Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

This weeks movie review is one that was highly anticipated in my family. Having really enjoyed the first Guardians of the Galaxy, expectations were high as we waited for Vol. 2 to be released. Now that it is finally here I am the envy of all my other family members for being the first of us to watch this. I did take my brother Matt along because who wanted to see a fun movie alone with me. We had fun discussing it afterwards, and so here is what we thought of the movie.

The movie starts with Meredith Quill (played by Laura Haddock) and a young Ego (played by Aaron Schwartz) driving in a car. They park the car and go for a walk in the forest when young Ego shows Meredith a strange flower. Then it cuts to present time. Peter Quill A.K.A Star-Lord (played by Chris Pratt), Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana), Drax (played by Dave Bautista), and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) protecting batteries from a huge alien. At the same time, Baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) is dancing around to music playing in the background.

After that, Rocket steals the batteries and the Sovereign find out. They send out all of their army to destroy them when suddenly they all get wiped out from a quote "small one inch man". It turns out that the "small one inch man" was actually Ego (played by Kurt Russell). Peter, Gamora, and Drax go with Ego to Ego's planet. It then cuts to Contraxia, a planet for ravagers, and shows Yondu (played by Michael Rooker) sitting in a building. Yondu is then being disgraced by all of the other ravagers for letting Peter escape with the infinity stone in the previous movie. To regain their trust, he sets out for Peter and gets the help of Rocket and Baby Groot.

The story plot was well done. It did not have many plot holes but there were some that could've been fixed. There was a lot of action that I personally enjoyed and many good scenes to improve on it. You will not get bored easily watching this because the directors and story writers made it so interesting to hear and watch. There is quite a bit of language so i would not suggest bringing children 7 and below to this movie.

The acting was fun to watch. Everyone that was acting brought you so deep into the movie, at times it would feel like you were there. With all the fight scenes and amazing makeup, it was incredible to see them do it so well. It was especially good when there were really funny jokes and they all had to keep a straight face. Compared to the first movie, the acting was just a bit better. They were more focused and better practiced. In my opinion, Marvel made great casting choices to begin with and it carried through to this sequel.

Overall, the acting was great and the plot made sense. I didn't feel like too much was left out. It was hilarious and just a great movie in general. Marvel Studios keeps getting better with each movie, this one just proved that point. And so for the reasons above, I would rate this movie an 9.2/10.

Movie Review: Smurfs: The Lost Vilage

This movie review movie is Smurfs: The Lost Village and, unlike the last two Smurfs movies, is fully animated instead of being live action. The Smurfs are actually one of my cousin Jordan's favorite things. I would have brought her along to watch the movie with me, but she was on her way to the states, so she will have to read what my thoughts were instead. So, I hope you enjoy my review on Smurfs: The Lost Village.

The movie starts with a narration saying that the story begins in a secret place deep in a forest. A blue creature pushing a cart walks on screen whistling and then trips. While they are falling we learn that he is a Smurf. More precisely Clumsy Smurf (voiced by Jack McBrayer), and as he rolls through a hollow log the narration introduces us to more Smurfs in the village, until finally we come to the owner of the voice, Papa Smurf (voiced by Mandy Patinkin).

He then tells us that this story is not about him or any of the others we saw, but that it is about Smurfette (voiced by Demi Lovato). It then goes through her doing some of the things the other Smurfs were doing and not being very good at them. The whole time she does this, the same question is asked over and over: what is a Smurfette? 

The voice acting was expressive, and fun to listen to. Each person really brought out the personality of the Smurf they took on. Over exaggeration of the trait of the Smurf is a must and these actors did an amazing job. Demi Lovato was good at bringing Smurfette to life through her voice and you could really feel her emotional struggle.

The story plot was good and I was very happy to see them bring the girl smurfs into the movie finally. I would have loved to see them sooner and do more, however. I think there was a lot of lost potential there. I also think they lost some great action scenes with how mild they played the forbidden forest.

Overall, the movie was pretty good and enjoyable for the whole family. There were chances to do more with it, but still enjoyable. For these reasons I would rate this movie 7.2/10

Movie Review: Ghost in the Shell

This week the movie I am reviewing goes back in the realm of adults rather than young kids and family. Ghost in the Shell is based off of the manga by Masamune Shirow that was previously turned into an anime in 1995. My brothers are really into the anime genre so I was curious on how this live action remake would turn out. So, I hope you enjoy this review on Ghost in the Shell.

The movie starts with a woman being rushed to surgery after a major accident. We don't know what happened, but the only viable organ left is her brain and they plan to save it. We then see a robotic body not fully completed hanging in the air by wires and cords. As the brain gets put into the body electric wires come out to attach to the different nerve endings. It then goes through various liquid substances to finish creating the body. As the robot (played by Scarlett Johansson) wakes up from the procedure, she has trouble breathing. Dr. Ouelet (played by Juliet Binoche), who designed the robotic body, helps calm her down and breathe normally. Ouelet asks if she remembers anything about the attack, and the robot replies with how they, her and her family, were drowning. Ouelet confirms the story saying that her body died but her brain survived and was now in this new shell, while her brain, her ghost, lived on. The robot starts to panic and so they sedate her.

After the process is over we see Ouelet walk into a room and start talking to Cutter (played by Peter Ferdinando) who is the CEO of Hanka, the company who funded the project, and watched everything from the other room. He asks her a few questions about the body with the brain. She confirms that the robot, Mira, will have all the benefits of a robot with the ability to think and make decisions like a human. He tells Ouelet to get it over to Section 9, but she protests. He says that the robot is a weapon, then we flash forward to 1 year later.

The story plot seemed to have potential with all the many places they could take the story. Somethings I was expecting, which means there were very few twists and turns that took me by surprise. The big bad guy turned out to be exactly who I thought it was from the start. I guess getting right down to it, most of the story was predictable. The actions sequences were pretty cool, and the CGI graphics were stunning. If they could have picked up the storyline better it would have had the potential to be a great movie.

The acting was robotic, which is what I guess we were going for here. My question is this, if this is set in Japan, and Scarlett Johansson's character was originally of Japanese decent, was the choice to make her an American White female made to show the difference between who she was and who she is now intentional? It was not really answered in the movie, and seems like maybe it should be obvious, but could it be that they thought they could ride on her Avengers and Lucy success without putting much thought in how she would fit in the storyline. She did a great job of doing the robotic type acting, as she showed us in Lucy, but I felt she missed on the potential to do more. She is a human brain in the robot body, which would make one think she would still have emotions. Personally, I feel it is not her best movie.

Overall, the story plot was a bit predictable and the acting could have been better, but it wasn't all bad. With CGI as good as it was, it almost could have been passed off as real. Some changes could have been made in a few places, but otherwise I would rate this movie 7.5/10

Movie Review: Power Rangers

I kind of remember watching the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on TV as a really young kid, with my youngest brother being a baby almost. Back then we liked most anything that was colorful on TV, while my Mom did not. Having older brothers that could change the channel when she left the room was handy. These memories made me curious about this weeks movie, Power Rangers.

The movie starts in the Cenozoic era on Earth, 65 million years ago. It shows volcanoes erupting in the background as a Red Power Ranger crawls on the ground. He gets to the Yellow Power Ranger and takes her power coin, causing the armor around her to disappear, revealing the dying alien inside of it. Then the Red Power Ranger continues crawling while asking Alpha 5 to aim the meteor towards him. He takes the power coin and buries it with the other four he has including his own telling them to find someone worthy, when he is then confronted by the Rita Repulsa (played by Elizabeth Banks). As they speak, we find out the Red Power Ranger is Zordon (played by Bryan Cranston) and he is trying to save the world from Rita. Rita says that Zordon won't survive fighting her, and Zordon says they will both die together. The meteor hits shortly after, sending Rita into the sea with a green power coin, drowning her, and killing Zordon immediately.

It then moves to the present day where two high school students are bringing a cow into the locker rooms for a prank. One says that they should have done something else instead and begin arguing, when they hear police signals from outside. One of the two, Jason (played by Dacre Montgomery) gets in his truck and starts driving away. The police chase after him, but he escapes from them and continues driving away. Just when he thinks he is good he ends up in a car crash that wrecks the truck, injures him, and gets caught by the police. It goes to six days later when he is being dropped off to his school by his dad (played by David Denman) for detention. They talk about why Jason has to go there, how disappointed his dad is, and shows the ankle tracker that he now has to wear because of his actions.

The story plot was ok, but honestly I thought with the action at the beginning that we would have a decent amount through the whole movie, but that was not the case. As with a lot of origin movies, most of the action was at the end. I would compare the length of time between the beginning and the action to Batman v Superman, but I think this one had a bit more in it. Even though it takes a while to get to most of the action, when it does it makes you feel like a young kid again. Or at least, that's how I felt for a moment or two. It was nice to have that nostalgia on knowing how they all became Power Rangers in this, plus some backstory on the first Power Rangers as well. But with how graphic some of the violence in this, I would probably not recommend very young children going to see this.

The acting was not as cheesy as the original Power Rangers, but still pretty up there. I think it is just their trademark at this point. I actually think that is why Elizabeth Banks was so perfect for her role as Rita. She knows the perfect balance between cheesy funny and cringing cheesy. She also managed to bring some actual feeling of terror of her character to the roll, which again helped with that balance. I will give props to RJ Cyler who played the Blue Power Ranger Billy as well. It is told early into the movie that he is on the autism spectrum, and how he portrayed that was done well. Another movie that has a main character with autism is The Accountant. These of course affect me personally, not because I am on the autism scale, but because my difficulties have what they call autistic tendencies. I think it is great for kids to see people like this as someone they can look up to. The other actors were good for their roles for the most part as well, and with the mid-credit scene you know they will have more movies to improve and build from here.

Overall, the acting was done very well considering the roles and cheesiness, and the story went very in depth with most everything they never explained before. If you are or were a long time Power Rangers fan, or are just starting into it, this movie is definitely something to watch. As for negatives, keep in mind this is supposed to be a kids movie, but probably not for kids under the age of five. And so, for the reasons above, I would rate this movie 7.8/10.

Movie Review: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

I have grown up with Disney movies in my house my whole life. Though I don't remember it very well, we had the original Beauty and the Beast on VHS when I was very young. I am told that we would watch it a lot because it was one of my favourites, so I am excited to see what they will do with the live action version. So, I hope you enjoy my review on the new Beauty and the Beast.

The movie starts out nearly the same as the 1991 animated movie does, but this time it's not told on stained glass. It shows a hand picking a rose, then as a narrator speaks the story of the spoiled Prince (played by Dan Stevens), we zoom in on him getting makeup on to get ready for his ball. He had only the most beautiful people and things ever surround him. As the party is going on a storm arises and there is a thunderous knock at the door. As the Prince rises to check it out, the doors burst open and in comes an ugly beggar woman asking for shelter in exchange for a rose. The prince laughs as do the others around him. The woman says to not be deceived by looks, but the Prince casts her out again. It is at this moment that the old woman turns into the beautiful Enchantress and places a curse on him and his castle.

It then goes to Belle (played by Emma Watson) coming out of her house and singing about the provincial town that she lives in. She bumps into the town baker and buys some bread and talks about her book briefly but he is not interested. As she goes along the rest of the town comes to life saying hello and good morning to each other. Belle gets to the town library, which is really small, returns the book she had just read and borrows one of her favorites. It is at this time we meet Gaston (played by Luke Evans) and LeFou (played by Josh Gad) coming back from a war while talking. Gaston talks of how he wants to marry Belle, and then it continues on with the song.

The story plot was very much like the original for people going for nostalgic reasons. The changes they did make were pretty noticeable though as well. You know there are going to be changes made, especially when going from one and a half hours to two hours. There were additional storylines to round out some of the characters, as well as some musical numbers. I am not going to go into specifics and spoil the movie, but for the most part they were a great touch. There were a couple that I thought were distracting to the story, though. I am torn with some of the new songs as well. Some were good and some seemed unnecessary and almost gave the movie an unfinished feel.

First I would like to say that the people who chose the actors made a wonderful choice with all of them. The one thing I probably missed most from the original movie though is the deep voice Gaston had, but with the way Luke Evans portrayed him, it almost didn't matter. Emma Watson did a great job with Belle and showing us her strength, but I did miss a little of her initial warmth we get with the animation. She may have brought a little too much Hermione over from Harry Potter forgetting that even when Belle says no to Gaston proposing marriage, she was gentle and kind. That may have been the writers as well, it's a tough call with that one. The one that surprised me the most though was Dan Stevens. I have been watching him on his new show Legion and he has such a quiet voice there most of the time I could not see him with the rough growly persona of the Beast, but he pulled it off brilliantly. I just wish we could have seen more than just his eyes for most of the movie as he is great with facial expressions, more than the CGI face of Beast was anyways.

Overall, the story plot had some good changes and some not as good ones, and the acting might have been a little better in some places. But as much as negativity goes, it's better to see the good rather than focus on the bad, which I think might be the moral of the movie. And so, I would rate this movie 8.2/10.

Movie Review: Logan

This weeks review is on Logan, which I could not see on my own due to its 18A rating, so I would like to say thank-you to my Mom for accompanying me to this. I did look up the reason for the rating before hand and figured if the movies I have watched with 14A ratings that should have been higher, like Deadpool, I could handle the violence that they say is the reason for the higher rating. I was really interested in seeing where they took Wolverine after having watched all the previous X-Men movies.

The movie starts out with Logan (played by Hugh Jackman) waking up in the back of a limousine with some movement and noises happening outside. As he stumbles out the door, he finds a gang trying to steal the tires but failing. He is old but tries to warn them to stop. They think it is all a game and shoot him. He gets back up and brings out the claws, but one does not come out all the way. The gang start to fight him and it starts to look like they're winning, until the limo gets shot. Logan gets angry and starts chopping off limbs and killing them. Some of them manage to get away, but Logan is still pretty upset that the limo is damaged.

We find out it is the year 2029 and Logan is working in El Paso, Texas as a limo driver. We see him working his way through a variety of fares ranging from business people, to wedding parties and funerals. It is while he is waiting at a funeral he is approached by a woman who recognizes him as Wolverine. This makes him really upset as she insists she needs his help and he is the only one that can do it. He tells her to leave and gets back to his current client.

The plot in this movie is probably the most heartfelt and honest plot in all the X-Men movies. We see Logan struggling with old age, which he has never had to worry about before. Being over 170 years old, you can see it upsets him. He is sick and can't heal as well. He is almost all alone as the other X-Men were hunted and killed. All he has left is Xavier (played by Sir Patrick Stuart) who is also struggling with failing health. There is a huge emotional element to the story as they bring in what appears to be the first new mutant in a long time. The movie does get its 18A rating for good cause though. There is quite a bit of language and one brief nudity scene, but there is a massive amount of violence. We are talking literal heads rolling violence, but it was not in bad taste considering the story. The only slight downside was there were a few scenes that seemed to drag on, but the action made up for it.

The acting was extremely enjoyable. We had class A actors who have embodied their characters for many years. This is the movie they have been waiting for to really bring them to life in the end of their run. The introduction of new comer Dafne Keen who played Laura was great. She almost stole the whole movie away from Hugh Jackman. With the two great actors she worked with and could learn from, it is no wonder that she could do nothing else but shine. There were a couple of corny villain actors in my opinion, and I am not sure if that is just a bit of a throwback to the origin of the movie franchise. However, it wasn't enough to ruin the movie but just enough to be slightly noticeable.

Overall, the acting was phenomenal with many great moments throughout the movie. One of the very few things I might have changed about this would be making it a little less cheesy in some parts, but other than that, it was the best X-men movie I have seen. And because of this I would rate this movie 9.2/10.

Movie Review: The LEGO Batman Movie

Before I begin, I would like to say that I do realise this came out a month later than it should have. I was busy with some school stuff and I didn't have full access to the computer to work on it. I have decided not to change some things written down, but with so much time I had to think, some stuff did change from what I had first. But other than this, I hope you enjoy the review.

This weeks movie is a nice light way to spend the weekend after the thrilling film festival I reviewed last. In true LEGO fashion, this Batman movie looks to be a lot of fun and nothing too serious. The kid in me that used to play with LEGO is excited to see it come alive on screen. Lets see if it can live up to the hype of what's to come.

The movie starts out with the usual opening credits, but with a twist. Batman (Voiced by Will Arnett) making comments and narrating in his own way through the whole thing. As we see Gotham City come into focus and a plane flying over head. It turns out two friends are transporting an obscene amount of explosive materials while Joker (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) and his crew of all the super villains are trying to hijack it. There is a ton of crazy things going on which include a bomb being set under the city so Commissioner Jim Gordan (Voiced by Hector Elizando) turns on the bat signal only to find it has been egged. All hope seems to be lost and so Mayor McCaskill (Voiced by Mariah Carey) gets air lifted to the central core of the city to surrender it to Joker and his gang.

As all the villains gather round to witness their victory, Mayor McCaskill strips down to reveal that she was actually Batman in disguise. He gets to work single handedly taking down all of the criminals and even stops the bomb under the city from destroying it. The citizens all cheer and Batman returns home to his island where he gets to enjoy his Batcave with left over lobster and watching Jerry Maguire on the screen alone.

The entire plot of the movie is a satire on the Batman franchise and Will Arnett does a great job bringing that to life. As Batman goes through a self discovery journey to recognize his weakness and change, there are so many references to previous movies and TV shows that you can't help but laugh. The way it mocks itself reminds me of Deadpool, only kid friendly. The only thing that might be a downside is that some of the jokes seem to require knowledge of all the previous versions of Batman, which most kids will not get, but will probably work for a lot of the adult audience. Do not attend this movie looking for any type of serious note in relation to the Batman universe, though.

The voice acting is richly entertaining. Will Arnett does a great job doing the gravelly voice people have come to expect with the character, but in such a way that you just can't take it seriously. The supporting characters also are brilliantly brought to life with a few standouts being Michael Cera as Robin, Rosario Dawson as Batgirl, and Ralph Fiennes as Alfred. But the great banter between Batman and Zach Galifianakis' Joker was fantastic. I really have to give props to the writers who gave these voice actors some great lines to work with.

Overall, the voice acting was very well done alongside the story plot. Though it wasn't the best of all the Batman movies, it still did a pretty great job. The animation they did for these LEGO movies is exceptional, however I did lose interest shortly from time to time while watching. And for these reasons I would rate this movie 7.6/10.