Fantastic Four (2015)

Dear Fox,

You've officially proved 3 times now that you can not make a good Fantastic Four movie. Just give the rights to Marvel studios already and let them control it.

How did Josh Trank go from making a great movie like "Chronicle", to making this?  This doesn't even feel like a superhero movie. It's so boring. It's an hour and a half (without credits) and an hour and 15 minutes is spent on the so-called "origin story". By the time the film actually got to the action, the thrill was gone. I was out of it. I didn't care anymore, and just wanted the film to end. They messed up Dr. Doom. When did he have romantic interest in Invisible Woman? Oh, yeah. That's right. Never. And The Thing's motion capture just looks creepy. this movie makes me so angry. The Fantastic Four's powers sure would come in handy in destroying this movie, though. Mr. Fantastic can throw this movie into another dimension, Invisible Woman can make the ashamed filmmakers invisible, and put force fields around them to shield them from the rotten tomatoes I want to throw at them, Human Torch can burn all copies of this movie, and Thing can smash all copies of this movie.  

Grade: F+. 0/10. 0/5 stars

Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation

Mission: Impossible is one of the few franchises where it doesn't get worse every movie. It either stays about the same or gets better, depending on the movie. That being said, this is easily one of the best in the series. Knowing that Tom Cruise does his own stunts makes this movie so much cooler. There's scenes in here that are quite impressive. I won't say what they are though, because, spoilers. This reminded me of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The entire movie kept me engaged. There were hardly any boring scenes. It's exciting, and had done great twists. My only complaint is I found one scene quite predictable. 

Grade: A-   9/10  4/5 stars

Pixels

If you're a child of the 80s, an arcade aficionado, or a gamer in general, this is the film for you. If not, then its not for you and you probably won't like it. However, if, like me, you are in the target audience you will most likely enjoy this film. Although it isn't really that original, (let's be honest. It's "Ghostbusters" but with video games) it's still well done. The ending was a bit silly, and felt rushed and du-ex-machina, but up until that point I thought it was great. It is a bit slow in some parts and I wanted it to get back into the action, especially because those parts have no effect on the plot whatsoever. They tried to set up a romantic relationship between two characters, but it's wasted because they don't end up together anyway. And since Sean Bean is in the movie I felt they missed an oppurtunity to make a joke about how he always dies. They could have had him in an arcade where he gets a game over screen, and then had him say "Why do I always die?" Missed oppurtunity. I did enjoy the countless 80's pop culture references, and those were the best part of the movie. It's too bad this is getting bad reviews, because I was the only person in the theater the whole time. I thought this was a great movie. Will it be remembered in 10, or even 5 years from now? No, but it's a great movie nonetheless. 

Grade: B.   8/10   3.5/5 stars

Happy 2 years!

It's been 2 years today since I started this blog! Thanks for all the positive feedback. Let's keep it going. Let's here it for year 3!

Ant-Man

I really enjoy that Marvel movies don't just stick with one genre. Just as Captain America was a war movie and a superhero movie, this is a heist movie and superhero movie. (Meanwhile at DC) It's pretty hard to get excited about a superhero who's only powers are shrinking and controlling ants. Especially because the original Ant-Man is not the main character, so if you're not familiar with the comics you may be confused.  It's a different kind of Marvel movie. The theme of passing the torch has not yet been seen in any Marvel film. I loved that we've got the original hero passing on his legacy to a guy who really needs to change his life for the better. This has everything we've come to expect from an MCU movie. Humor, action, a good story, and cameos for the fans. It's reminded me of Guardians of the Galaxy, a lot. And that's a good thing, because I enjoyed that movie a lot. It's because of this movie that Paul Rudd will forever be known as Small Rudd. It's not the best MCU movie, (so far, that's Captain America: The Winter Soldier), but it is a fun little movie that will be known as a gamble that Marvel took, that paid off in the long run. 

Grade: A-  9/10  4/5 stars

Minions

I'm kind of surprised that this was as good as at was. Considering the Minions don't speak English, I thought it wouldn't really work as a full length movie if most of it was in Minion-ese. However, it does work and somehow you can understand what they're saying perfectly. This is an absolutely hilarious film. I'd say it's one of the best of the year! It's even got references to the original "Despicable Me" movie.  Most of the humor is visual, rather than from the writing. It was great seeing everything tie in from this prequel to the original movie. It helps explain some things. Although it took away my theory that Gru created the Minions, their real origin is no more ridiculous than mine. It's fun for the whole family, and I look forward to "Despicable Me 3." I need more Minions, and I need them now. 

Grade: A+. 10/10. 5/5 stars

The Gallows

(Disclaimer: I know I say that I never see R rated films. However, the filmmakers go to my church as well, and quite honestly it's a PG-13 film that was very stupidly slapped with an R because the MPAA is dumb.)

This is without a doubt, quite literally, the scariest movie I have ever seen! The Poltergeist remake scared me, but this terrified me. I still have a pit in my stomach, and my heart is still thumping as I type this. A lot of people will write off this film as "bad" simply because it's found footage, without even seeing it. (Looking at you IMDB message board trolls.) This movie proves that found footage is not dead, and can still be scary. The acting is phenomenal (which is a surprise considering this is the first movie for almost all the actors.) It feels incredibly realistic. I was in stagecraft in my high school and this movie is the reason why I will never join that class again. I will also never join drama. Simply because this movie has scared me off those two classes forever. This makes the game "Five Nights at Freddy's" look like "Sesame Street" by comparison. (No offense, Scott Cathon. It's still scary, just not as scary as this.) This is the kind of movie you want to see with your friends in a room with the lights off and locked doors, so there is no escape. Bwahahahaha! I cannot recommend this movie enough. It's quite impressive that it has such a small budget and yet it still feels like a theater-worthy movie. I won't give away the end, but know that it is one of the greatest twist endings I have ever seen! Bravo!

Grade: A+  10/10 5/5 stars