A Look Back at Wonder Woman (2009)

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



With Wonder Woman coming to theaters in only four days it only makes sense that I review the 2009 animated movie. By the way I'm full aware that there is a 1974 film (if any of who didn't know that then congratulations I just told you something new) and I tried watching it online but there wasn't a version of it I could really sit through it was either broke down into parts or the quality of it wasn't very good. So I decided to review the 2009 movie.


Wonder Woman is a 2009 animated direct-to-video superhero film. It's produced by Warner Animation, Warner Premiere, DC Comics, and MOI Animation and distributed by Warner Home Video. It's directed by Lauren Montgomery and written by Gail Simone and Michael Jelenic.


The story is Diana has completed a series of test to take Steve Trevor back to civilization aka "man's world". While that's going on Ares has escaped his prison and plans to wreak havoc.

• Negatives

There are two plot holes that I found in this movie. One is we don't know how Wonder Woman got her invisible jet. It just appears no back story or anything. The another one is during the final fight the President of the United States launches a missle to Themyscira but how does he know where it is? It's not a lucky guess the missle goes straight to the island before Steve blows it up.

• Mix

Nothing to say so let's move on.

• Positive

One thing I like about this movie is the animation. The style is very different & unique.

The movie also gives us great action. One of my favorite scenes is the opening battle with Ares & the fight between Wonder Woman & Ares. The action is awesome and you just want more on it.


One of my favorite scenes in this movie is when Steve & Diana are in a hospital after their first encounter with Ares. Wonder Woman claimed since she's a woman of course he rescued her. Then Steve calls her out saying we don't open doors or pull out chairs because we think women are weak we do it because we care & want to be nice. He also had a good point how it was a bad idea for the Amazons to leave man's world because the last thing they needed was less communication. It's an amazing & well done scene.


The movie also gives some characters that aren't Diana & Steve their own shining moments. For more instance Alexa she went from bookworm from the beginning then she lead an army of undead Amazons during the final battle. That is great filmmaking.


Now on to the voice acting. It's very good. I especially give praise to Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor he was perfectly casted for this role.




Wonder Woman(2009) has stunning animation, awesome action scenes, that scene where Steve tells Diana off was brilliant, characters whether big or small get their moments & the voice acting is spot on. The only problems are those two plot holes I mentioned above.



My final rating for this movie is Great




State of The Project(Jun 1st - Jul 3rd) - By the way just to keep you guys updated I now have this to give you information on future post.

Jun 1st - What You Probably Didn't Know About Fight Club (1999)

Jun 3rd - Wonder Woman (2017) Review

Jun 5th - Wonder Woman (2017) Easter Eggs

Jun 8th - Raiders of the Lost Media - Cartoon Network: Backlot Party

Jun 12th - Road to Justice League - Justice League: War Review

Jun 15th - Differences Between Jurassic Park (movie & novel)

Jun 19th - Road to Spider-Man: Homecoming - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review

Jun 22nd - 30th - Taking a Break

Jul 3rd - Cinematic Disasters - Reefer Madness

NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

A Rant on Zack Snyder Haters

Hey everybody it's time I talk about something that has been bugging me for a few days now. That is people who hate on Zack Snyder. Now before I tell you who Zack Snyder is, the reactions to his work specially he's DC Extended Universe films, and I rant on the people who hate him let me tell you my opinion on him. I think he's a pretty good director but just because I'm a fan of his that doesn't mean I don't find flaws in his films. Now all of this is a response to all those people you had the nerve to crack "jokes" when it was reported that he left Justice League after his daughter took her own life. Let's begin.

Who is Zack Snyder?

Before I talk about his haters let me tell you about the man himself. Now for anybody who already knows who is he feel free to skip this part. Anyhow Zack Snyder is an American filmmaker best known for films such as the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and this year's upcoming Justice League movie. His films critical range from negative, mix, or positive commercially however they make a lot of money how much you may as? Here's a quick rundown.

Dawn of the Dead(2004)
Budget-$26 million
Box Office-$102.4 million

300(2007)
Budget-$65 million
Box Office-$456.1 million

Watchmen(2009)
Budget-$130 million
Box Office-$185.3 million

Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole(2010)-very underrated movie check it out
Budget-$80 million
Box Office-$140.1 million

Sucker Punch(2011)-This is so far he's lowest grossing film
Budget-$82 million
Box Office-$89.8 million

Man of Steel(2013)
Budget-$225 million
Box Office-$668.0 million

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice(2016)-For some reason critics say this is a box office bomb
Budget-$250 million
Box Office-$873.3 million

So yeah while his movies may be liked critical or may not be liked critical Hollywood is head over heels for him what with all the money he brings in.



Reactions to His DC Extended Universe Films

I could talk about the controversy around Sucker Punch or his other comic book films such 300 or Watchmen but it's when he started to work for DC's cinematic universe did things get out of hand. In 2013 Man of Steel was being promoted as a Superman fan I was very excited for this. Superman was finally coming back to theaters after being gone for so long. While I did have excitement I still had my doubts but I couldn't judge the movie because it wasn't out yet. Then the movie came out and I liked it however there were the critics & bloggers(ironic for me to complain since I am a blogger but hear me out). Holy shit the way people were talking about Superman's depiction in this movie you would have thought he was a psychopath. People complained about all the destruction in Metropolis but if you watch the movie a very large majority of it wasn't even his fault all the blame should be towards Zod not Superman. Then there was the ending what happened was Superman snapped Zod's neck my complaint to this was did anybody watch the ending to Superman II or are they just ignoring what happened? In Man of Steel after Superman killed Zod he dropped to his knees, screamed in remorse, and then cried in Lois Lane's arms in other words he was sadden by this. In Superman II after Superman killed Zod what did he do kissed Lois & then made a quip about Lex Luthor going back to jail. Tell me which one sounds more like a crazy person? Then at San Diego Comic-Con still in 2013 after the release of Man of Steel it was announced that the next movie would be Batman & Superman meeting for the first time. If your a true fan would be excited while at the same time still have some doubts but the critics/bloggers all they did was make "The Top 10 Reason Why The Batman/Superman movie will fail" or "Why the Batman/Superman Movie Won't Work". Let me remained you this was after the film was announced not when it started filming or when we were three or maybe fourth months away from it's release. Then form 2013 to 2016 all you got was complaints from the film being pushed from 2015 to 2016, the casting of Ben Affleck being Batman or the casting in general, the movie's title, why all the trailers suck, and basically they were complaining about every little thing. Then on March 25,2016 the movie was released & so were the reviews let me just say they weren't the most glamorous and of course everything was blown out of proportion. Articles ranged from "Why Batman v Superman is the worst superhero movie ever" to "Why Batman v Superman failed & Why Captain America: Civil War succeeded". it was ridiculous how people reacted hell somebody even made a petition to remove Zack Snyder from Justice League. Now I  saw the movie all I want to say is the theatrical cut is okay where the ultimate edition is good.



Insulting Zack Snyder on a Personal Level - It Needs to Stop!

When Man of Steel was released people needed to calm down! They acted like Snyder dropped his pants and pissed all over Superman's legacy when he really didn't. Then Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released and people then acted like Snyder kicked a puppy, punched a blind man, and then burned down an orphanage. That was people insulting him on being a filmmaker however people started to insult him personally. On May 21st Lindsay Ellisn(of Nostalgia Chick fame) tweeted out this message "I have it on very good authority that Snyder hates his mother tho". Here's the thing Zack Snyder's mother has been dead for years. When she was called out she responded with "jfc it was just a joke dummy" or "don't make fun of zack Snyder on twitter dot com or they will come for you". If by "they" she means decent human beings calling her out then yes Lindsay they are coming for you it was gross that you said he hated his deceased mother! Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse I was wrong because then on May 22nd it was reported that Zack Snyder had stepped down from Justice League & Joss Whedon would take over. Zack did this so he could spend time with his family after his daughter Autumn sadly committed suicide back in March but what did these people say well here are some tweets I wrote down that they actually sent to Twitter some people have deleted them & I don't believe they took them down cause they felt bad I think they just did it so they would stopped being called out. By the way if you do go on their Twitter accounts don't harass them call them out. The last thing we need to give them is a victim card to hide behind.



@gearsticles - Fantastic news. Best thing for dc fans is snyder out

@max_kellermax01 - now THAT'S dark and gritty. Maybe his daughter should've taken up filmmaking

@maguirekevin - Thank you Jesus!

@windows9d8 - Zack Snyder bailed out of Justice League because his daughter died. Hopefully her death just saved the DC movie universe. Snyder is a hack.



Like I said I'm not making those up people were really happy that this happened and they actually said these things! All of these people are pieces of shit! I'm absolutely disguised by their behavior and they should ashamed by their actions! You shouldn't be excited about this you should feel sorry for the guy! Zack Snyder is a father who lost his daughter! Big deal you don't like his movies but that's no excuse tweet and say oh goody her death will make the DC Extended Universe better. Hail Joss Whedon! Besides taking pleasure out of this the worse thing is they probably went to sleep at night thinking they did a good thing or they think their still good people for doing this! Just because they took down the tweet doesn't mean they get a free pass & if they apologize guess what too late for forgiveness! They made their beds now it's time for them to lie in it!


A good friend of mine named TheFilmJunkee made an excellent video on this subject far better than what I'm doing here's the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4PKdh4wBNk


So anyhow I just wanted to write this down because I've had it with this people. It's one thing to make fun of his films it's another thing to make fun of his dead family members. They think people who are fans of either Zack Snyder, the DC Extended Universe or both are worse than Donald Trump supporters(and yes they actually said this & they actually believe this) but yet they do things like this! Anyhow guys send your support to Zack Snyder he already said thanks to all of his fans or people who were just being nice but still show some support for him. The poor man is going through a very dark time in his life & if want to show your support use the hashtag #WeAreWithYouZackSnyder. Zack I know your probably never ever going to read this but if by luck or by magic you come across this all I have left to say is I'm sorry for your loss. No parent should ever have to bury their child. That's all I have to say.


#WeAreWithYouZackSnyder

Cinematic Disasters - Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Before I do my usual routine of release dates, production companies, distributors, directors, writers, and what the story is I'll be using video links for this review. I'm doing this because some of these scenes need to seen to be believed because that's how awful they are.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is a 1987 superhero film. It's produced Cannon Films, Golan-Globus Productions, and London-Cannon Films and distributed by Warner Bros. It's directed by Sidney J. Furie and written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal.

The story is Earth is facing a crisis and Superman decides to take action by getting rid of all nuclear warheads. While that's happening Lex Luthor plans to destroy Superman only this time he has made his own version of Superman that being Nuclear Man.



Before we continue with the review let me just say this film was doomed from the very start. First Cannon Films cut the budget. It originally had a budget of $36 million then it was cut to $17 million. They also had a brilliant idea to cut out footage. According to Mark Rosenthal's commentary for the DVD release of the film in 2006 the studio cut 45 minutes of footage and some of those scenes were actually essential to the movie! It also didn't help that Christopher Reeve himself knew this movie was going to suck. According to Jon Cryer(he plays Lex's nephew Lenny Luthor) Christopher Reeve pulled him aside just before the release and told him it was going to be terrible. Jon Cryer even claimed Cannon ran out of money and released an unfinished film & you know what he's right! So let's run this down 1) Cutting the budget to save a quick buck. 2) Cutting out scenes that would make sense to other scenes and 3) Even the stars of film knew the movie was going to a pile of crap. Yep this sounds like it was going be a great.

• Negatives

I already have a problem with this film's opening credits. They are hilariously bad the effects look like something you would use for either a PowerPoint or a Prezi. Not a theatrical release blockbuster. Who looked at these credits and said "Yeah this will look good in our movie. Nobody will ever make fun of them or say they look cheap".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ka2Yt5_6M

Superman saves a Russian astronaut and despite being in the vacuum of space he's cape is flapping around. That my sound like I'm nitpicking a bit but come on somethings just need follow the rules of reality even thought this is a fictional movie. I'll let this movie get away with Superman talking to the astronauts despite him not having one those communication headsets or mics like the astronauts would wear but not that.

By the way do you like this shot of Superman flying at the camera? You know this shot.

Well get use to it because you see this shot at least six times! You know it's the same shot too because Christopher Reeve is making the same facial expression, it's the same pose and it has the same exact coloring. I wouldn't mind if they used the shot maybe two times but six! That's just lazy.

Now in the movie we have this green crystal. I bring it up because it's never talked about. I know there was a green crystal in Superman II but I don't think this is the same one. I mainly think because it has a message from his mother(which by the way when did she record her own message to her son?) and this thing healed Superman when Nuclear Man made either or he was dying from his wound. The one in Superman II just gave him his powers back. So this crystal is shown in like two scenes and neither one of them explain what powers it has or where it came from.

Now on to the next problem this movie has at least three subplots! That's right three subplots and their so pointless too. Let explain all three of them.

Subplot #1 - The Kent family farm is on sale because I guess Martha Kent is dead or moved away? I don't know they don't explain away how this subplot is only here for one scene and it's never brought back again. So what was the point of that then?

Subplot #2 - The Daily Planet has been brought by a man named David Warfield(I'll take about his character later) he buys them out because The Daily Planet hasn't made any money in three years. Which I call bullshit on because you mean to tell me The Daily Planet isn't making boatloads with all the exclusive Superman stories either Clark Kent or Lois Lane are writing about. They bring this up and through out the whole movie people just deal with it. Yeah through a large majority of the movie almost everybody seems fine with this is. It's only at the very end of the movie that it's resolved by Perry White buying his company back.

Subplot #3 - Lacy Warfield(David's daughter) falls in love with Clark very quick might I add. No seriously she stares at him and then is like he's sexy. While is brought in a couple a scenes it just felt pointless at the end and in all honesty it shouldn't have been in the movie at all.

So all of this subplots ultimately didn't add anything to the story and were just put there to pad out the running time. You know what you do with stuff like this you don't put them in your movie.

Now I want to talk about Lacy's dad David. This character is basically every stereotype of a greedy businessman. Seriously this is one piece of his dialogue. "Sweetie what did I tell you about fraternizing with the help". I didn't make that up he actually said that.

Another problem with this movie is they made Lex Luthor the main bad guy...again! My problem with this is we already had him as the villain in both Superman & Superman II. We may have gotten a break from him in Superman III but the guy that Richard Pryor's character was working for might as well have been Lex. They could have used villains like Intergang(they debuted in the 70's so they could have used them). The whole Superman vs. Lex Luthor ran it's course in this franchise so they really needed to use someone else.

Now to talk about Lex Luthor's nephew Lenny Luthor. This character is so annoying! First off what the hell is up with his hair & his style of clothes?

The way he talks is also annoying. He talks like this stoner or surfer I don't know how you want to put it. All I know is I hated hearing him. He's also a complete moron which begs the question why would Lex want him as an assistant when he's fully aware of how much of an idiot he is?

The next and last villain I'm going to talk about is Nuclear Man(ugh!). First look at his design.

Cause nothing says Superman's greatest enemy like beautiful blonde hair & sliver press-on nails. When Lex makes him he goes into the sun and then the sun gives birth to him. I don't mean that metaphorically I mean he comes out as a fetus from the sun! Also he has the dumbest weakness ever! Want's his weakness you ask? Well all you have to do is get him out of the sun. That means you can beat him by putting him in the shade and you win. WORST SUPERVILLIAN EVER! Also quick side note for some reason the filmmakers wanted Gene Hackman to voice the character as suppose to Mark Pillow using his regular voice. Another quick side note if they wanted a Superman clone why didn't they just use Bizarro? Sure if he was in this movie it wouldn't have been the best live-action debut for his character but we've been wanting for him to appear in a film for years!

Now how are his fights with Superman? Well just watch these videos and you'll have the answer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5mcMmE3RL8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQLeZO2Z1YQ

Wow those are just awful. Let's talk about the first fight actually that wasn't even a fight besides Superman's wimpy punch to Nuclear Man's back(seriously who punches like that?) that was just a series of struggling and chasing each other. Now the moon fight why are they fighting in slow-motion? No really why?! It may be only a few minutes but that fight feels like it want on for a full hour. These are probably the worst fight scenes I've ever seen in a superhero movie. Also during the moon fight Nuclear Man kidnaps Lacy then I kid you not we cut to both them in space! Yeah apparently Lacy can breath in space without a spacesuit. Who knew.



Also during that Great Wall of China scene when did Superman ever have I guess "wall repair vision"? There's also another scene where Superman stops a runaway train. He stops by standing and electricity comes out of him? Again when did he have these powers?

Now the film's main plot is a nuclear arm race. After the President of the U.S. gave his speech we cut to a classroom of kids. The teacher ask what should they do? First off these are kids they don't know what to do also shouldn't the teacher be you know teaching them something about math or science not "hey kids what are we going to do about this arm race". Also for some reason a little girl's lines are changed(with a horrible voice-over might I add). Her line about a kid named Jeremy is "He doesn't know what's going on" and you hear the other kids laugh but her originally line is "He's so spaced out he wouldn't even noticed" then you hear the same laughter. You can tell that wasn't her real line because like I said the voice-over is horrible.

After the President announces that the summits failed and were now second in the nuclear arms race Superman decides to get advice from a group of Kryptonian elders at the Fortress of Solitude. During that scene Superman talks about how he can't interfere with the humans. Superman why is this a problem? You interfered in the previous three films so why is it now a big deal?!

Now time to watch Superman's United Nations speech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWQIwJsqXrI

Now I saw a couple of countries in that speech. You mean to tell me that nations like Russia, China, Indiana, Israel, North Korea, and America just agreed to let Superman take our nuclear missiles. Well I guess so because we get a montage of Superman doing just that they launch their nuclear missiles in the sky & Superman catches them, puts them in a big cartoonist net, and then throws them into the sun.

Watch this flight scene between Superman & Lois.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-3Aca5nRn0

Do I even need to say anything? I think we all can agree that this green screen effect was awful.

• Positives

Time to move away from the negatives & talk about the only saving grace in this movie. That being Christopher Reeve's performance. Despite him knowing that this was going to be a terrible movie he still gives a great performance. So way to go Christopher to bad this was your last Superman movie.

Now I like a large majority of the Superman movies. Superman(1978) will always be a classic, Superman II is also a good movie, while Superman Returns isn't the best superhero movie of all time you can still watch it the problem was it wasn't Bryan Singer's own vision, and I will defend both Man of Steel & Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice until the day I die but Superman IV: The Quest for Peace will always have the same response that being everybody can agree that this movie is trash.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace has pointless subplots, terrible special effects, Nuclear Man sucks and will always suck, Lenny Luthor is an awful/annoying character, I hate that they used Lex as the main villain again, and the story is just garbage. The only good thing about it is Christopher Reeve's acting.

My final rating for this movie is Awful

Reviewing this film felt like a chore. So I hoped you enjoyed another Cinematic Disaster. In the next review will be talking about drugs with the 1936 film Reefer Madness.

Alien: Convenant Review

Alien: Covenant is a science-fiction horror film. It's a sequel to 2012's Prometheus, it's also the second installment to the Alien prequel series, and the sixth film in the Alien franchise. It's produced by 20th Century Fox and Scott Free Productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It's directed by Ridley Scott and written by John Logan & Dante Harper

The story is crew members of a colony ship land on a planet that seems to be an uncharted paradise. Soon they discover a threat that they've never seen before and now they must escape this planet.

• Negatives

One of my biggest complaints is we don't get to know more about The Engineers. We know how their race died but we don't know why they created humans.

Another bad thing about this movie is they make it obvious of who's going to die. They do it by using the clichéd "hey I'm going over here to do this thing".


Also James Franco has a cameo appearance in this but it felt really pointless to have a big named actor like him do that.

• Mix

Nothing to say here so let's move on.

• Positives

One thing to praise this movie for is the amazing design to the world the crew of the Covenant land on. It just looks like I said before amazing although it's a Ridley Scott film and we should have expected that. So points for that.


The movie also has great performances. I was surprised to see Danny McBride play a serious character and he did a very good job at that but the person who deserves the most credit is Michael Fassbender. He did an excellent job playing both David 8 and Walter.


There are two very memorable scenes that I loved in this movie. One scene was two characters are in a cave and one is trying to change the point-of-view of the other character. I'm not giving away many details about that scene because 1) my words do it no justice so you have to see it and 2) I felt like I would be giving you a spoiler to who the villain is. The other scene is the birth of the classic Xenomorph it was very disturbing but the CGI and the way it was shot was done to a perfect ten.


Another thing I liked about this movie was it introduce another Xenomorph species that being the Neomorph. The way it comes out of a person's body is very gory and I also liked it because I'm a sucker when an Alien movie gives us a new Xenomorph breed. Expect for the Newborn in Alien: Resurrection that thing was just stupid.


The other positive thing to say about this film is they tell us who made the Xenomorphs & why. I can't tell you in detail who or why because it completely spoils a big part of the movie.


My final positive to give this movie is they didn't focus are showing the Xenomorphs too much. I know a lot of people complained about that but for me it was a good thing because if you show the monster/killer of your movie too much you lose a lot of suspense. So thank you Alien: Covenant for keeping the Xenomorphs screen time limited.



Alien: Covenant's weaknesses are not giving us more information on The Engineers, an outdated way of telling us which characters are going to die and a pointless James Franco cameo. It's strength however are a beautiful world, well done performances mainly from Michael Fassbender, two very great scenes I will remember forever, the Neomorphs, and who created the Xenomorphs and why, and not giving the Xenomorphs too much screen time.



My final rating for this movie is Good


So if any of you read my first Cinematic Disasters review you would know that the next movie for that segment will be Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. That review will be up on Monday.

Lost Films - Agent Crush

Disclaimer: I could be wrong on some details. So take this with a grain of salt.

Hey everybody and welcome to another edition of Lost Films and this time I'm telling you about Agent Crush.

Part One - What was Agent Crush?

Agent Crush is a cancelled British puppet spy film that was going to be released somewhere in 2008. It has been said the movie would have been in the same vein as the 1965 series Thunderbirds by Gerry Anderson.

Part Two - The Plot

The plot is it's two hundred years into the future and crime is getting a little bizarre. Boris Goundphater("Good-farter") is a first prototype cyborg developed by the World Security Network to combat crime. The experiment failed due to a dangerous defect. Goudphater manages to survive the de-commissioning process and escapes. Horribly disfigured and angry, he is at large and out for revenge. Agent Crush is a second series cyborg, and is trying to prove himself as a secret agent. Crush has been furnished with all types of superhero gadgets but he is prone to bumbling accidents and causes havoc wherever he goes. Accompanied by his inventor sidekick, Spanners and Spanner's daughter Cassie, his latest mission is to stop Goudphater from exploding a nuclear device in the center of the Earth's magma core and causing every volcano to erupt, destroying the Earth.

Part Three - Planned Cast

Now I didn't get anything details on who was going to play what character but here's a list of some the actors.

Ioan Gruffudd

Danny Glover

Neve Campbell

Brian Cox

Brian Blessed

and

Sir Roger Moore

Part Four - Cancellation & More

The movie was cancelled for unknown reasons. A Wordpress user by the name Mikecanex supposedly had a talk with the director Sean Robinson he commented "Agent Crush was a great experience for him and has tried as hard as he could to get the film released. In that same post Clive Banks who has claimed to be an investor of Agent Crush said that the movie was poorly managed and that Sean Robinson "eventually sold the investors down the river by taking expensive loan financing rather than engaging properly with shareholders". It's hard to believe this guy mainly because his identity hasn't been confirmed. There's also other things to say about this defunct film such as it once had it's own website but it disappeared & despite us only having a trailer to the film for some weird reason the company that made the movie that being Fantastic Film International says it's complete on it's website. You can go on the site for not only the trailer but other things like behind the scenes & images .

here's the link http://www.fantasticfilmsinternational.com/screeners/#agent_crush





SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
I have an announcement to make I'm changing the premise to this segment instead of focusing mainly on films I'm going to tell you about other stuff that was lost such as TV shows/episodes, video games and comic books if I can find anything. The new segment will be titled Raiders of the Lost Media it was the best title I had in my head. The first post to this new segment will be about the cancelled video game Cartoon Network: Backlot Party.

Road to Justice League - Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox Review

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

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is a 2013 animated direct-to-video superhero film based on the DC Comics crossover event Flashpoint by Geoff Johns & Andy Kubert. It's produced by DC Entertainment & Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Premiere. It's directed by Jay Oliva and written by Jim Krieg.

The story is Barry Allen/The Flash has traveled back in time and saved someone. However in doing so the world around him isn't the same. Aquaman & his Atlanteans are at war with Wonder Woman & her Amazons. This war will eventually lead to worldwide devastation the only way to stop this is for The Flash to restore the timeline.

• Uncategorized

Now this doesn't really affect the movie but it's just something I wanted to bring up. One thing that confuses me is the rating. Yeah sometimes the MPAA really doesn't know how to rate films this is one of them. This movie is PG-13 but when you watch it you'll be thinking how isn't this rated R? This is one of DC's most violent movies. Reverse-Flash gets shot in the head and the hole is so big you can see Thomas Wayne/Batman, Wonder Woman holds Mera's decapitated head, Aquaman gets his arm sliced off by Superman's heat vision and one of the kids that make up Captain Thunder(Flashpoint's version of Shazam) that being Billy gets stabbed by Wonder Woman. How is any of those things I just listed PG-13?

• Negatives

I got nothing bad to say moving on.

• Mix

One thing that I'm kind of on the fence about is the art style. Some characters just don't look right. Here is one example

Holy shit Superman why is your head so small! Yeah some characters just don't look great now some do look good such as Wonder Woman, Aquaman(although people have pointed out how he looks like Brock Lesnar which I find funny) and The Flash they look good. It's just some characters really should have been redesigned before the film was released.

• Positives

The number one thing I absolutely love about this movie and the story it was based on is they made The Flash the main hero. DC does have a habit of either making Superman or Batman the ones who saved the day. So seeing a character who I find to be pretty underrated to be the hero is awesome.

Another thing I like about this movie is the tone. I admit it when a movie does a dark & gritty tone right I like it and this movie did it right. You really get the feeling that this world is hell you got Aquaman & Wonder Woman going to war with each other, Thomas Wayne is Batman because instead of him & Martha being killed in Crime Alley it was Bruce & seeing Superman being all skinny when your so used to him looking buff is a very scary image. So I definitely like the tone to this movie.

Now everybody does a very good job voicing their characters but the person you deserves the most credit is C. Thomas Howell as Reverse-Flash. Compared to all the other actors you played the character I thought he had the best voice. I also liked how he delivered that speech of how Barry broke the "time barrier".

I also loved the action in this movie. One my favorite scenes are the Atlanteans attacking Deathstroke's ship & the final battle with the Amazons, the Atlanteans, and the heroes. Those were great.

Another thing this movie did a good job was while it does make some slight chances they still stayed true to the source material. Which makes sense because Flashpoint is one of DC's most famous & best reviewed event comics.

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox has a great tone, I loved how Flash was the main hero, C. Thomas Howell's performance was spectacular, the action is good as well and while some changes were made the movie for the most part stays true to the source material. My only real problem with the movie is some character designs are not as good as others.

My final rating for this movie is Good



Come back on Thursday because my next post will be another installment of Lost Films which will also have an announcement regarding the segment.

A Small Rant on My Theater

So guys I love the movie theater I go to. Sure it only gives me two movies to choice but hey I'm not going to complain about that but I am going to complain about three problems I have with that theater. These are the problems that drive me crazy! So let's begin.


Problem #1- Bad Timing

Now this happened to me when my Dad & I went to go see The Fate of the Furious back in April. We got there the exact moment of it's premiere not an early release or the day after right on time. I was expecting to see like two commercials for things I'm never going to by or a commercial telling me how great Salem, Ohio is that didn't happening. It got started right on time no five minute delay or anything right on time. So why am I complaining about this simple now I posted my review for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 on Friday the day of it's release but I actually saw it on Thursday I just wanted to post it on the day of it's release what happened was I got that delay I saw commercials I didn't care for & trailers for films I'm going to see but I just wanted the movie. Why do this if it's an early screening you get a delay, if it's a day after the film's release you get a delay but the day of it's release right on schedule. What's the point? If it's an early screening you don't want people to feel special & if people see it one day after it's release you make it feel like a punishment.



Problem #2- Too Many Commercials

This sort of goes with the previous problem but hear me out. Now like I said before the movie starts you see commercials & trailers for other films my problem is there's too many! Let's go back to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 they said the film was going to start at 7:00pm it said it on both their website & a poster they have outside but when did the film really start it started at 7:11pm. Why because they had to shove a product for Pepsi in my face. Hey you know what you should do show the trailers & commercials before the initial time not during and tone it down with all the products I'm at a movie theater not my living room! Now yes I understand the theater makes money for doing but again if I want to see commercials while watching a movie I'll just stay home.



Problem #3- Showing Movies Way Past Their Release Dates

Now this is just a small problem I have it doesn't really bother but I just don't understand it. Now typically when my theater doesn't have a new movie to show they have what I call a "filler movie". This is when they have a movie that's just there to fill out scheduling until they get a new film even if it was released a month or two ago. For instance when Logan was coming out they had A Dog's Purpose showing but here's the thing it was March A Dog's Purpose came out in January. Why don't they just keep showing The Lego Batman Movie then give us Kong: Skull Island? Now a more recent example was with yet again Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 today they will be showing Guardians and Going in Style a movie that was released in April. Why don't they keep showing The Circle until Alien: Covenant comes out? It's also annoys me because if I want to review a film like Power Rangers(2017) they won't have but then somewhere in July they'll have but I wanted to review the movie on it's release date not when it's close to it's DVD/Blu-ray release date.



Those are my problems with the theater I go to like I said I love it but that doesn't mean I have to love everything about it. Anyhow I just wanted to write this down just to get it off my chest. By the way I'll be returning to the Road to Justice League with a review for Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. That will be up on Monday.

Road to Spider-Man: Homecoming - The Amazing Spider-Man Review

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

The Amazing Spider-Man is a 2012 superhero film it the fourth theatrical Spider-Man film and a reboot to of the character after the conclusion to Sam Riami's Spider-Man trilogy. It produced by Marvel Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Arad Productions Inc., and Matt Tolmach Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It's directed by Marc Webb and written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, and Steve Kloves.

The story is yes the origin of how Peter Parker became Spider-Man but while he's off figuring out how his powers work and what purpose he should use them. Dr. Curt Connors is performing experiments to regrown his missing arm but in doing so he becomes The Lizard.

• Negatives

One complaint I have with this movie even thought I do like it Curt Connors'/The Lizard's evil plan is very generic. What's is plan? His plan is he is going to turn everybody in New York into lizards just like him. Not only that but why did he come up with this idea. My only guess is maybe it was the serum that turned him into The Lizard is warping his mind but I still don't like the plan.

• Mix

Now the only thing I'm in a grey area on is Peter Parker/Spider-Man's suit. Here's what it looks like.

I don't hate it but I'm not really digging some of the design choices such as the yellow in the eyelids. I guess I was so use to seeing the classic costume that I just wasn't getting into a much as I did the previous films. Now some of you probably saying didn't you see any trailers or production stills and my answer is no I didn't. The reason is when I heard about this movie coming out I didn't want to know or see a thing that's how excited I was that we were getting a new Spider-Man movie. Although I should admit at least they didn't think about putting stupid robotic eyelids on the mask *cough Marvel Cinematic Universe cough*.

• Positive

One of the positive things to say about this movie is Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man he did an incredible job as the character. Mostly in the Spider-Man department his Peter Parker isn't whiny like some people say I just said that because the movie seemed more focus on him being Spider-Man than Peter.

Another thing I love from this movie is the chemistry between Andrew Garfield & Emma Stone. Seeing them interact with one another is one of the highlights to this movie.



Now on to Peter's Uncle Ben & Aunt May. Martin Sheen and Sally Field despite their limited screen time do play these characters very well. I especially like how this Uncle Ben is little but not too strict on Peter. It always felt like Ben in the previous films was letting Peter get away with some stuff. Now I haven't read every single Spider-Man comic so I have now idea if there ever was a character trait like that.



My other positive to this movie is the design of The Lizard. Yeah I actually kind of liked the look sure it would have been cool to see him in his lab coat but I didn't think with the way is film is set up we were going to get that.



I also liked how the film give us a mystery to the sudden disappearance to Peter's parents. It always bother how some of the Spider-Man media rarely dives into that.



The last good thing I will say about this movie is it has some awesome action scenes. One of my favorite scenes was the bridge scene were The Lizard is just throwing cars around that was pretty cool. I also liked the final fight between The Lizard & Spider-Man that was pretty good too but I did wish in that fight it was more of them fighting than Spider-Man & Captain Stacey teaming up.

The Amazing Spider-Man has good action, Andrew Garfield plays a great Spider-Man. The chemistry between Emma Stone & Andrew Garfield was perfect. Martin Sheen & Sally Field do a great job playing Uncle Ben & Aunt May. I also got excited whenever The Lizard & Spider-Man fought. I also liked how the film put in a mystery involving the whereabouts of Peter's parents. However the suit could have been better thankfully they fixed that in the sequel. My only really problem with the film is The Lizard's clichéd plot.

My final rating for this movie is Good. Definitely not the best Spider-Man film because that title still goes to Spider-Man 2 but this movie is still entertaining. Which makes me think why does this film get so much hate?



Also if any of you read my Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 review than you know I had a little problem or should I say problems with my theater. So Thursday come back and see what I have to say.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 is a superhero film based on the Marvel team of the same name. It's the sequel to the 2014 film and the fifteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It's written and directed by James Gunn.

The story is The Guardians are hired by the Sovereign race to protect their batteries from invaders but one of them steals the batteries so now the Sovereign want revenge. While this is happening their also trying to figure Peter Quill's/Star-Lord's true lineage.

• Negatives

One thing in this movie that really bothered me was the Sovereign despite being one of the villains in this movie they sucked. They didn't do very much hell they weren't really that much of a threat.

Another thing I didn't like is some characters got more development than Drax. He didn't get any really now you could argue we got development for him in the first movie. What I'm saying is if the movie was going do give us more depth to the Guardians of the Galaxy you got to give some to Drax too.

• Mix

Now as much as I did like the humor to this movie there are just times were I think there shouldn't have been a joke. Now a character in this movie dies I won't tell you who but a their funeral the Guardians are just cracking jokes of all the times not to do that it would be at someone's funeral.

• Positives

Baby Groot....nothing else just Baby Groot. He was awesome.

Now I know I just criticized the humor but like I said I did like the humor in this movie there were just times when I didn't think it was necessary. The characters who got the most laughs from me were Drax, Baby Groot, and Rocket.

Another thing I liked about this movie was the music. Guardians of the Galaxy did a great job with their choice of music. Both songs you heard from the 80's and the movie's score.

The movie much like the first again has great visual effects. I especially loved the look to Peter Quill's/Star-Lord's dad planet that place looked beautiful.



Now to take about the action. I loved the action in this movie mostly in the beginning and ending. It had my heart pounding.

Now for my biggest compliment to this movie is it developments a large majority of the characters. The movie just doesn't focus of Peter but also other characters as well. We get to understand why Nebula has all those machine parts. Yondu also gets some attention, and we also get to understand why Rocket does the things he does.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 has good character development, it's also very funny even if there were scenes where I think it didn't need a joke, the visual effects are yet again amazing, the music is fun to listen, and Baby Groot. My biggest problems with this movie are the Sovereign and Drax's lack of development.

My final rating for this movie is Good.

Now I'm going to give some news I saw this movie at my theater but I was very annoyed before the movie started I'll explain on Thursday. Also while I did easter eggs for The Lego Batman Movie & Logan I won't be doing it for this movie the reason is my scheduling won't work. I got a review for The Amazing Spider-Man & I also want to review Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. So one thing had to get cut and that was an easter egg post for this movie but don't worry I'll do one for Wonder Woman & Spider-Man: Homecoming.

What You Probably Didn't Know About Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Hey everybody it's time for another What You Probably Didn't Know About and this time I'm doing 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy I figured since I already did a review I might as well do this. So as always despite the numbering these are in no specific order. Anyhow here we go.

1. When David Bautista found out he got the role for Drax the Destroyer he broke down in tears overjoyed he got a Marvel comic book role. He prepared for the role with an acting coach.

2. Vin Diesel recorded all of his lines in different languages those being Russian, Spanish, German, and French among others. He did this that way his voice could be used in the film around the world.

3. Awesome Mix Vol.1 reached number one on the U.S. billboard 200 chart. It was the first time a soundtrack ever did this without original music. The soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy Award back in 2015.

4. Chris Pratt apparently stole his Star-Lord costume from the set. He did this that way he has his costume when he shows up to visit sick kids at hospitals if they ever wanted to meet Star-Lord. Aw that's sweet.

5. According to James Gunn Star-Lord's gesture was improved by Chris Pratt.

6. Bradley Cooper told Howard Stern that he was paid more for voicing Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy than his starring roles in Silver Linings Playbook & The Hangover combined.





7. When Rocket is arrested one of his known associates is named Lylla. Lylla is a sentient otter who is the love interest to Rocket.





8. Zoe Saldana nearly broke Chris Pratt's ribs while filming a fight scene. During training they both wore protective gear so they could actually hit each other. When it was the day to shoot the fight scene Chris forgot to wear his gear but he didn't tell Zoe because he thought she would hold back if she knew. She thought Chris was wearing his gear and then kicked him square in the ribs. Chris had a bruise for the remainder of filming.





9. The cassette player Peter Quill has is a 1979 Sony TPS-L2.




10. Drax's comment about Groot's ability to release fireflies "When did you learn to did that" is an inside joke. Groot never had that ability in the comics.




11. Zoe Saldana wanted to portray Gamora in make-up rather than CGI or performance capture.


12. James Gunn would keep a pile of little containers of Play-Doh on set. If someone be it an actor, a grip, a stuntman or a personal assistant did an amazing job he would give them a container. He gave out forty containers to crew of two hundred. James Gunn has said I love the smell of Play-Doh, opening a new container and smelling it puts me in a creative, child-like place.



13. Stan Lee's original cameo was going to be one of the trophies in The Collector's room. He would also give Groot the middle finger. However this scene was cut because Disney executives didn't like the idea so James Gunn changed it to him being an alien Casanova.



14. When the film was finally finished James Gunn gave Dave Bautista a Drax lunchbox to add to his collection of vintage lunchboxes. Also Dave Bautista gave Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana some custom WWE Championship belts.



15. In the comics Drax is green but in the movie he's changed to more of a grey color. This was changed because the movie already had a green character(Gamora) but to mostly distinguish him from the Hulk.



16. Quill calls Rocket "Ranger Rick", a reference to an actually character to the long-running children's nature magazine.



17. The movie regenerated an interest in and demand for personal cassette players, especially Walkmans like the one Peter Quill/Star-Lord has.



18. Nicole Perlman is the first woman to be credited for writing a Marvel screenplay.



19. Jason Momoa auditioned and was offered the role of Drax the Destroyer but turned it down because he didn't want himself to be pigeonholed as a brute by the audience having played several action roles and it also freed himself to direct the 2014 film Road to Paloma. By the way isn't it funny how he's now going to play Aquaman a DC character in the upcoming Justice League film.



20. The mid-credit scene where Groot is dancing to I Want You Back was animated using footage of James Gunn dancing privately to the song.


21. Howard the Duck is actually in two scenes of the film. The most obvious is the post-credit scene but when The Guardians of the Galaxy enter The Collector's trophy room you can briefly see him when The Collector turns around to face them.



22. Each member has a near death experience. Drax almost drowns but is rescued by Groot. Gamora freezes and nearly dies in space but Star-Lord saves her. Rocket crashes his ship into Ronan's ship but is just knocked out. Groot explodes but grows back and Star-Lord grabs the Infinity Gem and is in massive pain until the others help him.

So I hoped you enjoyed another installment of What You Probably Didn't Know. I can't believe Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 is coming out tomorrow I'm so excited.

Cinematic Disasters - Movie 43

Movie 43 is a 2013 "comedy" film it's produced by Virgin Produced, GreeneStreet Films, and Charles B. Wessler Entertainment and distributed by Relativity Media. The movie is directed by many people such as Peter Farrelly, Steven Brill, Will Graham, and Steve Carr just to name a few and written by lots of people such as James Gunn(yes the guy that brought us Guardians of the Galaxy & Slither), Ricky Blitt, Will Carlough, Steve Barker, and Olle Sarri again just to name a few.

The story is...I don't know what the story is there is no story. Movie 43 is just a series a short films and it's not like an anthology film such as Creepshow where their tied together by a theme or premise it's just a series of random shorts put together to make up a 94 minute movie unless your in the UK you guys unfortunately got a 98 minute version of the movie I feel so sorry for you it may be just an extra 4 minutes slapped together but nobody deserves even an extra second of this abomination.

Now normanly I would give the negatives, mix, and positives but I only do that if there's any redeeming quality to a movie I could say the performances are good but that's not enough. So what I'm going to do is tell the stories to a couple of these shorts in the movie I'm not going to tell you about every single one because then this post will feel too long for me. So enough of that let's talk about some of the short stories to Movie 43.

The Catch

The story to this short is Beth(Kate Winslet) is going out a date with the city's most eligible bachelor Davis(Hugh Jackman) during the course of the date Davis removes his scarf to reveal a pair of testicles on his neck. Then the whole "joke" of this segment is nobody seems to notice or acknowledge them all while Beth tries not be sick to her stomach. Spoiler alert this isn't funny at all.

Homeschooled

Our next story is a couple named Sean(Alex Cranmer) & Claire(Julie Ann Emery) have recently moved and they have coffee with their new neighbors Robert(Liev Schreiber) & Samantha(Naomi Watts) during this they reveal they homeschool their son Kevin(Jeremy Allen White) and they do this by copying all the things they had in high school like hazing, bullying, detention and parties. Things get worse when Kevin has his first kiss and Mom comes up with the idea that your first kiss needs to be awkward so she volunteers to be his first kiss. The neighbors are rightfully disturbed by this so they meet Kevin and he gives them the impression that everything is fine only to say he's going out on a date with a doll made of a mop with his mom's face on it. 1) How is this funny? 2) This family have some serious issues and 3) Who raises a kid like this?!



The Proposition
This is story is about Julie(Anna Faris) and Doug(Chris Pratt) have been in a relationship for a year. So Doug wants to marry Julie then she tells him how she has a fetish for shit(gross!). So Doug's friends tell him he should do it then he eats a large meal & drinks a bottle of laxative. Then Julie wants fourplay but Doug wants to finish so see storms out Doug chases after her only to get hit by a car then graphically evacuates his bowels everywhere even on Julie(gross!). So she cradles him, apologizes, and accepts his marriage proposal all while saying it's "the most beautiful thing".



iBabe
The next segment is about a company releasing a new product called iBabe a life-sized naked woman that functions like an MP3 player. The Boss(Richard Gere) listen to his fellow employees talk about how a fan is located in the genital area where it's cutting off teenage boys dicks. Their solution to this problem is tell everybody in their new commercial.


So let's recap so far our stories are a guy has a pair of balls on his chin, a very disturbed kid who is homeschooled, a woman who will only marry a man if takes a shit, and a robot woman's fangina cutting off dicks. Wow such quality writing he said sarcastically. Let's just talk about two more shorts then end this review.



Truth or Dare
The story is Donald(Stephen Merchant) & Emily(Halle Berry) don't want to do the typical first date so they play a game of truth or dare. Before I go on here's a list of what they did in their game.

• Grab a man's butt
• Blow out the candles to a blind kids birthday before he gets the chance
• Donlad has to be a male stripper to a bachrlorete party
• Emily has to put one of her tits in guacamole sauce
• Donald has to get a graphic dick tattoo with semen coming out of it on his face
• Emily has to put a turkey baster up her vigina with the hottest sauce in the baster
• Donlad has to listening to Snookie read Moby Dick
• Emily has to get plastic surgery which will make her cheeks very puffy & have unusually large breasts
• Then Donald has to get plastic surgery to look like an Asian man.

So after all of that Donald & Emily go to her apartment they prasie their date then Donald goes for a kiss only for Emily to reject it because she's not into Asian men. Then she says she was joking and they proceeded to have sex.



Beezel
This segment is about Amy(Elizabeth Banks) being worried her boyfriend Anson's(Josh Duhamel) cat Beezel(who's a cartoon cat) is coming between them. One day Amy sees Beezel mastrubating to a photo of Anson in a swimsuit then Beezel attacks & urinates on her. After that Anson still finds Beezel innocent but Amy threatens to leave so Anson agrees to find him a new home. Later that night the couple have sex while Beezel is in a closet tearfully watching while sodomizing himself with a hairbrush & dry humping a teddy bear(I'm starting to think the writers should have gone to therapy). So it's the day that the cat has to go away but Amy goes outside only to be ran over by a truck driven by Beezel & he attempts to shoot her. Amy chases after him then beats him with a shovel. This is witnessed by Anson and a group of children at a birthday party Beezel acts innocent so Anson sides with the cat then Amy is attacked & murdered by the children because she beaten Beezel up.



Before I give my rating for this movie let me have a couple of final words. This film is so awful I think everybody who worked on the movie hated it. Relativity Media did little to promote it hell by memory I think I only saw one maybe two TV spots for it & all the actors in this film didn't plug it in during any of their interviews. Many actors declined one being George Clooney and Richard Gere wanted out of the project. I think I also saw shows like Inside Edition or Entertainment Tonight report on the negative reception to the movie that's when you know your film is bad when even television wants to broadcast about how horrible your film is. To this day I haven't seen any stations like TBS or Comedy Central put it on their schedules and they showed Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie. I can't believe this film took four years to make & had a total of twenty writers and this was the best they could come up with.



Movie 43 is the most unfunny movie I've ever saw it's just gross, cruel, none of the comedy works & some shorts are just in there for shock value alone.



My final rating for this movie is Destroy It!



So I hoped you enjoyed this because my next Cinematic Disaster will be a film I hate with a firey passion that film is 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.