Oz The Great And Powerful

I have notes.

Yes the Oz adaptation precisely zero people have talked about for over a decade now, so what did I think? I'll disclaimer this upfront, I don't think an origin for the Wizard is a bad idea really I don't, because it's been a question I'm sure many people have had and this is still during a time when prequels were frowned upon. It's really not bad crafting it's own mythos while taking a fair bit from the books and the 1939 film, with a circus magician getting whisked away in a twister and finds himself embroiled in a three way power struggle between witches as he is hailed as the Lisan al-Gaib despite multiple instances to the contrary. That's kind of an interesting premise seeing this conman get hip deep in this fantasy world between warring factions, and I do truly feel that while James Franco wasn't exactly a no brainer pick for Oz his charm and humor carried this film tremendously. He was a joy to watch and I appreciate the fact they don't go down some typical lame ass liar revealed trope, as he actually does let people peak behind the curtain to see his true self, it adds dynamic and even a sweet moment or two because of it. He's truly a great lead through and through. Also just need to shoutout Joey King as the China Girl, hands down my favorite character, would easily die for her, my heart and soul in this movie! This fairly hurts to say because we do have talented people on this cast, and it's not even that they did a bad job but it just missed something extra to make it come together. Rachel Weisz you rock, I'll never say a bad thing about your acting but I feel the script is at fault with most of the other characters not giving much for them to do cause she's one of the witches and has a semi-important role to play but the poor lady just has nothing to grasp onto. Michelle Williams as Glenda has a little bit to work off of, the dynamic with Oz and his lack of magic, the death of her father who was the last king of Ozdom, she at least has a direction to go in. And Mila Kunis as Theodora, this gets into spoilers but it's important to talk about, again not a first choice candidate to play the Wicked Witch but...oof. Okay I don't ever like doing this, I got nothing from her performance and feel this is where the writing took a horrid nose dive, essentially making one of the most iconic villains in cinema a spiteful ex-girlfriend who gets tricked into becoming the green skinned pyro thrower we know, and this is pure subjective taste by the way when I say her design was so not it looking more akin to The Mask than the Wicked Witch. Big letdown in my opinion overall for her character but you know what? It gave me a negative so I can walk into Wicked looking for a positive so even then it has a greater purpose. I was rather shocked to say the least knowing Sam Raimi directed this movie but I applaud him for wanting to put as much practical sets in as possible, it's a heavy ass CG movie because of the outlandish terrain of the world of Oz and indeed has moments of beauty to it yet I still strongly appreciate giving the actors something to work with. It also was made during that mini 3D craze so you get those certain shots that are noticeable but aren't completely egregious. And for a over 2 hour movie it doesn't feel that long yet simultaneously feels like it should be longer to get more connection to the characters which I feel is the Achille's heel of it all. The visuals are okay, the story has some intrigue, but I couldn't get completely invested. But hey, if something doesn't work for me it can work for someone! I liked seeing a different iteration of the land of Oz, I liked seeing James play this charming charlatan, the little China Girl is treasured and I will not hear slander against her or I will smite you, even the majority of the humor got me rolling! It's far from a waste even if not everything landed just right and it makes me all the more curious to see Wicked! Know next door to nothing about it aside from trailers, yet I'm walking in with an open mind. As for this I give it 2 stars, 6/10!

The Disaster Artist

Happy April Fool everybody. Ha ha.

Okay I know I'm not talented enough to do a Tommy Wiseau impression the whole review, but after watching this movie I can't stop talking like him. It's second nature now, people are looking at me like, "What the f*** is your malfunction Dude?" and I'm just like, "Ha ha. It's okay. No problem don't worry 'bout it. Anyway how's your sex life?" I can't stop it. Somebody please help me. Ohh God. Here we go. I really enjoy this movie, this is a good movie, and I have got to get my hands on the book The Disaster Artist because I need to know everything about this production. Because if even 80% of this movie is the cold hard facts of life that happened in 2003, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. It's very much like Ed Wood, the Tim Burton movie Ed Wood not the director. It celebrates Tommy's vision and his commitment to the movie but ridicules and pokes fun at him too. It's this generations Ed Wood in every sense, the exact set design and attention to detail, the showing of various filmed scenes with a behind the scenes central story. Honestly the more I think about it, I honestly think James Franco ripped Burton off to the letter at how exact each movie plays out the same. It's craziness man! Does that mean I hate the movie? No. But it is very much like it, and that's okay. It really did give a great sense of perspective at the end, you know, how people and critics especially can absolutely decimate someone's movie. They had a vision, made it happen, believed in it every single step of the way, and a critic can just smash their work into tiny pieces. But at the end of the day it's just opinion, and if you have a great passion and love for something you want to do, to create something and present it to the world by all means do it. That's something I can take comfort in, yeah we make fun of The Room and Tommy but there is a sense of respect and appreciation. He made a highly entertaining movie known the world over, and has a substantial cult following. Good for him, that's more than what I've done. I'm just a little chicken, cheep cheep cheep cheep! Oh f*** me in the ass tonight, make it stop! I need a drink, I'm losing it. Uh, what else? The performances were spot on, both in terms of movie accuracy and individual performances. James nails it, sort of embellishes it but whatever, don't worry about it. Ha ha. I can't breathe. Damn it Johnny, not now! I gotta finish my review! Dave Franco does a good job though he isn't the spitting image of Greg Sestero but whatever, it's a movie. It's shot very nicely, major shoutout to Molly Mullally who plays Greg's mom, I thought you were lovely. I'm off track, go see it. What a story Franco. Oh my God, I can't stop it....you are tearing me apart Tommy!! Er'body betray me, I am fed up with this worl!!!

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

A solid entry to the beginning of a trilogy.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is surprisingly a great movie. You know, this is like the one film franchise not many people have seen nor know much about. I mean people have seen the original movie, but beyond that not much. And there's what? 5 or 6 sequels to the original Charlton Heston movie? No one has seen them. So it was kind of a gamble to do a prequel to Planet Of The Apes. And I think it paid off in aces. So the movie has James Franco as a scientist (just go with it) developing a cure for Alzheimers, and tests it on apes which makes them highly intelligent. An ape gives birth and sadly is killed, while her son now born with an advanced intelligence due to the medication is adopted and raised by Franco and named Caesar. Through the years he becomes more intelligent, even able to do sign language but sadly he has to be given to an ape sanctuary, and then Malfoy turns up. Yeah I know his name is real name is Tom but come on, he's Malfoy and he is a diiiick in this movie. Yeah, he abuses Caesar but he escapes, finds the smart juice, pumps the apes full of it, and we got ourselves a revolution. Now people might be saying, well how on earth do the apes win? We have guns, and the military, but the film actually does have a reason. I really like this movie, though action is sparing if barely existent it's awesome, it's more about the journey and character of Caesar than anything else, and I firmly believe Andy Serkis deserves awards for his potrayal as Caesar. Dude seriously is what makes this movie amazing. Bravo sir! But...he's not my favorite ape. That honor goes to Maurice the orangutan. Why? Well, he's the smartest ape. Yeah, smarter than Caesar. He already knew sign language long before he met Caesar, then he got the smart juice and became even more intelligent, I'd almost say Gorilla Grodd intelligent. So yeah, he's my favorite. I know this is an odd thing but really this movie is pretty good, like you should totally rent it and watch it. I don't even know who this movie's target audience is! But you should go see it! So tomorrow we pick up on the next movie.