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Showing posts from April, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War (2018), PG-13, ★★★1/2

Well, this is it. 10 years of Marvel movies and it is led to this cinematic event where almost all of the superheroes collide and take on the ultimate enemy: the Darth Vader of MCU films, Thanos. With all of the great and good and OK movies from every superhero, people are ecstatic to find their own favorite superheroes take on a dire situation in which it could potentially alter the franchise in one way or another. This movie is the supernova of comic-book movies as far as I am concerned and the question is raised whether or not, it delivers. This movie avoids the fear of being a hassle to watch, like Batman v. Superman, and delivers on the promise of being an awe-inspiring plethora of events that will leave you breathless but also wanting for more. THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS so to meet the readers' expectations of not being spoiled, this is going to probably be a short written review. Thanos (Josh Brolin) begins his quest for power to seek out the Infinity Stones to match t

I Feel Pretty (2018), PG-13, ★★

I don't think it is a great idea to speculate about what Amy Schumer's comedy is all about because even though I liked the movie, Trainwreck , a lot. However, her comedy is one-dimensional as she targets more towards sexual humor that are both unfunny and disgusting but with an angle. To be honest, I am not too fond of her comedy. But, she does have a knack for some dramatic acting as I witnessed it in Trainwreck  and also in the underwhelming Thank You for Your Service . Even though I understood the message and its positivity, the comedy does fall flat and it makes the experience more boring. I'm actually glad that this was just bad than awful, like its trailer. Renee Bennett (Amy Schumer) is a woman with self-esteem issues as she visits a store to find a dress but the clerk tells her that it is better to go shopping online as the store does not provide her size. She has trouble of getting people to pay attention to her and for them to treat her with respect. She lear

The Best Marvel Cinematic Universe Moments

Well, until the domestic and worldwide population go experience Avengers: Infinity War this weekend, actually beginning tonight, I think people, who are either comic book fans, Marvel fans or hopefully just movie fans, will revisit the past Marvel movies. It is incredible to know that people are dedicating themselves to study and follow each Marvel movie and character to its full extent to understand the psyche behind the character and how he or she will be used during the Infinity War and most importantly, who will survive? I will have a ranking in the end of the post but I wanted to dedicate this post to the best MCU moments from the movies. They may not be from every movie but in my opinion, I think these are the most memorable and favorite scenes that are either epic, emotional or hilarious. And, what is so fantastic about these moments is that the filmmakers and also creator Stan Lee balance the tone of almost every movie with such conviction. So, here they are, a solid myria

You Were Never Really Here (2018), R, ★★★

These crime-noir pieces has always centered on either a professional or tormented man that either has some bleakness over his head that makes you question and follow and study his character. I was excited about this movie based on the trailer because I have never seen Joaquin Phoenix play like a hitman or an action hero. You expect to be an action fest where you root for the action hero to kick butt and cheer and applaud and walk out having a good time. Director Lynn Ramsey approaches the genre a quite different and bleak way that makes the experience both challenging and satisfying. Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a Gulf War veteran who has been experiencing PTSD due to encounters of the war. He is living with his ailing mother (Judith Roberts) in New York City because she is the only person left in his life. He is suicidal as he grasps a knife in his hand, contemplating his fate with that tool and also standing in the middle of the train tracks. Joe goes to a bodega to collect payment

Rampage (2018), PG-13, ★★1/2

This is a movie that I was anticipating a bit because of two factors: 1) it has a big monster in the movie sort of reminiscent of King Kong and he is wrecking some architecture and other parts of the city to defeat another monster. 2) Of course, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson because of his commitment and determination into every role he puts in whether if it is good or bad. But, there is one genre that is against his odds and that is his upcoming Rampage is based on a video game. Granted, he was in a movie of sorts recently but it is based of made-up video game. And, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was fun, adventurous and hilarious. But, he was in Doom  and that did not work out well. Now, he has stepped onto another territory and it is better than that movie and could be the best video game adaptation in a very long time. It is not saying much because besides the main stars, it is noticeable that the filmmakers did not enough much time in the other characters or some of the s

Truth or Dare (2018), PG-13, ★

Truth or dare. Well, I guess I dared myself to watch it. It is a choice. It has producer Jason Blum, who was on a roll because of the awards season with Get Out in the conversation. No, he did not win the Oscar for Best Picture but he was in the conversation during the awards season. In my mind, it was too little too late as people were talking about two other movies and I believe the votes were in for Best Picture. Jason Blum has had a couple of great years as he is known for making a small-budget horror movie and getting a big profit out of that product. Blum will make a profit out of this movie as he is still rolling with his momentum of smaller budget horror movies, however, the quality of the screenplay is a whole different story as this movie unnecessarily gruesome and familiar that I got bored immediately. College student Olivia Barron (Lucy Hale) is a humanitarian who is promoting for her YouTube channel to encourage people to build homes for the Habitat for Humanity. Her

Blockers (2018), R, ★★★

We do not get many of these comedies, regarding raunchiness or sex, as there was a surging bevy of movies in the '80s and some of the '90s. We are in different times right now regarding the sexual harassment allegations taking much notice last year and continuing on. However, creators and writers of this movie wanted to take a chance on a movie of this genre but from another angle because we do not get the other side as much as the subject of sex focuses more on the teenagers. What if the parents find out if their child is planning to lose his/her virginity...on prom night? They would be men and women and mission to prevent it. What I found more promising and more entertaining about this movie was the balance between the humor surrounding the parents and the daughters that sends a good message to both adults and mature teenagers alike. After Lisa (Leslie Mann) dropped her daughter, Julie, at her first day of school, she meets fathers Mitchell (John Cena) and Hunter (Ike Ba

A Quiet Place (2018), PG-13, ★★★★

Shhhhhh!!!! I have a confession to make. I only knew about the premise and I was rather curious how actor/director John Krasinski (aka Jim Halpert from The Office) would tackle that premise in a horror genre. Man, comedians or people from a comedy genre want to take a step up to tackle a horror genre. Heck, it worked for Jordan Peele last year for his brilliant horror movie, Get Out , and got him the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and deservedly so. Now, Krasinski has crafted such an old-fashioned horror film with a simple premise that is elevated to another level thanks to the terrific performances by both the adults and children that you care enough about them at the end. The movie opens on day 89 when an alien invasion has wiped out most of humanity. The monsters are blind but possess an acute sense of sound so they hunt down people who ever make noise. The Abbott family - parents Lee and Evelyn (John Krasinski and Emily Blunt), children Regan, Marcus and Beau (Millicent Si

The Most Anticipated Movies of Summer 2018

2018 has been a rather interesting year so far with some good quality of movies coming out at the gate but what is more interesting is the summer movie season as I look at the myriad of movies coming out in the summer, aside from a few, I cannot predict some of the movies I am anticipating that will get their profit back or exceed expectations. However, when I was looking at the good batch of movies this coming summer, aside from the superhero movies, there is more variety in action, comedy, coming-of-age, drama, sci-fi ranging from high-budget to low-budget movies and that is exciting. There could be a couple of movies that will be under-the-radar for people to overlook. Aside from the few that is most likely to be in the honorable mentions, there are enough movies to look forward to that I cannot wait for. I'm hoping to have this summer to be better than the past few years, it was an improvement last summer as four movies were in my top movies of 2017: Dunkirk , Baby Driver,

Ready Player One (2018), PG-13, ★★★1/2

Steven Spielberg, one of the greatest directors of our time but also the director who opened the gateways of blockbuster movies with Jaws , has been in a phase since War Horse  where he told different stories in the past settings with that movie, Lincoln  (my favorite of his recent work), Bridge of Spies, The BFG (even though it is a fantasy adventure) and The Post . There is nothing wrong with those movies, well, maybe the BFG, but he has been making these old-school movies that appeal to a certain demographic. And, people have been asking where the Spielberg of blockbuster movies have been? To be honest, even those couple a historical movies are real good, I have missed those fun blockbuster popcorn movies from Spielberg. So, he was set to task to adapt Ernest Cline's book for the movie to create a world of virtual reality and pop culture from material that we loved. Even though there are problems with character and narrative towards the end, this movie was a blast. We open

Isle of Dogs (2018), PG-13, ★★★1/2

It is a shame that clay-mation movies are not being created or shown on-screen too often but it's understandable as it takes at least a year to set up sets and set up these clay-created characters. It is an intricate genre in the animation world. Wes Anderson, the director, has been under the radar this decade as he made two great movies of this past decade, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel (the latter being in contention for the best of 2010s), that solidify both whimsical at its best with Moonrise and comedic with the right balance of drama or social commentary surrounding the lavishness of the world with Grand Budapest. So, he returns to the realm of claymation movies after he made the great The Fantastic Mr. Fox , even though I do not consider his latest movie in his top tier  of movies, this is a beautifully animated movie that both tugs at your heart strings and shows us the world of what may happen when a certain country goes in turmoil because of a specific