Reviews

Going into this movie I had one wish, I thought "Please don't be a repeat of Episode V." The Force Awakens mirrored A New Hope, and while it made sense to reassure returning fans, and give any new fans a fantastic story to start with, it disappointed me a little how safe they played it. The Last Jedi took all the expectations I had going in and threw them out the window. Now most people are upset by this. They wanted all their questions answered more or less the way they were expecting. I feel the exact opposite, and yes I am a long time fan of ALL the previous movies, not that I should have to qualify my opinion with that. This movie was exhilarating. I can't remember the last time I turned to my friend in the theater with my mouth open in amazement because I'm so shocked about what just happened. It made the movie exciting, and the stakes higher, since I no longer felt completely sure about anything that was going to happen. Movies are ultimately just entertainment, and it certainly succeeded in that regard. The visuals, acting, spectacle, sound, etc was phenomenal. The entire scene in Snoke's throne room made me want to cheer. I enjoyed this movie the whole way through, and I am excited about what direction the new Star Wars will take in the future. For all the people who want to nitpick every detail and piece of lore, Star Wars doesn't belong to you. It doesn't even belong to George Lucas anymore. If you don't like the ideas of the people who work very hard and do their best to make the best movie they can then don't watch them, and leave the rest of us alone.

It is a sweet irony that the reason that makes Logan the best superhero movie is that at its heart it is not a superhero movie. Wolverine, in the movies, has always been a reluctant hero but they have never properly captured how tragic of a character he is until now. Here we see him old and broken down, both in mind and body. He isn't an X- man, and he isn't wearing tights. This is the Wolverine movie I have been waiting for. It is grounded, gritty, gory, over- the-top, and surprisingly heartfelt. In short, it is everything it needs to be. A strong theme in this movie is the relationship between Logan and Charles Xavier, and I feel that it has always been a strong theme throughout the X-men movies. It really gives the events of this movie weight and makes the third act soul-crushing if you care for these characters deeply. I can't fault the movie though, because it handles everything so well and gives them the most appropriate sendoff that I have ever seen. The movie left me heartbroken at the end, but I wouldn't change a thing.

*SPOILERS* I started Luke Cage with high expectations, as I am sure many people did, because I thought I already knew what to expect. After all, this is not the first time we have seen this character (he also appeared in Jessica Jones). In terms of the main character, Mike Colter brings the same good performance to the character this time around, but where this show falls flat is everyone else. I want to say that the supporting cast kill this show, but that isn't fair to the actors and actresses who play them, because the acting is solid all around in Luke Cage. The problem is the writing. The writing makes this by far the worst of all the Marvel TV shows. This was not immediately clear, and so for the first few episodes I really enjoyed Luke Cage. The music was fantastic, the villain, Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes, was very charismatic and initially intimidating, and the banter between characters (usually involving "Pop") was enjoyable. Then it started to fall apart when it came time for Luke to step up to be a hero. The biggest misstep is one that Marvel consistently has problems with: the villain. "Cottonmouth" is quite possibly the dumbest, least powerful (or in any way successful) villain in the entire MCU. In order to raise the stakes, the villain has to pose a threat of some kind to the hero. The best villains match, or even exceed the power of the heroes they face off against. "Cottonmouth" is not very powerful and intimidating to begin with, and does nothing as the series goes on but lose more power and control. Wilson Fisk in Daredevil was a fantastic villain because he was not only physically intimidating (even to the point of being able to go toe to toe with Daredevil himself) but he was a master manipulator and strategist. It took everything Daredevil and company had to put him away, and Daredevil only barely pulled it off at that (and not till the last episode of the season). "Cottonmouth" on the other hand, is not physically intimidating, and is not only not an intelligent strategist, but he cannot even control his own crew to the point that they kill people that he does not want dead. He repeatedly tries to kill Luke, with absolutely no success, and yet refuses to try anything else. There is even a scene where his cousin (a corrupt city councilwoman who is also completely ineffectual) advises him to try to kill Luke in a different manner, such as drowning or burning. To this "Cottonmouth" simply responds nah, I'll just shoot him some more, because that seems to work really well. To make everything worse, midway through the season after building a rivalry between Luke and "Cottonmouth" the entire time, "Cottonmouth" is abruptly killed in a stupid spat between him and his cousin. This apparently was a way to frame Luke for the murder, I guess to bring Misty Knight (the female detective that is constantly on Luke's case for no good reason) back into the plot since she was no longer relevant. This makes no sense, because Luke has an alibi for the murder, having been with Claire (nurse from Daredevil) being shot in the park at the time of the killing. So instead of a showdown with "Cottonmouth", Luke now battles for his life against a villain who we haven't even seen on screen the ENTIRE season until he abruptly shows up and starts shooting Luke with super bullets for reasons? There is no tension at all for this fight because we don't know anything about this person (except he's the one called Diamondback, who has been name dropped a couple of times) or what his motivations are for wanting to kill Luke. Honestly, I enjoy Luke Cage as a character, but as a show it is completely forgettable.

I never get tired of watching this movie. I can relate to Jake (the main character) because I've always been a loner. The movie does an excellent job of showing that even though he is tortured, Jake is a good guy at heart. His family troubles really hit home, because I've gone through some of the same difficulties. We all have our fight, we just have to make sure we fight for the right reasons. The scene when Jake tells Roqua straight up how it is, is one of my favorite scenes from any movie. The overall feel of the movie is great, and even the supporting actors did well. The soundtrack is phenomenal as well. I watch this movie whenever i need to unwind. Every review I read says this is nothing but a remake of Karate Kid. While they do share similarities, every movie deserves to be judged impartially and not just compared to past movies. Personally, I have always liked this movie more than The Karate Kid. Unless you are an ACTUAL movie critic, then just chill out and enjoy a movie for what it is, not what it isn't. Also, no one cares about personal feelings toward UFC or MMA, that just happened to be a theme of the movie. Anyway, its a great movie and I would recommend it to anybody.

I didn't know what to expect when I started this movie. I was hoping that this movie wouldn't turn out to be just a run-of-the-mill horror movie (that's what the preview made it look like), and I was somehow compelled to watch it. My faith was rewarded. A pleasant surprise in this movie is how well the religion aspect is handled. Most attempts at religious aspects in movies end up being cheesy, or outraging people of that faith, or both. Thankfully, I believe this movie managed to avoid both. I didn't totally buy the story that God wanted to slaughter the entire human race, and then just said "oops my bad" (not literally) when Michael opposed him. I loved the line Michael says at the end, "You gave him what he asked for, I gave him what he needed." Overall, this movie had some intense action (which was COOL), and it actually was moving at parts. 8 out of 10