X-Men: Apocalypse Review

     Bryan Singer's latest entry to the X-Men franchise may feel by the numbers but delivers the fun and entertainment expected from the franchise with a few nostalgic nods thrown in.

It's the 1980's and after the events of Days of Future Past, mutants have been exposed to the general public and many go about it in different ways.  There are those like Professor Charles Xavier, a mutant pacifist with telepathic powers played by James McAvoy, and Raven a.k.a. Mystique, a shaped shifting mutant played by Jennifer Lawrence, that seek to help and protect mutants and even teach them how to use their powers. On the other end of the spectrum lies those like Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. "Magneto", a mutant that can control magnetic fields played by Michael Fassbender. He goes into hiding only to be drawn out by the ancient mutant known as Apocalypse. Apocalypse is considered the world's first mutant and has superhuman abilities stronger than any mutant that is played by Oscar Isaac. Apocalypse has awaken after a long slumber and now looks to destroy the Earth so that he can rebuild it in his image with the help of his Four Mutant Horsemen: Magneto, Storm, Psylocke, and Angel, and its up to the X-Men to stop him.

It's a very stuffed plot for sure but its easy to follow. What may confuse some viewers is the re-introducing of characters like Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm, and Nightcrawler, all characters we've seen in X-Men movies before. The timeline of the X-Men franchise is confusing given what happened in Days of Future Past. Certain movies like Origins: Wolverine and The Last Stand were removed from continuity given the events of the last movie and now with Deadpool who where the story goes. It's that kind of continuity that holds back the X-Men movies from being a continuous story line. It's not something that can be avoided, as actors age the studio needs to look for younger talent to fill the roles of the old cast. It's easy for a reboot to do that if the previous movies failed but with the X-Men movies hold up pretty well so its hard for some people to adjust to these new characters after we've seen them already.

The characters we do know like Xavier, Mystique, and Magneto are given their time here but most of the movie revolves around Apocalypse and the young students. Apocalypse is a great villain, he is menacing, powerful and threatening. A lot of people criticized his look when they first saw it but he looks fine in the movie. The costuming in this movie is bold and stands out as it gets most of the characters in their iconic look and costumes. But back to the story and characters, where First Class and Days of Future Past focused on the Xavier, Mystique, Magneto relationship, this movie puts that on the side in favor of the young X-Men, which is fine even they can be a bit on the bland side save for Nightcrawler and Quicksilver, who again has another gorgeous scene displaying his speed.

X-Men: Apocalypse is entertaining enough to keep you invested in the story but lacks that special something that was in its previous entries. I hear rumor that this is the last X-Men movie Bryan Singer will direct so it will be interesting to see who he wants to take the helm of director for the franchise and where Fox decides to go from here. Do they continue on in their own universe or be like Sony and lend the characters to Disney to be a part of the M.C.U.? Time(and probably reviews and box office numbers) will tell.

Grade: B

The Nice Guys Review

     Director and writer Shane Black's throwback to 70's style buddy cop comedies is a retro, hilarious joy that benefits from its two leads.

Ryan Gosling and Russel Crowe play two detectives in the late 70's brought together by a case surrounding a missing girl and find that there may be more to the case than whats known. It's a basic set up for a buddy cop movie but what more would you expect from the man who wrote Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Director and writer Shane Black has a knack for the old throwback buddy movies and again his brilliance shines through here both with his writing and his two stars.

Russel Crowe plays Jackson Healey, an enforcer who gets the job done by any means necessary, and Ryan Gosling plays Holland March, a former police officer turned private detective who has a bit of troubled past. Both actors real life personalities come through these characters as Crowe can sometimes be a violent jerk and Gosling a lovable idiot. Each man's crazy balances out the others. Compairing it to one of Black's first films, the duo resembles a little of Riggs and Murtaugh. Healey and March are not total opposites but their personalities do clash when it comes to their work and when it shows it makes for some great comedy.

And while Gosling and Crowe give great performances, for me the show stealing performance came from Angourine Rice who plays March's daughter Holly. This is a strong and determined kid character who is sort of the middle ground for both men. While she could have easily been a burden and annoying she instead is motivated and sympathetic. She, in my opinion, is the heart of the movie. Her character goes through a lot as her dad has fallen on hard times and is not the adult he needs to be but she still sticks with him because she knows he loves her and wants the best for her. In the end, she ends up affecting both men's way of life and changing them and that too me shows that her character was vital to the story.

The Nice Guys is a great neo-noir buddy cop movie that should satisfy both casual movie goers and fans of the genres.

Grade: A

Captain America: Civil War Review

     Captain America: Civil War is, in my own opinion, one of the best superhero/ comic book movie of all time. It's writing is strong, its characters have depth, it continues the story of many Marvel movies, introduces new characters perfectly, and all the characters have proper motivation to be fighting each other. I will say though, it is getting harder and harder for casual movie goers to jump into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Civil War is the 13th film in the M.C.U. and is a follow up movie to most of the Marvel movies. One of the biggest problems of the M.C.U. is that there is no easy jump in point, you have to have followed the universe to know who is who and what is going on.

What is going on is that after the events of Age of Ultron, specifically the destruction of the nation of Sokovia, The Avengers are split on an accords plan that would have the United Nations monitor and control The Avengers. Tony Stark, a.k.a Iron Man, supports the accords while Captain America does not as it would hinder his search for his friend Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier. Their disagreement splits the team in half and now its Team Cap vs Team Iron Man.

The movie does a good job juggling a lot of characters and their stories. You have the feud between Cap and Iron Man, as well as Cap looking for and helping Bucky, plus the introduction of characters like Spider Man and Black Panther who both give show stealing performances. Yes there are a lot of characters but each of them are given time to leave an impression on you.

And yeah lets talk about Spider Man. He's great and Tom Holland does a great job with the character of Peter Parker. I like how in this version you feel like he is a teenager, which was one of the major things that got people interested in Spider Man. You can have guys like Batman or Captain America but they do not speak to most people like Spider Man does. Spider Man is a teenager who hasn't been doing this a very long time like most of The Avengers have, he makes little jokes during fights and for the first time in his movie portrayal does not have a 35 year old playing a teenager.

Civil War also, in my opinion, succeeds where Batman V. Superman failed. Where Batman V. Superman crammed all this new information and events in one movie, Civil War has the advantage in that most characters and their personalities have been established before this. It also gives a better light to the argument Batman V. Superman tried to do, is what should be done the right thing to be done? do heroes need checks and balances? All very important questions Batman V. Superman raised but they were overshadowed by the already dense story. Heck, this movie basically asked the same questions Daredevil's second season did with The Punisher. Is what Frank Castle did right? Should be praised or vilified for his actions? But what this movie and Daredevil have that Batman V. Superman doesn't is that there is clear a grey area between arguments and that the argument is in the fore front and not stuffed behind a bunch of other plots.

Captain America: Civil War is the superhero movie that should please both casual movie goers and long time Marvel fans. Each character has their moment to shine and the scene at the airport is one of the best action scenes I've seen in a superhero movie. If I had to say something negative is that the story can be confusing to anyone not familiar with the Marvel universe and it can be a slow burn to the action scenes. I remember hearing the person next to me start snoring during once all the action had slowed down too much. But even with that, the movie is still entertaining and fun to watch. Time will tell if the Marvel movies hold up but for now, this one is one of the best.

Grade: A+

Keanu Review

From the visionary minds of Key and Peele comes the film Keanu. The comedy duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are best known from there sketch comedy show "Key and Peele" and long time fans will even remember their MADTV days. Keanu marks the first time the duo have paired up for a film and for a first outing I would say they did pretty well.

Jordan Peele plays a man who after a bad break up, finds an adorable kitten on his door step and decides to care for him and name him Keanu. When the cat is stolen by a gang, the man and his cousin (played by Keegan Michael Key) go out looking for him. Their search gets them involved with a local gang, some assassins and a bunch of other crazy characters.

The premise alone is enough to get any fan of the comedy duo excited and it does lead to some funny situations. But a few days after watching it, I can't remember that many jokes from the movie. The best humor comes when the duo works of each other and other characters as well as like some comedies of this year, using George Michael music.

Keanu  is one of those comedies that you can enjoy if you pop it in every once in a while or watch when its on TV. Not a very memorable movie, I don't expect it to be on my best of list, but if you're up for a comedy with a cute animal in it, I would give it a recommendation.

Grade: B-

Disney's The Jungle Book Review

The Jungle Book delivers the epic feel of adventure that is great for the whole family.

I have to admit I have never read Rudyard Kipling's book but from what I can grab it focuses a little on the adventures of Mowgli, a young boy being raised in the jungle, but also includes short stories like "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and "Toomai and the Elephants". When it comes to the film adaptations of this story, most movies stick with the Mowgli plot save for its conclusion. If you're looking for a faithful adaptation of Kipling's novel, you'll be kind of disappointed.

This new adaptation from "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau is more of a live action/ CGI adaptation of the Disney animated movie from 1967. The story is about Mowgli having to journey to the man village in order to escape the wrath of the vengeful, man hating tiger Shere Khan. Along his journey he meets animals like a python named Kaa, lazy brown bear named Baloo and a monkey king named Louie. It's beat for beat a re telling of the 1967 movie except for the ending and having less songs. Yes there are songs in this movie but it's only the two well known songs ("Bear Necessities" and "I Wanna be Like You").

What separates this version from the animated one is it's look and performances. It blends CGI and real performance together nicely and gives us some incredible visuals. The animals look great and the voices they have are near perfect. Idris Elba gives Shere Khan a menacing cunning feel that only Elba can bring and Bill Murray and Ben Kingsley were pretty much born to play Baloo and Begheera. The only ones I had an issue with were Christopher Walkin as King Louie and Scarlett Johansen as Kaa. They do okay but every now and again I felt like all I heard was Christopher Walkin and Scarlett Johansen, not the characters. Everyone else does okay.

While not at times seemless, the backround and set pieces are nice to look at. My favorite has to be King Louie's palace. It looks like one of those abandon Indian temples that looks like danger is every corner, again, like Indiana Jones would do. And that's not a bad thing, as it fits with the whole journey aspect of the story.

It can get shockingly dark and scary at times, like a jungle would be. This comes not only from the jeapordy Mowgli is put through but also the little hints at how dangerous humans can be to the natural world. Fire, or "the red flower" is a key part of the movie depicted as the one thing that can give you absolute power through its use, be it destructive or protective. While not a spot on adaptation of the classic novel, Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book takes audiences on an adventure the whole family can enjoy together or by themselves

Other Junk: Daredevil Season 2 Review

After the mediocre performance of the Ben Affleck led Daredevil, Marvel entertainment was looking to find another way to introduce audiences to the character. Once Disney came in and bought up most of the characters, people were unsure if the character would ever get another chance to come to life. But to most people's surprise, Marvel announced that they would be creating 5 new shows for Netflix, 4 based off separate characters and 1 that would bring all these characters together in a group. Those characters ended up being Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. These 4 will eventually team up to be known as "The Defenders" a sort of street version of The Avengers. Daredevil was the first of these series and it made a huge debut on Netflix. People could not stop talking about it and for good reason. It did not have the restrictions the movies and Marvel's only show on TV at the time Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. No, this show felt like something that you would find on HBO or Showtime. It was dark, violent and at times a little heavy. It caught a lot of people off guard and I believe that's what led to its success and the clamoring for a second season. Well only a year later, we got our wish.

Daredevil focuses on Matt Murdock (played by Charlie Cox) who is a blind lawyer who runs a firm Hell's Kitchen, New York with his associates Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. What most people don't know is that during the night Matt takes justice into his own hands as the vigilante known as Daredevil. The first season focused on Matt and his firm trying bringing down the powerful criminal Wilson Fisk a.k.a Kingpin (played by Vincent D'Onfrio). It was a solid first season with great performances and gripping story.

Season 2 sees Matt and his friends dealing with the debut of 2 new characters, both with major significance in the Marvel world. The first of these characters we encounter is Frank Castle, better known as "The Punisher". Castle is an ex-military soldier who comes home from war only to have his wife and kids get murdered by the mafia and is now a ruthless vigilante who hunts down and kills criminals with military precision. He is eventually caught and is put on trial with Murdock's firm being Castle's attorneys and the public split on whether Frank is a hero or a threat. As the show goes on we learn more about Frank and what may have caused his families death. Jon Bernthal does a magnificent job bringing Frank Castle to life. He has the menacing presence of the character and the range to go from compassionate to unhinged in seconds. It's a show stealing performance to say the least.

The next new character is Elektra, Matt's old girlfriend. Her story ark takes up much of the season as Matt is torn between helping her with her quest to find out more about a secret society known as "The Hand" and his firm with the Castle case and for the most part it works fine but it does drag the season down a little. We already have the drama with Castle and now to add Elektra and her drama to the already busy story we have going on with our three main heroes and it reaches a point to where you think stories have been thrown aside. I talked about it a lot in my Batman V. Superman review and while both have that problem, Daredevil pulls it off better. In Batman V. Superman it felt like each scene was that, a scene. We'd see Batman do Batman things and then cut to Superman and his drama. But I've already went into detail about that so why does it work here? Well for one, it's a show, stories can be stretched out farther and secondly the show gives us enough time with each story. It can get overwhelming at times but each story does get its time in the spotlight. I still do not like it when superhero movies have to throw everything at us but the show's pacing gives us the audience enough time to take everything in.

While the show does get bogged down by its many storylines, ultimately Daredevil season 2 builds off of what made its first season great. Hypnotizing action scenes, deep and interesting characters and heavy drama. If your a comic book fan or love the superhero genre, defiantly give this show a watch. And for those who have finished the second season and are looking for other shows to fill the void I recommend Arrow or Jessica Jones. Both carry that same type of tone and feel with Arrow having the more vigilante feel and Jones as a psycho-thriller noir story.

Grade: A

Coming Attractions:The Jungle Book and possibly another think piece. 

Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

When the early reviews came out for Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice came out critics were slamming it, HARD. At the time this post was written the movie has a "rotten" rating of 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, a score lower than Ben Affleck's last venture in the superhero genre Daredevil which sits at 44% (a "rotten" rating). However, it's audience score (at the time this review was written) sits at a positive 73%, a staggering difference to say the least. So what has split critics and audiences? Well lets take a look. (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!)

Batman V. Superman takes place after the events of Man of Steel which saw Superman destroy the city of Metropolis in order to stop General Zod from destroying Earth. A government case is made which puts Superman on trial for his actions. While some view Superman as a hero, other see him as a threat. One of the people who sees the man of steel as a threat is Bruce Wayne, who witnesses first hand the destruction Superman is capable of and because of what he saw has started a crusade as Batman to bring down Superman. His quest to fight Superman leads him to discover some interesting scientific expeditions led by Lex Luthor, who is also on Superman's watch list. Lex apparently has files on select Metahumans (humans with exceptionable abilities) like Barry Allen (The Flash), Cyborg and Aquaman. One person looking for those files is Diana Prince a.k.a Wonder Woman. Lex has also been medaling around with Kryptonian technology to bring about the end of Superman. Lex has discovered that Wayne knows about his experiments and kidnaps Superman's mother to blackmail Superman to kill Batman, all while preparing the creation of Doomsday (A being that can kill Superman).

So yeah that's a lot to take in during one sitting. It feels like there are 3 different movies taking place. One theory I'm floating around is that the movie's director Zack Snyder wanted to make an adaptation of the Batman story The Dark Knight Returns but the studio wanted the movie to bring about the creation of the Justice League. These two stories that do not work well with one another are jammed into the movie in an attempt to set up an "extended universe" as DC and Warner Brothers call it and let me tell you it shows, badly. On the one hand, there is this excellent recreation of The Dark Knight Returns that is bogged down by sloppily shoe-horning in Justice League set up because the studio said so. It's only an opinion but it does have some credential to it.

The story telling in this movie is atrocious. One moment we're with Superman as he saves Lois Lane from terrorists, then we go to Batman waging war on Superman, then we cut to Lex Luthor being evil, and so on and so forth. There is no seeable thread tying these stories together. It feels like a scene happens and then we  move on to another scene. It's messy storytelling if I've ever seen it. With so much story being thrown at the audience in such a messy way, they have no idea how to react to it. I saw this movie in the same theater I saw Force Awakens when it opened and compared to Star Wars, this audience was dead. Whenever something epic like Wonder Woman's appearance happened, I only heard a few people silently cheering. In Force Awakens, when a character like Han Solo showed up the audience went nuts. It shows that throwing everything story wise at your audience is not a good idea. It didn't work with Spiderman 3, The Amazing Spiderman 2, and Daredevil season 2 but will get to that in due time. Bottom line: Don't give us 3 stories in one movie.

But enough negativity, lets focus on some positives. Ben Affleck is great as Batman showing once again that the internet shouldn't over react to casting choices. In fact, most of the cast does a great job with their characters. Your mileage may vary on Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor though. I could see him being the son of a Kevin Spacey/Frank Underwood style Lex Luthor but his spastic and annoying attitude can ware on a man quickly. Back to positive stuff, the visuals in this movie are spectacular. Zack Snyder's bread and butter is his visuals and no where does he shine better than with comic book movies. You feel like the pages from a comic are leaping out on to the screen. Anything having to do with Batman is the highlight of the movie which got me to wonder if Zack Snyder wanted to make a Dark Knight Returns movie.

Sadly, that is not what we got. We got an over 2 hour mess of a movie with glaring problems overshadowed by certain positive aspects. All in all, Batman V. Superman is a failure for DC comics and Warner Bros. as not only has this movie further divided the fan base but it might have turned people off to the DC movie universe entirely. If the rest of DC's films mirror this one, expect groans every time the DC comics logo appears at the beginning of the trailer. The studio should take a step back and look at Marvel's universe. Giving us bits and pieces of other events in movies based around one of many major characters instead of trying to put as much into one movie as possible. Is it a 29%  worthy movie? For me, no, it was entertaining enough to feel like a quick sit and some positives over shadow the negatives. It's on par with Man of Steel, a sentence the studio wanted to avoid as much as possible given the reaction to that film but sadly these two films having glaring problems. If you are curious about seeing it I do recommend it but if you hated Man of Steel I say avoid this movie.

Grade: C-