Reviews

When the Flash came out earlier this year, I decided to skip it in theaters based on what I knew was in the movie, and I couldn't subject my parents to it. When it hit streaming, I gave it a watch, and was filled with relief. Relief that I didn't take one of my poor parents to see it in theatres.

When Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) alters time in an attempt to save his family, he is met with an alternate version of himself. The two Barry's meet that timeline's Batman (Michael Keaton), and attempt to save the world from General Zod and reset the timeline back to normal.

This movie could possibly contain the worst opening sequence in cinematic history. It was the closest I had been in a long time to just turning a movie off. The slow-motion part of the sequence took up half of the scene, and went way too long. All non-Batman actors in this movie should never be allowed to act again, except on sitcoms. Ezra Millers highly publicized legal troubles are evident in the film, with reported meltdowns by the actor on set. That being said, Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton deliver fine performances as different versions of Batman from different realities. Director Andy Muchietti might be a clever director when it comes to comedy, but he should never direct a big budget action movie again. I'm saddened to learn that he will be directing a new Batman film, as Batman is my favorite superhero, and I'm concerned with having the same person behind the camera for that project as The Flash. In The Flash, the presence of Batman might be the thing that saves this movie from total disaster.

While I will never watch this movie again, I give it credit for having a watchable plot after the opening scene. I don't blame you if you like this movie. It's a goofy movie, that's just what it is. And if you want to watch a movie and relax and not take it seriously, you'll probably like this movie. I wouldn't. Because when I want to relax and enjoy a movie, I watch something with Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey. Not a superhero movie. We need more superhero movies like The Dark Knight. And it's a terrifying thought that instead of that, we'll be getting this from the superhero genre from now on.

When a strange woman leads hacker Neo onto a strange path, he discovers the shocking truth: he lives in a world totally simulated by artificial intelligence. But once he escapes and sees the mess that is the real world, he is told that he is the only one who can save it.

The concept of The Matrix is genius. One that you briefly wonder if it could be true. In fact, the idea of The Matrix is so good, that it makes up for all the other mistakes that the movie makes. And boy are there a lot of them.

While the movie begs for the big screen, it feels like a made-for-TV movie. The directors do a great job of telling a clear and crisp story, but the film doesn't live up to its visual potential. The directors did an excellent job, but was there anyone else on the production team? I like Keanu, but I feel like any other Hollywood leading man could have done a better job with the role of Neo. Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus absolutely knocks it out of the park, as does Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith.

Legendary movie critic Roger Ebert said of The Matrix that it starts off brilliantly, with a good concept, yet ends in a mess of gunfights. I see his point, but sometimes we want more than an art film. There needs to be some solid action, and if it's done right, it enhances the concept. But I'm not sure it's done right in The Matrix. The ending is weird, unsatisfying, and vague. If the movie had been great enough to match the greatness of the plot, this would have been the greatest science fiction movie ever made. Instead, this movie was just good enough that no one wants to try to make a better one, so we're stuck with The Matrix.

In Wish, Disney honors their tradition, and at the same time adds a new movie to their catalogue of animated films. Wish is a nice movie, but lacks what makes Disney animated movies so special.

In Wish, young Asha wishes on a star, and gets more than she bargained for when a star comes down to help her in her quest to defeat the evil king Magnifico.

The greatest advantage the movie has is its gorgeous animation, the brushstrokes painted beautifully on the screen. It is a wondrous blend of hand-drawn animation and 3d animation, a la Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse. I hope we get many more films animated in this style, as it is very relaxing and nice to look at.

If only the story matched the visuals... An overly simple story lacks anything of substance. And yes, I'm taking into account that this is a kids movie. I sympathized with the villain (who did not begin the movie evil) in the beginning of the film, only for him to suddenly turn evil out of no where. The film also suffers from a horrifying over dependence on magic. The songs are very good, but they all sound about the same, which isn't a problem in the movie, but I can't imagine the music in this movie selling many CDs. I do have to give the voice actors some credit though. They didn't do anything award worthy, but they did an excellent job.

That being said, while I watched this movie, I enjoyed it. The only reason I went to see it was to take my nephews. Disney has a rich history of making the greatest animated classics of all time. They have a proven formula that works, and I hope they either return to it in the future, or try something else besides Wish. It's a decent movie, but there's nothing memorable about it, and I don't expect it will be long before it is forgotten.

Whether you'll admit or not, there is a formula for sci-if movies that's used over and over again, albeit with different characters (often played by the same actors), plots, and Macguffins. Aliens attack and the heroes must do their best to save the world. These movies often include numerous side plots that add to the uniqueness of the movie, but change little in the grand scheme of things. Some of these movies are very enjoyable, they just don't spark the wonder in seeing something new on the big screen, which should be what science fiction is all about. They're a good watch, but they're not re-watchable. And this is exactly where we find Star Trek: Into Darkness.

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find there has been a major terrorist attack on earth. Captain Kirk leads his crew into a war-zone on another planet in order to catch the person responsible for the attack. Only the person responsible is far more dangerous than they originally thought, and he's after more destruction. In a way, it's a movie about a family: the crew of the Enterprise.

I don't have many notes on the production of the movie. It wasn't bad, it was just pretty basic. I think the actors did a great job, but a film (or script I should say) of this nature just doesn't give them opportunities to give Oscar-quality performances. For example: we know Tom Cruise is capable of amazing acting. If you don't believe me, just take a look at some of his 90's drama movies. But he's settled into the action genre, which doesn't give him the same opportunities to display the talents we know he has. That's not necessarily a bad thing, he's a great action star. I just personally wish he would revisit his days when he was nominated for Oscars for his acting three times in a decade.

Star Trek: Into Darkness is an enjoyable popcorn movie that you should watch with some friends then forget it exists. It lacks the spark that Star Trek (2009) had. I had much higher hopes for this sequel. It has its moments, but there's nothing memorable about this movie.

What is different about movies today than the way movies were? Yes, movies needed to change. But they didn't have to be the same cynical clones of each other. Now, there's a sub genre of "old" movies, but why do we keep revisiting them? Simple. They don't make them like they used to.

Ryan Reynolds plays the worlds greatest art thief, and Gal Gadot is the world's second greatest art thief. Pursuing them both is Dwayne Johnson, who belongs to the FBI. However, Dwayne Johnson gets framed and put into prison along with Ryan Reynolds, and they agree to team up to get out of there. They succeed, and pursue a priceless treasure in a race to beat Gal Gadot. Ryan Reynolds wants the treasure for himself, but Dwayne Johnson just wants to prove his innocence. They crisscross the globe with numerous hilarious encounters.

The directing is top-notch. A movie doesn't have to be a serious drama to be artistically beautiful, and Ryan Marshall Thurber demonstrates that amazingly while having a good time. The cinamtograohy, adds to the excitement, with an (in my opinion) Oscar deserving score. Not too serious, but it fits the movie perfectly and beyond. The acting isn't anything new, but the actors do an amazing job of almost playing themselves and their stereotypes, which, lets be honest, is what we really want to see in a movie like this.

A harsh critic might not enjoy this film. There's no question there are a lot of happy "coincidences" that occur that are not realistically plausible. But this is a crime that Indiana Jones and Star Wars are frequently guilty of anyway. Some movies you just can't over analyze, and that's ok. A movie can't be silly, but it can be fun. I've seen a lot of terrible movies that in their attempt to be fun they just end up being silly. A joke of a movie. But Red Notice is not only good, but it's fun too. And that's why it's my favorite action/comedy movie ever.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, would have been one of the greatest sci-if movies of all time if it hadn't been a sequel to even better si-fi movies.

It's hard to imagine there was a 15 year gap without live-action Star Wars in an era where we have a new Star Wars live-action series every few months. But that's exactly what happened, and this was the movie that ended the wait. It's been nearly ten years now since I watched this movie in theaters as a child, and I loved it. It was actually the first Star Wars movie I ever saw. And watching it now fills me with good memories. But I'm also not distracted by the flashiness now and I can see the movie for what it is. It's good, it's just not great.

The plot is something we've never seen before in Star Wars. Three heroes, Rey, Poe, and Finn, rise to the First Order, which has risen in the ashes of the empire. Oh wait, that's the same plot as the first movie. It's unique enough that you don't notice that it's a clone until the movies over and you really think about it.

Director J. J. Abrams makes a good movie, but I feel like the real director was Disney. Cinematography is good, but nothing special. The acting is good, but nothing special. The score is as good as the original movie though, probably because it was composed by the same man, and contained the same main theme. No doubt one of the greatest and most iconic themes of all time.

To me, this movie is a paradox. By itself this movie is one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made. It's good, you should definitely watched if you've seen all previous Star Wars films. But the issue is that it has the task of succeeding possibly the greatest sci-fi franchise of all time. And it fails at that. The script is basically copy and pasted from the original move, with different character names and planets. Lesson for Disney, who bought the rights for Star Wars from creator George Lucas and threw his recommendations for this movie out the window: sometime you have to take a risk in a movie. After all, that's what made the originals so great.

I wasn't a big fan of the Hunger Games movies. Downbeat and sometimes downright sad movies can be quite good sometimes, but they have to have good drama and action to make up for the negative emotion. A movie with positive emotion (such as a comedy), doesn't always need the drama and action, as we are watching the movie to relax and have a good time. But no one wants to see a movie that's just sad, which to me is what the first four Hunger games movies were. One thing I did wonder while watching the movies was Snow's past, and how he got where he was. This was only hinted at in the movies, but when I learned there was a movie dedicated to this question, I rushed to the theatre to go see it.

We meet Snow at age 17, in a sci-fi dystopian world, where he is a student vying for a scholarship to get into the university, but in order to get said scholarship, which would set him on the pathway to success, he must mentor one of the tributes in the hunger games, an annual tournament in which teens from across the country fight to the death, with only one surviving. He soon finds out there is more to his tribute than meets the eye. The plot goes in amazing directions, but I'm not gonna give away any spoilers.

I loved this movie. We can all relate to young Snow trying to make his way into the world, even if we don't agree with his ethics. This movie is almost like a Scorsese gangster drama, except it feels like it was made by talented teens and set in the future. It hits all the right storytelling beats, and succeeds where the original movies fail. It's hard to believe that this movie has the same director as some of the other Hunger Games movies, as this movie, in my opinion, is by far the best Hunger Games movie. I really appreciate the scale in the cinematography, with some amazing shots in the film with gorgeous lighting. I highly recommend this movie, even if you've never seen a Hunger Games movie, as this movie doesn't get much wrong.

I've always loved Star Wars, though not as much today as when I was ten. I've heard about Star Trek my entire life (famous Star Wars rival), even though I had never watched any of it. I already knew the names Kirk and Spock even though I had no idea who they were. I once asked someone where to start in the massive franchise that is Star Trek, and they said that's down to personal taste. I've always been more of a cinema guy, so I started with the 2009 J. J. Abrams directed film.

I'm not gonna spend much time describing the plot, because it's not that complex. (That's a complaint if you couldn't tell.) When someone wants to destroy the world, Kirk and Spock attempt to save the galaxy. That's about it, but I do give the movie credit for some good subplots, some of which are very emotional.

I'm always an advocate for plot over character (both is obviously better, but if I had to pick one, it would be plot.), ever since I watched John Wayne movie El Dorado (1966), of which director Howard Hawks reportedly said the plot didn't matter, the characters were so good. The movie that followed was one of the worst I ever watched. Star Trek is the first movie I think I've ever seen where the characters made up for the lack of plot. The characters were fairly straightforward and had stereotypical character types, with reckless adventurer Kirk, and quite intellectual Spock. But because of bursts of other personalities and subtle complexities, these characters are more than they seem to be at first. I can only imagine how good the movie would have been if the plot matched the characters. This makes for a good popcorn movie.

One thing I couldn't quite get over was that it felt like it was shot like a tv show, which makes sense considering the franchises roots are in television. It doesn't kill the movie, but more cinematic scale could have made for some incredible visuals.

This was my first foray into the Star Trek franchise, and I don't regret it. I write about the franchise as a whole, but I've never even seen anything else's from the franchise, I just know how great the Star Trek legacy is. This was a good movie, but it could have been more. In my mind, it doesn't even come close to Star Wars. Unless you plan to watch further into the franchise, I wouldn't recommend this movie. But I may change my mind once I myself get further into the series.

It seems a paradox that one film can be loved by both children and adults, and blend todays culture in an ancient setting, making an all-around phenomenal film.

The movie begins at the halfway point of the story, then rewinds to the begging to show how we got there. The emperor has complete power over his people, but he doesn't use it to wage wars like your average emperor. Oh no, he just eats and dances and parties in the utmost PG way. Except his horrifyingly ugly chief advisor wants the power for herself, so she transforms him into a lama and throws him out of the palace in the most hilarious and contemporary way. He can only find his way back with the help of a peasant who he previously kicked off his land. So they strike a deal and attempt to find their way back to the palace.

The themes are on the surface, a selfish king needs to learn his lesson in caring for his people. We all serve (even kids) in a leadership capacity in some way, so watching something with morals like this is always a good reminder in selflessness and caring for those we are responsible for. Not only that, but we can see what happens when you don't learn from the selfishness and greed of the chief villain. So this movie provides both an example to follow and a stern warning, but it's not in your face. Not necessarily the most complex themes, but it's complex enough for its intended audience. It's good to have a movie that can teach kids good lessons about life, even if they don't realize it. There aren't enough films today that do that.

The animation isn't revolutionary, but checks off everything we need plus more. With a fine plot and good characters, I'd say the filmmakers accomplished everything they needed to and then some.

At the end of the day, this is simply one of the best kids movies ever, and you can't go wrong with it. Hey, even if your an adult and want to watch something fun, this could be for you.

One of the worst movies you'll ever see unless you're an aspiring filmmaker or a cinephile.

Where to begin? The Kevin Bacon led film attempts to depict Hollywood from the perspective of someone entering the system, but before they sell out. At least that's what's depicted in the movie. The young director played by Kevin Bacon makes an award winning short film, then is approached by a megalomaniac producer who promises him a hit, as long as he does what the producer says. One by one the director gives up his creative vision to the produce, leading him into a rabbit hole.

If you want to know whether he makes it out or not I suppose you'll have to watch the film, because I'm not going to spoil it here. But what a waste of an hour and a half of your life it would be. Themes? I guess don't sell out your ideas. But that's about it and it takes to long to get across. Everything in this movies' a joke, and scenes switch mid scene to fantasies depicting how the scene feels to our main character, like approaching the film awards two minutes into the film becomes him entering a Nazi prison camp. An excellent idea but the way it's done is just... goofy. Was the movie about a director even made by a director? I guess technically it had to be. The acting is just ok and the filmmaking resembles a tv movie, especially in the direction and cinematography.

However, this film has one redeeming quality. And you have to be a particular type of person for this to apply to you. If you are a fellow filmmaker or cinephile, you might think this movie is ok. It actually didn't feel this long to me because in my every day life I related to a lot of the things our main character does. If that's you, I recommend this film as it gives you a bit of perspective on the people behind the camera who make the films we love. But if that's not you, don't waste your time, there are better things to watch.

I first turned on this movie seeking epic medieval battles and battlefield glory along with drama in the royal court, and I got what I was looking for, just not in the way I expected.

This movie is based on the play Henry V by William Shakespeare, which is in turn based on the real Henry V. It is not 100% accurate, but I would argue that it's still educational. We find a drunk Hal living the partying lifestyle, when his father suddenly dies and leaves the crown of England to him, he doesn't seek the crown, which makes him suited to wear it. He swiftly and successfully unites England, but when he is taunted by the king of France, he is advised to invade him. And invade France he does. What follows is a beautiful (despite the gaps) story with betrayal, battles, and (maybe?) love.

The story is the definition of slow-burn, accompanied by a minimalist classical score and beautiful cinematography highlighting the soft sky. The production design is minimal but still looks expensive. The film highlights the complexities of war and the burden of leadership in a brilliant way, visible in the amazing performances from Timothee Chalamet and Joel Edgerton and the accompanying cast.

If you can't handle slow paced drama, I can't recommend this. For me this is a mood based film, I can't watch this on a summer day after a day at the pool. This movie just kills that mood. But if I've had one of those days and I'm listening to the patter of rain in the window, this movie lifts me up. If you have the patience to watch it, this could be in your list of top ten favorite movies.

Buddy cop films are not listed in the greatest cinema of all the time, but this movie tops the list as one of the greatest buddy cop films of all time. Here's some of the reasons why:

First of all, the behind the scenes story is much the same as the plot of the movie. Jackie Chan barely spoke any English at the time of filming. So much so that when Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker first met in real life they could barely understand one another. And then Chris Tucker was always late on set, getting on Jackie Chan for being on time and making him look bad. Pretty funny when viewed in context of the movie.

Second, the plot gets the best out of both lead actors. When the Chinese consul's daughter gets kidnapped, the consul sends for his own detective (Jackie Chan) to assist the FBI in finding his daughter. But the FBI doesn't like this, so they assign an officer from the local police department (Chris Tucker) to distract Jackie Chan from the mission. However, both characters agree to prove their bosses wrong about them and set out to rescue the consul's daughter, with many hilarious mishaps along the way.

And third, the plot (despite its flaws) allows both Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker to shine. With both actors comedy chops on display, and Chan's incredible stunt work impossible to ignore. They improvised so much on set that there is a scene with continuity errors (limited to the scene) where so many improvised takes had been done that it was nearly impossible to edit together.

This is not an Oscar category film, but truly one of the greatest comedies of all time.

I recently rewatched this film with my younger brother for the first time since I was a little kid. If you've ever seen Scooby-Doo before you know what I mean when I say there's a nostalgia overdrive along with a lot of fun when you watch this film, but I'm not sure it would be possible to watch without the nostalgia the way it was when I was a little kid. The plot revolves on Scooby and the gang becoming counselors at a summer camp, and (as the stereotype goes) all good summer camps have good campfire stories. The scarier the better. But when all the monsters from the stories come to life, they must find out if they are real monsters or if there is someone behind them, and if there is someone behind them, then who is it? It is well animated, though I can't imagine that would hold up on the big screen, as this was a direct-to-video film. The story doesn't have much depth, but follows the classic children's mystery-horror formula, but this movie follows that formula in an excellent and entertaining way. At the end of the day, not a bad movie to watch the week before camp.

I have not personally viewed many of Jackie Chans films, but his stunt work is legendary. He brings his action movie status to a family film, along with other talent, including a seasoned family film director and a sitcom star in George Lopez, along with country music star Billy Ray Cyrus. (I admit I've never listened to him though) Beginning with a montage from the Rush Hour films and The Tuxedo (a Jackie Chan movie I wish I could unwatch), the movie starts with a settled Jackie Chan with his girlfriend as his neighbor. The catch: she has three kids from a previous marriage who HATE him. The other catch: Jackie Chan is an international spy on loan from the Chinese government to the CIA. How on earth can this movie get to the point where he can retire with a happy family? I won't spoil the film. But I will say the film misses a number of opportunities to explore the complexities of an abandoned family getting a new stepdad, though this is only explored in one scene. There are other themes that are just left hanging, moving towards spy gadgets instead. These themes could easily be addressed making the movie a movie and not just a comedy special. Even if this review is harsh I've always left this film feeling good and having enjoyed it. The editing and cinematography are far from perfect but if you focus on the characters it is a great film. This film is a cross between Mission Impossible and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but this film isn't as good as either of those.