Tag: Movies

Reviews

‘Alien 3’ Review 

Wannabe Movie Critic

Imagine getting 40K for shaving your head, well Sigourney Weaver did.

(FOX)
Quick note, I watched the assembly cut for this movie, its much better than the theatrical release.

Talk about studio interference. There is a lot of backstory when it comes to Alien 3. The legendary David Fincher directorial debut back in 1992. To this very day Fincher has a hard time talking about this project and rarely does so. In fact there was so much studio interference in the making of Alien 3, which they spent roughly 13 million dollars on 10 separate writers before finally locking down a final draft for the movie. After the massive success of James Cameron’s Aliens, FOX wanted to cash in on this mega franchise and thought they needed another Alien movie a.s.a.p. So after all sorts of re-writes, some involving Ripley – some not. A draft even involved Hicks and Bishop to be the main characters while Ripley would be in a coma for the majority of the movie. To many cooks in the kitchen can best describe Alien 3. The studio could never figure out what exactly they wanted and little did they know they had a master craft of a director at the helm, who had a vision and could never fully let it be played out.

So Alien 3 takes place right after the events of Aliens, we have our three survivors in their stasis pods in hyper sleep. When an egg is onboard their ship, it crash lands on “Fury 161” a wasteland of a planet, home to an all male prison facility. Right off the bat, fans were not happy, because they killed off both Newt and Hicks. We had come to love these characters in Aliens, and Ripley finally had a sense of happiness and somewhat of a family. That was taken away so quickly in this movie, so Ripley goes to sleep at the end of Aliens the happiest she’s ever been, to waking up and realizing her whole world has been turned upside down. Personally I wanted to see the characters of Hicks and Newt explored more and was bummed out the first time watching this, and finding out they won’t be a part of this continuing journey that we see Ripley go on. The biggest change we see Ripley go through is the fact that Sigourney Weaver shaved her head for this role. I like it, it works for the movie, and everyone at the prison is bald, because they have a lice problem. I’ll give it to Sigourney she pulls off the look. One other thing about Sigourney Weaver, she was nominated for an Oscar for her work in Aliens, so let’s just say she went into Alien 3 with some clout. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but when you have clout, it can go a long way. With that, she didn’t want any guns in this movie, she is very anti-gun, so that was one of her stipulations, and FOX agreed to meet that demand. Because a big plot hole of Alien 3, is that they are located at a maximum-security prison but have no weapons and I always found that to be odd.

So Ripley finds herself surrounded by killers and rapists, but is never intimidated or scared. Again it’s Ripley she’s a total badass and doesn’t back down. Dillon (Charles S Dutton) is the leader of these guys; he’s a believer and very religious man. One of the biggest themes of the movie is religion and about finding God. They were all once terrible men, but now they believe they can make peace with God and still be accepted into heaven when they are dead. Charles S. Dutton is just spectacular; actually all around the acting is top notch. Sometimes it’s hard to work with such a poor script, so everyone is really doing the best work they can with the material provided. Dillon gives some incredible speeches throughout the movie, and for me, he’s one of them most memorable characters in the alien universe. The guy fights one with his bare hands, he’s just got a real hard attitude and Charles S. Dutton, did a bang up job portraying this guy. Ripley finds herself nestling up to the medical doctor Clemons (Charles Dance) as she needed some sort of comfort after everything she had been through. I enjoyed seeing their relationship grow, but again whenever something good comes along in her life, it fades even quicker. Clemons doesn’t stick around too long, again I would have liked to see him survive a bit longer or even till the very end. Charles Dance is a phenomenal actor, and they didn’t use this man properly in Alien 3. The other inmate worth mentioning is actually the lone survivor of the movie, Morse (Danny Webb) and I friggin love this guy. He serves as the comic relief for this movie. The inmates, especially Morse, don’t care for Ripley all that much and treat her poorly. Some even try to rape her during the movie, but when things start to go to shit, Ripley steps up and the inmates realize how strong and courageous this woman really is. Especially Morse, when she saves him during the final act of the movie.

So when a face-bigger attaches itself onto an Ox, a new breed of Xenomorph is born. Something that Ripley has never seen before and it’s stalking the prisoners one by one. With no weapons to kill, what the prisoners call “the beast” they all have to come together and think of a way to get rid of it. When Ripley finds out that she has one inside of her and not only that but a queen. She realizes that things just got serious, when her ex employer wants to take the creature out of her and study it. The tone of Alien 3 is a bit iffy, it wants to be suspenseful  like Alien, but also give us some action like we saw in Aliens. The effects in this movie are not the best in the franchise. Considering this came out after Alien and Aliens, you would imagine this would have the best effects of the three. That’s not the case, I’m not saying they are bad, but they simply just don’t hold up the way the other two films do. The Xenomorph itself at times looks great, when you can tell it’s being done practically, but when it’s not, it can be a bit messy at times. Fincher used the POV shot of the alien running a lot in the third act of the movie, it’s a cool effect but its a tad overused.

Here are my final thoughts on the movie. This movie is really only hated or loved. There really isn’t a middle ground for Alien 3. I feel that it’s so hard to try and compare it with what came before it, because both of those movies are masterpieces. So you have to look at this movie with those in the back of your mind, and just take it for what it is. Remember, there was so much interference with this movie, that it’s hard to tell what David Fincher ultimately wanted to accomplish, and I can’t even begin to imagine what working on a big budget movie like this would be like, let alone having hundreds of people breathing down your neck, or questioning every little decision you make. I love the last 45 minutes, it’s some of m favorite alien stuff, and I’m on the side of people who love this movie. I feel like maybe over time, more people will come to the idea of liking it the way I do. Appreciating it for the way I do, and understanding that this isn’t a perfect movie, and understanding that so much stuff was happening behind the scenes, and Fincher has gone on to make some incredible films. If you look up interviews of him talking about this movie, good luck because they are super rare. When he does talk about it, you can see how much it pains him, because he had a vision for what he wanted this movie to be and it never got to happen, and being a film maker that is probably their biggest fear. This was the last great alien movie, okay until Prometheus, but that took almost 20 years to happen, so enjoy this movie for what it is, because I know I do.

Check ya later,

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Alien 3 = 77/100

 

Reviews

Let’s Talk About That Kingsman: The Golden Circle Trailer! 

Wannabe Movie Critic

Under water cars, bazooka suit cases, and dope suits, I’m in! 

(FOX)

Have you ever wanted to see Channing Tatum and Elton John in the same movie? Well the wait is finally over with Kingsman: The Golden Circle! So I waited around all day yesterday for this bad boy to drop online and it never did, not until I fell asleep that is. So this was a really nice treat to wake up to. One of my most anticipated movies of 2017, and the teaser trailer didn’t disappoint. Hey, any trailer that’s got “My Way” by Sinatra is good in my books! 

Okay, I will be blunt I was hoping for a little more from this trailer. I still have no idea if Tatum is going to be a bad guy or not, and really have no clue what this movie is going to be about. But what we did get to see was pretty awesome. I love how colourful this movie looks, from the suits to the cinematography, I just really like how everything looked in the trailer. It appears that The Kingsman will be heading across the pond to the U.S after their headquarters gets blown to bits, and that’s where we will meet our new cast members; Tatum, Jeff Bridges, Elton John, Halle Berry and Julianne Moore. So I’m excited to see what they all bring to the table, especially Tatum, because he’s never played a villain before so that will be awesome to see! One of the best things about the first Kingsman were all the cool gadgets and guns and from what we see in the trailer they aren’t holding back! Imagine trying to get through TSA with that suitcase, well you might need that if you’re flying United. 

All the old gang is back, including Harry (Colin Firth) now sporting an eye patch, curious to see how he survived his fate in the first one, but I’m excited that they brought his character back to be honest. The director Matthew Vaughn is back and I’m glad because he’s one of the best action/comedy director working right now, and I felt switching directors for the sequel would have been a bad move on FOX’s part. These movies have all sorts of fun, and the action is bonkers and they really push the limits but with a franchise like this, that is to be expected. 

Like I said, I wanted more from this trailer, but I can’t honestly can’t get to worked up over that because this movie isn’t due out till the fall. From what we did see, I’m glad I put it on my most anticipated list because this movie looks so promising and if it’s anything like it’s predecessor I will be truly happy about that. 

So let me know if you’re excited for Kingsman? And if you enjoyed this trailer! 

Check ya later. 

Reviews

So ‘American Assassin’ Looks Good. 

Wannabe Movie Critic

So I know what book I’m reading next 

(LIONSGATE)
Well this trailer certainly came out of nowhere. Kind of like what a real life assassian would do. There’s nothing like a good old fashion movie trailer dropping, that you have no idea about and it leaves you wanting to watch the movie immediately. 

Centred around counterterrorism agent Mitch Rapp, who appears to be a pretty big bad ass, I feel like he’s out for some revenge in this movie. It appears that when on vacation with his girlfriend the trip takes a turn for the worst when she might be killed, I’m not certain because the trailer doesn’t really give a whole lot away. He does know his way around a gun and hand to hand combat, with the action in this movie looking very John Wick and Jason Bourne like which is never a bad thing. 

The thing that perked my ears up the most was its two main stars. Michael Keaton, who is full on back in Hollywood after what I felt was a long departure from being in the spotlight. He serves as Stan Hurley who will be Mitch’s mentor throughout the flick. Mitch himself will be played by Dylan O’Brien and personally I’m a fan. I actually enjoyed The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trails, but after an injury on set for the third movie, Dylan’s acting career has been put on hold. Ironically enough he was up for the new Spider-Man role, which stars Keaton himself coming up. Taylor Kitsch, Scott Adkins and Sanaa Lathan round out the rest of the pretty stellar cast. Something about this trailer just got me really excited to see it, considering up until yesterday I didn’t even know this movie existed. 

Excuse while I go buy the book the movie is based off of, because there’s nothing better than a good book! 

Check ya later. 

Reviews

‘The Fate of The Furious’ Review 

Wannabe Movie Critic

God I can’t wait till the drag race on the Moon in what I’m calling; Fast & Xtreme or Furious & Xtreme. I dunno it’s a working title, some combination of Fast, Furious and Xtreme!

(UNIVERSAL)
Spoilers ahead, so drive with caution. 

So like are we calling them “The Furious” now? Every super group has a name, The Avengers, The Beatles, Justice League, The Dream Team, and with the title The Fate of The Furious, I’m now declaring these people as “The Furious!” I think it’s a pretty cool idea, so let’s just go with that, because after the latest installment in this money making franchise, the last one made 1.5 BILLION dollars, Vin Diesel and company are legit super heroes. These movies just keep getting more over the top and ridiculous but you know what, I’m okay with it; in fact I absolutely love it. Going into it, if you’re not willing to turn off your brain, expect the most ridiculous of things to happen, and just laugh at how big Dwayne Johnson is, you’re just not living life to the fullest. Dwayne is actually so large, he in fact punches a huge metal wall and the after math looks like the Hulk just smashed the wall to shit, and by the way, his hand is fine! One thing these movies do, is to let us know how important family is, in fact I kept track of how many times the word “family” was said throughout the movie because I thought it would be something extremely high like 30, but it was just 16, and that made me sad. Family is the driving force of this movie and without spoiling the biggest reveal of the movie, okay I lied I’m going too! DOM TORETTO IS A FATHER PEOPLE! Wow that feels good to get off my chest, that’s right Dom knocked up Elena, that blonde cop from Fast Five, Dom is such a dirty dog! And like I said, his kid is the driving force for this story, and I’m calling it now, they will do an 18 year time jump in this franchise but no one will age except for the baby because like I said these people are super powered human beings. Wouldn’t that be cool a time jump, and now we are in 2036 and there are flying cars, I just blew my own mind. The writers of these movies should just contact me, because I have so many good ideas on where this franchise should go!

So the latest outing is directed by F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton) and our entire beloved cast is back! Remember what franchise we are taking about here; the plot is insane, but simple at the same time. A mysterious woman Cipher (Charlize Theron) tracks down Dom, and blackmails/seduces him into working for her, but it isn’t revealed till much later in the movie, why Dom agreed to help her with such ease. So Dom goes rogue, and turns on the family, leaving Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) crushed and Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) in jail where Deckard (Jason Statham) is also being held. Tej (Ludacris), Roman (Tyrese) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) are also kicking around, and once it is revealed that Cipher is a cyber terrorist, such a clever name eh, it’s up to the team to track down Dom and take care of Cipher once and for all. I enjoy the cast in this franchise, they all know what’s going on, they are all aware of how ridiculous things are, but still they make it their own and I respect that. Statham and Johnson really meshed well in this; in fact they are the best part of the movie. There’s a joke where Deckard calls Hobbs “Hercules” and I laughed because Dwayne Johnson actually played him in a movie, so I wonder if that was a cheap shot, or just something they might have missed when writing the script. Or maybe I’m just a total nerd who knows too much about movies. Statham was the baddie in the last one, but he’s switched teams and I liked that aspect, actually so does his brother, who was the bad guy in Fast 6, jesus you need a Venn diagram to keep track of all this. Back to the cast, they all fill their roles well, and the one thing that I think lacked was the humor. Usually their little quips and banter back and forth works really well, in this I felt it kind of fell flat on its face. Which was unfortunate, because I was sitting in a packed house, and there wasn’t much laughter going on, not until the end, where it deals with the baby (which was actually hilarious), but it’s never a good sign when all of your jokes just aren’t working out. What they lack in laughs, they certainly make up for in action. I don’t know how they come up with some of the stuff that happens in these movies, a big bag of weed could be involved or maybe they just ask some 6 year olds to come up with some crazy action sequences, because some of the stuff going on here is BANANAS. At one point, Cipher and her team manage to hack into all the self driving cars in New York City, and it might be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in a movie, actually I just lied, them driving on ice being chased by a submarine is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. I lied again guys, I’m sorry I really am, HELEN MIRREN being in this movie is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Helen, my god, you sweet old lady you. I’m not going to lie, it works but really???? She plays the Mother of Decker and Owen, and she drops the only F-bomb of the movie, which was pretty great. This movie has Kurt Russell again, as Mr. Nobody and I can’t believe that they manage to get these legendary people, how much are they paying them, and it seems like Kurt Russell is having the time of his life making these movies. So good on him, because you might as well enjoy it rather than act like you want no part in being in this.

I’m just going to go on a little rant about how much I love Dwayne Johnson. Honestly he makes everything better. This franchise would be dead to rights if he hadn’t decided to come on board, and since he has, it has become what most people know it as today. He also might be the largest human on Earth; he picks people up in this, like a sack of potatoes, its great. I just believe he can do whatever he is doing in these movies, at one point he takes a torpedo and pushes it at a car, while hanging out of his own car, like he is a goddamn Olympic Curler. Thing probably weighs a ton and well isn’t nothing but a peanut to Hobbs. So if a franchise is ever in need of a reboot or a pick me up just call this man, and all your problems will be solved. So yes this movie is insane, things happen that will blow your mind. Like I still don’t know when these people became super heroes, maybe in Fast 5? I honestly want to see this cross over with The Avengers, because I think The Furious would maybe take the cake. They are the Kevin McAllister of super teams, give them some prep time and anything is possible!

One thing that disappointed me was the under utilization of Charlize Theron, she’s a badass woman, and all she did was stand in an airplane the entire time! She can throw down (watch the Atomic Blonde trailer) and I was hoping for some hand-to-hand stuff with her or maybe drive a car. She does get away in the end so she will be back, but I kind of felt cheated a little bit. She was a decent villain, like she got Dom to turn his back on family, if they didn’t show that in any trailers and no one knew about that going into this movie, would be a bigger twist than Sixth Sense ending. But like I’m trying to think back to the movie, and it’s almost a blur, just so much destruction and chaos, and it was hard to keep track of. There are so many characters now, it gets a little oversaturated, and it’s hard to give all these people something to do. These movies aren’t going anywhere for a long time, so hopefully they can clean that up before the next one, because it was probably the biggest problem of the movie. Like as I’m writing this review I forgot that Scott Eastwood joined the cast, he plays Little Nobody, and I really liked him! He was a great addition to the cast, I think he’s a really good young actor, but again they just keep adding people to these and at some point, enough is enough!

What can I say, going in I knew it would be over the top action, some horrible dialogue and a lot of white beaters, and I got just that. But this movie is going to make a billion dollars, people LOVE these movies and I don’t blame them. These are the best bad movies that Hollywood is pumping out today. Guilty pleasure for sure, and sometimes you need that in your life. They won’t win any awards, you will forget about it in a few days, but you will have a good time watching it, and isn’t that what going to the movies is all about? Get a large drink and popcorn, buckle up and prepare yourself for an overall enjoyable car ride.

One last thing, Paul Walker is no longer with us, and that sucks because I think he was truly the heart and soul of this franchise, but at the end of the movie, I saw it coming from a mile away. They name Dom’s kid Brian, to honor him and I just thought that was a real genuine movie moment. You could even see it on the actor’s faces, they really are a family, and I know they all miss him dearly, so to me that was just an awesome emotional moment. Looking forward to see what’s next, because the sky is the limit, literally they will probably have flying cars soon!

Check ya later,

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – The Fate of The Furious = 69/100

 

Reviews

Throwback Review – ‘Aliens’ 

Wannabe Movie Critic

I could never decide what was scarier, the aliens or Newt carrying around that doll head.

(FOX)

See I told you, I’m a man of my word, and this week I just watched Aliens, highly regarded as one of the greatest action movies of all time! Again this movie was released even before I was on planet Earth, in 1986, directed by the legendary James Cameron, he took what Ridley Scott did in Alien, but he made it his own. Right off the bat I’ll say this, it would have been pretty damn easy for James Cameron to take this franchise and these characters and just ruin them, or try to change them, but he doesn’t. He didn’t try to redefine the Alien franchise, he simply expanded on it, and made Aliens his own thing, and well it’s just short of perfection. I remember growing up; I would always call this movie the sleepover movie, or the birthday party movie. I can recall countless times this is the movie that would be put on at night, because at the time there just weren’t too many movies like it, and it just kicks so much ass. I fell in love with this franchise at a very early age, and I’m glad I did because there are some wackos out there who’ve probably never even seen this movie. That’s simply just a crime against humanity, or maybe that’s just me being a complete and utter nerd, someone step up and tell me please!

So Aliens takes place 57 years after the events of Alien, our hero Ripley has been floating in her stasis pod the entire time, and by dumb luck a cargo ship comes across her vessel and BAM, our story continues. As she tells the tale of her encounter with the Xenomorph, the company she works for just isn’t buying it, seeing how since she’s been in deep sleep, there is now a colony of people living on the planet where her and her crew stumbled across the parasite (face hugger) in Alien. So relieved of her duties, it isn’t till a few days later, where suddenly they have lost all contact with anyone on LV-426, mysteriously after no events of anything happening, now dead silent. So they are sending in the Marines, and they want Ripley to tag along to be a special advisor to the operation, seeing how she’s the only one who knows first hand with what they are dealing with. Sigourney Weaver was nominated for an Oscar with the performance she gave in Aliens. Just stop and think about that for a second, that is unheard of. Someone from a massive summer action blockbuster being nominated for an Oscar, not in this day in age, so kudos to Sigourney, because she is actually simply spectacular in this movie. Ripley decides to tag along with these Marines, and that’s where we meet the rest of our lovable cast! Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn), the leader of the crew, who is our main male character in the movie, Bishop (Lance Henriksen) a droid who Ripley isn’t to fond of due to the fact that the last droid on her mission tried to kill her, but Bishop really becomes a hero at the end. We have Vasquez (Janette Goldstein) and can I just say, I’ve always loved this woman in Aliens, she’s such a badass character and honestly they don’t really have female characters like this in movies anymore. Well they try to but they usually fail miserably, Vasquez always sticks out in my mind for being one of the first real tough, badass chicks in movies. We got the Sergeant of the group, Apone, who just has some of the best lines in the movie, “you know the drill, assholes and elbows everyone!” Kind of wish he stuck around longer in the movie, and we got to see him kind of do some ass kicking of his own. The slim ball company man of the group Burke (Paul Reiser), what can I say about his character, another than the fact that he’s simply just an asshole. He is truly the films main villain and the movie does a great job not really showing us that card until the last third of the movie, and I always thought that was pretty cool. It’s not a twist or anything, there are clues along the way, but going into Aliens, you would think the bad guys would just be the creatures themselves, when in fact their biggest threat was actually one of their own. Rounding out the crew, good old Hudson played by the phenomenal man Bill Paxton himself. We lost this great man earlier this year, the only person who could say that they’ve been killed by a terminator, an alien and a predator. Now that’s some legendary stuff. He’s the comedic relief of the movie, and his most infamous line “game over man, game over!” was actually improvised during that scene, which makes it all that much better. He’s almost the best part of the movie, but that title always stay with Ripley, he’s a goofy douche, but can throw down with the best of them, and is a Xenomorph killing machine. We simply lost this man way too soon. So these Marines land of LV-426, only to find it deserted and what once was a rescue mission, quickly turns into a survival mission. The only survivor is a little girl, known as Newt. She has somehow survived weeks, living in the air vents and when you think about it, she’s honestly just such a little trooper, I would have lasted all of 10 minutes before one of those things would get me. One of the big reasons Newt is such a vital part to this story is that when Ripley was in her deep sleep, she lost her daughter, she simply died of old age and when Ripley hears about this, it crushes her. It makes her realize just how long she’s been gone for and how different the world must be. So when they find Newt, Ripley takes it upon herself to not only be a mother figure to this poor helpless girl, but to protect her at all costs. It just added a nice extra layer to Ripley’s character and made her just seem a little more human and have compassion for someone in such a dire and intense, life-threatening situation.

So once they find Newt, they start to dig deeper into the complex, to see if anyone else is still alive, and they just so happen to stumble across the alien hive. Not knowing this of course sets our Marines up for total annihilation and the majority of them are wiped out before our very eyes. The hive scene for me will always be one of my favorites from all of cinema. I think its perfect, to how its shot, you have the Marines point of view, and then you have the view of Ripley and the others watching horrified through monitors, as they see them being picked off one by one. It manages to blend horror, suspense and action all into one and James Cameron does it tremendously. It’s really hard to blend so many different feels, and movie genres all into one scene without over doing it. The hive is just so cool looking, as the aliens use the walls of the cocooned hive to camouflage themselves so well, that when they re moving towards our Marines, even though they have a motion sensor tracking system, they simply just cannot see them coming. This always stands out to me, as just masterful filmmaking. Just one of the many iconic scenes throughout the movie, when it’s all said and done, only a few Marines are left standing and now it’s time for them to find a way off this rock. Trapped on the planet with the aliens, this is where James Cameron really gets to show off the awesome weaponry. For being made in 1986, the weaponry in Aliens is some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen in film. From the sentry guns, to the pulse rifles, to the guns I don’t even know the name of, you know the BFG’s that Vasquez and Drake use in the hive scene, those things will cut you in half.

So when it’s just down to Ripley, it’s her duty to save Newt from her potential fate, so she has to go back into the hive but this time around she stumbles across the queen! Surrounded by eggs, Ripley grabs Newt and they think they are in the clear. It’s then they notice the queen has attached herself to their ship and it’s time for one last showdown between the queen and Ripley, in a some kind of cargo moving mech suit! You know “get away from her you bitch!” line. Again this is just such an iconic scene and one that I’ll certainly never forget. How else were we expecting Ripley to go toe-to-toe with the mother of all aliens, the queen! For what this fight is, obviously it’s slow but powerful, and you couldn’t really expect much else from two huge things battling it out! They just simply don’t really make movies like the used too, 1986 and it still holds up to this day. My opinion, the greatest science-fiction action movie ever created and one of my all time go to movies. It’s just damn near perfect, I can’t think of a single flaw in Aliens, I can try and maybe if I think long and hard about it, I could nitpick something, but what’s the fun in that. James Cameron made a masterpiece and one thing I’ll say about James Cameron. His ability to find young actors and get the most out of them, whether it’s Newt from Aliens or Edward Furlongs character in Terminator 2. These were both their first roles and you wouldn’t have guessed that for a second, it really is something special, an underrated talent of directors. Up next is a film that I think is way undervalued and that would be Alien 3!

Check ya later,

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Aliens = 97/100

News

Let’s Talk About That ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ Trailer 

Wannabe Movie Critic

All I know is 2017 is the year of family; first Dom Toretto is turning his back on his family and now Optimus, what the hell is going on here people?

(PARAMOUNT)

 

These movies I tell yeah, just when you think you’re out, they suck you right back in. This franchise is honestly just like that ex girlfriend you keep going back to. You just can’t help yourself; it’s pretty, makes no sense, and every so often takes a little bit of your money. I have not be impressed with any of the trailers so far for The Last Knight, but this last trailer, wasn’t all that bad! I’ve been a fan of the franchise since the beginning, actually I love the first Transformers movie, but they have yet been able to top the first movie. So lets break down this trailer!

First off, is it just me or did they actually create the woman in this in some sort of lab. She is Emily Blunt mixed with Megan Fox and it’s kind of scary, hopefully if she was made in a lab they used Emily Blunt’s acting skills rather than Megan’s, sorry not sorry. Speaking of Megan Fox, these movies just don’t feel the same without Shia, I loved him in these and thought he was always the best part, and I know he’s done with summer blockbusters and franchises, but I just wish he would even make a small little cameo. I’m real curious to see how the whole Knights of The Roundtable thing plays out, that is either going to be pretty cool or fall flat on its face, only time will tell. Last year we got Batman vs. Superman, we are going to be getting a Thor vs. Hulk throw down in November but honestly I think Bumblebee vs. Optimus has potential to beat them all, if they do it properly, again only time will tell. The action looks great, like it always does in these movies; it’s just always the acting that needs a little bit of help. I love Marky Mark and all, but I feel like he does these movies for the paycheck, he can do whatever he wants in Hollywood, so why do these? I feel like the little girl running around will either be annoying come the first 10 minutes or hopefully she kicks a lot of ass in this, and I will be dead wrong.

All in all, this was by far the best trailer we have seen so far, and not being the biggest fan of the last Transformers, I will remain an opportunist when it comes to this franchise and hope for the best. This could be a really great franchise, but maybe it just needs a makeover, this being Michael Bay’s last time directing one, could ultimately be the best thing for this money maker of a movie franchise. Looking forward to this hurting my brain and being super pissed I went to see it opening night.

Check ya later.

Reviews

Throwback Review – ‘Alien’

Wannabe Movie Critic

I’ve always wondered if they had a little cat space suit for Jones…..

March-Madness-Jonesy-alien.jpg
(FOX)

Some spoilers, but this movie is almost 40 years old you’ve had time to watch it!

One of my most anticipated movies of the year; Alien: Covenant is coming out soon, so I have decided I’m going to review all four of the original Alien films, because well why not! I grew up watching all of these movies and each one of them are so special and unique in their own sort of way, except Alien: Resurrection because as I’m writing this, I’m getting angry just thinking about that movie, but I’m willing to watch it for you guys. So what better way to start this party off then with the original Alien film, which spawned a massive movie franchise that is still going today!

Certain movies throughout time redefine the movie going experience. In 1979, Ridley Scott’s Alien did just that. The space horror/thriller changed movies forever in more ways than one, and to this day filmmakers are still using elements from Alien in their own movies. Alien did for space, what Jaws did for water. It made people terrified of it, even though people go into water rather than space but you get the idea. Being alone, in a secluded area being stalked by a creature. Alien steals elements from that fantastic film, and uses the same suspense and horror that came with Jaws.

From the very get go, you have to remember that this movie came out in 1979, it’s so far ahead of its time, from the very first minutes of the movie, it’s like nothing people would have seen before. It’s almost like Ridley Scott was showing off from the very get go, as the audience gets a tour of the Nostromo, the space shuttle where our 7-person crew resides. It’s so beautiful and I was shocked at what I was seeing, because again this was 1979, and the best part of Alien are the effects, they are all practical and the little CGI that’s in the movie works, again considering when Alien was made. I wish this were one movie experience I could of had in the theatre. I do this all the time, I’ll go back and watch an old movie and be upset that I didn’t get the theatre experience with it, because this would have been an all-timer. I mentioned the 7-person crew, the plot is simple, the Nostrum is a commercial spacecraft that is heading back to Earth after a journey in space. The 7 crew members; Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Kane (John Hurt), Ash (Ian Holm) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto) lay dormant in their stasis pods, but are awoken to find out that they are off course because a close planet has been sending out a “distress signal.” Part of their job description is to investigate the matter much to he crews disdain for such a thing, they land on the planet and well things just go to shit from there. Once they land on the new planet, Kane, Parker and Dallas go out to search from any sign of life and well they eventually do find life, just not the kind they were looking for. Kane investigates a mysterious looking egg, and before he knows what happens a strange life form latches itself onto his face. Dallas and Lambert rush Kane back to the ship, but Ripley is hesitant about bringing the unknown life form onto the ship, eventually they get Kane onboard and start to experiment on the life form, but quickly realize its blood is super corrosive and it will not detach from Kane’s face. You know the rest, the creature detaches from Kane’s face, he has a little bit of memory loss and everything seems fine and dandy. Until the crew sits down to their final meal before reentering their stasis pods for a 10 month snooze. Kane starts convulsing and an alien pops out from his rib cage and before they have a chance to kill it, it scurries off into the spacecraft. I just have to give John Hurt a massive shout out, the world lost this incredible actor last year and he’s just fantastic in this, he’s so damn young it’s scary. His death scene is one of the more iconic death scenes in all of cinema. When people think about Alien, this scene usually comes to mind. I just feel like his death is so far ahead of its time, and it’s a scene that will always stay with me for years to come.

John Hurt isn’t the only one churning out legendary performances in Alien; Ripley is the first badass female character that really stuck with the pop culture crowd. When you think of strong female characters in film, Ripley definitely comes to mind and rightfully so! For years to come Sigourney Weaver would play the Xenomorph ass kicker. Growing up I loved this character, and I wish we would have gotten more Ripley in our lives and rumors about a potential 5th Alien movie is just great news and I hope it really works out. The rest of the story is simple; the alien grows to enormous size and starts stalking our crew one by one. This is when the movie shifts from a thriller to straight up horror. I forgot how scary this movie was, and now I remember why it scared me to death as a kid. There’s something about enclosed spaces and a creature lurking in the shadows. The Xenomorph is an all time classic movie monster and they are one of my favorites, it’s something about how they go about doing things. They don’t necessarily kill their victims and sometimes it’s hard to see what exactly they do to their prey, which makes them even creepier. That can be said for a couple of its victims in this movie, Brett and Dallas who are the first two victims. For myself they are part of the two scariest moments in the film and it happens to be their final moments.

The scene in the hanger leading up to Brett’s death, there’s a brief second where you see the alien just hanging above him, it’s not meant to be a jump scare and there isn’t even a change of music or tone. That being said, it’s so sudden that at first you could miss it, but its there just waiting for its moment. All of this makes it even more terrifying, the aliens do such an amazing job blending into their surroundings, and it’s this trait that gets most of their victims. I just thought this was a really cool part of the movie, but poor Brett certainly didn’t think so. Next in the airshafts when Dallas takes control of the situation and decides to try and trap the creature but he ultimately meets his fate in those air shafts and it’s a really scary moment. It’s this scene that kind of encapsulates what the movie is all about. It’s about being scared and alone, in an enclosed space, not really knowing what’s out there and what you’re dealing with. The scariest part about both of their deaths is the audience has no idea what happens to their bodies, it’s never talked about or discovered, unless you watch the directors cut, which I did. You find out that the Xenomorph cocoons its victims when towards the end of the movie, Ripley discovers the bodies of both Dallas and Brett, Dallas hanging on by a thread begs Ripley to kill him. When you think about it, it really makes the whole experience worse that this alien doesn’t full on kill you but rather leaves you in a cocoon and will ultimately finish you off later, they are insanely smart creatures.

As the crew fights for survival, it’s revealed that Ash is actually a droid, and since the discovery of the new species, the crew is now expendable and primary objective is now to bring the creature back alive to study. Once Ripley discovers this, Ash tries to kill her not before the remaining crew comes to her rescue, and I always loved how the androids had what appeared to be milk for blood, always loved it! When Ripley is the soul crewmember left, it’s a fight to the death with this “perfect organism” and the ending is just fantastic. The best part about watching Alien was that I honestly didn’t remember too much about it, and it was such a satisfying experience to enjoy this movie again. It changed the game for the horror and thriller genre, and it will always stand the test of time. Alien redefined practical effects and what you can accomplish on a limited budget, its movies like these that reinvigorate my passion and love for movies. I’m going to link some of the favorite scenes from the movie down below!

Check ya later,

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Alien = 90/100

Reviews

Throwback Review – ‘Good Will Hunting’

Wannabe Movie Critic

I don’t care if Helen of Troy walks in the room, that’s game 6!


 

Good Will Hunting literally changed my life. The year was 2007, and I was sitting in my dorm room deciding what movie to watch, I didn’t really come to realize my love of movies until later in my life. I stumbled upon Good Will Hunting, but honestly I didn’t know much about it, I knew what it was from the infamous Oscar speech by Ben and Matt, and knew it had one of if not the best Robin Williams performance ever. So as I sat on my bed, and stared at my laptop screen for 126 minutes, I thought to myself how did I go the last 10 years of my life without watching this movie? I just remember sitting their starring down, watching Matt Damon’s; Will Hunting drives off into the distance, as he “had to see about a girl.” I sat there kind of stunned, I really hadn’t ever had that feeling after watching a movie before, I went on to watch Good Will Hunting countless times that semester and I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve watched it since, so many times in fact that I’ve almost perfected my Boston accent.

Will Hunting (Matt Damon), bad boy turned math prodigy, goes around M.I.T solving advanced math equations that only a hand few of people can solve, with pure ease. It’s more than just that though, this has a really special, raw, and unique love story, about learning that it’s okay to let people into your life, and that not all people are the same. Will’s love interest Skylar (Minnie Driver) was excellent as the down to earth brainiac, who just wanted to be loved as much as she wanted to give it. She also has one of the best pick up lines ever dropped on her in this, “well why don’t we just sit around and eat a bunch of caramels.” So many incredible lines and scenes that it’s hard for me to pinpoint my favorite one. This whole movie is just so beautifully written, and smart and has some serious real life issues going on in it. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone seeing how it won an Oscar for the writing, an underrated and unappreciated trait of great movies.

All around phenomenal performances across the board here, from the Affleck brothers, Cole Hauser, Stellan Skarsgard and clearly Robin Williams but we will touch on him later. Let’s start with the four misfits, Ben as everyone knows helped write the movie alongside Matt, and he’s come a long way since being in this movie. He’s had one of the more up and down careers in Hollywood from a bright beginning to a troubling middle act, to what he has become now. One of the best working directors today and he’s the Batman. When you think back to Ben in this, I think one scene comes to mind, when he tells his best friend Will that he’s simply to good for the life he’s living and if I’m not mistaken he says it in a more harsh way, “you’re sitting on a winning lottery ticket, but you’re too much of a pussy to cash it in.” This was a powerful ass scene, because it was Chucky who had to tell Will to get his act together and pursue a better life for himself, and that he wishes that Will would just leave one day, and not even say goodbye. The movie does a great job calling back to that scene at the end of the movie when that exact thing happens, when like every morning, Chucky heads to Will’s front door, to find it empty and he doesn’t breakdown or look sad, but rather has a smile on his face and it’s just a really touching moment. Morgan (Casey Affleck) provides the comedic relief in the film, and most of his stuff was actually improvised and that just makes it even more glorious. From him backing out of fighting because “they got snacks now,” too using Chuckie’s baseball glove for clean up. I wish the Affleck brothers would be in more movies together, especially now a days, let’s get Casey in the DCEU. Cole Hauser, who plays the classic blue-collar Bostonian with a little bit of a drinking problem to a tee. Rounding out the misfits is Damon, who shines in the lead role and is involved in the most powerful scenes in the movie. Still my all time favorite Matt Damon performance. Skarsgard as the brilliant mathematician is just an underrated actor and is always fantastic in whatever role he is playing. Just remember a difficult theory can be like the symphony, very erotic, I guess so?

Now for the main event, Mr. Robin Williams himself! First off, I’m just going to leave his clip here and watch it and remember how brilliant this man was in Good Will Hunting. The therapy session scenes are some of my favorite in all of film; Damon and Williams’s feed off one another so well, and have amazing chemistry. Who knew such powerful acting and such pure raw emotion could come from two men sitting in a room together, it’s just incredible. This was an Oscar winning performance by Robin and rightfully so, they wrote the part for the man himself. His role almost felt real, like Robin had once lived this exact life and he was just reimagining everything from his past, that’s how authentic his role felt to me. He’s had so many memorable roles in his life, but for me this will always be the one I remember most. He might be remembered for he’s comedic genius but he knew how to do drama with the best of them, and the world just simply lost this man way too soon.

Music also plays a big part, Elliot Smith does the soundtrack and it’s simply outstanding. Some haunting music is in this movie and the tone of his work blends perfectly with the sad and ominous scenes throughout the movie. Along with the directing by Gus Van Sant, who crafted such powerful and career stealing scenes, he was able to capture the words on the page and transform them into some of the best things these incredible actors have been apart of.

When it’s all said and done it’s perfect I find zero flaws in Good Will Hunting, certainly none that I can think of. For the amount of times I’ve watched it, I can never point out any flaws or have anything to nitpick about. It always puts me in a better mood when it comes on TV or I decide to watch it on Netflix, something about it just makes any bad day turn around. Not too many movies can do that for people and this is one of them. I’ll never forget that first night I watched this, and how happy I was that I stumbled across it, and it’s just never gotten old, and never will.

Check ya later,

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Good Will Hunting = 100/100

 

Reviews

Recap: Movies of March!

Wannabe Movie Critic

So March is officially the start of summer blockbuster season

March was some month huh? Seriously though, 5 top notch movies were released and that’s kind of uncharted territory for such an early month of a new year. Things are changing in terms of the landscape of how movies are being distributed, with so many franchises, sequels, reboots and comic book movies, it’s hard for them to all be released in the April to August timeframe. Not saying that’s a bad thing, I enjoyed this past month of movie going, and I think we are in for a little bit a snooze-fest in April. The Fate of The Furious looks okay, but that’s honestly the one major release scheduled for April, so the theatre might go a little ligher on my wallet this next month. So in order here are the movies of March, from least favourite to favourite!

5.) Life

Alien meets Gravity! I’ve always been a fan of space movies, so I was excited when I heard Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds were going to be trapped on the International Space Station with an unknown alien life form. This movie was overly enjoyable until the ending which I found to be a major let down. Full of same old cliches that come with a movie like this, I was waiting for a curveball in this movie, but it never happened. Life ultimately failed to take any real chances to maybe try and reinvent this genre, and that was its downfall. I still had a good time with it, as it had a few scary and tense moments.

My Grade – 70/100

4.) Kong: Skull Island 

Is that a monkey? Vietnam was a crazy time, now throw is a 100 foot ape into the mix, and now it’s a party! This movie kind of had it all, and I’ve actually come to like this movie the more I think about it. Maybe it was because I was like super hungry during it (I forgot to get popcorn!) and that just made me hangry and I took it out on poor Kong, but now when I think back on it, I actually really liked this movie! Kong was awesome, and that’s all you need in a movie called Kong: Skull Island. It’s by far the best Kong we’ve got on the big screen, and I’m excited to see where they take this character, and I’m awaiting the epic throw down between Godzilla and Kong. The only fault in the movie was that there were far too many human characters. Like too many to count, and at times that really took me out of the movie. But again whenever Kong was on screen I was hooked, and he was doing really cool shit, like punching stuff, punching more stuff and punching even more stuff. You get my point, I’ve renamed it, Kong: Skull Punch Island! John C. Reilly was a hero in this movie, and stole the show!

My Grade – 73/100

3.) Beauty & The Beast 

One thing I took away from this, 3D movies suck! You have to keep your head so straight and cannot move it or you will lose focus and the screen will go blurry. That happened a lot watching Beauty & The Beast! Any who, the movie itself was fun, I had a blast going back in time almost to my childhood while I watched this. It had everything you could have wanted in a live adaptation of this beloved fairy tale. Emma Watson and Luke Evans were so incredible as Belle and Gaston, and I couldn’t believe how good they were at singing. Some of the songs felt a little monotoned but that was not a big deal at all. This movie did its job, it got me excited for future live adaptations of Disney properties, and I think that if this is the bar that is set for their future films, the future is extremely bright. Josh Gad as LeFou was the standout in this, the moment I saw that casting I knew he would be, so kudos to him!

My Grade – 82/100

2.) Power Rangers 

Been waiting an awful long time for a motion picture Power Rangers movie, because I simply refuse to acknowledge the 90’s ones because they were just horrible. It’s been about a week now since I watched Power Rangers, and one thing that I took away was these kids actually did have attitude, and that they were kind of assholes? Well at least Trini, Jason and Kimberly, it was kind of weird, Jason is just a douche and I guess he is the most suitable leader of the bunch? Besides that, I really enjoyed this movie guys, I had a blast watching it, and again it was kind of everything I thought it would be. Perfect blend of new and old, and they did a bang up job casting the new rangers. Usually known to be super cheesy and campy, this time around we find ourselves dealing with a little darker tone, and touching on some serious issues teenagers are dealing with in today’s society. To best honest, my least favourite part of the movie was when they are in their Zords. I don’t know, it just didn’t really do it for me, and I wish we could have just got them being Power Rangers a little bit longer. Could have used another 5-7 minutes of them just kicking butt in their suits, instead of being in their Zords not doing a whole lot. Small problem, but I’m certainly excited to see where this franchise goes from here. Green Ranger time baby!

My Grade – 73/100

1.) Logan 

The movie that was so nice, I saw it twice, in three days…..Some days I just stare off into space and think about this movie. Logan was just such a special movie for myself, and I know for many others. It was the perfect send off for Hugh Jackman, he gave us 17 years of being this character. That’s such a long time, it’s actually lunacy to think about it. He never complained, never quit on us and kept coming back to try and make a better movie for us fans. It’s super sad to see him go, but hopefully FOX will take some time to decide what the best approach is when it comes to recasting Wolverine. I can’t say enough good things about Logan, it had the perfect blend of great story telling, brutal violence and all around great performances. I will miss Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine, but all good things must come to an end, and there was no better way for him to go out. Logan entered my top 3 all time comic book movies, and I’m looking forward to watching it for years to come.

My Grade -97/100

So there you have it, my favourite 5 films of March! It was the best all around movie month in a long time, and I think I’m going to do this at the end of every month from here on out! Did I miss anything? What were your favourite movies of this past month? Let me know!

News

Let’s Talk About the ‘IT’ Trailer 

Wannabe Movie Critic

The Losers Club and Pennywise are back and it looks terrifying as hell

(Warner Bros.)

Boy does this trailer bring me back, to being scared shitless of clowns. The 90’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel IT is getting a makeover this year and the first official trailer has just dropped. Even the poster that was released yesterday is simply incredible, the way they hide Pennywise behind the balloon is really smart, and super creepy.

One thing is for certain this isn’t the 90s TV adaptation that’s for sure. This looks horrific, and I get a sense this time around Pennywise might not be cracking to many jokes. Tim Curry managed to blend comedy with horror perfectly when he suited up as the dancing clown back in the day and now Bill Skarsgard is on deck and from the little we got to see in the trailer, I think he’s going to make Tim proud.

This was a fantastic trailer, and what a movie trailer should be. They didn’t give away too much, teased us with Pennywise, he didn’t even have any lines of dialogue which I was kind of pissed about but understand why it was done. He looks so scary and the last 10 seconds of this trailer are straight up what nightmares are made of. They obviously had to change the look of Pennywise for this and the first pictures that were released were met with mixed reviews, well now seeing this in the flesh and in action I couldn’t be happier with it. All the kids in The Losers Club seem scared out of their minds, and the tagline “what are you afraid of?” is awesome, because Pennywise is known to bring out your worst fears and make them into a reality.

IT made my most anticipated list, and after watching this trailer a boatload of times I’m even more excited for the final product. Having a September release date makes me a little worried because that is usually a garbage month for movies after the long summer blockbuster season, but I will remain hopeful until its release. Looking forward to seeing some kids get straight up murdered, sorry not sorry for saying that, it will be bloody and grotesque and I can’t wait.

Check ya later.