Comic Book Movie Review (9/10) “Amazing” (Non-spoiler)
Wonder Woman
Director: Patty Jenkins
Starring: Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Chris Pine (Captain Steve Trevor), Connie Nielson (Hippolyta), Robin Wright (Antiope), Danny Huston (Ludendorff), David Thewlis (Sir Patrick), Saïd Taghmaoui (Sameer), Ewen Bremner (Charlie), Eugene Brave Rock (The Chief), Lucy Davis (Etta Candy), Elena Anaya (Dr. Poison)

Plot: Zeus has created the Amazons to one day do battle with Aries again, and Diana, Princess of Themyscira, is being trained and raised by the Amazons to become a warrior princess. With the threat of war looming and with the help of Captain Steve Trevor Diana is forced to don the Wonder Woman garb to battle oppression and hatred. Can Wonder Woman bring an end to a world at war or will it prove to be a futile endeavor…?

Believe the hype – this IS the best DCEU movie that has been released thus far. Starting off: WB please give Patty Jenkins another Wonder Woman movie or another epic because boy can she direct! This movie looks beautiful, the action looks epic, and the drama is poignant. It’s really hard to believe that the last theatrical movie she directed was released in 2003 (“Monster” starring Charlize Theron), and after watching this movie I am so glad that WB gave Jenkins a shot at a big budget super hero action epic. Gal Gadot also IS Wonder Woman, and her oncsreen performance made me believe that she was a powerful, but compassionate hero. She will lift a giant tank in one scene, but also take the time to comfort a distraught soldier and encourage him to keep on fighting in another. My favorite segment from the movie was a scene that is shown in the trailers, where Wonder Woman steps onto No Man’s Land battlefiled and charges onto the battlefiled riddled with machine gun and mortar fire. This scene was so jaw dropping and her charisma oozed off the screen as she led the rest of the men into battle and almost made me want to stand up and applaud her. Some of the standout performances from Gadot also came when she had run-ins with the commanders of the army, which I thought made Diana a more compelling character in this moive. Gadot made me believe that Wonder Woman would be someone who I would follow into war, simply because of who she was. All of the cast does a great job of selling their performances for me and I thought Pine and Gadot’s chemistry was on point most of the time. There are some screaming matches between Diana and Trevor because of their differing views, and although I was getting tired of these confrontations I still thought they were believable as a couple. This movie also takes both the elements from George Perez’ Wonder Woman and the New 52 Wonder Woman runs and incorporates them into this movie. Although they change a big element regarding the Greek gods in this movie, I still thought that worked for this movie.

Though it was an amazing movie it wasn’t perfect. The transition from when Diana leaves Themyscira and reaches London seemed really rushed and almost seemed to defy time and placement and made me question how tucked away Themyscira really was. This could’ve been a liberty that Jenkins and the creative team chose for the pacing of this movie, but it still bothered me a bit. Also, the last fight at the end felt a bit cliched, but because the movie makes you invest in Gadot as Wonder Woman and Pine as Trevor, the mediocre action scene is slightly elevated and you are more emotionally invested when compared to the last battles in movies like X-Men: Apocalypse or Avengers: Age of Ultron.

This movie is a triumph not just for DC movies, but for movies in general as it elevates females as super heroes to another level while at the same time raising the importance of female heroines in pop culture. Definitely not one to be missed.

Spotlight Movie Review (Spoiler Free) (7.5/10) "Good"
Alien : Covenant
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Michael Fassbender (Walter), Katherine Waterston (Daniels), Billy Crudup (Oram), Danny McBride (Tennessee)

Plot: 15 explorers towing 2000 colonists are on the long trek to a remote planet to start a new life. However, on the way to the said planet, the crew discovers an uncharted plane, but could this planet prove to be their salvation or certain death from unimaginable horrors...

This movie picks up ten years after the events of "Prometheus" (2012), and before the events of "Alien" (1979), which were also directed by Scott. Because of this, "Covenant" shares similar tones and brings back the eerie claustrophobic horror that is the hallmark of the Alien franchise. Scott builds an imaginitive universe, drawing upon influences from his previous works including "Gladiator" (2000) and "The Martian" (2015), and shoots one of his most beautiful movies to date. The planets, spaceships (check out the ship that uses sails to draw solar power), and dark corridors all look hauntingly beautiful and feel lived in as well as dangerous.

Besides the great cinematography, the actors involved also bring in their A games. Fassbender portrays the hauntingly, eccentric cyborg; Waterston the lost and confused officer; and McBride the wild pilot and prove to be the standouts of the movie, but everyone does a great job in the acting department. Unfortunately, the movie also falls into the similar horror tropes of past Alien movies and slasher flicks as characters decide to go off by themselves - and you can easily predict who is going to die and who is not if you watched these type of movies. Although the xenomorph and Scott's sensibilities make this movie stand apart from other slasher flicks, I can't help but think that this movie felt more like a slasher flick with a xenomorph rather than a full fledged Alien movie - especially with the multiple plotlines that unfolded all at once. Still if I were to rate this amongst other Alien flicks, I would say that this movie is better than Alien 3, Prometheus, and Resurrection, but fails to reach the heights of Alien and Aliens. 


Spotlight Movie Review (5.5/10) “Mediocre” (Spoiler Free)
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Charlie Hunnam (Arthur), Astrid Bergès-Frisbey (The Mage), Jude Law (Vortigern), Djimon Hounsou (Bedivere), Aidan Gillen (Bill)
Plot: Uther and his kingdom is conquered by his brother Vortigern at the cost of Vortigern’s wife’s. With his last dying effort, Uther sends Arthur away and encases the legendary sword Excalibur within stone, then Arthur is found by women at a brothel, where he is raised and becomes a jack of all trades, and makes his own pocket dominion within England. Can Arthur overthrow his uncle tyrant and accept his role as the born king and get revenge for his father’s assassination?

This movie felt like 1/3 Lord of the Rings, 1/3 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and 1/3 Dark Souls, and there were more magic and fantastical elements than the trailers seem to be advertising. Remember that scene with the giant oliphant looking creatures that was advertised in the trailer? ONE SCENE – and it all takes place in the first five minutes of the movie. I wanted to see more stuff like that, because I felt the beginning and the ending were the best parts of the movie. The ending feels like a Dark Souls game as Arthur takes on a humongous beast with a large scythe, and that fight felt like it belonged in a video game where the player takes on the last boss of the game, but I thought it was a really cool scene.  

This is one of those movies that probably could’ve been better serviced as a TV series, rather than a movie, but probably wouldn’t have been greenlit unless it was a movie due to its $175 million budget. This movie felt like a 13 hour show that was condensed into a 2 hour movie format, and it painfully shows within even the initial explanation of how Excalibur came to be made. From what I gathered from being told (rather than shown) by a character how the sword came to be, Merlin led a group of mages to co-exist and to help with mankind, but then an evil mage by the name of Mordred decided to subjugate all of humanity with his awesome magical powers, and then Merlin sacrificed himself and turned his own magical staff into the Excalibur sword, which in turn could be only weilded by the bloodline of Uther – and all of this is explained in 5 minutes with quickly cut random images. I enjoyed some of Guy Ritchie’s movies (The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Sherlock Holmes, ie), but I feel he is a better director when his movie is smaller in scope and more focused. This movie seemed like it was edited with the motivation of fitting a 13 hour story into a 2 hour format and this really made the movie feel disjointed and sometimes even confusing. There is even one part of the movie in the middle where Arthur has to travel to another reality to discover his destiny, and he has to travel far and battle many different types of monsters and enemies, but due to time constraints this WHOLE journey is told through a ten minute montage with voice over in the background. There are hints in the movie that the director or studio wanted to turn this into a continuing franchise, but with initial box office projections that seems highly unlikley.

I was disappointed by this movie, but if Ritchie should decide to release a 5 hour director’s cut of the feature I would be interested in watching that more than watching this movie again.  

Comic Book Movie Review (8.5/10) "Great!" (Spoiler Free)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Director: James Gunn 
Starring: Chris Pratt (Peter Quill aka Starlord), Zoe Saldana (Gamorra), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon), Vin Diesel (Baby Groot), Michael Rooker (Yondu), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Ego (Kurt Russell), Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki)
Plot: Quill has never known who his father was and has always thought that he had abandoned him since he was young. Quill discovers that who his father really is, and his ideas of friend and family are put to the test as he juggles between blood and the Guardians...

This movie's major strength is how it plays with your emotions. You will laugh for the majority of the movie (this movie is REALLY funny - especially when Rocket takes on Yondu's Ravager crew), but you may also drop a tear or two towards the end of the film. My date was crying by the end of the movie, and I heard sniffles around the theatre. Because the first movie took the time to esdtablis each character, this movie felt very natural in terms of the team dynamic and each of the Guardians are loveable in his or her own way.  As a movie this film is funny, moving, and engaging and you will be entertained for the 2 hours length time, but the plot was not as well thought out as the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. However, the first Guardians also was one of the best Marvel Studios movies ever made so topping that movie was also an incredible task. This movie also is chock full of Guardians comic homages with appearances by characters such as Martinex T'Naga, the crystallized warrior and many more.

This is a Starlord focused story, and although the other Guardians play a prominent role, the main focus is on Quill and his father. But the movie also takes a look at the extremely disfunctional relationship between Gamorra and Nebula and you come to understand why there is animosity between the two. However, though the story takes its time to show you what Quill and his father are about, the Gamorra/Nebula relationship felt really rushed. One moment they're at each other's throats, and then the next moment they become trusted allies and I thought the turn could've happened a little later. Even Yondu took a whole movie (the first Guardians of the Galaxy) to realize how much he loved Quill as an adopted son, but it took about 30 minutes for Gamorra and Nebula to become sisters. Also, it didn't really make sense to me why Rocket and Groot had to stay behind at one point of the movie when traveling as a team probably guaranteed more safety and less risk for Nebula's treachery, but this decision seemed to be in service more for the plot rather than the movie as a whole.

I highly recommend this movie if you're a fan of the comic series, super hero movies, or just sci-fi movies as this movie was really engaging and poignant at the same time.

Spotlight Movie Review (8.5/10) "Great"
Fate of the Furious
Director: F. Gary Gray
Starring: Vin Diesel (Dominic aka "Dom"), Jason Statham (Declared), Dwayne Johnson (Hobbs), Michelle Rodriguez (Letty), Tyrese Gibson (Roman), Ludacris (Tej), Charlize Theron (Cypher), Kurt Russell (Nobody), Nathalie Emmanuel (Ramsey), and Scott Eastwood (Lil Nobody)

Plot: While Dom and Letty live their lives away from crime and high speed heists, they are infiltrated by a mysterious woman named Cypher. Cypher was the true mastermind behind Owen and Jakande and now wants Dom to turn on his friends for her diabolical reasons. Dom's loyalties are tested as the meaning of "family" is challenged in his life...

The greatest flaw of this movie is that you will need to have watched all of the previous Fast and the Furious movies from the first one to understand where this movie now takes place and what state/ condition each character is in. The best thing about this movie is the sheer crazy, zany stunts and set pieces that are arranged in this movie. As shown in the previews and trailers, there is a scene where Cypher lets loose a “horde” of electronically controlled cars at the heroes and this scene was truly the standout in this movie. Remember “World War Z” with the wave of ravenous zombies climbing on top of another to try and get their target? This scene reminded me a lot of those zombies and how the cars mindlessly crashed on top of one another just to try and get the heroes.

For all intents and purposes, this movie has become a super hero franchise, with heroes that are capable of impossible feats (ie steering a torpedo with one’s feet), but it all works because if you have been following this franchise until now, you have come to love these characters and have an attachment to them and seeing them in outrageous close calls makes it that much more engaging. This won’t be the best movie you watch this year, and if you haven’t watched the previous movies you probably won’t get it either, but if you have been following this series since the beginning than you will have one hell of a ride (pun intended) watching this movie.   

Movie Review (6.5/10) "Okay"
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract 
Director: Sam Liu
Plot: Terra aka Tara Markov has joined the Teen Titans (Nightwing, Starfire, Damian, Blue Beetle, Beast Boy, and Raven) and while she helps the Titans fight crime she is also fighting her own demons. Brother Blood and HIVE are planning something and it is up to the Titans to stop him before it's too late...

The Judas Contract actually worked in comic book form because it allowed the reader to get to know Terra alot more over several issues before the crap hit the fan. I felt that this movie was not long enough for the viewer to even care about who Terra is and it felt rushed. I felt the movie should have spent more time on Terra and allowing her to form relationships with the other Titans. Unfortunately, all of the Titans are also derived from their New52 influences so the characters are also full very angsty and very depressing. The Titans spend more time fighting and bickering with one another rather than actually being friends and having fun. I don't mind the Justice League having a darker tone, but I expected the Teen Titans to be a little lighter in tone, and since the Titans left the last movie respecting one another I was wondering why they still fought each other so much.

Besides Starfire and Nightwing, all of the Titans have their own issues and because this DC animated movie is set in its own consistent universe and continues the story line from "Teen Titans Vs. Justice League", it won't have the same roster of heroes as the comic "Judas Contract" so you won't find Cyborg, Jericho, or Wonder Girl. Remember when Damian and Raven were getting romantic and came to understand one another in the previous movie? That storyline is completely gone here and you would think that they were complete strangers in this movie. In fact this movie didn't even feel like it was part of that universe. One thing I did appreciate was that Deathstroke seemed more align with his power levels here as the comics as he was seriously nerfed in "The Son of Batman" animated movie where Damian was able to beat him by himself. Here, Deathstroke takes on Damian and Nightwing at the same time. However, I also thought it was weird that they made Deathstroke a pedofilic creep in this movie.

With some problems including the inconsistent animation (the animation was not consistent as it was clearly evident that one studio worked on the first hour of the movie, while another studio worked on the last 30 minutes of the movie), "Judas Contract" was a mess of a movie, but had some cool action scenes and cool cameos by Kevin Smith (voiced by Smith himself!) and other Titans. 

Movie Review (8.5/10) "Great"
Ghost in the Shell 
Director: Rupert Sanders
Starring: Scarlet Johansson (Major Mira Killian), Pilou Asbaek (Batou), Takeshi Kitano (Aramaki), Michael Pitt (Kuze)
Plot: In the future humankind has turned to bodily cybernetic enhancements to make their lives better. Major Killian represents the first of her kind that is manufactured by Hanka Precision Instruments, as her body is full synthetic with a human brain. She is a shell with a living "ghost" inside of her and now she works for a governmental policing force called Section 9, which polices cyber terrorism and investigates synthetic related crimes. 

I am a fan of cyberpunk settings. I love movies like the original animated "Ghost in the Shell" (1995) movie and its sequels and "Arise" prequels; "The Matrix" (1999); the "Ghost in the Shell" manga by Masamune Shirow; and even the video game series "Deus Ex" - and I am happy to say that this movie is influenced by all of those things. The biggest influence is probably the original animated movie and this movie even has four to five scenes that are reminiscent of the 1995 animated movie of the same name. However, whereas the animated movie was about a random case that Major was investigating, this live action movie is more personal and is all about her and therein lies the strength of this movie. 

In an effort to mainstream this manga for the general audience, Sanders expertly crafts a beautiful movie that is character and story driven. This is essentially an origin story that also leaves room for a possible sequel in the future, and though Major's characterization is deep and compelling I felt that the rest of the characters were a little monotone and didn't offer much nuance. This is a detective, story driven movie more than a question regarding what humanity is as the original movie seemed to place heavy focus on. There aren't alot of action scenes, but the scenes were well done and the cinematographer really made each shot look beautiful. In fact, I have to say that this movie is the most accurate anime adaptation in terms of the live action movie replicating the anime world for the big screen that I ever seen. There are also quite a few homages to the original animated movie along with the cloaking suit, Major's bullet proof suit, and even a Bassett hound that follows around Batou. 

A faithful adaptation to the original animated Ghost in the Shell movie with tweaks to make the movie more accessible to the general movie audience.

*Also I wanted to address the elephant in the room: Johansson's casting. As you can see the producers changed the Major's name from Major Motoko Kusanagi to Major Mira Killian to suit her more Caucasian look. They actually address this issue in the movie and provide a work around this issue that I won't spoil here, but I understood why the studio chose to cast a white woman over an Asian woman. All in all I have to say that Johansson did a great job in the role (although I thought she walked kind've weirdly in the movie), and being an Asian American myself I was at first appalled that DreamWorks would hire Johansson at first, but felt in the end that Johansson did a great job for THIS version of Major. 

Movie Review (7/10) "Good"
Power Rangers
Director: Dean Israelite
Starring: Dacre Montgomery (Jason), Naomi Scott (Kimberly), RJ Cyler (Billy), Ludi Lin (Zach), Becky G (Trini), Elizabeth Banks, Bryan Cranston

Plot: Zordon (Cranston), the Red Ranger and the lone surviving ranger, and his team of Rangers barely stopped Rita Repulsa (Banks) 65 million years ago. Now Rita has escaped her prison and it is up to a new group of teenaged rangers to come together and stop Rita from ruling the galaxy. Can these new Power Rangers stop Rita from getting her hands on the Zeo Crystal, which has been hidden somewhere in Angel Grove, or will the Rangers not even be able to come to work together?

This movie is what you get when you combine the “Breakfast Club,” “Transformers,” and the original “Power Rangers” (1995) movie. A critic called this movie a high budgeted CW teenager flick with giant robots and that description actually fits. I used to watch the original Power Rangers back when I was in elementary school, and I watched the first Power Rangers movie in a movie theatre (which really doesn’t hold up to modern standards), so being a lapsed Power Rangers fan I was actually looking forward to this movie, but definitely not expecting a masterpiece. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised and the strength of this movie was actually in the five teenager actors. I have never seen these young actors in any movie or show, but I thought they did a great job with their roles and actually made me care about them with all of their problems.

Cranston and Banks are the big name actors in this movie, but I was surprised to find out that they were NOT as good as the five teenager actors. I really hope this movie opens more doors for other projects for these actors, because I want to see them in other projects. The action is great, but I felt there wasn’t enough of the Power Rangers action and Zords because the movie did focus more on the teenagers and their lives rather than the fight scenes and the Mega Zord action. Still the action was fun and because you were invested in the characters, the action scenes mattered unlike the Transformer movies. It’s not a perfect movie, but if you’re (or was) a Power Rangers fan this movie will definitely give you the nostalgia feels. My only gripes were some of the action scenes felt cheesy (especially the scene where the original “Go Go Power Rangers” song kicked in and it felt REALLY out of place), and there were not enough action scenes, but this movie is fun and has heart.  

TV Show Review Plot Detail Spoilers (8.5/10) “Great”
Iron Fist Season 1 Episodes 9-13
Executive Producer and Creator: Scott Buck
Starring: Finn Jones (Daniel Rand), Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing), Jessica Stroup (Joy Meachum), Tom Pelphrey (Ward Meachum), David Wenham (Harold Meachum), Carrie-Anne Moss (Jeri Hogarth), Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple)

Plot: Danny finds out that Madam Gao was responsible for his parents’ death and finally captures her to find out more information. Ward, Joy, and Danny are voted off the company board as the board felt lack of confidence due to the recent actions of Danny with the company. Meanwhile, Harald comes back from the dead after being stabbed to death by his own son…

These last 5 episodes will effectively change your opinion about the Hand. No longer are the Hand simply the evil corrupted force of ninjas trying to ruin Hell’s Kitchen, but now the Hand has a face and now  the line that divides the good guys and the bad guys have blurred. Also, viewers will come to understand that like Hydra, the Hand is everywhere lurking in the shadows or hiding in plain sight. These last five episodes changed not only the way I viewed this whole season, but the way I viewed the Netflix Marvel Universe. Opposite to the Luke Cage show, where I felt like the show started off strong and ended weakly, I felt this show had a rough start but after episode 6 things started getting pretty good. The show never reaches the amazing potential of Daredevil or Jessica Jones, but the show was still fun to watch.

I had a few gripes with the series overall though:

For a super hero show, it felt very mundane and if it wasn't titled “Iron Fist” or if Danny never used the Iron Fist I would never have thought of this show as a Marvel Super Hero show.

The action was great overall, but you can tell some parts looked slowed down as some of the actors involved were not really martial artists.

Some things were not well explained such as who is Colleen Wing and why she had such a chip on her shoulder regarding her family; and Kun Lun was not really explored and fleshed out and although they showed glimpses of its people and place, I felt that budget constraints prevented Marvel from showing the actually setting of Kun Lun.

Some scenes felt disjointed and out of place ie Danny is randomly walking on a street and Joy says “oh I knew I would find you here.” I know New York might not be that big, but Joy knew what street Danny would be on?

And where is the Iron Fist costume?!

Despite these flaws I enjoyed this series overall and I might watch the show from the beginning again, but I hope the studio addresses some of the problems with this series if this show should get a season 2.