Justice League

Once again, the critics are wrong. This. was. Awesome! You know you're in for a fun time when "Written by Joss Whedon" pops up on the screen! It's got almost everything a Justice League movie should have. Humor, action, witty dialogue....It's almost on par with Marvel. Almost. Really, my only negative critique is the villain was really dumb. It's a Justice League movie and they give us Steppenwolf?! Really?! Even when Steppenwolf shows up, he doesn't do anything. The battle is over as quickly as it begins. The 3rd act and/or villain really should have been changed. But, hey, this movie managed to make Aquaman awesome! He's like a cross between a heavy metal guitarist and a professional wrestler. Everything about him is awesome, including the self-awareness that for the past 76 years, he's been a joke. He's the character that doesn't take no for an answer, doesn't care what people think of him, and is just awesome! The only character cooler than him is Batman, and that's because he's Batman. I did have one more problem with the story. If you're a casual fan without any knowledge as to who Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg are you may be confused as their origin stories are only glanced over or completely ignored. If they had given it another hour to take time to explain the characters' backstories that would have been super helpful. Instead we need to rely on context clues through quick dialogue. Hopefully we get an extended cut on the Bluray. It has some problems, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. At the end of the day, I was entertained, and that;s all that matters. By the way, stay ALL  the way through the credits. There are 2 scenes.
Grade: A-   9/10   4/5 stars

Murder on the Orient Express

This has the potential to be nominated for some serious Oscars. Boasting a star-studded cast and an exciting plot, this promises to be one of the best films of 2017. It diverted some from the book at the beginning, but that was actually a better choice. In the book, I felt I was thrown in without any context, and had to figure out the settings and characters. The movie took its time getting there, in a good way, and it was all the better for it. It established the characters clearly and made it easy to suspect each one of them for different reasons. Although the acting was good, there were still a few moments that fell flat. Johnny Depp's "New York" accent in particular. It was so obviously fake. And there was one scene where two characters are having a conversation, but one's back is turned to the camera and blurry. I hate that. It distracts, and sometimes makes it hard to follow crucial bits of dialogue, especially when a character's accent is hard to understand. This movie did something I thought would never happen. It made me like Josh Gad. I've been ragging on him for years about how I find him loud and annoying, but here, that doesn't happen. Maybe it's because he's in a more serious role, as opposed to a comedic one. Maybe "comedy" is his weakness, hence why he feels the need to shout every line but when he's in a serious role such as this one, he's got some serious accting chops. I wasn't blown away by his performance, but I was at least impressed. I'll go into future roles of his with an open mind, because this proves he can be a good actor. There was also some witty dialogue and some of it very sharp and snarky. The book did not have this, and it's a welcome improvement. If you're looking for a movie to make you feel smart and sophisticated, go see this. It's mostly worth it.
Grade: A-  9/10   4/5 stars

Thor: Ragnarok

This more than makes up for the lackluster "Thor: The Dark World." Although, this still could have been better. I enjoyed it and thought it was fun, but the tone and style felt out of place for a Thor movie. I kept thinking "I'm watching Guardians of the Galaxy" with different characters. Everything from an '80s synthesizer soundtrack to bright unicorn-vomit visuals is here. While the film is fun, the plot was all over the place. It felt like watching 3 movies at once. I kept thinking "Just pick and stick with a plotline." It jumps from location to location and story arc to story arc very quickly, and at times it was very hard to keep up with. I had to keep backtracking at least 10 minutes in my mind to catch myself up. "Oh yeah, that happened." Jeff Goldblum had a lot to offer as the character "Grandmaster". He had some funny lines and made me laugh a few times. Cate Blanchett is chilling as the villain "Hela." If you thought Tom Hiddleston could be scary at times, just wait until you see her performance. There were a lot of fun Easter Eggs that foreshadow at things to come and it was overall, a very fun movie. Like I said, my only complaint is the all-over-the-place plot, but considering how boring "Dark World" was, I'm just glad we finally got a good Thor sequel, even if at times it still could have been better.

Grade: A-   9/10     4/5

Happy Death Day

I went in with my expectations low. I made the mistake of going in with high expectations for "Wish Upon" and was sorely disappointed. I figured if I went in with the mindset that this would be just ok, I would enjoy it more. And I was right. I didn't like it enough to the point where I'm going to buy it on Bluray, but I'm glad I saw it. This shows why Jason Blum is one of the great modern day horror producers. This succeeded where "Wish Upon" failed. The main character starts out unlikable but gets better as the story goes on. "Wish Upon" didn't do that. The main character in that one stayed unlikable throughout the entire film. This had a good mystery element to it that kept me guessing. There's tons of suspects for who could be the killer, and they each have different motives. I kept changing my suspicions of who the killer was every 5 minutes. This had a good twist that I didn't see coming, and won't dare spoil, because it's just too well concealed. Another thing I need to praise is it didn't overdo it on the jumpscares or gore. All the deaths were off screen, and done tastefully. And it didn't rely on jumpscares, so much as "There's something lurking in the shadows." This is much more effective at bringing suspense. I wouldn't say go see it in the theaters, but it's worth a rent. Definetly worth checking out.
Grade: B   8/10   4/5 stars

The Mountain Between Us

This movie started strong, but unfortunately, it had a terrible second half and payoff. The only likeable performance in this was Idris Elba. Unfortunately, Kate Winslet's character is so whiny and unlikable that it's hard to root for her, let alone want her to end up with Elba's character. I'm fine when characters start out unlikable as long as they improve by the end. This does not happen here. Her character learns no lesson, and remains just as unlikable by the end. Going in, I did not know that this was a romance movie. And I can say, that if you've seen any romance movie ever you've already seen this. It has every cliche in the book. Awkaward, forced arguments, corny dialogue, 2 characters who swear not to fall in love, but then do.....I figured out how this was going to end 20 minutes in. This also had terrible CGI. There's a part with a cougar, and it looks so cheap and fake, and took me out of the film. It also ran about 30 minutes too long. The last half hour was filler, with no payoff and a predictable ending. If the first half weren't so strong, my judgement would be harsher, so it has that going for it, but I cannot recommend this movie. It was just OK.
Grade: C+    7/10     3/5 stars

The Lego Ninjago Movie (Repost)

I posted this review almost a month ago, but for some reason, it never got published. I'd hoped this was an error on Blogger's part, but I guess not. Unfortunately, I can not remember everything that I said, just the general gist of it, so this won't be as good as the original review. (Sorry.)


Out of the 3 Lego movies that have been released so far, this is my least favorite. I still liked it, just not as much. When I left "The Lego Movie" and "The Lego Batman Movie", my face hurt from laughing so much. And while I did laugh a lot here, I didn't laugh as much. I think part of the reason for that is because Phil Lord and Chris Miller didn't direct this time around, as they were busy working on the upcoming Han Solo movie at the time. (They have since been removed from the project.) I think another reason is because the studios released this one too quickly. Lego Batman came out in February and this came out in September. That's only 7 months between Lego movies. I feel they should have waited a while. Especially since Lego Movie 2 isn't coming out until 2019. If they had spent more time on this and released it in 2018, I feel it could have been better. A lot of the CGI was very impressive, and something happens about 25 minutes into the film that I won't dare spoil. It had me laughing to the point where I was crying. And there were some funny running gags, and the good news is, those running gags didn't get old. They actually got better as they went on, and the payoff at the end was hilarious. I did feel that as far as plot went, there was still something left to be desired. I felt like I'd already seen some of it in the original Lego Movie. It had almost the same message. I think this could have been more original if they had waited for Lord and Miller to be available to direct. This was like getting a Lego set and having it 98% completed, but never being able to fully complete it because you lost track of the last few pieces. What you did is still very good, but you wonder how much better it could have been if it had lived up to its full potential.
Grade: B   8/10   3.5/5 stars

My Little Pony: The Movie

(Hmm....My "Lego Ninjago" review seems to have disapperead. I'll look into this.)
This was fantastic! The filmmakers really put a lot of time, effort, and love into this. I was worried that it would feel like a long episode of the show, but it wasn't. Even if you haven't watched the show, you can still enjoy it. No exaggeration when I say we may have a contendor for a "Best Animated Film" nominee in the 2018 Oscars. (We all know it's going to lose to "Coco", though. Thanks, Pixar.) This feels like a Disney Renaissance film. It's got catchy songs, great animation, and great jokes. There were even some adults laughing. (Not because the jokes were inappropriate, they're just quick, subtle jokes that kids won't get. There was absolutely nothing inappropriate in this movie. No profanity or innuendo of any kind. Good on you, filmmakers!) That makes me wonder why it was PG. Apparently it's for "Mild Action." Oh for goodness sakes! If this were made 20-30 years ago it would have been G. It's no more intense than "The Lion King" or "Aladdin," which are both G. I honestly wouldn't mind going back to see this again. Given that it's the only movie coming out in October that I'm interested in, I may have to to tide me over until "Thor: Ragnarok." The voice case is phenomanal.  They really pulled out all the stops on this one. Liev Schriber as The Storm King  and Michael Pena as the sidekick Grubber are particularly comedic, and Emily Blunt is chilling as Tempest Shadow. My one nitpick is the plot was a little all over the place and it felt like they decided to throw 3 different episode concepts and combine them here. If the plot had been more linear it would have been a perfect score, but I'm sadly going to have to take a point off. Given that this is the only good movie coming out in October Death Month, I say go see it just for the sake of not going through movie withdrawal. I promise you'll have a fun time.
Grade: A-    9/10    4/5 stars