Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (IMAX 3D)

I normally do my best not to post spoilers in any of my reviews but I just want to warn you now- I'll probably be doing a lot of ranting so a few may just pop up. I promise to put a spoiler tag if that happens. 

Trying to sum up a movie's plot is usually the easiest part when I write a review. Here it's difficult because this shit is just so random (more on that in a bit) but I'll do my best. After the events of Man of Steel, Superman (Henry Cavill) is a very controversial figure to say the least. For some he's still considered a symbol of hope. While others see him as a threat to humanity, including Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck). While the two of them are fighting an even bigger threat emerges that could destroy everything. 

When they first announced that they were going to make this I was pretty excited. Batman is my all time favorite superhero. And who doesn't want to see him and Superman in a movie together? Even when they said that Zack Snyder was directing this I was still willing to give it a chance. Now that I've seen it I would just like to say... GOD DAMN IT!! How the hell could he fuck this up so much? He seriously doesn't get most of these characters at all. The only positive thing I can say is that he is good when it comes to the visuals (except for Doomsday which looks just as bad if not worse than it did in the trailer). There are times when this really looks like a comic book come to life. He should stick to working on visual effects or if he insists on directing, maybe do some more animated movies. I've said this before but I really liked The Owls of Ga'Hoole. 

I know it's not fair to place the blame solely on Snyder. The writing by David Goyer and Chris Terrio is horrendous, especially the dialog between Superman and Lois Lane which had me cringing in my seat. 

Then there's the editors who honestly should never work in Hollywood again. When you're putting together a movie or any story for that matter, the events of one scene should lead into the next. And so on and so on. Batman v. Superman is mostly just a bunch of random scenes put together. There were times when I thought that I had somehow passed out for about ten minutes and missed chunks of the movie that explained things. 

They are so lucky that Ben Affleck agreed to do this. He (along with Jeremy Irons and Gal Gadot) is the saving grace of the movie. I loved his interpretation of Bruce Wayne/Batman. That's what makes me so mad about all of this- the movie had so much potential. All of the Batman stuff was really good. It's the reason I can't give this any lower of a rating than I already am. 

Boy did Affleck act circles around Henry Cavill. I use to give Cavill a pass because I liked him in The Tudors but I've quickly realized that he couldn't act if his life depended on it. His performance was so wooden that I wanted to yell at the screen, "Damn it! Would it kill you to at least try and show some emotion?"

Of course, I can't write this review and not talk about Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Worst casting decision ever. I don't know what the fuck that was but it certainly wasn't Lex Luthor. It was so odd and embarrassing. You really have to see it for yourself. 

For those of you who are wondering where Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg fit into all this-

*SPOILER ALERT*

...

...

...

...

I'll save you from the disappointment I felt. So Bruce Wayne hacks into the files that Lex Luthor has on all these superheroes and sends them to Wonder Woman. What you see of them is these quick like ten second shots of some surveillance footage. And then the Flash has another quick cameo in a dream sequence. That's another problem that I had- too many damn dream sequences! Snyder even pulls some Inception shit having a dream within a dream.

...

...

...

...

*END OF SPOILER*

For all the shit that I've been talking, I have to say that Batman v. superman is not the worst movie I've seen. But it's not great either. If I had to sum it up in one word it would be this- disappointing. If you're a huge Batman fan like me by all means see it in theaters. If not, wait til it comes to Netflix or the Redbox. 

I'll try to end this review on a positive note- we still have Suicide Squad, Civil War, and X-Men Apocalypse to look forward to. 

My Rating: 6/10

10 Cloverfield Lane

In this day and age it's very hard to keep anything a secret, especially a movie. Which is why I'm amazed that they were able to pull it off with 10 Cloverfield Lane. Nobody knew this existed until about two months ago when they released a trailer. It was mysterious and left people with so many questions- What's going on here? Is this a sequel to 2008's Cloverfield? I knew I had to see this for myself and now that I have I can tell you that it's really good. 

The movie is about a young woman named Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). She gets into a car accident and when she wakes up she discovers that she's being held in a bomb shelter by Howard (John Goodman), who claims that the world has been affected by a chemical/nuclear attack. 

That's all I'll say as far as the plot goes. It's best if you go into this movie with as little details as possible. 

This is Dan Trachtenberg's directorial debut as far as feature length movies go (I think he had directed a few short films before this) and I must say I'm impressed. He's created this very tense story and paid a lot of attention to details. The editing and camera work is very good. And dear God is the soundtrack/score amazing. It fits perfectly with each scene and will definitely be added to my iPod at some point. 

The casting was perfect. I can't imagine anyone else playing these roles. To me though this was really John Goodman's movie. I've always been a huge fan of his and this performance is right up there as one of his best. I was constantly on the edge of my seat wondering what he would do. One minute he'd be calm and then all it would take was the slightest thing for him to snap. Very unsettling. 

My only issue is with the ending. I wouldn't call it bad except you really have to suspend your disbelief. I have no problem doing that but they were really pushing it. Also, it probably should have ended about ten minutes sooner than it did. 

I highly recommend 10 Cloverfield Lane, especially if you're a fan of thrillers. I'm looking forward to the next movie if they decide to do one. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

Zootopia (IMAX 3D)

I was originally planning on seeing London Has Fallen this weekend, but after the shit I went through last week with Gods of Egypt I figured I needed a break from Gerard Butler movies. And after hearing nothing but good things about Zootopia I decided to check it out for myself. I definitely think I made the right decision. Zootopia is one of the most well made, sweet, and heartfelt movies I've seen in a long time. 

The movie takes place in a world where humans don't exist. Animals have evolved over the years and have formed societies where they live and thrive, including the great city of Zootopia. Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) becomes the first rabbit on the police force and quickly learns how tough it is. But she's determined to prove herself. When several animals revert back to their predator ways, Judy is forced to team up with a con artist fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) in order to solve the mystery. 

One of the first things you'll notice is that this is not your usual kids movie that dumbs it down and resorts to things like bodily function jokes. Instead it brings up a lot of important issues that are very relevant today but it does it in a way that kids can understand. Honestly though, I think it's adults that get the most out of it. It makes you think about how we treat people in society and forces us to come to terms with our own prejudices. There's also jokes that go way over a kid's head and had me laughing several times. 

Major props to the animation team for all their hard work. It really is a gorgeous movie. I was especially impressed with all the attention to detail. Everything from the character's facial expressions to the design of the city looked really good. 

The directors brought together an impressive list of actors to provide voices and they all did a great job. My favorites were Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, and Idris Elba (who plays police chief Bogo). 

I really can't think of any flaws with the actual movie. The only thing I'll say is I saw this in IMAX 3D and it really didn't add that much to the experience. The 3D was okay but not all that noticeable for the most part. Normally I might take off a point for that but I loved the movie so much that I'm willing to let it slide. But if you're like me and don't want to spend your night in a theater full of screaming children then it's worth the high cost shuts so you won't have to put up with that shit. 

I can't recommend Zootopia enough. It's a very sweet movie that's surprisingly deep. Something both kids and adults can enjoy. 

My Rating: 10/10