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.

Short Film Review Compilation

This post is going to be different from the other posts I usually do. This is because I attended a mini film festival here called "Final Breath Filmfest" and there were multiple short films with a horror/thriller theme instead of a whole movie to review. It was all local talent rather than Hollywood and other box office things I commonly get to watch. I will be honest with my thoughts still, and treat them like the big names they hope to be one day. So with that being said, I hope you enjoy the reviews.

The evening started out with the red carpet being laid out for all of those who attended. It was nice to have a small feeling of being at a big premiere event. There was excitement with the crowd as we watched the actors and crew involved in the main film being featured, Final Breath, enter the building. After some photos were taken we all headed into the theater. Norm Coyne of UNLTD Media & Events did a great job introducing the film fest and getting everything going. You could tell he was a little nervous and excited because he was pacing the stage as he talked.

The first short film is called "The Big Deal" by Jonathan Chuby. It is about two guys waiting to do their first big illegal deal and the events that happen during it. All I can really say is it was not what I was expecting coming into the film fest. Though I saw what they were going for, it was more of a comical film than a thriller. It had a little overacting, but that did help with the comedy element. It was a fun way to start things off.

The next short film is called "Through Blood Like Ice" by Chad Magnant. It is about some kidnappers waiting for their ransom payment with an unexpected twist. Though the acting was very good, I found there were too frequent of jump cuts. I understand needing the backstory in this one, even with the little amount of time they had, but I think there were just a couple too many and it actually slowed the story down. However, I did enjoy the plot twist and think it is worth watching again.

"Back Up" by Daniel Stark was the next short film to be presented. It is about a guy driving down the road at night when supernatural things happen. The actors did a great job on this one, even if they didn't say a word. This may not have given us much story to go with, but it added to the horror factor a little bit. This was also one of the shorter short films, but it did bring the scare factor into the evening.

The fourth short film featured was called "One Null" by Evan Ollenberger. It is about a group of teenagers who are fed up with people nowadays and try to escape to "The Null" but things do not go as planned. This one was by far the one that scared me the most out of all of them. Though the acting was a little flat at first, it did pick up pretty fast.

After a music video by Jer Breaks called "Come Down", featured at the end of the blog, we watched the shortest of the short films called "The Scratcher" by Daniel Stark. It is about a guy who might be having a nightmare, or is he? As this was the shortest of them all, there wasn't very much to go on. However, this one did give us a bit of a laugh as well while still giving a little bit of a scare factor.

"Defenseless" by Chad Magnant was the final short film to be shown before the main event. This one shows two guys getting high together and the things that could happen. This one was the goriest of all the films shown that night. I noticed a few people having to look away a couple of times. I liked the conflict, both individual and between the characters. 

The main event was "Final Breath" by Kim Feragen, and was one of the winners of the Storyhive by Telus creative grants for a digital short by a female director. This Film Festival was a debut of the finished product. The story is about a videographer who films peoples stories just before they die. She comes to one lady who starts telling her about the day she and a friend went looking for a lost dog and ended up in a chilling situation. I actually really like the idea of the story, but after hearing about the true story that brought about the idea, I wished they would have had more time to expand on it. It is a great idea for a full length movie where they could really develop the characters.  However, since the challenge was to create a short film, they did a great job presenting the story and giving us a build up and twist.

If you would like to check out the video for yourself please head over to Storyhive. The finished film is now in a final competition stage for a grand prize. If you like it too, then please vote for Final Breath to win. Voting can be done everyday no matter where you live and from every device you can.

The overall experience for my first film festival was fun, with a great mixture of humor, gore and thrills. Norm Coyne definitely brought a lot of energy to this event. If I could, I would go to many more of these short film festivals.

Movie Review: Split

This week's movie is Split, and just the trailer got me very interested. How the mind works and different possibilities has always been an interesting topic for me as long time readers might know. I enjoy checking out movies that give a focus to these ideas. For some added fun this one is a thriller, so hear are my thoughts on if it lived up to the hype.

The movie starts with what looks like the end of a birthday party and a girl, Casey Cooke (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), sitting at the table but looking alone. Next we see two other girls, the birthday girl Claire (played by Haley Lu Richardson) and her best friend Marcia (played by Jessica Sula), talking to Claire's father (played by Sebastain Arcelus) about how this happens when you give a pity invite. They are talking about Casey who is standing alone by a window on the phone. She walks over and explains that her ride broke down and will not be coming and she will just take the bus. Claire's dad says he will give her a ride home.

We follow them out to the car where they start loading up all of Claire's gifts into the trunk. Clair's dad keeps loading them while the girls get in the car. While the other two girls talk in the back, Casey watches in the mirror for Clair's dad. When she hears the trunk close, they all put on their seatbelts, but Casey stopped when she noticed some of the stuff spilled on the ground instead of being in the trunk. A man, who we find out later is named Kevin (played by James McAvoy), gets in the driver seat in place of Clair's dad. The girls in the back say he got in the wrong car, and he puts on a mask and sprays them with something, knocking them out. Casey, who hasn't been noticed yet, tries to slowly escape, but when the door opens it makes noise in the car, and she gets sprayed too.

The acting was extremely well done by James McAvoy. The way he had to play multiple characters in one body was crazy, and he played them all perfectly. The acting by Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula wasn't quite as good, but they were only having to portray one character. The characters of Claire and Marcia were almost stereotypical of rich privileged girls with little understanding of anything else. This is probably what they were suppose to be like to enhance everything James McAvoy had to do and the subtle acting of Anya, but it dragged the movie down a little as well. 

The story plot was slightly confusing at times, only because of a lot of back and forth scenes. I understand having some of them there helped with the building suspense, but a few flashback scenes just didn't tie into the story as well. It may have been to add to character development, but more seemed added in to make it be longer and took away from the build up. However, it had a great theory behind the whole thing and what makes it even more chilling is how possible it really is. I did a little reading on real Dissociative Identity Disorder's (DID) and it was interesting. You can check out these ten famous cases here.

Overall, the acting could have been better from some people, and the story plot could have had some things cut out as far as I could see. It was still a very well made movie, and really did make for a great thriller movie. For these reasons above I would rate this movie 8.6/10.

Movie Review: Passengers

I hope you had a happy holidays over the past few weeks. What a wonderful time of year for everyone. But what would you do if it was just you and one other person alone in space? How would you celebrate? This weeks movie touches on that subject and more. I have been waiting to see this movie since I saw the first trailer. I would have done this review last week, but I decided against working during the holidays. Here are my thoughts on if it is actually as good as it appeared to be.

The movie starts with a shot of space then the space ship flies through. We have an empty and nearly soundless tour around the ship, when we reach the main control center. A system error shows up on screen, and it fixes it right away. An asteroid field shows up on screen and the ship is shown diverting power to the shield. Its scanner shows a very big asteroid in the field, but the shield breaks it into small pieces flying away in all directions. One of them hits the ship, which then fixes all but one error; a hibernation pod.

This wakes up Jim Preston (played by Chris Pratt), one of the 5000 passengers aboard. He goes through some things to help wake him up, then sends him to his room for rest. After resting, he wanders around, noticing nobody else is awake. After finding no other person in any area, he finally finds someone behind the bar on the first floor. The bartender Arthur (played by Michael Sheen) notices Jim and offers a drink of whisky. Jim sits down and, now realising Arthur is an android, says that his pod malfunctioned and he's the only one awake.

The storyline was slow moving at first. Now I understand needing to show the length of time of loneliness but I am thinking it got to be a little too much before we had something mildly interesting happen. Almost like a drawn out adult version of the first alone part of Home Alone. When we introduced Jennifer Lawrence as Aurora Lane into the mix it gets a little more interesting but still takes a while before getting into the meat of the movie. When it does pick up though it is good and keeps you on your toes.

The acting was way more real than I was expecting. The way Chris Pratt displayed the loneliness in the ship was almost exactly how someone would react. And when Jennifer Lawrence came onto screen, she made it feel like we were really watching her struggle and more. So what I am saying is the acting is not the reason the movie felt so long and drawn out in the beginning. Without the great acting I think the movie would have been really hard to watch, instead they kept our interest when the story lagged in everything else. I do not think they were as good as Matt Damon in The Martian, but I still really enjoyed what they brought to this movie.

Overall, it started out pretty slow, but with the acting being so good, it almost doesn't matter. And with the amazing graphics all around, you would almost believe this were a real space trip. So for all the reasons stated above I would rate this movie 7.9/10.

Movie Review: Rogue One

Before I begin, I am going to say that if you do not want spoilers for Rogue One, do not read past this point. But if you have already seen the movie, or don't care too much about spoilers, then read on. There won't be major spoilers, but some minor ones in my brief beginning synopsis, hopefully. So, with that being said, lets get on with the review.

This weeks movie is one long anticipated by many people, as told by the audience to me. Rogue One is about the story of getting the plans for the Death Star, happening just before Episode 4: A New Hope in the Star Wars movie series. It is a story that intrigued me as well because we see Leia giving R2D2 the plans, but we never hear how she got them except people died to get it. To finally have that history brought to life would be exciting to anyone who has watched the series.

The movie starts with the traditional "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." but then does something different. It doesn't show the Star Wars logo with scrolling text, but instead goes right into a shot of a planet with a starship flying towards it. We then see a young girl running across a black field with an Imperial ship in the background. She runs into a house saying that they are here. We learn this is a young Jyn Erso (played by Beau Gadston) and in her home is her mother, Lyra Erso (played by Valene Kane) already hurriedly packing up things along with her husband, Galen Erso (played by Mads Mikkelsen). Jyn runs to her room and starts packing as well. Lyra makes a call to Saw Gerrera (played by Forest Whitaker) telling him that they have arrived. Galen takes a minute to talk to Jyn and explain how that anything he does, he does to protect her and never to forget that, and how she will always be his Stardust. Lyra then takes Jyn away through the back of the house while Galen goes out the front to meet the man walking out of the Imperial ship.

The man turns out to be Orson Krennic (played by Ben Mandelsohn), a high ranking Imperial Senator. He makes small talk about Galen being a farmer and how lonely it must be. Galen lies and says it is even more so since his wife died. While that is happening we see Lyra and Jyn running along the back. Lyra stops and talks to Jyn while giving her a necklace saying that she should always trust the force. She then tells Jyn to keep going while she turns back to help her husband. Just as Orson orders a Stormtrooper to go search the house, Lyra comes running down the fields yelling that he will not take Galen. During all this Jyn has decided to sneak back to where her parents are and hides in the tall grass to see what is going on. She watches as Lyra shoots and wounds Orson but gets shot herself and dies. Orson then orders the Stormtroopers to find Jyn, so she runs. In a cave she opens up what looks to be a rock but is in fact a hidden bunker and climbs in. She stays there for a while until Saw finds her. All of a sudden, an older Jyn (played by Felicity Jones) wakes up in a cell from the memory dream she just had.

The acting was so full of emotions. The actors were able to take the audience on a full ride and really bring the story alive. The way that Felicity Jones portrayed Jyn was outstanding. She not only rose to the challenge of holding the lead of a major movie, but worked well alongside the other actors as well. Not only did the actors portraying the new characters shine, but I have to give some real praise to the people who had to take over the roles of already beloved characters. Like Guy Henry who replaced Peter Cushing in the role of Grand Moff Tarkin, or the cheers for Inguild Deila stepping in to play a younger Leia for Carrie Fisher and looking amazing doing it. This means I also must give a 2 thumbs up to the make-up department for bringing this magic back to life.

The story plot is hard to go into without delving into too much detail and risking major spoilers, but I just have to say that it is so well done. Not only does it take us through character development in such detail that we can't help but fall in love with the characters, but it doesn't slow down the story to do it. There was a great pace to everything with wonderful action, story line, and even humor that not once are we left feeling like we are missing anything. As a matter of fact it is so well done that you could take your Star Wars newbie friends to this movie and they will not feel lost. The writers out did themselves with the producers and director making the vision come to life. But be warned about this mini spoiler, you will probably cry around the end of it, so bring some tissues if you can.

Overall, the actors did amazing jobs as their characters, with many funny and involving moments as well. Though some moments I could live without, not saying what, it was still a very great movie. So, for the reasons stated above, I would rate this 9.5/10.

Since it is the holidays and we are on a Star Wars theme this post I am going to leave you with a gift.

For those who have already seen it this will be a fun replay, but for those people, like me up until now, that are watching for the first time, beware. This is a VERY cheesy but fun watch. It is one of those things that is so bad it is good.

I would like to thank Kurt Flesher from Country 97 The Wolf for introducing me to this Christmas special while waiting for Rogue One to start. My family had a ton of fun and laughs watching it.
Without further interruption from me here is the Star Wars Holiday Special.

Movie Review: Moana

This weeks movie is Moana, and it is about a girl who goes on an adventure to find a Demigod and a mythical island. It is based on a Hawaiian legend that I am excited to see Disney bring to life. I will be honest, I like the idea of going on adventures, but I am scared of them as well, because I would have to leave everything I know and venture into the unknown. Here is what I think of Moana's adventure. 

The movie starts with a story on tapestry narrated by Gramma Tala (voiced by Rachel House) about the goddess Te Fiti, and how she created islands from the sea. She then laid on her side and became an island, and people came to take her heart, one of which was the demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson). When he came close to the island on boat, he morphed into a giant hawk and flew the rest of the way. When overhead, he turns into a lizard and crawls across the island and finds the heart. He turns back to a human, and removes the heart with his giant fish hook. When he does, the island begins to turn black and crumble, so he runs off the island and turns back into a hawk. But the lava monster Te Ka was waiting at the reef of the island, wanting the heart for their self. As Maui flew closer and closer, he turned human to strike Te Ka, but got hit himself and fell deep into the ocean, along with his fish hook and the heart.

It moves to Gramma Tala finishing telling the tale to a group of children by saying that one of them would go beyond the reef to find Maui and restore the heart of Te Fiti. The Chief Tui (voiced by Temuera Morrison) comes in and says that no one goes beyond the reef, and that the monsters in the stories aren't real, when the tapestries with art of such monsters drop down. Most of the children run around screaming, except for one, a young Moana (voiced by Auli'i Cravalho). She sneaks out and goes to the ocean, where a baby turtle is trapped by birds and unable to go to the ocean. Moana helps it to the water, which parts shortly after to reveal a shell. As Moana picks up the shell, the water parts more to reveal more shells, until she is in deeper water than her own height, where the sea creatures swim around her. A green stone floats towards her while she plays with the water, and she grabs it and begins to feel the markings on it. But before she can properly grip it again, her father calls out and the water brings her back to shore, causing her to drop the rock. Chief Tui, who happens to be Moana's father, comes out and takes her around the island town, teaching her about all her duties in song while she ages into teenage years.

The story plot went through differently than you would expect, but was consistent throughout anyways. The movie itself was mostly an original idea, which seems hard to come by these days. It was a great breath of fresh air for the most part. There were parts that could have been done differently, like the dragging part in the middle where Moana is first heading out on her own. It also seemed to move slow after we meet Maui as well, but the pace did pick up after a while, so it worked out in the end. I also think they over did the crazy chicken joke a little too much as well, but the theater full of kids seemed to disagree with me on that.

The voice acting was better than most animated movies, and that's saying something. With how Auli'i Cravalho voiced Moana, it felt more like watching a live action movie than animation. She was expressive in her voice and played well against Dwayne Johnson's booming voice for Maui. Alongside the animation, it was one of the better 3D Disney movies. Though I wish they would bring back the hand drawn and 2D style animation, this was still great.

Overall, The animation was top notch, coupled with the outstanding voice acting, it had a lot of great moments. With how the story plot went, it could have used some work, but otherwise still pretty good. And with the reasons stated above, I would rate this 8.7/10.

Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

It was 15 years ago that Harry Potter first came to theater, so it seems fitting that we finally get an extension to the wizarding world. The textbook this story is based on is actually one that I was most interested in with the original series. It will be interesting how they turn a text book into a story and learning more about the author. I probably should have watched the Harry Potter series again first, but it is too late for that. It could be a good or bad thing, but I hope you enjoy my review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The movie starts with a group of people, most likely wizards, standing in a group, when a blue fire disintegrates them all. We see the back of a mans head, then newspaper clippings start flying around with similar headlines, asking about a man named Grindelwald. Further reading of the papers show these are the headlines in the US. As the papers settle into a picture of the Statue of Liberty we zoom into the actual statue with a boat passing by.

On the deck of the boat we see a man sitting on a bench with a suitcase next to him. The latch on the suitcase flips open on its own, and as the man closes the latch he lifts the suitcase onto his lap. We soon see this is Newt Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne) and he talks to someone, or something, in the case telling them to be patient, as they are almost there. He soon exits the boat and goes through security at the New York boat terminal. The inspector asks some questions about what is in his suitcase, when the latch opens on its own again. Newt says he should get it fixed and closes it again. The inspector asks to see in his bag, and Newt puts it up and makes it "muggle worthy" to inspect. When the case is opened all we see is some clothing, personal items and a pocket watch ticking away. The inspector closes the case and says welcome to New York.

The plot of the story brought us an interesting perspective of how the wizarding world is in America. It took us to the past before Harry Potter time, so there wasn't a competing story line as well. I enjoyed that aspect of it. Being the first movie in this story line, a lot of time was spent in character development, so maybe we lost a little bit of story there, but it did not lack that much. There was some great action and even some growth of the main character. Trying not to give away too much, but what I enjoyed most is that the hero of the story, Newt, appears to have some autistic traits to him. I like that we now have movies like this one and The Accountant with Autistic people as lead characters. It gives us hope and is nice to know that I could be able to relate to him at least a little.

The acting was also top notch, mostly on the part of Eddie Redmayne. The way he portrayed Newt Scamander was definitely greater than I was expecting. You would almost think he was autistic in real life if you didn't know better. The character Tina Goldstein played by Katherine Waterston at first comes across as static and one dimensional, but it does not stay that way. I think this was a smart way for her to play the character, as it gave us growth to like her when she annoyed us at first. Then there is Colin Farrell as Percival Graves. He kept us guessing between good and bad and I can think of no one better to play this role. He also lead us brilliantly into one great twist, which I saw coming, but it was still well done. I did find some of the background characters were a touch bland, but these actors and the CGI beasts make up the difference. I am curious to see how things grow in the sequel, which we all know will happen.

Overall, the story plot went through very smoothly, and the acting was great, and the CGI was exceptional. There are some things to look out for in this movie, and some might surprise you to know. So, for these reasons, I would rate this 9.0/10.

Also thank-you to my good friend Quade who helped me set up a facebook page. If you have time please check it out and give it a like.
https://www.facebook.com/Samsslap/

Movie Review: Doctor Strange

As many long time readers know, my family loves Marvel movies. Doctor Strange caught my interest when I saw the trailers, and intrigued me enough to go and see it. The characters and world twisting seems like they would create something completely new from what Marvel has done before. So, I hope you enjoy my review on Doctor Strange.

The movie starts with three figures walking through a dark courtyard area towards a door. We then end up in a secret library with the librarian putting away a book with chains to hold the book in place on a strange book rack. The three men walk in, along with many others surrounding the librarian, then using magic to bind him in place. The one hooded man, Kaecilius (played by Mads Mikkelsen) comes close to the librarians head, grabs the two small axes behind his back, then slices his head off with one quick slash. Kaecilius then goes and finds a book, flips through until he finds the pages he wants, then tears them out. A mysterious hooded figure appears in the room and says the spell will only bring him trouble. He reaches for his axes as if to attack, but then runs off with all the others following soon after. They all end up on the streets, and make a break for some of the bigger buildings across the street. They all stop dead in their tracks when they see a sort of glass mirror effect in front of them, turning around to the hooded person move their hand, causing the buildings to shift abnormally. Gravity turns sideways as this happens, and some of the buildings behind them move outwards and begin rolling towards them all. A battle ensues here, with some of the people getting crushed by the rolling buildings, but in the end Kaecilius escapes with some of them, and the figure causes everything to go back to normal. The person then begins walking down the street, and from the back we see them take off their hood to reveal a bald head.

It then moves to Doctor Stephen Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) washing his hands, putting on his surgery jacket, then his mask, and finally his gloves to prepare for doing a surgery. He begins to do the surgery, then says to one of the other doctors it's a challenge round, and they change the song, to which Strange says the song is "Feels So Good, Chuck Mangione, 1977" and that it isn't a challenge. The other doctor says its 1978, but Strange says the album was released in December 1977 and became more popular in 1978. The other doctor said they checked Wikipedia, but Strange tells him to look again to confirm. The assisting surgeon asks Strange where he stores all this useless information. Turns out he is right and everyone can't believe it. He finishes what he is doing and notices Dr. Christine Palmer (played by Rachel McAdams) standing outside the door gesturing to an emergency. The other surgeon offers to finish up as he goes to talk to her.

The acting was enjoyable to watch and almost lifelike. I love it when a group of strong actors come together and actually make something good. Rachel McAdams was probably a little more cliché than I would have liked, but she played it well. But I must give my praise to Benedict Cumberbatch who plays an ego ridden know it all very well, but adding that vulnerable side to bring his character to the transition of sorcerer is brilliant. Mads Mikkelsen's bad guy, Kaecilius, also seems very cliché straight bad guy until closer to the end when his pain over why he is doing what he is truly comes out. I believe some of the cliché acting probably has to do with the script.

The story plot was fascinating to go through. It has some of that knock down the big ego guy and transform him into something we can relate to back in the origin of Ironman, but his human struggle is so much more relatable to. His search to regain what he once had only to be taken deeper into a dark pit makes for his come back as super hero that much more interesting to watch. I like the twists, both in storyline and actual reality. The CGI is amazing to watch and worth going to see the movie alone. My only problem would be some of the cliché touches but I guess every super hero movie needs some of those.

Overall, with the almost lifelike performances, and the twisted reality scenes, it had the opportunity to be greater. Though the clichés were there, along with a few other things, it was still very good. So, for the reasons above, I would rate this 8.9/10.

Movie Review: Inferno

This weeks movie is Inferno, which is the third movie in the DaVinci Code series. The only one I haven't seen in the trilogy is Angels and Demons, and it intrigues me to see it after this one, in case there is something I would have missed in the story line. So, I hope you enjoy my review on Inferno.

The movie starts with jumpy footage of a video playing, with a man talking about overpopulation and a plague. It then moves to the same man, Bertrand Zobrist (played by Ben Foster), running into a building from some men in suits. He climbs on the roof, then realizes that he cornered himself when one of the two men climbs up after him. The man, Christoph Bouchard (played by Omar Sy), tells Bertrand to hand over the package, to which he falls backwards and kills himself, which can be seen in the trailer below.

It then moves to Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks), as it appears, sleeping, and having a terrible nightmare of sorts. Within are people halfway through the ground, legs sticking up, others with their heads turned to face behind them, and people infected with something. As he goes though more and more, he suddenly jerks awake and we find ourselves in a hospital room. The doctor, Sienna Brooks (played by Felicity Jones), is on the other side of the room when he wakes up, and Robert asks where he is. She tells him that a bullet grazed his head and he's in the hospital with amnesia, when he tells Sienna to turn out the lights. She does that, and Robert realises that he's in Siena, Italy when he sees the Torre Del Mangia.

The acting was very well done for a lot of the movie, but I had a few problems. Ben Foster did good in the first few scenes you saw him in, but he felt a little flat most elsewhere. Felicity Jones also did great in a lot of her scenes, but she had a point where she didn't quite have enough emotion, and fell short of her best. But even so, Tom Hanks was very enjoyable in portraying his character in every aspect possible.

The story plot went about as smooth as uncarved wood, though it was still understandable and enjoyable. It mostly made sense throughout, except at the twists, but that's what the twists are about. It was interesting watching Robert solve a mystery puzzle he had already solved the day before, but at the same time it also seemed to slow the movie down from the pace of the first movie. It just couldn't hold my interest very well.

Overall, the acting had some flaws, and it was a little rough around the edges, it was still a decently good movie. Some things could have been better, others might have been better left out, but considering the good I would rate this 7.3/10.

Movie Review: The Accountant

This weeks movie is one that caught my attention with the trailer as something I might be able to relate to. I have always been different than others and not really good with socializing. However, I probably will not do some of the things that this guy does. I started this blog with the hopes to understand and relate to people better. And with that, I hope you enjoy my review on The Accountant.

The movie starts with what looks like a man getting out of a taxi then running across the street into a building. He climbs up the stairs, gun in hand, while some voices can be heard from around the corner. We then see a shadow figure of a gun being pointed at a guys head, then a shot rings out and we cut out.

Next we go 30 years in the past at the Harbour Neuroscience Institute in New Hampshire, and find a young boy with Autism (played by Seth Lee) sitting at a table dumping out a puzzle. He blows on his fingers, then starts to put the puzzle together quickly while some adults speak to each other in another room. It turns out they are the boys parents, and they are talking to the neurologist about how to handle his behaviour and sensitivity to things like lights and clothing. He suggests that the boy spend a month or two with him, but the father, a military man, says if he is sensitive to those things he doesn't need more of it and refuses. At this time the boy finishes the puzzle except for one lost piece and he starts freaking out. His brother doesn't know what to do, but the young girl with Autism in the room finds the missing piece for him. He then completes the puzzle, which we now notice is upside down.

The acting was very well done for most of it, but it felt a little off at times. Ben Affleck took his role and made it almost seem like he was his character, even if it was a little stale sometimes. However, John Bernthal didn't quite give me the feel of a good bad guy from the way he sounded. But otherwise, it was pretty good acting for many of the other actors.

The story was actually relatable in the terms of how people with brains that function differently work, and I could believe that someone with his abilities could end up like this. And with the twists throughout the movie, some subtle and others more obvious, it felt like the kind of thing that could happen to people in real life, almost. Though the flow through of the movie wasn't the greatest, it still had some great moments in it.

Overall, the acting went mostly well, and the movie had some great twists and turns, but sometimes it felt off in areas that can be found if you have a good eye. But, it had good intensions for it all, which was only a little off, but mostly on, and for these reasons I would rate this movie 7.8/10.

Movie Review: Storks

There are times when doing a job seems like it's too tough and not worth it. I feel that way a lot, even though I sometimes don't have a good reason to. It would be easier for me to just stay in my room all the time and not worry about everything else in the world. This weeks movie, Storks, touches on that theme when the storks go from delivering babies to household goods. Is taking the easy route the better way to go?

The movie starts with a narration by Junior (voiced by Andy Samberg), telling us the history of Storks, which can be seen in the trailer below. For as long as time Storks have delivered babies. No matter what happened to them, they had to deliver. As we watch the stork get tortured and beaten up trying to deliver the babies, we end on a still of one crazy situation. Well thank goodness they don't do that any more, because they now deliver packages for Cornerstore.com.

Junior is then seen flying through the store, celebrating his one millionth delivery. Everything seems to be going great, although no one seems to want to celebrate with him. They give him excuses, but he shrugs it off. He gets nervous when he is called to the boss office. This is when we meet the boss Hunter (Voiced by Kelsey Grammer) who informs Junior that he is up for a big promotion. Junior is really excited until Hunter informs he has will have to fire the orphan Tulip (voiced by Katie Crown).

The movie had a plot that gave time for them to develop the characters and that was nice, but it also lead to a lot of almost wasted scenes that dragged on a little too long. It did have a few surprise twists throughout the movie that was fun to watch, but then became generic at the end. I almost wish they had done a different ending than what they chose. You can tell they are trying hard to compete with top animation creators like Pixar and Dreamworks, but missed the mark. The motion animation was okay and was not too hard to watch.

The voice acting was fun, but I have to say a lot of the jokes given seemed a little forced, and it was a little distracting at times. I wonder if the movie would have done better with some improvisations from the actors to give the animators something more to work with. Makes me wish Robin Williams was around to show them how to bring a character to life, like how he did with the Genie in Aladdin. It was more enjoyable to watch this movie than Norm of the North, so they get a big thumbs up from me there.

Overall, it was an enjoyable movie to watch, but not up to top level tier. Kids might get a little lost in the middle, but they will have fun with the characters. And for these reasons I would rate this movie 6.6/10.