now YouTube is making you sit through 2 ads for videos... as if they're trying to kill us inside until we crack and invest in a YouTube Red subscription. It was just overkill.
It was a good sized crowd, but we wound up being in a row where people kept having to get up and use the rest room or buy more popcorn. And they'd do it during action scenes- guys, if you're doing stuff you'd be doing while watching movies at home, maybe you should have waited for this movie come on DVD.  

This got glowing reviews, but I read a few that said that this movie is lighter in humor like "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Deadpool"... but that it also didn't take itself too seriously. The latter part of that is what helps the movie from becoming self-parody. And many of the jokes were funny. At times, there were maybe too many and some tried too hard, but most were genuinely laughable in the best way.

I don't think I'd seen any of the trailers before, but there were 6 of them. Which is a lot, plus all the other commercials, PLUS the ad for the Cinemapolis chain.

Jumanji- this goes way beyond the original version with Robin Williams and the Caldecott Award winning book (yeah, all these years later, I remember the Caldecott. That was a big deal- when a children's book would win every year for outstanding illustration). It stars Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, but they are actually avatars in a video game. Four kids are playing this video game and they get sucked into the game and they're put inside these avatars that look completely different from them in real life. So it gives the actors a chance to act against type, which I find kinda interesting.
I don't know whether this movie is going to bomb or be hilarious, but it's an interesting prospect. It's kinda funny how all the avatars in the game have different strengths and weaknesses and apparently, Kevin Hart's weakness is cake and the trailer shows him eating cake and potentially exploding.

Downsizing- it stars Matt Damon and Jason Sudekis. The idea of downsizing is an irreversible procedure where people are "downsized" and get put into an made-up community for tiny people. Matt Damon and his wife were going to do it, but she (I think she was Kristen Wiig) calls him after he has the procedure done and says she can't go through with it.
Yeah, between Jumanji and this, and the next trailer, I had a hard time comprehending reality at this point. I believe the term, sorry for the profanity, is mindfuck.

The Disaster Artist-
apparently starring the Franco brothers, it's about this weird British actor who kinda reminds me of Russell Brand who doesn't get a role in a movie he fought for. And then he decides with his friends to make a movie. It was just a very off-beat sense of humor and weirded me out big time.
I don't think James Franco has done any movies I've really liked. And in the case of the Spider-Man movies, he wasn't the reason I liked that movie.

then we got to some really good ones...

The Last Jedi-
This was maybe the first full trailer I saw of this and of course we're excited for it. But there was so much going on that I couldn't process it all. What stood out was Luke saying how this isn't going to end how you think, Raye being in pain and maybe her and Kylo Ren joining forces.

The Justice League-
yeah, we're crossing the line to DC here, but this is a pretty big deal because a lot of people (myself included) never thought that this movie was going to happen. I mean, it's a tall order getting Batman and Superman in the same movie. But then again, they did that and it had mixed reviews despite all the money it made.
I think we might wind up seeing this one because it's the next big blockbuster to come out this year and it's coming soon.

Black Panther-
Not sure what to expect with this movie, but the character in Captain America: Civil War was really good.

The Main Event

Ragnorak is the Norse equivalent of “the end of days”- this is addressed at a couple points in the movie (in the beginning and the end to tie it all in a nice little bow). This isn’t quite a spoiler because it’s in the title and the way it comes about isn’t what you’d immediately expect. An interesting twist on Armageddon, I guess you could say.

After an obligatory opening battle scene set to music (Thor has a new theme song apparently and they kick ass together-- "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin- that song starts with the two "ah-ah-ah!" lines before actual lyrics), Thor and Loki locate Odin (who is M.I.A) with the help of a Doctor Strange cameo.
Interesting new touch on this- usually, the after-credits scenes are stand alone to tease about the next movie in the marvel story arc. The one from the end of Doctor Strange is the actual scene in this movie. Some might say Doctor Strange is just showing off with his teleportation powers, but it’s pretty funny what happens to Thor and Loki in these scenes.
Finally, they find Odin who is departing from existence (what’s with these superhero movie killing off Gods lately?) cuz it’s just “his time”. But his absence is quickly filled by Hela- the goddess of death and his firstborn. Cate Blanchett is in fine form and quite a bad ass in this role, which would be great if she wasn’t so evil and hard to kill. She actually knocks Thor and Loki out of the rainbow bridge on the way to Asgard- who does that?

Thor turns up on another planet where he is forced to fight in an arena. And if you saw any of the trailers, you know he’s up against the Hulk- who’s apparently got a following. Kinda nuts. Of course, it’s a great fight (at one point, Loki- who of course befriended Jeff Goldblum The Grandmaster in charge of all this- celebrates, bringing us back to one of the most memorable Avengers scenes) and how it ends was frustrating- putting it mildly and spoiler-free.
While we do meet some cool characters like the other gladiators and a former Valkyrie (who is in charge of Thor and has him in her power) this part of the movie where Thor plots his and the Hulk’s escape just takes too damn long. It’s bad enough Hela is unbeatable, but throw in another impossible scenario, hopelessness is exhausting.
Together with Loki, all four of them do manage to get away, but it’s an uphill battle. But along the way, we have killer chase and battle scenes and occasional comic relief with Thor and Loki. Gotta love Loki even if he is an opportunistic weasel. And Valkyrie is another bad ass chick. She’s been called this movie’s equivalent of Han Solo.

There’s also a couple of funny Hulk/Bruce Banner scenes, including one where he does his best Tony Stark impression. I mean, I’m kinda sick of Robert in that role cuz it’s not going to win him an Oscar, but that scene (I won’t elaborate) made me badly wish he was in this movie right now. But that’s mainly cuz I haven’t seen him in a while- nothing against this movie. It’s its own unique brand of fun through most of it. The rest- you can decide for yourself

Grade: B+

Theatrical Review: The Lego Ninjago Movie

Date: Saturday September 23 2017
Location: Cinemark at Stroud Mall
Time: 11am
Party: 3 (my mom sister and I)

Directors: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan
Writers: (too many to list)
Composer: (too many to list)

Notable Cast:
Master Wu- Jackie Chan
Lloyd- Dave Franco
Garmadon- Justin Theroux


Duration: 141 minutes (+6 trailers)

Opening comments

Yeah I’m posting this a little late but with this movie I figured there wasn’t a big hurry.
Like with Lego Batman this was another movie my sister wanted to see but she was also a fan of the Lego Ninjago series. I’d seen very little of it myself but any excuse to go to the movies these days (when there aren’t as many I want to see for whatever reason- I hope it’s just an off year) I’ll take.
The theater had a good crowd, a lot of kids but none that distracted too much from the movie. They laughed at most of the right parts- although I can’t remember which drew the most laughter.

Coming attractions

 A bunch repeated from the previous movie, Leap!
Daddy’s home 2, my little pony (my mom told us there’s no way she’s taking us to that one and we didn’t argue lol), coco and paddington 2 (the one trailer I forgot from the last one- hey, I’m used to only having to remember 3 trailers per movie, give me a break).

Then there was another rendition of Peter Rabbit. (Nick Jr had a series a few years ago with Peter Benjamin Squirrel Nutkin and a new female bunny named Lily- Peter has three sisters and they had to come up with another female protagonist? I don’t get it. Also have no idea if that series is still on but what little I saw of it I enjoyed).
This time it’s about the origin of Peter rabbit and how he became what he is... except it showed him hosting a party at mr mcgregors house and James Corden is doing his voice. Uh... I mean I like James Corden and Peter Rabbit but together? I’m kinda concerned- this is my child hood I’m talking about and I hope they didn’t ruin it by having this be a more PG version.
Then there was the curious “Isle of Dogs” which looks like Wes Anderson’s attempt at recapturing the success of Fantastic Mr. Fox (but with dogs and it takes place in Japan- and is likely to catch flack from the PC crowd cuz no lead roles are done by Japanese actors). The sense of humor feels very similar so I think this movie could be good. Just gotta see what the critics have to say.

The Main Event

 Maybe this is a Japanese thing but the methodology of our main characters seems extremely similar to Power Rangers. They even have their own Zords (although I think they’re just called Mechas in this case). But these 6 characters are high schoolers that will make an excuse to leave at the same time when the main villain attacks their town. And nobody seems to have a clue.
The other interesting coincidence is that the green one seems like the odd man out while poised to become the leader of the group. They even have an old dude as their master- except he’s in the flesh and he can hold his own in battle easily. I think the similarities end there (I guess between the ill advised peter rabbit and power ranger reboots I’m feeling nostalgic)

But here’s a couple of twists that make things interesting and set them apart-
The green ninja Lloyd is the least popular kid in school (unlike Tommy the green ranger)... because the villain Garmadon who is always attacking the town is his father. Yeah- how’s that for awkward?
Plus- all his friends have elemental powers like fire lightning ice earth and water. He’s just... green. (Funny enough I was thinking why he is the only one without an elemental power minutes before this conversation takes place)

Things boil up to a point where Lloyd decides the only way to defeat his father for good is to use the ultimate weapon. Which of course backfires or we wouldn’t have much of a movie.
This “weapon” (not saying what cuz it’s kinda hilarious how badly this turns out) summons Catzilla who proceeds to destroy the city.

Adding more to predictability- the ninjas need to go into the jungle to get the ultimate ultimate weapon and they need a true ninja to lead them. Their master is temporarily lost to them so, yeah, they gotta take Garmadon with them. By this point Lloyd had already revealed his secret identity to him (“and now we got bad blood, hey!”— sorry, couldn’t resist) so it makes the journey awkward at times but things happen and.. I’ll just leave the rest to the imagination.

Kinda hard to believe what a funny villain Garmadon is. I mean yeah he is kind of an idiot and kinda predictable but well written and acted. Justin Theroux isn’t very big in Hollywood and I know him better for co-writing Tropic Thunder and Iron-Man 2 (I think one led to the other and may be why Iron-Man 2 fell short of the original... but that could also be Sam Rockwell’s fault- his character is such a tool in that movie). But yeah he was great.
The funniest gag is him “firing” his generals when they say something he doesn’t like or they just have no ideas... but unlike with Dr. Evil in Austin Powers, this comes back to get him in hilarious fashion.

One nice difference about this movie is that it begins and ends in reality with Jackie Chan telling a kid the entirety of the movie and we get to see the story unfold without interruption. I thought to myself- I’m going to forget that the movie was being done this way by the time it ends. And sure enough I did.
And it’s worth sticking through part of the credits cuz we don’t just see the characters sing and dance but also Jackie Chan outtakes.

As for the movie itself, it was funny, had great characters and killer action scenes (although maybe a little too fast paced at some points). But even though it wasn’t a terribly long movie I found some scenes ran too long and I was asking myself when they’d be over. But my sister enjoyed it and that’s the important thing.
As far as Lego movies go, I liked how it was different from the others where they didn’t go too over the top with humor or pop culture references. And of course everything is better with ninjas- or for me some Asian influences just to set things apart.
It was kinda funny how it made fun of the formula of your typical “bad guy regularly tries to take over the town” story. We have GMA’s Michael Strahan and Robin Roberts hosting the morning show and asking themselves what % chance is there of an attack. Not to mention someone posing the question how effective the ninjas are because they defeat Garmadon but he always gets away. I kinda like it when cartoons ask the deep questions but the seriousness of said question doesn’t kill the fun tone of the movie or genre being presented.

Grade: B

Theatrical Review: Wonder Woman

Date: Sunday June 4 2017

Time: 12:30pm

Party: 3 (my mom aunt and I)

Director: Patty Jenkins

Composer- Rupert Gregson-Williams [no relation to movie composing legend John Williams as my mom wondered leaving the theater... would've been cool, though]

Cast (in no particular order):

 

Diana Prince/Wonder Woman- Gal Gadot 

Steve Trevor-Chris Pine

Hippolyta- Connie Nielsen

Antiope- Robin Wright

Sir Patrick- David Thewlis

"Doctor Death" Maru- Elena Anaya

Ludendorff- Danny Huston

Etta, Trevor's secretary- Lucy Davis

Duration: 141 minutes (+2 trailers)

Opening remarks

Anyone who's read my blog before knows that my allegiance is the marvel universe. And I hadn't seen any of the recent DC comic movies directed by Zack Snyder. (Nothing against him- Sucker Punch is one of my favorite movies). Honestly I'd been out of it with Batman (unless you count Gotham which technically doesn't cuz Bruce Wayne isn't batman yet) since Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale ruined Batman for me forever (or at least until Will Arnett took the bat voice to better places with his performance as Lego Batman). 

Suicide Squad was also great.

But the trailers for Wonder Woman kept cropping up and looking even more amazing PLUS rave reviews so I couldn't pass this up.

And much like with Iron-Man when it first came out it got so much hype and kudos that not even a day into its debut and they're already talking about a sequel (in this case the director is returning and it will take place in modern day--the obvious route would be to go to WWII since this one is WWI but the fact they're not says they have big plans in store... wouldn't it be crazy if this character is the reason DC overtakes Marvel in a couple years? I say go for it. If I get an enjoyable experience out of it, thats the most important thing).

 

Trailers

 

I have no idea why "Rough Night" was included in this... none of the cast members were a part of this movie... at least I don't think so.

Anyway it's kinda like a female version of The Hangover- a bachelorette party gone array after the stripper is accidentally killed. And all the girls are old sorority friends. Scarlett Johansson stars and for whatever reason Kate McKinnon plays the Australian exchange student. I know I said before that I'm all for her playing these quirky roles that aren't impressions of other people but I can't help but feel there's some Australian chick out there that was passed over for this role. Not that the movie looks like it'll be any good but for the sake of the people involved (miscast or not) I'll probably be seeing it at some point 

Then we had the Justice League... I had no idea this was coming out this year. To me it looks like a darker version of The Avengers (mainly due to the lighting). Batman Wonder Woman The Flash and Cyborg were a few I caught. Then there was Aquaman who looks nothing like the comic (or even Raj dressed up on Big Bang theory's Halloween show where he laments "aquaman sucks"). He looks kinda like black beard the pirate but with no shirt and wielding a trident.

Anyway I'll have to see what the critics say on this. If there's the slightest danger of it taking down Avengers I might have to scope out the competition.

The Main Event 

We catch up with Diana Prince- I assume after the events of batman vs superman (hadn't seen it yet) and Bruce Wayne sends her an old picture of her with a small group of men.

So the whole movie is practically a flashback going back to the very beginning when she was just the daughter of Hippolyta- queen of the Amazons and her mother didn't want her to learn how to fight.

But we see very quickly a pattern that repeats throughout the movie- Diana always gets her way and does whatever she feels like.

She also grew up with a mythological story about how Zeus created man, Ares corrupted man to fight one another and the Amazons were made to keep the peace. And they are always ready if Ares were to ever return.

When German spy Steve Trevor (not Rodgers-- I know these are two different comic book worlds but I can't be the only person annoyed that they used that same first name- not that I'd ever get these characters or actors confused) crashes into the sea surrounding the amazons' island and inadvertently brings a squad of German soldiers with him... let's just say all hell breaks loose. After hearing his story Diana believes that this Great War he speaks of is the work of Ares and she must go with him to defeat the menace behind all the chaos.

As is often the case- it's something easier said than done.

 

Additional commentary 

 

For me, the movie had a great beginning and unexpected exciting ending. But the middle, not that I was bored but I admit looking at my phone 2-3 times  to see what time it was. Hearing this was a long movie without knowing the actual length was giving me a case of ADD.

Although for the mythological portion- saying that Ares destroyed all the gods before he was defeated by the last ditch efforts of Zeus... I'm sorry but as a fan of the Percy Jackson series, that bothered me a lot. Gods can't be killed, at least not permanently. They're sent to the underworld and can rise up again-- assuming they aren't banished there the way hades is (and Persephone for half the year... just don't eat the forbidden fruit- should you ever visit)

Gal Godot was amazing in the title role. She lived and breathed this character and definitely kudos to her for all the sword fighting and stunt work she did. 

Of course Chris Pine (who I'd known since the princess diary sequel) was great. Even if all he's remembered for in this movie was his "nude" scene. (They pushed the envelope as far as it could go without breaking- only his hand covering the rest of him and he was also far away and in some shadow. 

Since he was the first man Diana had ever seen in person, they had to go to the most obvious place. Fascination, innuendo and the good old "would you say you're a good representation of your sex?"

Maybe not as bad as dialogue I'd heard in both 50 shades movies but close. Then again there is no way to do it without making it awkward. There was no crowd reaction in the theater but I'm sure all the women in house enjoyed that cave pool scene.

Shortly after she explains to him that she read all 12 volumes by the muse (I believe...) Clio that talked about men and sex and how men are only good for procreation.  (The ultra feminists who saw this movie probably got a kick out of it).

One of the antagonists is also worth mentioning- the German woman known as "Doctor Death". People talk about wanting more female led movies and strong women characters. She may be subservient to someone else but she's a genius dedicated to her job. Although one could also say she's kinda mad-since this special  mustard gas is her idea.

Maybe it's because I'd been watching Gotham she reminds me a bit of Dr. Hugo Strange (he and Dr. Stephen Strange are not so easily confused as the two Steves) who was responsible for creating and resurrecting villains.

Steve's secretary only has a few scenes but she has a tendency of stealing all the ones she's in.

 

There's a lot of great action that also comes with a lot of explosions. Michael Bay might have cornered the explosion market but maybe not for long. These ones can be a tad excessive but they're also startling and almost too real at times because some come when you least expect them too.

I won't give away the big ending and the final battles and who the villain was (I had a suspicion but I was kinda hoping I was wrong).

 

I'm not one who looks for political messages in movies but one became clear during the final battle- and let's just say it was something I wish more people would realize.

 

"No time 4 politics, no we don't wanna fight.

Everybody get up, it's gonna be a beautiful night."

 

Also- there are no post-credits scene... DC must think they're too cool for them... although this movie didn't really need it...

 

Grade: B+ (id get it an A- if it was a movie I was super excited to see again... it's not like I had anything else to do that day but I'm going to dedicate more than 120 minutes to a movie, it needs to hold my interest the whole time or I just need to be in the right mindset for it).