Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

I’ve never felt so damn conflicted by a movie in my life.

I gotta first get this out of the way. If we could not have Zack Snyder direct anymore DC movies, that will be a step in the right direction. But let me discuss that for a second.

There are some really good-looking shots in this movie. And some great action sequences. But some terrible editing and depth-less dialogue.

The problem with Snyder is that he puts on a spectacle that is too spectacular that it can’t be smooth. It’s like a fireworks show. You don’t feel for each individual firework, you just kind of enjoy watching them blow up.

The acting was good in the movie, with Ben Affleck being a fantastic Batman. Alfred was very good also.

The Justice League tie-ins were almost too much. In fact, they were too much. The one main tie-in scene was the most out of place scene in the movie, even though it was relatively cool.

The second trailer ruined the entire movie. Goddamn, why did they have to release that trailer? So much of the potential was wasted by the fact that we had seen it already. A certain ‘reveal’ late in the movie would have been AMAZING if not for the fact that everyone in the theatre was waiting for it to come.

So basically, Zack Snyder, even if he wasn’t the sole one responsible, is held accountable in my eyes for all the main faults and I would enjoy if he just passed future directing jobs onto someone else.

Quickly summing up things I liked:

• I hate Superman as a character, but he had his moments in this movie.
• Jesse Eisenberg, in my opinion, is not nearly as bad as people say. Take the name ‘Lex Luthor’ out of the equation, and he would have been fantastic. Unfortunately, he was given a well-respected character and had to take a risk.
• Gal Gadot was fantastic.
• Court Scene was pretty good.
• The movie’s opening was really well done.
• Everything Batman was awesome

And things I didn’t like:

• Lois was useless mostly, despite being well-acted.
• There’s a thing that happens at the end that I didn’t like, but in the interest of staying spoiler free, I can’t go into specifics.
• Editing was a mess.
• In fact, the whole movie was a mess.
• Zack Snyder.
• Why is Jason Momoa’s name on the freaking poster?
• The movie had like 6 endings but refused to end.
• The whole third act was insane. But not in a good way.
• Too long. Cut it down.

Essentially, worth a watch. Not worth any awards.

Enjoy it for what it is, I guess.

Deadpool (2016)

This is exactly the movie I, and many Deadpool fans, wanted. After the awful, awful depiction of him in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, (merc with a mouth without a mouth, thanks) it’s so refreshing to finally share this character properly with moviegoers.

The tone of this movie is perfect. Absolutely perfect. I loved every second of it. From the quick jokes to the serious moments, to the dumb but entertaining montages. Every fourth wall break in this movie felt like Deadpool, and none of them, surprisingly, felt forced.

There was maybe one joke in this movie that I feel fell flat, which is phenomenal for any comedy movie, especially one which is so niche. This is a very particular brand of comedy, I feel, but one I can’t describe. All I have to say is that it is hilarious and entertaining on all fronts.

I only hope they get a great budget for the sequel to allow them to do whatever they want. You could argue that one of the charms of this movie was how it took advantage of its limits, but I would trade that for them being able to do whatever storylines or jokes that they wanted.

Ryan Reynolds, you are a god.

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Now please read this review free of judgement. Yes, I watched Pitch Perfect 2. Yes, I watched and enjoyed Pitch Perfect 1 when it was released. No, I’m not the target demographic, but that’s what the first movie did very well – appealed to a larger audience with clever humour.

The sequel does a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong, I have no idea where to start. If you’re looking for my opinion on the movie in a short summary, here it is: it’s a good addition to the first movie, which is flawed but entertaining.

I’m going to try to start with positives, but I have a tendency to go on tangents and also a tendency to not edit my work. Sorry.

Firstly, this movie does a good job at not falling into the trap that many comedy sequels do: Making the same jokes. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at the small amount of callbacks to the first movie.

The chemistry of the cast is still solid and feels real. The jokes are clever and still have subtlety, and the comedic timing has not lost its charm.

The final performance is good and luckily not as underwhelming as I was expecting.

Anna Kendrick is still very attractive. I would say more so than the first movie. I know it’s not really something you should judge the movie on, but her attractiveness did make the movie more enjoyable for me.

The commentators are still great, and I’m pretty sure every scene they were in I at least chuckled at. David Cross has a good character, and Key from Key & Peele plays one of my favourite characters in this movie.

On the negative side, the following are all small things that only slightly detracted from the movie.

Most of the songs/mash-ups have sections which sound quite awkward or sound like they have too much going on. None of them really have the catchy effect that the first movie did so well.

I don’t like comparing movies to their sequels, but I have to point out that the editing in this movie took a downgrade. Not that it is bad in this movie. It’s actually slightly above average. But in the first movie, the editing was stellar. I don’t have Internet to look it up right now, but I want to guess that it’s a different director than the first movie.

While Rebel Wilson is great and has a great character, she almost had too many joke lines in this movie. Almost. If the movie was 10 minutes longer, I probably would have disliked her character a little.

There are many forgettable characters who are there but are not explored. Which is good and bad, but it just seems like they’re without personality.

The minority girl (I call her that because she calls herself a minority in the movie, I don’t know her name, and I am terrible with races) seems to have the same sort of shtick as the Asian girl (again don’t know her name) in the first movie, saying disturbing things about her past to no reactions. Seems strange to add her in since the Asian girl is still in the movie.

Also, this movie had a bit too much going on at once. It could have cut down on some of it and been a bit better. A conflict in the middle was brought up and then resolved immediately for almost no reason at all.

I could keep listing small positives and negatives, but I feel like this is the longest review I’ve written thus far and that doesn’t feel right. If someone wants me to talk more about it, they can ask me directly.

Overall, however, I enjoyed the movie and it did not fail as a sequel. In fact, I think it did its job quite well. Anna Kendrick is crazy attractive to me, so that adds points to the final score, and the humour in this movie is still solid. Hey, for a movie that’s not aimed at my demographic, I would say it did a pretty good job.

(Especially at casting Anna Kendrick, good job.)

Spectre (2015)

James Bond movies are always a series of winks and nods, strung together by an almost clever story and almost entertaining action.

The problem with Spectre is it, like many James Bond movies now, relies on the audience already having attachment to the characters, and so it doesn’t bother with building further attachment. This is an issue as every film, yes even sequels, should be able to build character attachment do that each scene feels necessary.

Daniel Craig is a great James Bond, and the actors in this film all were good, as they often are in 007 movies. The directing is also very good, with some beautiful cinematography at points. Less so than Skyfall, but still impressive in a different way.

Even the story is decent, so it’s difficult to nail down why I only find this movie average. But I think it’s because there didn’t seem to be tension because the reward wasn’t in sight.

Think about Taken, the tension exists because you care about the daughter as Bryan does. Think about John Wick, you’re angry at the dickheads who took away the only thing that mattered. That’s where the tension lies, and this movie was missing that.

The final act of the movie, however, does add an aspect of emotional and physical pain which mostly succeeds in what I was talking about. It should have come earlier in the movie, as a film should grab attention earlier rather than later.

As negative as that sounds, the rest of the movie was fine. I would say it’s a decent movie, but really only if you care about James Bond.

Self/less (2015)

While a little slow at times, this movie was well-done and enjoyable. I could end this review right here, because that’s all that needs to be said, but I’ll keep typing.

Ryan Reynolds is still growing as an actor. The Voices and this movie have both proved to me that he is a strong actor who can very well hold an emotional weight.

This movie was slightly predictable, but that didn’t take away from it too much. The last quarter of the movie was particularly well done and left me with a good impression of this movie.

The main actress, whose name I don’t know, did a very good job, even in the scenes where her lines were quite dumb. The writing was mostly good, and the directing was better than most movies.

I probably wouldn’t watch this movie too many more times, if at all, but I would tell people that this is a good movie. If you’re thinking about watching it, just do it. It’s entertaining and interesting.

Burnt (2015)

About halfway through this movie I was about to write the review because I predicted the movie was going to do exactly what I thought it was going to do and end up being nothing more than an okay film. And it kind of did, but while the events were as I suspected, the execution brought it from an ‘okay’ movie to a good movie.

This movie was filed under comedy/drama and while I understand how it is a drama, I don’t quite see how it’s a comedy. Luckily it doesn’t have any jokes that fall flat, but it doesn’t really seem to have any jokes in general. It basically has as many jokes as any decent drama would have. I think ‘comedy’ mis-categorises this film.

The writing and directing were both effective, but nothing more. Some sections of the film were particularly well-done, but it wasn’t kept consistent.

Bradley Cooper stood out. He is an actor who has consistently given good performances in his roles, and I have a lot of respect for him.

This movie kind of hits it’s best moments about 3/4 through the movie and the rest, while necessary, didn’t hit that quality again in my opinion.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend not watching this, but it is by no means perfect. This sounds like a negative review but I definitely enjoyed the entire movie. It was solid, and that’s it.

Southpaw (2015)

Without a doubt, I would place Jake Gyllenhaal on my top 10 actors list. His characterisation is incredible. If you look at him in Donnie Darko, then Nightcrawler, then Southpaw, it’s clear that he takes acting incredibly seriously. I am not exaggerating when I say that his performance in this movie blew me away, I believed every second of it.

I went into this movie knowing absolutely nothing. I hadn’t heard anything about it and I’m surprised I haven’t. This movie had the most satisfying ending I’ve seen since Whiplash. Every actor, including the daughter, did a great job.

I’m not a fan of boxing, but this movie made me care about it. A perfect example of growing characters to evoke emotion through everything.

Beautifully directed, and I am still thinking about the characters.

Jake Gyllenhaal is a god among actors, I aspire to have even half of his talent and commitment one day.

If you haven’t heard anything about this movie, don’t read or look at anything and just watch it. It is fantastic.

Steve Jobs (2015)

Let’s get one thing out of the way, the Ashton Kutcher movie “Jobs” is an okay movie, but there is really nothing great about it. I love Aaron Sorkin, so when they announced that he was writing a Steve Jobs biopic, some people went “Another one?”, while I thought “Now we’ll get the proper one.”

Aaron Sorkin is a master of dialogue. The Social Network is one of the best movies of all time (in my opinion, of course) because it was such a intelligently written film and masterfully directed by David Fincher.

This movie was less-masterfully directed, as Danny Boyle isn’t as refined as Fincher, but I have no complaints about the directing and some sections are well-done.

All the performances were fantastic, with everyone doing exactly what they should have done. Even Seth Rogen, who people doubted, did a great job. The dialogue, as Aaron Sorkin is great at, does a brilliant job at not dumbing anything down but still making it simple enough to follow.

The relationships felt real and complex. The chemistry was great between actors.

As for the accuracy, I can not account for that too much, but I most of the events were true to real life. I assume Steve Jobs was based on stories and was likely dramatised for the sake of the movie but that is to be expected in a film like this.

I loved every second of this film, but I know people who hate listening won’t. This is the movie that Steve Jobs needed. It doesn’t make him look great, but it’s heavy, and real. I hope Aaron Sorkin will continue to impress me in the future.

Absolutely Anything (2015)

Simon Pegg is rarely not-enjoyable. Monty Python are rarely not-enjoyable. Robin Williams is rarely not-enjoyable. This movie should be a masterpiece.

It’s pretty good.

This is a really good movie if you don’t really want to think much, similar to some other Simon Pegg movies like Run Fatboy Run. The premise is a huge Deus Ex Machina, but they handle it well.

Simon Pegg’s character is given the power to do absolutely anything. What he doesn’t know is that if he doesn’t use it for good, Earth will be destroyed. (That’s not a spoiler, that’s the premise of the movie.)

In a movie like this, cinematography and framing and intention aren’t really needed. It’s a goofy comedy and that’s all it claims to be. The CGI is pretty awful, but that didn’t really bother me because the whole movie feels very cartoonish anyway.

Simon Pegg is solid and funny as always. Robin Williams, playing a dog, is cute and funny. Monty Python do well but honestly, anyone could have played those aliens. I’m glad it was them because I like hearing their voices, but the characters were mostly to move the plot along anyway. The exception to that would be the funny counting scene towards the end. (Although the joke could have been done a little better.)

The movie has a strange climax in the middle which is resolved and then the movie continues, which is quite odd. I think the script of this movie was a little over the place, which could have been improved a little.

For the most part, however, most of the jokes landed pretty well and I enjoyed the entire movie without being bored once. Simon Pegg’s performance in the final scene is subtle and well-done in my opinion, which leaves a good final impression. I would say this is a good movie to watch if you like easygoing comedies.

The Prestige (2006)

Christopher Nolan can do crazy, crazy things to our minds. This whole movie is one giant spoiler for the ending, and yet amazingly, it still comes as a shock. This is a spoiler free review, but there is one word to describe this film: Magical.

Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale both play great distinct characters and realistic rivals. Michael Caine, as always, is a voice of reason to an extent and so we all know he can do that well. David Bowie is surprisingly good and subtle in this movie, something I wasn’t aware that he was capable of.

The Nolan brothers always write fantastic scripts, and can consistently pull off twists that don’t necessarily change the entire movie, but simply makes the audience satisfied.

Normally when I watch a movie I think “Could I write this movie?”

With this movie, I absolutely could not.

This movie is very dialogue heavy so if you’re not into listening, don’t watch it. It’s also a movie that some people stop halfway through because they think they’re not understanding it or it’s not going anywhere.

For those people: just know that it IS going somewhere and a lot of information is purposefully hidden.

Finally, it’s not entirely fair to make this comparison, but this is the main thing that seperated The Prestige from a movie like Now You See Me – Everything seems plausible. Even towards the end when The Prestige throws in new elements, it still feels right within the universe. Filmmakers can learn a lot from this movie. Show don’t tell, and remember that what you show the audience is just as important as what you don’t.