A Look Back at The Lego Movie (2014)

Note: This review contains spoilers. You have been warned.

With The Lego Batman Movie only fifteen days away I figured it would be a good idea to review The Lego Movie the film that starred the Lego film franchise I guess that's what we can call it?

Before I get into the review I want to tell you my experience with this movie. When I first heard the announcement of this movie I thought this is going to be the worst film ever made because what story get you tell about Legos? Then the first trailer dropped on YouTube I refused to watch because I thought it was going to suck. The film later came out and my thoughts still remained the same. Then all I heard about this movie was praise and almost everyone I talked to told me how I should see this movie. Later on it would come out on dvd and I like everybody else feel in love with this movie.

The Lego Movie is a 2014 film that tells the story of an ordinary construction worker named Emmett(Chris Pratt) who is told be the prophesied "Special" the only one who can stop the tyrant Lord Business(Will Ferrell).

• Negatives

I actually have nothing bad to say moving on.

• Positives

One great thing about this movie is the animation it is amazing to look at everything the filmmakers did with the Legos was very imaginative. I was also impressed on how this movie used not only some bits of stop motion but it was also made with some CGI. Only you wouldn't know some of this was CGI because both the stop motion and the CGI just went together so well.

The story here is also something to enjoy because this movie was about a nobody which would be Emmett and despite all the people who told him he is nothing special he pulled it off he saved everybody. Those stories if done well can make you root for the underdog and through the whole film you are going to root for Emmett.

Another aspect this movie does well is the humor. When I first watched this movie I was surprised how every joke got me to laugh. Then after watching it again it's still surprising how every joke worked. The jokes just land their mark and are timed perfectly there doesn't feel like one seemed forced, shouldn't be there, or was out of place.

The Lego Movie has great animation, an amazingly great story, and is one of the best comedy films to be made.

My final rating for this movie is A Must Watch.

xXx: Return of Xander Cage Review

xXx: Return of Xander Cage is the third film in the xXx series the first being xXx in 2002 and then xXx: State of Union in 2005. The story is a weapon called Pandora's Box has been stolen by a dangerous group lead by a deadly fighter named Xiang(Donnie Yen). It's up to Xander and his team to retrieve it.

• Negatives

One of the films problems is sometimes but not all the time it takes it self too seriously. We get some scenes meant for drama which would be fine but when you're films tagline is "Kick some ass, get the girl, and look dope while doing it" and you have a scene where Xander Cage(Vin Diesel) is on a dirt bike which can also ski on water should you really be taking seriously? I don't think so.

Another problem with this film is it overhypes Xander. When ever somebody sees Xander specially a character named Becky(Nina Dobrev) I'll get to her later. They all of a sudden are like "Oh my god Xander Cage dude you're like a legend!"

• Mix

There's one character in this film I'm kind of in a grey area on and that's Becky. I don't hate her but at the same time I don't like. They try to make her the comic relief but sometimes some of the stuff they wrote for her doesn't work. So I guess she's fine but she will definitely not be one of the most memorable characters in this movie.

• Positives

Despite me not liking some of the stuff with Becky the film does have some good humor to it. I loved that one scene where Xander has to get information from this one woman she let's all her sexy female employees have sex with him and at the end of that scene he says with a big smirk on his face "The things I to be a patriot". Yeah Xander sounds like a tough time to be you.

One thing this film does well is action. The action scenes are definitely worth seeing in this movie. One person who really deserves the credit is Donnie Yen. I mean it all the fight scenes he did in this are awesome.




xXx: Return of Xander Cage takes itself too seriously and overhypes it's main hero. Becky is fine but could have had more work put into her character. The humor in this film will make you laugh and the action is just amazing especially from Donnie Yen.

My final rating for this movie is Okay.



Stay tune cause my next review is The Lego Movie just something I thought I do to get hyped for the upcoming The Lego Batman Movie.

Road to Justice League - Justice League of America (1997) Review

With DC giving us a Justice League film coming out this November I figured it would be a good idea to review pervious films about the Justice League one of them being Justice League of America a nineteen ninety-seven television film produced by CBS. The story is an evil weather man wants to destroy the city of New Metro unless his demands are fulfilled and it's up to the superhero team known as the Justice League of America to stop him.

Let's not mince words. This film is hilariously terrible I mean it's amazing how bad it is. Let's start off with the negatives.

• Negatives

The costumes in this are the worse let's start off with The Atom's costume he has a piece of armor on his chest with his logo on it and you can just tell it's made out of some type of plastic material that's it's just sad. Then there's The Flash's costume his is almost like the comics but on his mask that's holding his lighting bolts on the side of his face they look like there goggles and then Green Lantern's costume is literally just that a costume it's not something his ring gives him no it's just regular clothing material that a cosplayer could buy. There's even a scene where the heroes are putting on their civilian disguises and you can see him just stuff it in a bag. We also have Martian Manhunter while he's costume is okay the makeup on his face makes it look like he's a zombie without the rotted skin. A character from DC comics known as Ice is in this film we only see her costume in the last I don't know twenty seconds but in those twenty seconds you see her costume also sucks because it's just blue spandex with white streaks on them and because we have Ice we also have her partner Fire here as well her costume is okay but it's kind of stupid how they just put green eyeliner under her eyes I mean they couldn't have made her wear a domino mask?

Another bad thing about this film is there's no Superman(who is the best superhero might I add), Batman, or Wonder Woman. The reason I see this as a bad thing is because those three helped make the Justice League their the founding members so it's just weird we don't get to see them or their not even mentioned at all.

The film tries I mean really tries to give us humor but it just falls flat. They only way for the humor to work if they have that laugh track you here in sitcoms.

The villain in this movie is the least threaten bad guy ever. One terrible aspect to this character his plans in the beginning of the film he starts a hurricane but it's the most non-deadly hurricane ever because you only see one thing get destroyed and it's a utility pole and nobody is trying find shelter. I'm serious there's an old lady just standing around shouting for somebody to rescue her cat that's under the front porch stairs. Then there's his hailstorm the hail here isn't the size of golf balls it looks like regular size hail but no the Justice League had to save the citizens of New Metro from being slightly annoyed. Another negative thing is the film tried to give a mystery of you the guy could be but I figured it out in less that a minute I won't give it away but in my opinion it's obvious who it is.

In this movie the only way for anything to make sense is for the characters to be idiots. One example is Guy Gardner's girlfriend is being "hurt" by the hailstorm Guy makes an umbrella to save her they look at each other and she has no idea who the person under the mask is. He didn't do anything like change his voice or hairstyle so why does she not know it's Guy? There also a scene in here where the Justice League is trapped in their underwater base because the Weather Man uses a laser (which it's weather base so how is he doing this) to seal a door shut but the Justice League just doesn't know how to get out. Green Lantern doesn't make a giant fist to break the door down, The Flash doesn't vibrate right through the door and Fire just doesn't blast it open no it takes The Atom to use chewing gum to open the door. Then near the end of the movie Green Lantern confronts Weather Man(I should mention the movie isn't using the character Weather Wizard) he throws the device that helps him create all these disasters off a cliff and Green Lantern just stands there & basically tells his teammates we're screwed because there's a tidal wave heading for the city. Way to try to save us hero!

The other problem with this film is it for some reason there are interviews with the superheroes. I'm not making that up they will cut to an interview with one of the members of the league and they'll talk about something that in no way relates to the plot. Not to mention that but do secret identities mean nothing!?

I could go on all day about the problems with this film has but let's movie on to something positive for once.

• Positives

You and a group of friends will have a good time making fun of it.

Justice League of America has a terrible story, poor costumes, unnecessary & pointless interviews, characters that make a box of rocks seem smart, characters that are also nothing like their comic book counterparts, a villain who isn't that much of a challenge, special effects while not the worse are certainly nothing to write home about, and humor that sucks. However if you want to Mystery Science Theater 3000 you'll have a fun time riffing on it.

My rating for this movie is So Bad It's Good.

Quick side note If anyone says the Justice League movie coming out this year is "the worst superhero movie ever" tell them about this.

The Road to & A Look Back at

Hey everyone if any of you go to my Twitter account they you would see in the description "I love movies & I hope one to do reviews on YouTube and not on a blog". Well in my opinion I've been lacking on the reviews. My theater the Salem Twin Cinema won't be showing new movies until January 13th so what's my solution simple really I present to you "The Road to & A Look Back at". Let me explain The Road to is me reviewing a series a films leading to a new movie like the First Spider-Man movie to the new Spider-Man film coming out this year. A Look Back at is me reviewing a predecessor leading to it's successor example John Wick then this year's John Wick: Chapter 2.


So far I think I have a good schedule plan although this schedule may change. Anyways here it is.


January

1997's Justice League of America, 2002's Spider-Man, and 2014's The Lego Movie

Febuary

2004's Spider-Man 2 & 2008's Justice League: The New Frontier

March

2007's Spider-Man 3 & 2010's Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths



Now I won't review every anticipated movie coming out this year I only have a limited amount of films in my collection so I have to work with what I got. So look out for my reviews for Justice League of America, Spider-Man, and The Lego Movie in January & so on. Anyhow I hope you guys enjoy my little project.

My Rules When Going to A Movie Theater

When ever I go to the theater I always have my set of rules to follow. I do these certain rules because I don't want to be that one person who ruined someone else's theater experience. So here is my list of rules. Now some are these are just common sense but feel free to also follow this rules.

• Rule #1 - Turning off my phone

This is one I really take to heart. Before I enter the theater I always turn off my phone the reason being is in the theater you're suppose to be quiet. Another reason is before you even go to your screening the theater hammers it into you. Turn you're head there's a sign telling you to turn off you're phone. Seeing previews before the film starts message saying "This is a cell free zone if you have to answer a call or text go to the lobby".

• Rule #2 - Don't Talk to Friends During the Movie

I always tell my friends don't talk to me when the movie is playing. We know not to do this because really what things are we talking about the requires us to talk during the movie nothing we are in our late teens or in our early twenties we have nothing important to talk about.

• Rule #3 - No Clapping

I really don't understand why I would have a reason to clap? Seriously nobody from the movie is in the theater with us so there's no reason to clap. Even if the movie is the most amazing film ever made I still don't clap.

• Rule #4 - Not Talking About The Movie in The Lobby

The reason why this is one of my rules is because I don't want to accidently give a spoiler about the film. I even tell my friends this yeah at this rate they probably think I'm some type of snob when going to the theater. Thankfully they still invent me to come with them when there's a new movie coming out.

Anyways those are my rules when I go to the movies. In the comment section tell me what you're rules are or what are rules other people should follow.

The Problem with Marvel Comics Today

Two thousand and sixteen was a horrible year for Marvel. It was so horrible that if I heard anybody say I don't read Marvel's new stuff but their old material. I would say not out loud but in my head "that's a good thing". Why would I say that to a company I ounce loved but now have favored DC over Marvel when I use to love them equally? Well in this post of my I'll explain.


Let's start off with this lovely page that's actually from one of their comics.

HOW DOES THE NORSE GOD HAVE OPINIONS ON ISRAEL?! That wad just one of many examples. There's also that time female Thor punched a villain for feminism and a robbery but mostly for feminism and then there's the time Squirrel Girl and Galactus talked about gender-neutral pronouns. I'm serious this all happened in one whole year.

Now to list some of the problems they have.

Problem #1 - Pandering to Feminist & Social Justice Warriors

Somewhere in time Marvel decided not to continue with their longtime readers but instead pander to crowd who get offended and/or triggered by practical everything that exist. The biggest question I have for this is why? Why target this crowd that either A) Don't read comics B) Buy one issue then not buy the other issues or C) Onced called you sexist because of that Milo Manara Spider-Woman pose. Marvel trying to get this group interested isn't helping them at all. Just look at this chart taken from September of 2016 I picked this one because it shocked me the most. I mean just look at the first forty comics in this chart.

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2016/2016-09.html

Thirty of those comics came from DC under their Rebirth banner and one of those comics (The Walking Dead) came from Image Comics the third most popular comic company. Marvel only had six of their comics on that chart. When you're comic company is as well known as Marvel's that's not a good sign.

Problem #2 - Bring back characters only if they have a movie coming out

I believe this all started with... Superior Spider-Man *vomits*. Sorry I get a little sick when I say that title. In Amazing Spider-Man #700 Peter Parker died when he switched bodies with Dr. Octopus making Doc the new Spider-Man & Peter dying in Doc Oct's body. After a terrible run with Superior Spider-Man Peter was brought back and was Spider-Man again. What was the problem he was brought back to life because The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was coming to theaters. Then Steve Rogers aka Captain America had his super soldier serum taken away from his body making him an old man. Then right around the time Captain America: Civil War was coming to theaters then guess what happened... Steve returned as Captain America that's almost similar to what happened with Spider-Man. So Marvel is saying we're going to do something that will have a huge impact on these characters such as kill them or take away their powers only bring them back when they have a new movie coming out.

Problem #3 - Killing off the X-Men

Marvel announced a huge storyline called the Death of X. In this storyline a large majority of X-Men characters were killed by a toxic gas that kills mutants but not the group called the Inhumans. I'll write about the Inhumans later but let's focus on why Marvel did this. The only reason they made this decision was so 20th Century Fox couldn't have new mutants to put in their X-Men films & so they didn't have to split profits with them. Now let's go back to the Inhumans their now being hyped up as the new X-Men even though they've established a differences between mutants & Inhumans. Killing off the X-Men is a terrible idea because the series is loved by many fans. But Marvel decided "no were tired of splitting the money with Fox so let's just kill a large majority of them off and make the Inhumans the new X-Men".

Problem #4 - Diversity for the sake of diversity

Let me just some there's nothing wrong with having a diverse cast of characters but if you're just doing it for diversity then you're characters won't be memorable and you will have terrible stories. Which is what Marvel has been doing we have a diverse cast but nothing good has come out of it. For instance Kamala Khan is a Muslim Ms. Marvel and she's a teenage who likes to have fun that's pretty much it. I personally find nothing interesting about her character and her powers aren't that original either what her powers she stretch her entire body but wait a minute Marvel already has somebody with that power. You know Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. If Marvel wants diversity that's fine but here's the thing you write the character's personality, like/dislikes, and why he or she's past made them this character first then you decide on their race and gender last.

Now that I have given my opinion of what their problems are I want to give some solutions on how they can save themselves.

Solution #1 - Apologize to the real fans

This may not seem like a big one but for me if Marvel apologizes for all the stuff that happened like a writer talking down at the readers of their comic with constructive criticism looking at you Dan Slott or putting outdated internet memes in their comics seriously the Hulk once did a troll face and even said problem? I believe this could get some of the readers they lost right back.

Solution #2 - Hire writers who can write

Marvel as of late have been hiring people who found a way to both suck & blow at their jobs. They need to hire people who have passion for comics & want to tell good stories not people who want to shove both their personal and political agendas in our faces. We read comics for escapism not for the writer's political thoughts & opinions.

Solution #3 - Reboot

I know this may sound like a terrible idea but all this Marvel NOW! or All-New Marvel NOW! or All-New All-Different Marvel isn't working. They need a reboot that actually works not these titles that sound like a clickbait article. Starting from a clean slate could help after all the damage that was caused last year.

Anyway that's my opinion on what is Marvel's problems and what I think they can do to save themselves. Comment below and tell me what you think are problems or what might be the solution be to bring Marvel back to their former glory.