Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Review

 

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a sci-fi action movie. It serves as a standalone sequel to War for the Planet of the Apes, making it the fourth film in the reboot series, but also the tenth movie in the Planet of the Apes franchise. It's produced by Oddball Entertainment, Jason T. Reed Productions, and TSG Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Studios. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is written by Josh Friedman and directed by Wes Ball.

The story is, generations have passed after the events of War, during this time apes have become the dominant species and humans have become primitive. One day ape Noa and orangutan Raka meet a human female named Mae who is nothing like the humans they know. They want to help her on her journey, but in order to do so they must survive Proximus Caesar and his army.

Initial Reaction

Now while I was looking forward to this movie I still had my doubts. Because the previous trilogy was beautifully done and had a perfect ending. So I was going into this movie 50% excited and 50% worried.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

My only slight problem with Kingdom was there are times when things can be slow. Now there's nothing wrong with that in the grand scheme of things, especially if a more slowed down moment let's us catch a breath and do things like character and/or world building. Here maybe just a tiny pick up would've helped.

Pros

One pro is Proximus Ceasar. While we sadly don't get much of him, what we do see isn't too bad. If the Ceasar part of his name isn't obvious enough, yes, he does know of Ceasar's way, but Proximus is a narcissistic cult leader. So he's taken the original Caesar's teachings and twisted them to suit his needs. It's some really good villainous behavior. Then there's the special effects. While I have taken some issues with this reboot's CGI over the course of reviewing these films to get to Kingdom, here, not too much. I think the VFX artist this time around perfectly nailed it. Now to turn the attention towards Wes Ball. I'll fully admit I didn't see a single one of his previous movies, those being The Maze Runner flicks. So I went into movie not knowing what I'd expect unless it was in the trailers and TV spots. And I gotta say Wes Ball did a really good job. There's plenty of beautiful landscapes, and there's this one shot where Noa is talking to someone in front of a destroyed bridge and the sun is setting. It's a really nice shot even if you find it very simple. The last thing I'll touch upon is the story. This was my biggest concern for this movie. I feared all it was gonna be is lazy story with the only goal being to grab some cash. Thankfully that wasn't the case, far from it actually. While the story is about Noa helping Mae, the story also has a theme of trust. Noa doesn't know if he can trust Mae and vice versa. So when these two finally meet, go on their journey, and then work together for a common goal, there's always this tension throughout. And then there's the ending. We by no means get a happy ending or even a bittersweet ending, instead you're actually left in fear of what's gonna happen next. Pretty appropriate given the story we got.

While Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes isn't perfect, I am breathing a sigh of relief that it was far better than what I thought it was gonna be.

My final rating is, Good.

That's going to do it for me. Come back on Saturday, May 18th, for my review of Ryan Reynolds' newest movie, IF. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Thoughts on David Corenswet's Superman Suit

On Monday, May 6th, James Gunn released a picture of David Corenswet in the Superman suit that he'll be wearing in the upcoming Superman (fka Superman: Legacy). There were my opinions on the design thrown out, and tonight, I'm gonna give mine.

So first off, let me show you what the suit looks like. Here it is folks, the suit we're gonna see in the upcoming film.

So there's a few things to take in, but before I get into the suit, let's talk about that background. This along with other things was just getting dragged. Some say it looked A.I. (which I currently find to an overused insult) and others made jokes saying Goku and Vegeta are fighting. My thought is, yeah this isn't a good background. I have no idea what this beam is suppose to be, some have said maybe it's Brainiac, but nothing's be confirmed or hinted at. Honestly, it looks like they just took a stock image and slapped it on at the last minute.

Then there's the pose, I understand they wanted to do something different cause the last two images we these.

You got Brandon Routh doing a classic pose and Henry Cavill looking like he's in a fight, but with Corenswet, it looks like he's bored or depressed. Which is funny consider that last one is what Cavill's Superman was called. So yeah, I just don't understand why this pose, it just seems more like a cosplay photoshoot, then something for a big budget movie. And expectedly yet still funnily enough, because of this pose the image got memed.

First let's start off with the upper half of the suit. Now at first I wasn't really big on them using the Kingdom Come logo, cause that symbol is more connected to an older Superman, not a younger one, but I've grown to like it. Then there's those lines on the suit. That's very New 52 inspired, and for any of you that don't understand what I'm talking about, back in 2011, DC Comics rebooted their entire universe, meaning new everything including costumes. That was no different for Superman, and here was his New 52 suit.

Like I said, you see some New 52 in there with the lines and the neck collar. Which I find cool (probably one of the few Superman fans who actually likes that suit). Although I think they over did it with the lines around shoulders and a bit too much on the arms. And I'm also not liking how wrinkled it looks at the shoulders and stomach. Christopher Reeve's suit might have done that but not to this extent and his suit was actually made out of cloth.

Now let's move on to the lower half. Well I like the boots, the boots look good. But if you zoom in, you'll noticed we've got...red trunks....yay. Yeah I'm probably gonna lose my fan credit for this, but I've never been a fan of the red trunks. I didn't like them as kid whether it was in the comics or with Justice League & Justice League Unlimited, and I don't like them as an adult. I hate them even more because almost everybody treats the trunks like they're the most iconic part of Superman's costume, when no. The most iconic parts are the S shield and the cape. Speaking of the cape, that's also looking great, much like the boots, I also like the cape.

So overall this first look was a mixed bag. There's things to like, but there's also things to criticize. So my feelings on this are, meh. But you knows, maybe despite being HIGHLY skeptical about James Gunn's upcoming Superman movie along with his whole DC cinematic universe, hopefully everything will look better on film.

That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, May 11th, for my review of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch - The Final Season Review

 

Well, here we are. The final season of The Bad Batch.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is an animated sci-fi series and the spin-off/sequel to Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It's produced by Lucasfilm and Lucasfilm Animation and distributed by Disney Platform Distribution. This final season consist of 15 episodes, and it was created by Dave Filoni.

The story is, last season Omega was captured by the Empire. Now, Clone Force 99 sets out to get her back. While they'll face dangerous enemies both from crime lords and the Empire, they'll face anyone and do anything to get her back.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

One gray area is the pacing. There are a few times when taking things slow works, but I did feel like something, such some of the set up to action, could've been a bit faster.

• Positives

One good, or as I should say, one great thing about the final season is the performances. I've said that before in my reviews for season one and two, but here, Dee Bradley Baker and Michelle Ang really went full force, primarily in the series finale. Which I'll touch on later.

Then there's the character development. We did get that here and there in the last two seasons, with season three other than a action, and the Empire storyline, the character development felt like a major focus, which I loved. We even get character development for people I wasn't expecting, like Emerie Karr. I thought at first they weren't really gonna do anything special with her, but no, she also gets good character development.

The last thing I'll praise is, we've got a storyline, with no annoying filler! That was always the issue people had with the previous seasons. We're given this big story arc, but next thing we know we're on a side quest. Here, that's not the case. The story is great through and through. And what I forgot to write in my review of season two is, even if you do do a filler episode, make it worth something as supposed to nothing. Cause filler can help with previously mentioned character development, chemistry with characters, and world building. Hell, Avatar: The Last Airbender had filler but it did those three things I just listed. And this season did that. Going back to Emerie she got a really good episode ("Identity Crisis"), where she's relating to the "specimen". That is filler done right. But when that's not happening we're getting good stories with of course The Bad Batch. One great example is Crosshair. We got his redemption arc, and we see him going through PTSD and see how that's effecting his sniper skills. Then there's the finale. That was great. We got brotherhood, family, and etc. We've got get stakes, and we got, and I'm not spoiling it, but we got a touching moment between Hunter and Omega, along with a good send-off to Omega. I don't think it's as good as the final episode of The Clone Wars, but it was still a great thing to watch.

While you're more than likely to find issues, I felt this was a great season, even if it's sadly the final one.

My final rating is, Great.

Those were my thoughts. Due come back on Thursday, May 9th, where I'll be giving my thoughts on David Corenswet's Superman suit. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

The Fall Guy Review

 

The Fall Guy is an action comedy movie loosely based on the 1980s tv series of the same name. It's produced by 87North Productions and Entertainment 360 and distributed by Universal Pictures. The Fall Guy is written by Drew Pearce and directed by David Leitch.

The story is, after blaming himself for a stunt gone wrong, stuntman Colt Seavers abandons both his career and girlfriend Jody. Eighteen months later, Colt is soon brought to Jody's movie set for production on her first film, Colt soon finds out that's not the true reason why he's here. His actual job is to find the movie's main star and bring him back or the movie will be canceled. The more Colt searches, the more he learns there's something else going on.

Initial Reaction

My reason is the exact same as Bullet Train. David Leitch has been doing an amazing job with the action genre, so wanted to see what he did with this.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

Now there's plenty of times when the movie is pretty funny. But you do have some jokes that aren't bad, there just more in the okay category.

Pros

One thing that works is the pacing. The Fall Guy clocks in at 2hrs and 5min, yet it really didn't feel that way. It felt like it was only an hour, maybe even shorter than that. Then we have the action. I know big surprise I'm praising David Leitch for action, but if it's done right you should praise it. Anyhow, the action is not only exciting, but can also be very funny. It was a blast to watch. I think my favorite might have been the finale. Because it incorporated both physical fights, but also had the fictional stunt crew use their props and explosive equipment as weaponry. Then there's the story. No, there's nothing sophisticated or something to analysis for your big college essay, but it's simple fun. You get an entertaining love story, something fun with seeing how the crew is making their movie, and of course a fun little mystery. The last thing I'll credit is Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. They had really good chemistry together, and you almost buy them being couple who broke up but are now trying to patch things up.

While not perfect, I still really dug The Fall Guy, maybe if you're planning to see this maybe you'll enjoy this too.

My final rating is, Good.

I just realized something, but this movie was a full circle moment for David Leitch. He started out as a stuntman and now he's made a movie about a stuntman. That's all for now. Come back on Monday, May 6th, for my review of the final season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. I know today would've been perfect given it's May the 4th Be with You, but I was looking forward to this movie more. That's probably a blasphemous thing to say given I'm a Star Wars fan, but it's the honest truth. Anyways, until then, enjoy the rest of your day.