The Wolverine

Author's Note: I didn't want to see this. I was planning on seeing Pacific Rim, but I went with some other people and they wanted to see this. I thought, "We'll it's violent and gory, but I spent my weekend watching the Dark Knight Trilogy, so nothing can really scar me for life." There WAS some pretty disturbing imagery, but Dark Knight was more disturbing. 

Review: While it's not the best X-Men movie in the franchise, it's certainly better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine. There was one thing I didn't expect though, humor. I thought it was going to be a dark, gritty film. It is, but they still manage to mix humor. It's not enough, though. I thought the first half moved too slowly, and the second half was over too quickly.

There's one action scene in the first half. One! And it's incredibly fast, and hard to see. The second half had a predictable twist, and left you going "Really, I knew this was going to happen 20 minutes in the film!" Basically, Wolverine is a fun thrill-ride, but only if you consider rollercoasters that move at 5mph thrill rides. P.S. As always with Marvel movies, stay until about halfway through the credits. Grade: C-  4/10 2/5 stars

Turbo

Ok, so this is the last post I'm making today, but not necessarily the last post I'm making until I see another film in theaters. I might review some films I own and/or have recently rented. That being said here's my review.

Turbo is basically Fast and Furious for kids, with a little bit of Ratatouille, and Cars thrown into the mix. If you liked any or all of these films, there's a good chance you'll like this. It's the best Dreamworks film since Madagascar 3. (I didn't particularly like Rise of the Guardians, and I haven't seen The Croods yet, but I might rent it when it comes out.) If you like underdog (or in this case undersnail) stories, fun action, and bright colors, in addition to electronica music AND tacos, this is the movie for you. I loved this film so much, I'm wishing December would hurry up and get here, so Netflix will put the tv show of this on. That's right. The first Netflix original series for kids, Turbo F.A.S.T. (Fast Action Stunt Team) will premiere in December along with over 500 hours of kids programming made by Dreamworks in the coming years. If its anything like the movie, it's enough incentive to keep my Netflix subscription, and just hope December comes soon, so I don't have to go by page after page of knockoff movies. (Chop Kick Panda, for example) LOVED THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!! Grade: A+ 10/10 5/5 stars. Just be prepared for a catchy electronica song about halfway through the movie to get stuck in your head all day. 

Despicable Me 2

While this is much better and funnier than  the first film, I felt it overused the Minions. What made the first film so great, was they used the Minions sparingly. This one feels more like the Minions are the stars rather than Gru and his daughters. That being said, though, I'm still looking forward to the Minions movie next year. (Speaking of which, stay during the entire first half of the credits for a little teaser of that movie.) I felt this one had a stronger villain than the first one, better jokes, and just the right amount of silliness to make this one of the best animated films of the year. It has given me a fear of chickens though. Plus, it was written by two LDS screenwriters, and has a great Christian-based theme. (I can't say what it is without spoiling the ending, though) Basically, this movie will leave you feeling happy. Grade: A-  9/10 4/5 stars

Monsters University

When Pixar announced that they were making another Monsters Inc. I was so excited. A few months later, they said it would be a prequel telling the story of how Mike and Sulley went from enemies to friends, and my hopes fell. I mean, we see that they're friends, and have been for a long time, so can we just have a sequel where maybe they need Boo's help? We want more Boo! Then the trailers came out and my hopes were restored. "This could actually be really good," I thought. I decided to give it a chance and I'm glad I did! It's funny, creepy, and has a lot of heart, and references to the original movie are abundant. (And yes, despite this being a prequel they did manage to have John Ratsenburger as The Abominable Snowman. Don't get too excited, though. He only has one line, but it's a funny line.)

Grade: A+ 10/10 5/5 stars

Man of Steel

While it's a great improvement over Stupidman (er, Superman) Returns, Man of Steel is not without flaws of its own. For one, the climax had too much building smashing. Who does Superman think he is, the Hulk? And another thing, it's not shown that Superman has weaknesses. No Kryptonite in sight. So that's a big problem when you have Superman, who is practically immortal, vs. General Zod who is also practically immortal. The ending is like watching a game of Chess that you know is going to end in a stalemate. Luckily it doesn't, but I'm not saying how. Plus, it feels like, to quote Journey "the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on and on." Don't get me wrong I thought this was great! For one, much better writing than Superman Returns. Another thing, it feels darker than a Superman movie normally is, which isn't surprising considering Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy) was the producer. That's a great improvement over the other films, which, compared to this feel silly. And Bonus: In 2015 when Man of Steel 2 comes out, Superman AND Batman FINALLY come together on the big screen! I'm really looking forward to that! Grade: B-              

8/10 3/5 stars

Star Trek Into Darkness

I went into this film knowing very little about the Star Trek universe. I'm more of a Star Wars fan. But after hearing some very favorable reviews I decided to rent the first one. I thought it was pretty good, but when I saw the trailers for Into Darkness, I thought "This looks amazing! I should go see it." I have to say, it was a lot better than I expected. I caught some of the references to Tribbles and the Wrath of Khan movie, which I hadn't seen but had heard the infamous "KHAAAAAN!" scream enough to get the reference in this film. (I've seen Wrath of Khan now, thanks to the miracle of Netflix.) Plus, one of my friends is a HUGE Trekkie, so I was able to follow the plot pretty well. This is one of J.J. Abrams's best films. I can't wait to see what he does when he directs Star Wars 7! Grade: A+ 10/10 5/5 stars 

Iron Man 3 Review

DISCLAIMER: This is my first review. So it may not be as great as future ones.

When it was announced in 2009 that Disney had acquired Marvel for $4 billion

I thought "Wow! Did they really need to, though?" Well, when The Avengers came out as the first Marvel film distributed by Disney, I was blown away! I thought, "Wow! I can't wait to see what they do with Iron Man 3 next year." Fast forward to May 3, 2013. I'm in a sold out show of Iron Man 3, and I'm giddier than a nerd at Comic-con. (Compliment, because I consider myself a nerd too. So no offense meant fellow nerds.) What's the first thing I hear when the movie starts?A voice over  narration by Tony Stark himself. Then something amazing happens. As the opening credits roll, I hear Eiffel 65's "I'm Blue (Da Ba Dee)."

I have to cover my mouth to keep from cheering. Then it's awesome action scene after awesome action scene. I leave the theater so excited I can't sleep that night. And yes, I did see the scene after the credits, because, to misquote a famous Lord of the Rings character "One does not simply leave a Marvel movie before the end of the credits." (Tell that to half my theater though.) The basic plot of the film is this. Tony Stark needs to figure out how to balance out his life as Iron Man, and spending time with Pepper, while defeating the new menace called The Mandarin. I think Robert Downey Jr. was absolutely brilliant in this, but man that precocious ten year old kid whose name I forget, really stole the show. And now I hear he's signed on for 3 more Marvel movies, which he hasn't revealed yet. Awesome! 

Iron Man 3: Grade: A-

9/10

4/5 stars

What I've seen so far( and want to see)

Movies I've seen so far  are:

Iron Man 3

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Man of Steel

Monsters University

Despicable Me 2

Turbo
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Last Starfighter
Epic

Ender's Game 

Free Birds

Thor 2: The Dark World

The Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire

Non-Stop

The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug

Saving Mr. Banks

After Earth
World War Z
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2

The Lego Movie

Muppets Most Wanted

Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier

Rio 2

Amazing Spider-Man 2

X-men: Days of Future Past

Movies I plan on seeing if Mormon Standards stand:

In 2014:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

How To Train Your Dragon 2

Guardians of The Galaxy
The Giver
The Maze Runner
Big Hero 6
Interstellar

The Hunger Games 3: Mockingjay part 1

The Hobbit 3: Battle of the Five Armies

Night at the Museum 3
Penguins of Madagascar 

2015
Jurassic World
Minions

The Fantastic Four (reboot)

The Avengers 2

Hotel Transylvania 2

Peanuts (yes, Charlie Brown peanuts)

Ant-Man

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2
Star Wars 7
Home

2016
Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Captain America 3
X-Men: Apocolypse
Angry Birds
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

Kung Fu Panda 3
Tintin 2

Amazing Spider-Man 3
Finding Dory

2017
The Wolverine 2
The Lego Movie 2
The Croods 2
Despicable Me 3
The Grinch

2018

Amazing Spider-Man 4

There is a bit of a gap in some of these, simply because movies that also look great don't have release dates yet. As soon as more dates become available, I will add them.

Before You Start Reading: Things You Need To Know

Some Basic Rules

1. Keep language in comments CLEAN! No profanity, crude language or anything considered offensive. You will be banned if you ignore this rule.

2. I will NOT review every movie that comes out. While I do see a majority of them, I always do the content research beforehand. As a member of The Church  of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also called LDS or "Mormons") I will NOT see anything R-rated or above, and even some PG and PG-13. For example, I was planning on seeing The Wolverine today, but after doing some digging about the content I decided for myself that it was too gory and violent. In fact, most people said a PG-13 was too generous and should have received an R. So that's out of the question. 

3. No being a Grammar Nazi. This includes correcting people's spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Again, Grammar Nazi-ing will get you banned, no warnings.