Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

This....was actually a lot better than I expected. Considering how awful ''At World's End" was (although I did enjoy "On Stranger Tides") I went in with low expectations. I thought at best it would be mediocre. But they went in a different direction with this one. It feels more like a reboot of the franchise than an actual sequel. But yes, Johnny Depp is still doing the same schtick, and yes, it does wear thin. However the new characters played by Brendon Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario were interesting, and had some surprise connections to other characters that I will not spoil. Also, the villain played by Javier Bardem, he was cool for the first 20 minutes he was onscreen, but sadly, like Depp, he started to feel like a caricature that wore thin. Out of all the "Pirates" villains, he was definetely the weakest.  And there's a flashback sequence with a young Jack Sparrow where it's very obvious that CGI was used on Johnny Depp and it just looks awful. They couldn't have just cast a young actor? The story is the best story of the sequels, and it feels like there was some effort put into it, and it was actually pretty fun. A lot of the dialougue was witty and I did laugh a few times. Considering this is "Pirates 5" it was better than it had any right to be. Nothing will ever match the first one, because the first one was unique. It took something that shouldn't have worked, and not only did it make it work, it made it work well. That's something that will never be able to be repeated, and I agree, these films do need to stop. I think having different writers and directors helped this film. It made sense, wasn't too terribly long, and knew when it needed to give more, or give less. That's something that the other sequels haven't been able to accomplish. Is it worth paying full price? No, but it wouldn't hurt to go see it on a $5 Tuesday if you have that or waiting for a discount theater. 

Grade: B     8/10     3.5/5 stars

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Why do we give Rotten Tomatoes so much credibilty? There are plenty of movies that have recieved low scores that I ended up really liking and this is one of them. Do not listen to the critics. I think the reason so many were quick to hate this film is that it is a little too fast paced. There aren't really any quiet moments to give the audience a few minutes to catch their breath and comprehend what they just watched up to that point and that is one way the film could have been improved. But as far as story goes, I really enjoyed it. Although at times I did see a lot of similarities to "The Force Awakens" and ''Rogue One", but Star Wars is basically sci-fi fantasy anyway, just as this is medeval Star Wars. Charlie Hunnam is great in the title role, but for me Jude Law and Aidan Gillen really stole the show. Law's great at playing villains and this is another example of that. He's so chilling. Aidan Gillen wasn't necessarily a "comic relief" character, but a few of his lines did get some laughs out of me. The action sequences in this film are so elaborate and well-done, however there are moments where it's painfully obvious CGI was used instead of actors, and it's not even good CGI. It looks like a trailer for a video game from 2004. A lot more of the budget should have gone to improving the CGI, because as quickly as I was enthralled by the action sequences, I was just as quickly taken out of them, and that kind of ruined the final battle for me. I also absolutely must praise the score! My goodness was this an awesome score! I loved Daniel Pemberton's work on "The Man from UNCLE" and the score here as just as epic. I can listen to this soundtrack for hours. It really gets you pumped for whatever action sequence or battle is about to happen. If you're about to hit the gym, put on this soundtrack. Trust me, it will help you. This was a great fantasty/action film. If "Stardust" was Guy Ritchie's fantasy movie for women, this is definetly his fantasy movie for men. Defintely should ignore Rotten Tomatoes with this one.

Grade: B   8/10   4/5 stars

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The best thing about Marvel is also the worst thing: They always try to outdo themselves with the next film in the MCU. Sometimes it really works like with this film, and Captain America 2 and 3, and sometimes it doesn't like with Iron Man 2 and Thor 2. But the advantage is they know how to keep making it better. They take fan's criticisms and complaints into account and try really hard to fix them. Such is the case with this film. Not that I had anything to complain about with part 1, but man, this definetely beats part 1 by a lot. Everything about this is better. The pacing, the story, the dialouge, the humor, and even the soundtrack. It manages to keep the style, spirit, and tone of everything we loved about the first film while also breaking new ground with it. It's very hard to make lightning strike twice, especially with a film with as weird a premise as Guardians of the Galaxy. By all accounts, the first film shouldn't have worked. Even more so the case with this film. Marvel has managed to do the impossible twice now. This is good, because it proves they're willing to take risks, but this is also bad, because now they'll be forced to outdo themselves every time, until eventually they'll be crushed by their own unattainable expectations. I'm very worried this will happen in the near future, especially as new films come out with new characters and new crossover films. Will we eventually be too greedy and want more and more and bigger and better each time until we're disappointed? I hope not. I know this isn't really a review of the movie, so much as it is about Marvel, but it's getting really had to keep this spoiler-free. Trust me, this is one film where you want to go in knowing as little as possible. Don't read the comics, don't use social media until you've seen the film. And I cannot stress this enough: Do not leave until ALL the credits have finished!!!!.

There is a total of 5 (Yes, FIVE) end credits scenes. And all are important especially as we gear up for Infinity War.

Grade: A-   9/10   4/5 stars

Listen to Borimir

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

I didn't see this in theaters because I have not liked Eddie Redmayne in previous works. To me, he was always a little bit too over-the-top. So I was a bit skeptical about this. Not to mention, I've frankly had enough of Harry Potter. I love it, but there is such a thing as too much. Especially when this movie was very obviously a blatant cashgrab. But after everyone telling me how good it was, I decided to at least rent it. I'm actually glad I did. I went in with my expectations low. I wasn't determined to hate it, I just thought at the most it would be OK. It was actually quite good. Not just as a Harry Potter spin-off, but just as a fantasy movie alone. And to my surprise, Eddie Redmayne was actually enjoyable. He was fun and quirky, while not being over-the-top. I'm actually nominating him as a contender to replace Peter Capaldi on "Doctor Who" when this season is done. Even if you've never seen a Harry Potter movie you'll enjoy this, since it's not really connected to the other films for the most part. Will you get more out of it if you have? Yes, but only because of small references here and there that basically say "Hey, we're in the same universe." I enjoyed the differences in the magical world culture between England and the US. In England, non-wizards are called "Muggles." In the US they're called "No-Maj's." (As in "No-Magic.") And there's a lot of school pride/rivalry between whether Hogwarts or the US equivalent Livermorny is better. Nice nod to the previous works. Apparently we're supposed to get 5 of these things, but honestly I don't see how. It works pretty well as one film, and is pretty self-contained. There's no big reveal or cliffhanger to set up the next movie. To be honest, I'm not even sure how it could continue but I'm excited to see how.

Grade: A-      9/10  4/5

The Circle

This is one of those movies where you need to read the book first. The reason for that is the book is about 500 pages and they needed to cut a lot out and as a result, the editing is a bit choppy, and the film may be confusing as it does move very quickly. But since I did read the book, that wasn't a problem. Some of the best performances of the year are in this film, particularly from Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, and John Boyega. However, one of the worst performances of the year is also in this film from Ellar Coltrane. His performance is just awful. Every line from him, without exception, is either without emotion, or just very awkwardly delivered. They really should have given him better direction or hired someone else. Most movies of this nature are very one-sided, but in this film both sides of the argument are delivered very well. You see the positives and negatives to both sides, although the negative sides from Tom Hanks' character's point of view are presented as very manipulitive but that's the point. I wouldn't say Tom Hanks' character is evil or a villain in the way we traditionally think of movie villains, but he's not afraid to deceive and manipulate, and sometimes play on human emotion to get what he wants. He presents this fascist society as a good thing for the betterment of humanity, and preys on common human empathies and sympathies to convince people to side with him. He's not the level of, say, President Snow from "The Hunger Games", but he's pretty close. Whereas Snow uses threats, Hanks' character takes a "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" approach, as do most of the other employees of The Circle. Like I said, you should probably read the book first, or you may get confused because of the choppy editing, but once you've read it, and then seen this you'll be able to piece together the missing elements of the film. Will this win any Oscars? Probably not. but it is still a very important film that everyone needs to see. 

Grade: A-   9/10   4/5 stars