The League Of Super Pets

Oh thank God. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be.




Yeah, after a re-evaluation of The Batman and the very very good Snyder cut I needed this to be decent. Thankfully I can report it was okay, in terms of overall quality. It has a really neat art design, taking a lot of art deco/50s futurisic influence to the backgrounds and environments, with some pretty cool character designs for the human superheroes. The fact alone I get to see a Superman suit a la' Kingdom Come is pretty sick, Diana is somehow even more awesome looking than normal I mean woof (ha ha ha....), Aquaman is a neat mix of classic comics and Justice League Unlimited, we got a new Green Lantern I was not aware of and hello there madame I will research you immediately, poor Flash and Bats could have had more interesting designs to be honest, we even get a frickin' rad Mercy Graves so I'm pretty happy on that front. But the focus is of course on the pets and they are mostly miss for me, not much love for Krypto or Ace (and that is the only time I will speak blasphemy on the name of Ace), the pig PB was cute, the squirrel...eh, but my favorites were the geriatric turtle and not just cause she cusses and it made me lose my shit in the theater, and of course the villains. Kate McKinnon my babe, you once again are my shining star and play one of the unironically best villains I've seen in an animated film in some time and she has a pretty kitty henchman who is cute as heck and will annihilate your enemies with extreme prejudice. I want him. That's the thing with this movie for me, I don't particularly care about Krypto or his story, more the funny odd stuff that happens along the way. It's an average basic premise and plot but it is serviceable. The comedy actually got me more than I could have fathomed, the villain is brilliant but even then has some groaner jokes, the turtle was amazing but any kids movie that drops an F bomb whether censored or not has some respect from me, and the semi-Looney Tunes physical humor worked in places. I am taking this as a small victory, it wasn't bullshit from cover to cover it was just painfully adequate with some bright spots. I can live with that. 2.5 stars, 6/10, and we got only one more week before I take a summer break so we will go out with a bang.

Justice League (The Snyder Cut)

Alright I get the affection for it now.

Color me impressed, for a movie I had some but not really too much interest to see and saw the tumultous uproar to even get it released, with zero real knowledge of how it came to be in existence as we see it now I thought it was great! Now I will say the enjoyment of Joss Whedon's version has waned a bit to the point I think it's just a average decent movie, but I don't deem it superflous or worthy of being erased. Considering this is an R rated movie and a firmly warranted one at that, it tells a much more dramatic and for lack of a better word "important" story, taking it seriously and trying to convey a story meant for grown ups means it can't fully be compared to the theatrical release which is bright, fun, and ultimately your typical popcorn superhero film. There is a place for both in comic movies, and while there is undoubtedly exact same shots and a mostly unchanged story, it's how the movie goes about it that makes a universe of difference. Presented in a quite honestly fascinating aspect ratio of 4:3, the likes of which last seen here in The Lighthouse, the story still involves Bruce leading the charge for a metahuman team combating the threat of Steppenwolf and more importantly Apokolips. The beauty of this movie is it takes what was there in the theatrical movie and expands upon it with an extended runtime and select new elements, after all that was the plan once upon another time the Justice League was going to be two movies and this delivers it in an unsual way. The story is split up into parts, not quite vignettes but more chapters of a book, an interesting idea that while not changing much is a unique and novel touch. It's actually a fascinating experience watching both versions back to back because it's so similar and yet so extremely different. I greatly enjoyed and loved how the story progressed, the additional character moments and backstory we get, the visual style is truly Zack Snyder which I feel helps the movie more than the brighter shades of the Whedon version. It truthfully lived up to the hype everyone was making it to be for me, and they need to continue this story. You started it way back in 2013, it's almost been a decade and if you just take several steps back WB and DC from current projects and start at square one you could have something a lot of people would like to see. I've been on board this ship since almost day 1 and this movie reminded me how excited I get seeing a new DC movie and can't wait to see the next one. I know they can do it and Black Adam looks pretty solid so far. The movie clearly has a vision, style, and story it wants to tell and I'd say it handled it all very strongly. I had to buy this movie cause I couldn't find a place to rent it, but I gotta say that was money well spent after seeing it. It's a truly tragic thing that happened to the Snyder family and lord knows there is countless people who give a lot of love and good thoughts to them, and the fact they could get their movie out there the way they wanted it is a pretty incredible thing in and of itself. And I will be just brutally honest guys, I was NOT in a good state of mind before watching this, feeling very bitter, disillusioned, and beyond apathetic to media, the world, and specifically people. Just really despising with uncalculable anger at how just vehement and pessimistic people can be over such frivolous things as entertainment, like a comic book adaptation or a movie series. But then I remembered that not only is revenge the most worthless of causes, but hate is the most useless of emotions. It did give me pause however if I should even continue after my 1,000th review. But there is world enough and time before we reach that day. 4 stars, 8.5/10, and just for comparison I would rate the theatrical version 2.5 stars, 6/10, and I can't believe I'm doing this. Next time, League Of The Super Pets. Ohhhhhh......

In Retrospect: The Batman

It wouldn't be this show if something was late.



Yeah, I know. I said I was going to see it again and had every intention to but life got busy and this is nearly 3 hours long, but I've seen it 3 or 4 times now and have solidified my stance on the movie. Still love it, still think the story works very well, and the score has indeed been raised. First off, this viewing around I was just gushing profusely over the cinematography, like I know because it's a modern movie and therefore has modern cameras where every frame is crystal clear and the look is out of this world but maaan dat look good! I'm not sure if it's a director stamp of Matt Reeves but his whole focus on one object in the foreground but leave the background out of focus may be considered artsy but I loved it. That's my eyesight in a nutshell, so I'm just keeping it real with glasses. The look of Gotham while still very modern day is unmistakably this iconic city, hell that shot of the diner with the rain and the neon glowing in the darkness is Gotham personified to me. Friggin' Wayne Tower though, Tim Burton wishes he could be this gothic in style and structure, I mean wow but man did I love it. Costume design, brilliant and not just with the batsuit though it is a marvel to behold and study. So visuals, 10/10. Robert Pattinson still does the trick for me and while I personally feel no one can claim a certain actor as the definitive Batman, he covers nearly all the bases with me. With the exception of being Bruce Wayne, though I know it's part of his character and the arc he makes, he is still very much 90% Batman and 10% Bruce but it works because he hasn't found that balance yet where even as Bruce he can still get stuff done and acquire information. I dare almost say this is a character study of a young but hardened Batman, he knows the ropes and still does good work but he isn't flawless and takes a more direct obvious route. That's the thing with this movie, it can tell you so much without saying a word I mean we are talking visual storytelling the likes I have not seen in many a year. Just a simple thing of Batman banging on a club door and forcing his way inside to sneaking through the same door does a lot for the character. The fact that he is faced with a grim reality that he inspires criminals through his actions and starts working less as a vigilante and more a hero is what tipped the scale for me on the second viewing to raise the score. I love seeing detective work in this movie, cause it's very ground level in the process with having a lead, gaining a tentative link, and following that to another lead cause that's how it works. You need to have the skills to read the signs, but also a bit of luck to get you to the next part. And with an adversary like the Riddler, you have to play his game and gain knowledge bit by bit of his scheme which I feel still works on repeated viewing, it's the long game where any bit of information could come into play. I should know, I spammed the Rata Alada website daily and got a lot out of it before the damn G.C.P.D. took the site off. Paul Dano is a very different Riddler but infinitely entertaining, I must have had this twisted smile on my face everytime he was on screen, this disturbing mix of oh my God this is great and sweet Jesus this is eerie as f***. What can I say I loved every second of it, and I'm gonna get shit for this maybe until the day I retire but was it just me or was anyone else getting like real severe ASMR vibes with his voice? I was kinda nodding off at points, I'm sure that says a lot about me but I refuse to take sass from people who spend entire days watching crime and serial killer documentaries so you can take a seat. If memory serves I believe I said Zoe Kravitz was the best live action Catwoman, and I would say yes absolutely. Definitive? Not yet. Incredibly great in many aspects of the character? Affirmative. She got the skills, it's very Year One Catwoman in design which I dig, the romance I feel works well enough, props to them for going the whole Falcone side of her heritage like in the comics following The Long Halloween I appreciate that, she did proper good with this role. I want more Jeffrey Wright, I got enough to satisfy me but I need more, that whole partnership was handled super well in my book and I just love that man so bring it on I say. The action was less pronounced but still had that punch (full pun intended), I know we're not gonna see Rob go full Batfleck and just wreck dudes in seamless Arkham combat style but the work put in must be commended. I'm still kind of on the side of the fence where I just want it to be this movie and not a 3 picture deal, I'm just very disillusioned with the business side of comic book movies rather than the films themselves. But a villain team up I can roll with, I mean come on my first Batman movie was Batman Forever followed closely by Batman & Robin, multiple villains is second nature to me. I still really enjoyed it, I loved the progression for Batman, it's an engrossing and entertaining film and the ending is something I'm proud of them for doing. 4 stars, 9/10, and next time we're doing some comparisons on The Justice League.

Nope

Well done sir, three home runs in my book.




I'll admit, the trailer got me alone with a shot of a flying saucer. Cause I knew immediately that this was gonna be a new take on aliens and breathe some new life into a very much bygone genre. And new barely covers how they handled the subject matter. So the movie follows two siblings who own a horse ranch in California when for no real reason, various bits of metal fall from the sky, power shuts completely off, and something is clearly spooking the horses leading our great leading stars to attempt to sort out the problem and get the impossible shot. I almost don't wanna say a thing. Needless to say Daniel Kaluuya is awesome, I can see some people say he has no expression or is just kinda zoned out when all this wild ass stuff is happening but I can forgive it. I mean if I saw a UFO I would literally lose my fudge, and walking home in the middle of the night with the wind picking up was um....fun. I guess you would get a bit desensitized and able to think more logically if you kept seeing a flying saucer but it doesn't take away from the performance. Keke Palmer won me over with one brief scene in the trailer, she is a joy to watch and I adore her. She just has that energy, that spirit, it's quite hard to not like her truthfully. Brandon Perea is a good source of comic relief and buys into this whole spaceship business easily, and I was a bit stunned cause he works at Fry's Electronics and I thought that was nothing more than another relic in my memory. Cause it takes place in modern day but truthfully the trailer sold it to me as early to mid 2000s, but man I miss that store. Moving on. Steven Yeun I feel is the wild card in this cast, he does belong but his whole backstory is so out there but I think that's why I like it. The film is shot super well with obvious emphasis on the sky, day or night, and it's paced just right for a roughly 2 hour film. Now, no spoilers of course however I must admit if you want to see new sci-fi, recognizable elements of sci-fi done with a new twist, I think you will enjoy it. I was very happy how it all progressed and the flying saucer was actually made pretty scary and unsettling again. Expertly done sound design by the by. A great time to be had, inventive, creepy, but engaging and interesting. I give it 4 stars, 8.5/10! Next week, I'm somewhat looking forward to and yet debating on whether I should do it at all. Until then, watch the skies always. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies.

Us

Well shit, that was an ending.

Man! Jordan does it again for me, this movie takes more inspiration from other movies than being a purely original idea but that sure doesn't mean it isn't a fine film. I sorta knew the premise, kind of a Invasion Of The Body Snatchers type plot where duplicates of a family try to kill said family but boooy does it go off in it's own world and become something better. Immediately I was thrown off track when the film starts stating there are thousands of miles of underground passageways, and I was fully expecting this to be some parallel dimension crossing setup but the rug was pulled out from under me and my interest grew even more, it still creeped me out though. I will say the movie does, if you pay good attention, very simple yet effective set up and pay off and does a real good job getting you settled with this family. I mean do I need to say a friggin' word about Lupita Nyong'o? Do I really? No I don't think I do, my standing with her has never dwindled or changed for the worst. Winston Duke, my guy in this movie, could not catch a break and I almost dare say he was my favorite part of the movie, a total nerd but infinitely enjoyable to watch, he was class! Shahadi and Evan as the kids did good enough work, capturing that sibling friction and commited well to the acting. But the greatest part is, they play the opposite personas and seem to have way more fun with it, I mean it is utterly and completely fascinating to see these actors as this bizzaro/dark side mirror image/otherwordly cast cause it raises enough questions in your mind that you want to dig deeper into. Where do they come from? How were they created? What's the master plan? And while you don't get definitive answers to all those questions, you get enough to walk away still interested and satisfied but not like you got robbed due to lazy writing. A concept such as this and the way it plays out would be very easy to screw up, very easy to perplex the audience and lose them, very easy to do slap dash writing. But it doesn't, it walks that tight rope just right, and even while I admit I was throwing out ideas and I was right at the end I by no means called this movie. No way in hell. Cause I was thinking, alright we're gonna get build up, halfway through the doppel family shows up, and the rest of the movie is fight for survival, kill em' all or be killed. Naw. No, no, no, the doppels show up about 35 minutes into this almost 2 hour film and it goes bigger than you expect. Will not say a syllable more on that. Directing wise you can tell this is Jordan Peele really able to stretch those wings, giving a lot more unique visuals, interesting camera work, and good editing, it even gets a bit artsy at one or two points and I friggin' loved it. I do however fear for his career because I don't just want him to direct horror movies forever, I know he can do other stuff so I hope he doesn't burn himself out on these projects cause I know a lot of people love his horror stuff. I sure do, and it's unfair to compare his projects so I can't say oh Get Out was better, it's two seperate movies with different styles, so I'll just say it was great. 4 stars, 8.5/10, and I have no clue what Nope will have in store but I'm there for it either way.

Once Upon A Time In Mexico

Ah, maybe the universe was telling me not to go through with it.

No joke, my DVD of this movie was glitched to shit so I had to buy it (again) just to get this review done. And while I can't say Once Upon A Time In Mexico is a bad movie, I can however say it is the weakest of The Mexico Trilogy and also the weakest of the Once Upon A Time In movies I've seen. But why that is is simultaneously very easy to describe and yet difficult to describe. The plot actually was a bit hard keeping up with, it starts off innocently enough with another bar shootout with our Mariachi and his lovely lady wife Carolina but it quickly shifts tracks and narrowly misses careening off a cliff. Our main lead is roped into a very complicated ploy to have the presidente of Culiacan assasinated by cartel members, and you know there's a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of what have yous, and while I can appreciate Robert Rodriguez going bigger with the plot I feel it was a bit too much. There are so many characters, strands, and connections to juggle, now that might have been just me and my day being difficult but I was lagging like Quicktime in the 90s man. And with a cast like this, they have quite a few talented good actors in this and yet shockingly give them so little to do yet take up I honestly believe more screen time than Mariachi himself is mindboggingly impossible. Cause you see this cast, Eva Mendes, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke, and you think man this is gonna be good. Naw. Eva gets maybe 5 brief scenes, Willem Dafoe is for some reason a mexican cartel leader and I'm not saying he can't do it but it is kinda weird. You thought Charlton Heston playing a mexican was bad casting, that's like if they got me to be a character born and raised in Brazil or Ecuador, just doesn't fit. Mickey Rourke has even less to do than Eva, but I have to admit Johnny gets a good bit of screen time and made me laugh the most. But this just doesn't seem like a movie meant to be a continuation of Desperado, it seems more Sicario directed by Robert Rodriguez with special guest star Antonio Banderas. You follow me? It's just off ever so slightly in terms of story. But does that necessarily mean the other aspects are lessened? Not at all, it still feels like a film directed by the same guy and an aspect I really really liked is you can tell he was like, oh this movie Desperado is going to have elements of El Mariachi but have more done with it and the same goes for this movie, taking elements of Desperado and doing more with it, upping the ante. The action is a bit sparse but done really well with flourishes seen in previous movies, the music is still solid, the sets and locations couldn't be mistaken for anything but Mexico, it has good bits of humor, the story is jumbled but when it focuses on Antonio it is good stuff, I think it just needed some more time to cook. I'm not disappointed, I don't hate it, I can see elements and appreciate them, it's a totally decent flick albeit a less than fitting end. I give it 2.5 stars, 6.5/10. I think I appreciate and dig El Mariachi the most, but I can concede Desparado is the objectively better film, so I can walk away still happy I got to finally see these movies and talk about them a bit. Next week, Jordan Peele visits again and it's looking to be a short but potentially sweet week.

Desperado

Good stuff man.

Quite a different experience when you have a budget. Made just 2 years after El Mariachi and gaining a budget of $7,000,000, Robert delivered big time with this movie, picking up a little ways after the first with Antonio Banderas in the lead role as he hunts the people who offed his lady friend last film and meets a new lovely lady woman played by Salma Hayek. Gunplay and hey hey ensues. All in all, a splendid time. You can clearly see the same style employed from El Mariachi but much more refined, it still has the quick cuts, alternating angles, and slightly artsy cinematography but it looks real clean and doesn't at all look like it was shot in the 90s. The action gets much more coverage and it gets butt wild, more blood packs than you can shake a stick at this time, lots of wire work, powerful explosions, the whole sh-bang. Super well done, balances with comedy bits, it's just very fun to watch. 90s Antonio Banderas is the bomb dot com, he gets this character and I fully believe he can shoot em' up while still being charming and super cool. Salma Hayek, blimey she looks super young in this even though I know this was just a year before From Dusk Till Dawn, and God only knows how I can go off on a massive tangent about how she only improves with age, but I'll just say the first scene she is in she causes a car accident because she is so attractive. This is completely accurate and indeed factual. Incredibly sweet, has that fire in her eyes, gets swept up in the action, and has quite lovely chemistry with Antonio. Will however completely understand her apprehension to appear nude in the film, hun I get it and you are far braver than I. Joaquim De Almeida is more the same from El Mariachi but with a tiny twist at the end, he looks familiar but I can't place the face but a decent performance nonetheless. Special shout out of course to Steve Buscemi, Danny Trejo, and Cheech Marin who are awesome as always. Speaking of Cheech Marin, plot twist fun fact: This movie is in the same world as From Dusk Till Dawn, you see the crotch gun Tom Savini used first appeared in this movie and boy wouldn't that be a rad crossover? Antonio Banderas blasting vampires with George Clooney and Harvey Keitel, I smell an Oscar folks! Awesomely fantastic music again, the big highlight being the huge shootout score mainly because I heard that tune more times than I care to admit as the intro for the first ever let's play I watched oh so many years ago. All in all, pretty damn good! I had a real fun time with it and appreciate the evolution of Robert's directing and style. I give it 4 stars, 8/10, and we got one more to cap it all off tomorrow. Here's hoping for another hit.