Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

     Going back to 2013, one of the most anticipated movies of the year would have had to be Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel." The first live action portrayal of Superman on the big screen since 2006, it was a movie that many were incredibly excited for. Unfortunately, the final product was lackluster to say the least. It was a rather uninteresting origin story filled with little character development, bad writing, and questionable design decisions. In my opinion, it might have been one of the most disappointing movies in years. So when a sequel was announced shortly afterwards, I wasn't particularly interested. But when it was announced that Batman would play opposite to the titular hero, it got my attention. While there was an initial uproar about Ben Affleck playing the Dark Knight, many put their doubts aside when the first trailers premiered. So while "Batman v Superman" had all the potential in the world I still had my doubts, manly about the director. Zack Snyder has returned to as the director, but the problem is I don't think he's very good at his job. Other than "Watchmen," I've never liked any of his movies. He's the ultimate "style of substance" director, and many of the stylistic choices he makes don't turn out well when transferred to the silver screen. So going into this movie I had my doubts. And afterwards, almost all of them ended up being true.

     Eighteen months after the events of "Man of Steel," the world is still trying to recover from the earth shattering fight between Superman and General Zod. Thousands died in the attack on Metropolis, but people are getting by. Superman is trying to live the best life he can as Clark Kent with his Girlfriends Lois Lane, while trying to balance his duties as Superman. At the same time, Bruce Wayne has been investigating criminals all over Gotham in order to find someone named the White Portuguese, who might be bringing a dirty bomb into Gotham. But what he's even more worried about is Superman, who he views as a possible threat. On the other side of the planet, some young boys find a part of one of Zod's ships in the ocean. The part contains a large piece of kryptonite, which has been known to affect Kryptonians. The piece is bought by a man working for Lex Luther, who plans on weaponizing it in case they need to fight Superman. And not long after, these three forces start to collide.

     The idea of a movie that puts Batman against Superman sounds like an awesome one, the comic book rivalry millions of fans all over the world wanted to see. Unfortunately for those fans, the movie they've been waiting years to see is a mess. Let's go ahead and talk about some of the good. There are a lot of really solid performances in this movie. Henry Cavil did a much better job as Superman in this movie than he did in "Man of Steel." And Gal Gadot is a great Wonder Women; unfortunately though her character was underutilized throughout the movie. But surprisingly, the true star of the movie is Ben Affleck. When Affleck was announced to play the Dark Knight, people had flashbacks to "Daredevil" and thought he'd be terrible in the role. But he proves all the haters wrong, because he is fantastic in this movie. Acting both as Batman and Bruce Wayne, he was by far the best part of this movie. I also liked this portrayal of Batman as well; he's an older, tired Batman that doesn't have the same morals that we usually see from the character. He was so good that I'm now looking forward to the standalone "Batman" movie we're getting in a few years. And regarding the designs of the characters, I loved there costumes. They pay respect to the source material while looking different enough to be original. But of all the major stars in this movie, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luther falls short. Eisenberg is a very good actor, but he did a bad job as this character. The portrayal of Luther annoyed me because all they did was make him crazy. He's supposed to be an evil genius, not insane. And the way Eisenberg acted was like watching Jim Carrey play Lex Luther. And while I'm still talking about the characters, I have to say Doomsday was wasted in this movie. His character design is terrible, they ruined his back-story, and they gave him powers that he wasn't supposed to have. Doomsday is one of the most iconic DC villains, but in this movie he is poorly done. One of my favorite aspects of this movie would have to be the visuals. The cinematography is great, and the CGI is well done (mostly). I'm also glad that Snyder decided to have some color in this movie, unlike "Man of Steel." But like I've already said, Snyder is a style over substance director. So while he a great job with the visuals, the story has more than a few problems. First off there are pacing issues, with huge chunks of the movie feeling out of place or downright uninteresting. Several of the movie's plot points also felt unnecessary; for example, there is a whole segment about Superman getting in trouble with the law that ends suddenly half way through the movie. And after it's over, I was left wondering what the point of it was. This movie also featured some pretty bad dialog. With many of Luther's lines being random and out of place, as well as dialog that hits you over the head with foreshadowing instead of having any hint of subtlety. The movie also featured a lot of lazy plot set-up. On more than a few occasions things happen very conveniently, for no reason. Like Doomsday's creation, the ending of Superman's legal troubles, the set-up for the fight between the two title characters, and worst of all the set-up for future movies in the series. Without getting into spoilers, there are cameos from other heroes. Early in the movie they allude to them in a subtle and clever way. But later on the reference them again in a way that is lazy and blatant. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" had all the potential in the world. From a big budget to an impressive cast, but it ended up being a waste. And I can't help but feel that it really is Snyder's fault. While he can put together a good action scene, he can't direct a good movie. At this point Snyder has basically become Michael Bay, and that is far from a good thing. I feel this is going to be one of those movies that will divide audiences. There are a lot of people out there who really like this movie, as well as a lot of people who think it's bad. Unfortunately, I'm part of the latter group. I wanted to like this film, but I just can't get behind it. While I think the future of this new DC Universe is promising and has a lot of potential, "Batman v Superman" will likely be remembered with little fondness from many fans. 

Pros: Ben Affleck is fantastic as Batman, Henry Cavil gives a better performance as Superman, great cinematography and CGI, several cool action scenes, Gal Gadot is great as Wonder Woman, some well done costume design.

Cons: Pacing issues, unnecessary plot points, Jess Eisenberg is a bad Lex Luther, Wonder Woman is underutilized, wasted Doomsday, Zack Snyder still not a good director, forced cameos, lazy plot set-up, plenty of bad dialog.

2/5 Stars

The Divergent Series: Allegiant Review

     If you've followed this blog at all since its creation, you'd know I don't like reviewing bad movies, and there are two main reasons behind this. First off I don't like to waste my money or time to go see a movie that I know will be bad in theaters. Why would I spend ten dollars and two hours watching a movie that I know will be terrible? I rather stay at home and watch a movie I actually enjoy. Secondly, I don't like to tear apart a person's work. Even if it is the worst movie ever made, a lot of time and money and effort went into making it. Writers, directors, actors, producers, and the various technicians work their asses off to make these movies and to be honest I feel bad when I say that everything they worked for just culminated in something terrible. So while I don't like to review bad movies I still do it occasionally, more often than not for movies that I truly hated. And again, if you have followed this blog at all over the past few years, you'd know that I hate the "Divergent" series. Based off the novels of the same name, a new one of these movies has been cranked out each year since 2014; with a fourth and final movie expected for 2017. So every year I plot some time out to review the latest film in this franchise, and thus far each has been terrible. And with the third movie in this lackluster franchise, "Allegiant" follows in the footsteps of those that came before it.

     Taking place immediately after the events of "Insurgent," the city of Chicago is in disarray. The class system has fallen, with a few key figures left fighting for control. For a short time the city walls were opened but were quickly shut again for fear of what is outside the walls. Wanting to see what the rest of the world is like, Tris and a small group of friends manage to escape. But after traveling only a few miles outside the city, they come up a holographic wall hiding the people that live outside of Chicago. Claiming to be friendly, Tris and her friends are taken back to their base. There they learn how the world ended, and that Chicago was basically a science experiment to see if mankind could heal itself. Tris then meets the leader of this group that claims the cure for humanity is in her DNA, and that with it they can save the world. Tris agrees, but her boyfriend Four is unsure. And once they dig deep, they discover everything is not as it seems.

     Based off its predecessors and early reviews, going into this movie I knew that it was going to bad; little did I know how bad it was actually going to be. Let's go ahead and get the pros out of the way because they are few and far between. There are a few decent performances in "Allegiant," you can tell Shailene Woodley, Jeff Daniels, and a few others actually tried. They aren't good, but they at least get a participation ribbon. Now for the bad, of which there is a lot. Still talking about performances, almost everyone else completely phones it in. Many of the actors just looked like they didn't even want to be there. One of the saving graces of the previous movies was the fact that the plot was at least an interesting idea. But with the third installment the plot has shifted far away from what it was into complete nonsense. The story is surprisingly confusing; at almost no point did I know what was happening. But at the same time everything was rather predictable and full of clichés. While watching it everything played out how you'd expect it to. Like the previous movies, "Allegiant" doesn't know how to have good action scenes. They are boring and uninspired; filled with too much bad CGI. Also like the previous movies, the writing and the dialog are just terrible; with more than a few lines being down right cringe worthy. I'm not sure if this is because of the books or the screenwriters wither way the writing is laughably bad. And for some reason they still put a lot of emphasis on a love story that no one cares about. The two leads have no chemistry together, and every time they're on screen together I rolled my eyes. One thing I don't often say about movies is that the director did a bad job, because the director really has to screw up to do a noticeably bad job. But director Robert Schwentke did just that. From the opening scene meant to recap what happened in the previous movie to the very abrupt ending, this movie is a mess the entire time. On top of that, they even messed up the cinematography, which on more than a few occasions is weird and off putting. During one scene featuring nothing more than a conversation, what should have been a still shot was moving about for no reason and was completely distracting. They even had the audacity to include some truly horrendous and unnecessary slow-mo shots. By what I'm assuming was only possible through some kind of black magic, "Allegiant" manages to be the worst movie in a truly terrible series. There is no reason to go see this boring mess of a movie that felt three hours long. If I hadn't seen this movie with a friend who shares the same disdain for this series as I do, it would have been unbearable. If you're looking to go to the theater anytime soon, for all that is good and merciful, see anything but this pile of garbage. If I had to find a silver lining for seeing "Allegiant," it would be that I found a serious contender for my "worst of the year" list. 

Pros: A few decent performances.

Cons: Confusing but predictable plot, several phoned in performances, boring action scenes, too much bad CGI, terrible writing and dialog, bad directing, weird and off putting cinematography, still don't care about the love story, very abrupt ending, overall boring.

1/5 Stars

Zootopia Review

     Over the past six years or so, Disney has retaken the crown as the best animation studio currently working. For the better part of a decade Pixar was the undisputed king of the genre, but other than "Inside-Out" Pixar's films have been rather lackluster. But Disney has stepped up their game with movies like "Tangled" and "Wreck-it-Ralph," as well as best animated picture winners "Frozen" and "Big Hero 6." Now in early 2016 Disney comes out swinging with their highly anticipated movie "Zootopia," that has been making the rounds over the past two weeks in which it has been met with near universal acclaim. As of writing this review it currently holds a 99% approval rating from over 140 critics on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes; which is one of the best ratings I've seen for an animated movie in years. So going into this movie I had some rather high expectations, and after seeing it I was blown away by what might be Disney's best movie in well over 15 years. 

     Judy Hopps is a rabbit from a backwoods town with big dreams of becoming a police officer. The problem is that smaller mammals like her don't become cops. That line of work is reserved for larger, more intimidating animals. Yet she manages to defy the odds, and passes the police academy. After she graduates she heads off to Zootopia, a city where prey and predators live in harmony in the big city. Filled with hope, Hopps is ready to start work as an officer of the law; but her precinct captain could care less about her, and puts her on traffic duty. Still determined, she tries to make the best of a bad situation. But everything changes when she forces her way onto a case involving a series of missing animals. It's then she teams up with a con artist fax named Nick who knows everyone in town, that she sets out to make a name for herself and prove her naysayers wrong.

     I have been looking forward to this movie for a while; based solely on the fact that Disney has been on a hot streak. And after watching it I can without a doubt in my mind that this is their best movie in a very long time. Like all of Disney's recent movies, the animation is absolutely beautiful. The design of the animals and the world was top notch. It really sucks you in and makes you feel like you are in Zootopia with the characters. Like their last couple of movies, Disney manages to find a balance between humorous and emotional moments. There were more than a few occasions where people in the theater where laughing out of their seats, and at least one scene that got a few people crying. "Zootopia" is funny when it wants to be, and emotional when it needs to be. The writing and dialog are also very clever, and this is probably one of Disney's best written animated movies. And the dialog is delivered perfectly from the voice actors who play several likable and memorable characters. I'll be surprised if this upcoming Halloween, we don't see more than a few Judy Hopps running around. One thing I loved would be the complex themes that they put into what is essentially a kid's movie. Racism, sexism, stereotyping, and a few more topics are all covered in this movie. It really does have a positive message that teaches kids to accept people, and I can respect that. If I had to find fault with this movie, it would be that at times it became cliché and predictable. Just over half way through the movie I leaned over and was talking to my friend sitting next to me, telling him what would happen. And when it did he just gave me the finger. Other than that, "Zootopia" is something special. It is a new Disney classic that is fun for all ages. If you haven't seen it yet, fix that. Because if I was a betting man, I'd put money on the fact that "Zootopia" will be on my list of the best movies of 2016. 

Pros: Beautiful animation, great world design, very funny, a few emotional moments, clever dialog and writing, great voice acting, several complex themes, several memorable and likable characters, fun for adults and kids, a new Disney classic. 

Cons: Cliché and predictable at times.

4.5/5 Stars