Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Movie Review

Well, you all know what the #1 movie in the world is. I was going to write this review a day or two ago but I had to do two things first: 1) let my initial reaction settle and 2) see the movie again. I have done both and sadly, my opinion has wavered very little. So let's get this started.

Let me get this out of the way first: I didn't hate the movie; but I didn't love or completely like it. Batman V Superman opens up with the Battle of Metropolis with Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) witnessing the destruction caused by Superman (Henry Cavill) and General Zod during Man of Steel. Two years later, Superman is praised as a hero but seen as a figure of controversy due to his God-like powers and answering for the devastation he caused. Meanwhile, in Gotham City, Bruce Wayne has taken up the mantle of Batman once again, his sights set on the Man of Steel because he blames him for what happened in Metropolis. On the other side, Superman's alter-ego, Clark Kent, sees Batman as dangerous, seeking to expose him. 

Let's go through what I found great about this film. First, Ben Affleck's performance as Batman/Bruce Wayne. Warner Bros did a superb job tagging Affleck as the older, more world-weary Bruce Wayne. He did a great job, channeling Wayne's detective skills and charisma. Jeremy Irons portrayed a great version of Alfred, who was more of a mechanic this time around but still the voice of reason for Master Wayne. The visuals were spectacular as always for a Zach Snyder film; the action scenes well choreographed, especially with the ultimate battle between the two iconic heroes. I will admit that I was hesitant and skeptical about Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman but her performance was another standout in this dark superhero epic (more on that later). Her past experience in Israeli military assisted her in the performance as the Amazon Warrior, who we do see in action. The first live screen shot of the DC Trilogy was amazing to just sit and watch. It was a moment nearly 75 years in the making. 

Now, among these islands of potential and greatness, there are oceans of mistakes and missed opportunities. First of all, the Man of Steel himself. I think this was the first time that I was annoyed with Superman; or more of how he was portrayed this time. Superman seemed to be in conflict majority of the film, trying to appease to the world and still doing what he must to protect the world. What really hurt the film was the overall plot. It was so disjointed and felt rushed with Snyder and his writing team missed out on a huge opportunity to tell a great story, losing the chance to create a beating heart to this epic. This film felt like Snyder just did this to appeal to the fans. The lack of humor, even dry humor, was weird. It was though nothing could lighten the mood in this world. 

Next, Jesse Eisenberg as a young Lex Luthor. I didn't like this version of the evil, millennial, super-villain and Eisenberg performance was very weak, making Luthor more of a mad scientist type, not the super genius villain that fans are used to. Speaking of other characters, fans knew that with Wonder Woman arriving, the rest of the Justice League should not be far behind. We do see the other founding members of the League with the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg making cameo appearances; very unnecessary cameo appearances but the served the purpose of setting up the future films of the DC Cinematic Universe. 

Overall, I will not discourage anyone from seeing this film but it would be best to keep your expectations level. This film is decent and had an opportunity to be great. In my opinion, DC tried too hard to catch up to Marvel's already established universe. Now, DC's universe is set up and Snyder along with the rest of the Warner Bros team needs to focus on the upcoming 2-part Justice League film because DC still has a lot of ground to make up to improve on this dark superhero film, which was smothered by its special effects and weak plot.

Only The Strong Will Survive in new X-Men: Apocalypse trailer

It seems to be the time for new trailers for the upcoming Summer slate of movies. After the great reaction of Captain America: Civil War, 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise released the new trailer for the third film in the X-Men prequel trilogy. It just goes to show that Bryan Singer is still happy to be at the helm of the live-action films of Marvel's Mutant team. 

The official premise: Since the dawn of civilization, he has been worshipped as a god. Apocalypse (Oscar Issac), the first and most powerful from Marvel's X-Men Universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction. 

I loved the opening is a throwback to the original X-Men film and the conversation between the original Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian Mckellan) at the end of the film.

From the trailer, we see more of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen; along with Magneto, we see Psylocke (Olivia Munn), a little more of Storm (Alexandra Shipp), and Archangel (Ben Hardy) in action. The main villain isn't the only one with backup as we see the younger versions of Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee). We also see Quicksilver (Evan Peters) along with returning members Havok (Lucas Till) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult). 

Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique seems to be taking a more leadership role in her final outing as the shapeshifter, showing growth from where we left her at the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past. While speaking about Mystique, it looks like her ultimate ending is teased so we might lose her or another X-men. A battle like this will not be without casualties. While it doesn't have the same blockbuster or in-depth feel as the Marvel Studios films, Bryan Singer's trailers have their own feel. At this point, it's worth the risk to see this film. 

X-Men: Apocalypse arrives on May 27.

Marvel's Finest go to war in the latest 'Captain America: Civil War' Trailer

Well, movie fans, it's getting into the Spring season. Winter's bitter cold is fading away for rainy days and flowers blooming in warmer weather. We are also looking to the spring slate of movies that's headlined by one of two superhero showdowns this year, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The second will come this May as the thirteenth movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has Earth's Mightest Heroes divided and fighting one another. After new promotional posters for Team Captain America and Team Iron Man being released online, a new full trailer was released today and it didn't disappoint.

One year after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America (Chris Evans) leads the new team of Avengers but when another international incident occurs, resulting in collateral damage, this prompts politicians to form a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to call in the team. When Steve Rogers attempts to protect his friend, Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) from this act, he is brought into conflict with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). This results in the fracturing of the Avengers into two opposing factions - one led by Rogers, who wishes to operate without regulation, and the other by Stark, who supports government oversight-while the world is threatened by a new enemy. 

This film has all the makings of another Avengers movie with actors reprising their roles from previous Marvel films, building this film into a star-studded event. Team Captain America, led by the First Avenger, consists of Bucky Barnes, The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). 

Their opposing team led by Stark's Iron Man consists of War Machine (Don Cheadle), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Vision (Paul Bettany) and the debuting Prince of Wakanda, Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). 

From this trailer, all hell is ready to break loose as the heroes battle over what is right and wrong as far as how they are to be regulated and held responsible for their actions. This shows more of the Black Panther in action with Barnes being his main target. Captain America and Iron Man come down to a fist fight and the heroes charging into battle against each other near the end. But that's not the only surprise as a new hero swings in and Tom Holland officially joins the MCU as a certain Web Slinger.

I hope you all enjoy the preview and if you want to leave any comments, please do! Captain America: Civil War comes out on May 6, 2016.

'Ghostbusters' reboot is ready for the call this summer

When I read the news about the Ghostbusters reboot, I was skeptical because...Come on, it's the Ghostbusters! A third film had been talked about for years since the 1990's, with the original cast getting on and off the project, debates if a new crew will take over, and the script still being worked by Dan Aykroyd until he became unsure if the third film would ever be made. Let's just say a third film went from being a sure thing to becoming its own ghost story in Hollywood.

In August 2014, Paul Feig (Director, Bridesmaids) was in talks to direct a reboot of the franchise, featuring women in the lead roles. Dan Aykroyd wanted to do a shared universe like Marvel but Feig decided it would not follow the last two films and is a total reboot of the franchise with all female leads. How this would react to fans of the original films was the big question. Now, we might have an answer  after the first official trailer.

Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) are a pair of authors who write about the existence of the paranormal, which is not taken seriously. When ghosts invade Manhattan, Gilbert and Yates team up with a nuclear engineer, Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), and a subway worker, Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), to save the world from a mysterious evil and a powerful demon known as Rowan (Neil Casey) who can exercise control over human forms.

Like I said before, I was skeptical but now that I've seen footage, I have confidence in this reboot. It'll definitely look better in 3D, especially with the CGI ghosts and the jokes so far seem to be funny. The slime is back and it looks as though Slimer has returned as well. I am impressed but we'll see with the next trailer releases.

Who You Gonna Call on July 15, 2016.

'Deadpool' turns the superhero genre upside down

Hello, everyone! I'm sorry that I've been away for so long but you know how life goes. I haven't had time to go to the theaters either but when I finally returned, I went to see this new superhero film. I could tell by the poster that this wouldn't be like all the others. If you have seen the posters in the front lobby of the theaters and the promo commercials featuring a man in red spandex.

Ryan Reynolds returned to the X-Men film series in the role that he first starred in the much maligned superhero film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. After years of development with New Line Cinema and putting the film in a turnaround before 20th Century Fox picked up the anti-hero flick, bringing it back to the X-men Universe. Wade Wilson (Reynolds) is a former special forces operative who works as a mercenary in New York City, jokingly taking jobs when he is hired. When he is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he is recruited by a secret program that offers an experimental cure for his cancer. Deciding to leave his girlfriend, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), Wilson joins the experiment, meeting Ajax (Ed Skrein) and Angel Dust (Gina Carano), instantly disliking them. A long range of torturing experiments caused Wilson to trigger his regenerative mutation, but with physically disfiguring  him in the process. After escaping the facility, Wilson plans his revenge on those who wronged him.

Now, Wilson does talk to the audience throughout the film, hilariously narrating the road that led him to his current situation, wearing a tight red spandex suit and leaving a path of carnage on a busy city bridge. Breaking of the fourth wall made it even more funny, poking fun at other superhero films, especially previous X-Men films. Bascially, Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool. The actor has now been fully identified and attached with the Merc with a Mouth. His performance and humor was definitely worth high praise.  The violence is also worth praise because it reminded me of a better version of Kick-Ass. While previous superhero movies now have greatly choreographed fight scenes with a PG-13 rating, Deadpool honors the violence of his comics and origin story.

The only problem that I had with this film was the formulaic plot. First of all, yes, this anti-hero film is a love story. Wilson's girlfriend is taken by Ajax (you'll learn his real name during the film), giving Wilson more motivation to take him and Angel Dust out. Beyond that, this film is a great installment in the X-Men film series. Speaking of the mutant team, it wouldn't be an installment without a role from two members of the team: Colossus and newcomer Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Before, it was reported that this film fits into the overall plan of the X-Men universe. How it will ultimately fit in the universe, especially being so different from the previous films, First Class and Days of Future Past, remains to be seen.

Overall, a fun time seeing a dude in red spandex cause some mayhem for about an hour and a half.

The worst heroes ever gather in the new 'Suicide Squad' trailer

While I'm still not entirely on board with Zach Snyder's superhero epic, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, I think DC Extended Universe is in for a much needed breath of fresh air. The entire superhero movie world seems to be getting that much needed intake of new life with Deadpool coming out in February and the other side of the justice coin will be flipped in August with Suicide Squad.

It's been a six months or so since any footage has been shown about the anti-hero group, especially for those who were impressed during the Comic-Con preview. Thankfully, we were given a new preview during the DC Films Presents: Dawn of the Justice League special on The CW.

Suicide Squad tells the story of a group of super-villians who are released from prison after being recruited by a secret government agency in order to complete a mission that is nobler than the team is used to: saving the world. The squad is made up of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Katana (Karen Fukuhara), Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), and Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney).

One person you see more of in this trailer is the Joker (Jared Leto). He is other the big X factor along with the unpredictability of the entire group. Hopefully, this film will explore the relationship between the Joker and Harley Quinn because they are pivotal to each other. Leto's Joker seems more "edgier" than Ledger's version, displaying tattoos on his body. During the CW's special, host Kevin Smith asked about the Joker's role in the film. All Johns could say is that he is not a part of the Suicide Squad.

After this preview, I'm really...really...excited for the antihero group to come to the silver screen. Suicide Squad will be released on August 5.

Farewell to Alan Rickman

Going on break today at work, I pulled out my cellphone to check the news and my social media feed. I expected to hear more of the same; my friends' enjoying their lives, some raising families, and the aftermath of President Obama's final State of the Union Address.

Then I came across the tragic news that one of my favorite actors had passed away. Alan Rickman died earlier this morning at the age of 69 after his battle with cancer.

I first watched Alan Rickman in Die Hard, playing the slick and charismatic thief Hans Gruber, going toe to toe with Bruce Willis' barefooted John McClane, roaming the Nakatomi Plaza highrise and ruining his plans. Apparently, Rickman had the idea to have Hans wear a suit, fitting in along with his hostages. To me, Rickman's Gruber character set the standard for today's current breed of mastermind thieves in current action films: well-dressed, smart, charismatic, and strategic.

From that role on, Rickman found a home in Hollywood, staring in later films such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Sweeney Todd. But it was a magical role that he took on which introduced him to a new generation of fans and solidified his place in film legend, being admired by fans around the world who mourn his death today.

Alan Rickman took on the role of Potions Master Severus Snape of the Harry Potter franchise. He was brilliant as the sinister, slimy professor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As the books continued to be released along with the movies, Rickman did a wonderful job exploring the many layers of the black cloaked wizard, showing him to be a hero more than a villain. Rowling's words and Rickman's acting helped show us that you shouldn't judge anyone by how they look and how they act. Below the strong exterior covered in black clothes is a person hiding his pain because of past mistakes and lost love.

Alan Rickman starred in three of my favorite movies to watch: Die Hard, Love Actually, GalaxyQuest, and the Harry Potter franchise. He was an extremely versatile actor, capable of playing any role that was presented to him. He also directed theater and films, most recently A Little Chaos, in which he co-starred as Louis XIV opposite Kate Winslet.

Alan, you will truly be missed.