Gone Girl - 5 Stars

SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!


Gone Girl is 5 STARS!!! MIC DROPPED MOMENT!! The end!!!

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Just kidding. It would be funny to read a review like that. However I'm not kidding about the movie being 5 Stars! From about 15 minutes into the film to the end, I was hooked! This review is coming from someone who hasn't read the novel. My wife read it and told me a few things about it way back then but I didn't remember anything. From the clips/trailers that I saw, I still wan't that interested. I thought it was going to be boring. Not until the morning of the viewing did I remember that David Fincher had directed it. Once I remembered that, I got excited. As you may know he was the director of several thrillers and twisted plotted films such as Seven, Fight Club, Social Network and Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. With David Fincher at the helm, I knew I was in for a bumpy ride.

The film is about a woman who has gone missing on her 5th wedding anniversary and the town is out to find her and the killer. Of course they all suspect that it is the husband who did it. Ben Affleck plays the husband Nick Dunne who makes you believe his loving marriage is doomed and is crumbling but is worse because of lies and deceits that are coming to the forefront. He is fantastic in this film! Very convincing and gave me a glimpse of what he could do with the Bruce Wayne/Batman character he is going to play in the future. Rosamund Pike plays Amy Dunne the missing wife with a performance that is Oscar worthy for this year! I don't know what other films I remember her from but I will definitely go back to see them. Tyler Perry has his best role yet! I'm not a fan of Tyler Perry when he is not playing Madea but he was fantastic in this film. Neil Patrick Harris plays the stalking ex-boyfriend with such a menacing force that I thought he was the one who kills her. David Fincher manages to pull out the best in all his actors! He is a director who is known for not just taking 3 takes to get the best out of someone but like 80 takes. It really shows in this film. I'm so glad that I didn't read this novel or pay much attention to the clips/trailers that I saw because it added that much more intrigue and mystery. The humor in the film was played in the right tones. I didn't know if I was supposed to laugh because I thought it was all going to be serious but it uses those moments in the best of ways.

The amount of twists and turns that this film took had me on the edge of my seat. It's smart though. I was able to figure things out as it happened but I couldn't figure out the next step. Just when you think it is over, something else happens. The shock and awe of it all had me wanting more. The moment when you find out that Ben Affleck's character is cheating on his wife with his student, I was thinking "Oh they are going to go there." The moment when he throws his wife to the ground, I was thinking "He did it! He is an abuser." But no! The moment when you find out the wife is framing him for murder, you feel bad for accusing Ben's character of doing it. But then I was wondering if he really is going to do it later. I loved the moments when she is telling her story of how she framed him. I loved the moment when she frames Neil's character of rape. And when she kills him.....WHOA!! My wife told me that was added and wasn't in the book. But she loved it as did I. The ending when she comes home and continues to manipulate him was insane! Once you realize how sick and twisted she is you want it to keep going! I even loved the way they ended the film. It is one of those, leave it up to the viewer to find out what happens next. Cliffhanger! It's not a cliffhanger to tell the audience that they are going to make a sequel but makes you think. I love those types of films. It is a-lot like the film Inception. Not everything needs to be finished or resolved.

The cinematography of this film was fantastic. The right amount of darkness and shadows to keep you guessing. The framing and pacing of the film was astounding. The musical score was spot on as well because it falls into the background when needed but still manages to be noticeable. I'm a fan of film scores and I wanted to just listen to parts without the dialogue. The fact that Gillian Flynn who also wrote the novel wrote the screenplay for this film, helps the film be more true to the original story. I liked that. More authors should do that if they can. You can change a few things but keep the meat intact. Adobe Premiere Creative Cloud was used for post-production of the entire film which has never been done before. It was flawless and really gives the post-production industry hope for what is to come. As an editor, this got me excited.

I don't how much longer I can continue to give this film praises but it deserves it. It's definitely not a date night movie and it isn't an uplifting one. I do recommend anyone see it who is into murder mysteries and if you are a David Fincher fan. This is probably my favorite of his. I really loved Social Network and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

5 STARS!! GO SEE IT!!

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - 5 STARS!!!

SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

"I'M HOOKED ON A FEELING! I'M HIGH ON BELIEVING!" This is the perfect way for me to start this review. I'm hooked on a feeling that this is almost and I'm very close to calling this my favorite Marvel film!! It is so good! Avengers is my favorite Marvel film of all but this one is so close to topping that!

It has so much going well for it and it is so hard to not love this movie. Whether you are a comic book fan or not, you can't come away from this movie without thinking you had a great time!

Guardians of the Galaxy is about a young boy who loses his mother and father and is abducted by aliens, becomes an outlaw named StarLord and then joins a group of other "heroes" (Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Rocket Raccoon and Gamora) to form the Guardians of The Galaxy. StarLord steals a mysterious orb that turns out to be a powerful weapon (an infinite stone for the infinite gauntlet). Ronan the Accuser is after the powerful weapon so that he can get revenge and destroy the universe. The plot was great and very simple to follow. For an introduction to a weird cosmic universe to the audience that doesn't know these characters you have to have a simple plot to follow. It allows the audience to get to know the characters and welcome this new world. Or galaxy. No pun intended. This movie has so much humor for a comic book Marvel film and it fits the tone perfectly!

Now granted these are not the original Guardians of the Galaxy from the comics but they still add something from that by adding the character Yondu played by Michael Rooker. His character threw me off a little because he seemed like the southern character that he plays on The Walking Dead because of his accent but still was very good! He also doesn't have his arrow like in the comics or his fin. His character is very tough and someone you don't want to mess with! If they continue to use him in the next Guardians you will probably see more of why. Every single character is very fully developed and paid attention to for a equal amount of time much like they did in Avengers. This is very important because the audience doesn't know these characters and we are going to see them form as a team for the first time. In the Avengers we already knew them all if you had seen the previous films. Chris Pratt who plays Peter Quill/StarLord is perfectly casted! He is very funny, cocky and also has a great tragic story. He was very natural and to me created that same feeling that I had with Robert Downey Jr playing Tony Stark. I don't think anyone else can be Peter Quill/StarLord for me now. The comedic timing with Chris Pratt and all the other characters were great! When StarLord is dancing at the end during the moment where the entire planet is about to be destroyed was so hilarious!! His banter back and forth with Rocket Raccoon was great! Dave Batista as Drax The Destroyer was VERY SURPRISING TO ME!! I have never liked wrestlers turn actors outside of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. But Dave Batista did a fantastic job! Part of that is because of how they wrote his character and how they directed him! They used the best parts of his "acting" skill to the best of his abilities. They didn't ask him to do anything that didn't fit. His character is this muscly brooding alien who is in search of vengeance but talks as though he has a college education. Or he has read the dictionary a bunch of times. At one point during the movie Chris Pratt's character calls him a thesaurus! Which is exactly what you are thinking when you hear him talk! But it's fantastic! He is very funny and lands his deliveries perfectly! There is a scene in the movie where he actually is trying to complement his "friends" and telling them that he cares so much about them but is calling them names in the process! HILARIOUS! Rocket Raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper is another great character! He is tough and funny! He has a lot of brass to be such a "small" guy! His sidekick Groot voiced by Vin Diesel is great as well! He only says 3 words "I Am Groot" but the way he delivers the lines make you think he is actually talking. Rocket Raccoon understands what he says and helps communicate for him. The relationship between Groot and Rocket reminded me alot of Han Solo and Chewbacca. Very closely related!! Zoe Saldana is not an actress that I care that much for but she was fantastic as well as Gamora. Her character had depth and was very tough! She could take down anyone. I LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED SEEING THANOS!!! I have been waiting since the Avengers to see and hear THANOS! WOW! He is in it for a short while but totally got me excited!! Josh Brolin will be playing THANOS in the next Avengers movie. The little piece of him that we get here is perfect. The look and the voice it great! Ronan the Accuser played by Lee Pace was good but was kind of a smaller villain to me. He was kind of like Malekith in Thor The Dark World. He didn't really impact that much. I was more thinking of Thanos as the villain even though he wasn't.

I talked so much about the characters in this movie because they really stood out to me outside of the plot. The development of each of these characters and the relationship that they build is so impactful that you don't care if you can follow the plot or if the plot is too simple. The special effects were amazing! The 3D was used well even though I don't like 3D. The cinematography was something that was ripped straight from the pages of a comic! There were several times that I could have taken a screenshot and pasted right into a comic panel. It was great! The soundtrack was amazing!! Total 70's vibe from the front to back and it made since! The movie feels very much like an 80's action movie with tons of references and feeling. This movie attached to me like Star Wars did when I was a kid. This is today's generation of Star Wars. If I was a kid and had seen this, I would have wanted to own all the toys and comics.

The end scene with Groot dancing to Jackson 5 - I Want You Back was icing on the cake for me! I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan and it just put that extra smile on my face!

The end credits scene was the biggest surprise for me since seeing THANOS at the end of Avengers.  When they pan the camera over and you see HOWARD THE DUCK I ALMOST STOOD UP AND YELLED!!! I grew up watching Howard The Duck movie from the 80's. It was a horrible movie thinking about it now but one of my favorites as a kid! I've seen it almost 20 times. This makes me think that Marvel is actually going to come back and remake HOWARD THE DUCK!! He had the same look from the comics and I just am so excited if they go that route. I know the end credits scenes to these movies usually give you a tease to let you know about the next tie-in but this was just as good for me! One kid in the theater said to his dad "What was that?" and another kid said "Where is Iron Man?" REALLY??? The parents need to show these kids a thing or two. 

I highly recommend this film to comic-book geeks like myself and all movie goers. It gets a perfect score for me and my favorite movie of this summer! 5 STARS!! I might come back and update this review with more details later but I'm tired of typing now.

Transformers: Age of Extinction - 2 STARS

SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

Ok, I'm going to just get this out there....it is pretty bad!! I wish I had not paid 13 dollars to see this movie. Most of these Transformers movies, I have been able to just watch them with a stupid popcorn love and enjoy the special effects but so much of the movie gets in the way of that.

Let me explain.

Transformers: Age of Extinction is about extinction of the robots in the fact that the government is now calling all of them aliens and wants them gone from existence. No longer are they heroes but all enemies to humankind. However there is a CEO of a company called KSI played by Stanley Tucci who wants to create his own Transformers. I know I might be leaving out some the plot but who cares. Mark Walberg plays a mechanic who is the replacement for Shia Labeouf and discovers Optimus Prime when the rest are being hunted. I thought maybe just maybe Mark Walberg could save this movie. He is just as annoying as a character as Shia Labeouf was. If anything I liked Shia better in the first and third Transformers movies. The one-liner comedy dialogue in this movie didn't work for me at all!! The movie takes that comedy and transfers it into each character to make it work. It doesn't. First you have this surfer dude character who is a business partner of Mark Walberg's character who you automatically assume is the comic relief of the film. Well when he dies (which is a pretty cool death scene and I thought would be a device that they would play up more), they immediately transfer that comedic role into Mark Walberg. Then halfway through the movie they transfer that comedy character to Stanley Tucci who actually did a better job at it. Some of his one-liners were actually ok. Mark Walberg's character has a daughter in this movie played by Nicola Peltz who i guessed was a replacement for Megan Fox. Not in the sense that she should would be in love with Mark Walberg like Megan was with Shia but I guess to add a female character that would be a damsel in distress to save. Not needed. She was just as annoying as Megan Fox. Back to the death scene of the surfer dude's character. He is killed by a bomb device that the main villain Lockdown attacks with but it isn't used anymore than that one time. It was pretty cool. The device was insinuated that it was used to create the extinction of the dinosaurs but we don't talk about or use it again. Why not?

Now on to the action sequences. Some of them were ok. In the beginning I was thinking this could be good because of the scenes with the new bounty hunter character Lockdown. He was pretty cool! I loved how he transformed into a Lambo and his voice acting was good. The scene where we first see Galvatron in action and  where Lockdown captures Optimus Prime was the best for me. Only small clips of this where shown in the trailers but it played out very well. The fact that they introduce Galavtron into this film was pretty cool too!! I didn't expect that at all! The only thing it does is it allows the film franchise to continue. He wasn't the main villain and he didn't really do that much. Michael Bay does his thing where he has tons of lens flares and shoots the entire movie like a music video. It was so bad!!! I was getting blinded by so many lens flares! And why so many low angle shots!! On top of that there was tons of blatant product placement and so many american flags. I understand that the man loves his country but does there have to be a big american flag hanging in every scene. There is a scene with Stanley Tucci's character where he is showing off the technology of the new element called transformium and it transforms into Dr. Dre's BEATS pill audio device. REALLY?!? Then there is a scene where Mark Walberg's character runs into a truck and Bud Light beers fall into the street and he just picks one up and drinks it for no reason!!! REALLY?!? Also I didn't need Mark Walberg fighting in all the scenes. The Transformers are supposed to fight each other and save the day. Not Mark Walberg. The fact that the ending scene had Mark Walberg's character fighting the main villain and not get beaten to a pulp is just stupid!! Optimus Prime gets stabbed in the chest (which is where his spark/soul/heart lives) with his own sword and still gets up and wins. WHAT?!? Why not just have Optimus Prime die in this movie! He died in the Transformers The Movie animated film in the 1980's and it was fine. To add to the ending of this movie, the Dinobots! I was really excited when I found out that Grimlock and the Dinobots were going to be in this movie. However they are only in it for 10-15 mins and they are used wrong! This to me was horrible marketing by the film company. Optimus Prime awakens them so that they can join them in the fight but the way he gets Grimlock to agree is by fighting him for 2 seconds and then mounts him to ride into battle. REALLY?!? And if all the other Transformers can talk how come I couldn't at least hear Grimlock say one of his stupid lines? ME GRIMLOCK!! Something!

One last final point is that this movie is just too long!! There were so many times that it could have ended. We didn't need to go to China. 2 hours and 45 mins of crash, bang, boom! I love action and loud movies as much as the next man but it was a little too loud for me. It looked good. The saturation of the Transformers were very pretty and made it easier to distinguish between the Transformers. The only other thing that I liked about the movie was the introduction of the new Autobots Drift and Crosshairs. They were pretty cool! I'm not a big car fan but I was so wanting to test drive these cars. Drift was an awesome pretty blue Bulgatti which I had no idea what it looked like until I saw this movie. And Crosshairs was an awesome green colored Corvette Stingray. There was also a cool Decepticon called Stinger that transforms into a red and black Pagani Huayra. What ever that is! It had a loud revving sound and was awesome! 

Overall, I give this movie 2 stars. If you have to see this movie, rent it from Redbox for $2. It is long and a mess. The only good parts are how the cars looked and the fact they added Galvatron to this franchise. However the way he looked was all wrong! In this movie he transforms into a Optimus Prime truck look-a-like. NO! NO! NO! He is supposed to transform into a gun and at one point a tank. Whatever! I'm supposed to suspend all disbelief and just enjoy this movie but I couldn't. Go see it if you dare!

Think Like A Man Too - 4 stars

HILARIOUS!!!

The gang is back in Think Like A Man Too. This time they are in Las Vegas to celebrate and attend the wedding of Candace (played by Regina Hall) and Michael (played by Terrance J). Kevin Hart holds it down with his hilarious antics! Anything that can go wrong in Vegas happens to the whole cast.

From the moment Kevin Hart's character steps into the hotel to find his gigantic suite that he booked to the moment the whole gang gets locked up in jail for the night, I was laughing out loud! I'm glad that all the jokes weren't given away in the trailers. I think that this is a great cast that can bounce jokes off of each other very well. The new additions of Wendi McLendon-Covey from The Goldbergs TV show and Gary Owen was fantastic! She plays this calm mom who is trying to get her spark back with her husband. The rest of the girl cast take her out for the bachelorette party and she gets wild!!

The best scene in the movie was the club scene with the women who do an impromptu music video rendition of the Bell Biv Devoe song "Poison". The video also stars a cameo by Ronnie DeVoe himself. It was so funny!! I had tears in my eyes because I was laughing so much.

A lot of people will say that Kevin Hart is getting a little too saturated in films and I would agree. He is pretty much 85% of this film. I understand that he has reached huge success and he is living it up to it's fullest but I don't want it to just be 15 mins. I hope that he continues to choose the right roles and doesn't allow us as an audience to get sick of him.

The only draw back to this movie I would say is that I didn't really care too much about the love story part. I just wanted it to be fun antics. I guess that is not the point but still. Also it was a little bit too much comedy all at once. The majority of the movie is joke after joke after joke and then comes to a screeching halt when the wedding comes (which is only 10 mins of the movie). It probably would have benefited more if it was more of the wedding planning sprinkled in between the jokes. I honestly forgot about the wedding.

Overall, I would give this movie 4 stars. Very Funny but the first one was better. I don't think we need another one.

Edge of Tomorrow - 5 Stars

SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

WOW! Talk about a movie that had poor advertising and promotions! This is a film that I will make you say "Wow, I didn't expect that!". When I first saw this trailers for this movie, it really didn't impress me. Seemed like another time travel sort of movie that really wasn't that moving. It kind of reminded me of the movie Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal. I hated the movie. Boy was I glad that I went to go see Edge of Tomorrow anyways. All of the critics were right in saying this was a great movie.

Tom Cruise plays an officer who has never seen combat before but is put into a war against his will. When he is dropped into this war and killed within minutes, he instantly realizes that he has been given the power to restart the day. He starts the day over again being killed over and over again. Talk about horrible Deja-vu! However the way that this happens is so funny and amazing at the same time! In one scene he tries to escape by rolling under a truck and is crushed by the wheel. I was dying laughing! Every-time he dies, he makes the loud yelp even if you don't see the death on camera. As he continues to die, he is able to interact with each solider that he comes across trying to convince them that he has been there before and trying to find out what is happening. Along comes the Special Forces Warrior played by Emily Blunt. The chemistry between her and Tom Cruise is fantastic! She helps him figure out what's happening because it happened to her. With her training, he is supposed to be able to save the world. If he gets injured in the training then she will kill him and forces him to restart the day. The scenes between him and her are great! She continues to kill him in hilarious ways and he is getting so fed up!

I never thought this movie was going to be as engaging and hilarious as this movie was! I found myself on the edge of my seat the whole time. It is a very fast pace movie but doesn't trip over itself at all. The special effects and score went along with the film beautifully. The movie has a very big video-game feel to it. It was Titanfall meets Halo meets Super Mario Bros. I felt myself playing along with the movie. It was like had infinite lives and keep trying to pass the level.

One of the great things about this movie also was the way they play out the sentimental parts. I find that most action movies now a days have to shove a love story between the main characters for the women to go see it. However this film does it in a more subtle way. You can tell that he has feelings for her but they never show it to it's fullest. There isn't a make-out scene at all. At the very end of the film, Tom Cruise's character saves the world as Emily Blunt's character commits suicide. Once he wakes up again for the last time, he finds her and she doesn't know who she is. With a tear in his eye, he just looks at her, smiles and shrugs his shoulder as to say "Thank God You're Alive." That was it. Cut to black! BEAUTIFUL AND BRILLIANT!!!

I highly recommend this film to everyone who enjoys action and comedies. It definitely was the best film I'm seen this summer in the theater so far! I loved X-Men DOFP and Captain America 2 but this one was better for me only because I didn't expect it and it had that extra video-gamer feel to it.

5 STARS!!!

X-Men Days of Future Past - 4 1/2 Stars

SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

So I finally saw X-Men Days of Future Past! WOW! What an action packed adventure!

I'm not the biggest X-Men nerd and haven't read all the comics or know every single thing about the folklore but I know enough that I can get excited anytime a new X-Men film is announced.

When this film was announced I was super excited because I felt like the previous one, X-Men First Class brought back that X-Men feel to me. X-Men The Last Stand and Wolverine Origins were some of the worst X-Men movies ever made! I was really worried after those. However X-Men First Class and The Wolverine brought it back to it's core. While I was very excited for this film, I was trying my hardest to not get spoiled or watch too much promotion. There were a few things that I saw in the trailers (Halle Berry dying and Quicksilver's action scene) that I hoped that I hadn't but it still didn't take anything away.

Ok. Bryan Singer was the perfect director choice for this film! In my opinion, X-2 is the best in the entire franchise so when I heard he was directing this one, I was totally on board! And he didn't disappoint! Every thing from the emotional charges he was able to draw out of each character to the action sequences were great! The fact that you can take that many characters and make sure that each one has a very important role and share the screen flawlessly for the most part is a feat in and of itself. Much like in X-Men First Class, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are perfectly casted as young Professor X/Charles and Magneto/Erik. They bring so much gravitas to those characters and when paralleled with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen it is unbeatable. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine doesn't disappoint ever! I'd love it if he stays Wolverine forever but I know he will retire at sometime. I've heard soon. Nicholas Hoult's Beast character was a huge draw for me as well. The transformation sequences with him changing from Hank to Beast were amazing. And Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique...WOW! She carried this film just as much as Wolverine did for me. I thought she was good as Mystique in First Class but it was hard for me to forget about Rebecca Roman Stamos' version from previous. But then when I saw her progression in this film, it totally sold it for me! She had so much depth and "mystery" to her character. It was great! Peter Dinglage was in this film as Dr. Bolivar Trask was good but nothing special for me. Sad to say it but I kept thinking of Tyrion from Game of Thrones. He will always be Tyrion to me. Now Quicksilver. He was so powerful! From all the comments and reviews that I've heard, everyone is saying that he stole the show. I on the other hand don't think so. His performance was great and I loved what they did with him however I felt like I wanted more! As much as I heard about him, I expected more! But the scene with him in the Pentagon was the best scene in the film besides the very last with Wolverine when we see all the characters back. I could go on and on about each character.

The visuals were amazing! The action sequences were massive, engaging and choreographed seamlessly.  Everything from the opening scene in the future with the Sentinels battling Colossus, Iceman, Blink, Bishop, Sunspot, etc to the climatic battle scene at the end in front of the White House. Still I think the Pentagon scene is my favorite. It was visually stunning and funny at the same time. You really get to see what type of character Quicksilver really is. He is so fast that he is even bored because he is making fun of the fact that he can beat these guys up so quickly. The score that went along with that scene was perfect. The fact that Wolverine never uses his adamantium claws like we know him to use them in this film, is brilliant. He uses them for a short while but not the way we are used to him using them. He does just fine with his bone claws. Pretty cool! 

I felt like it had a great screenplay as well. The fact that they used Wolverine to go back to the past to correct everything was perfect because he doesn't age and if he was to get hurt during the time travel he can heal again. The plot and story were very easy to follow if anything they made it easier by repeating themselves a few times. That could be a bad thing for some. It didn't really bother me. I loved how there were 3 villians in the this film (Dr. Trask, Mystique & Magneto) but they all shared the screen time and screenplay equally. As a matter of fact because I had seen the previous movies, it was hard for me to remember/feel good or bad for Mystique and Magneto. You like them and then you remember oh yeah they are the bad guys. It was brilliant that way. I also loved that at the end of the film when Wolverine comes back to the future, it erases all the bad things about the older X-Men films. If you didn't like that Cyclops and Jean Gray were killed, you don't have to worry about it. They are back. It's like it never even happened. If you didn't like that Storm was killed in this film, it doesn't matter. It didn't happen. The moment that Wolverine sees Jean Gray and goes to her in the doorway to touch her face, I was thinking "Is Cyclops there?" He grabs Wolverine's hand and says "whoa, back off." I was tapping my wife's arm with giddiness!! It was great! I loved Cyclops' character and hoped that he would come back. Plus in the previous films, we never saw him die so there you go. The question is where do they go from here?

The end credits scene. OMG!! EN SABAH NUR!! APOCALYPSE!! The next movie is going to be so crazy! I had heard that Apocalypse was going to be the next movie and that he was in the end credits but I didn't know that they were going to show him in his backstory ancient Egypt younger form. Are they going to tell his backstory that way? Not sure but I love that it is the way that they introduced him to us. For some of you, it probably didn't mean anything. If anything it just confused you even more. Either way it is exciting!

Overall, this film was great! It was better than Amazing Spiderman 2 and Godzilla. It still isn't my favorite comic book movie ever or better than Captain America 2 for this year but it was a very close second. I recommend it. The flaw that I had was the Peter Dinglage character and more Quicksilver. That is why this review is 4 1/2 stars.

GODZILLA!! (2014) - 3 1/2 stars

This is going to be a tough review. It is very similar to my Amazing Spiderman 2 and Man of Steel review. 

SPOILER ALERT!! THIS REVIEW WILL PROBABLY CONTAIN SPOILERS! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE!

Overall, I thought the film was good. It is a great thrill ride and suspenseful drama!

For starters, I'm not the biggest Godzilla fan but I have seen my fair share. I was very excited to see this film since the first announcement. It has been so long since we last had a good Godzilla movie. The 1998 Godzilla that starred Matthew Broderick was a disaster! With this film starring Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe, I was very excited.

The movie starts out with the origins of the beast. At least we think. The opening credits with the archival footage and nuclear bombs was a nice touch and a great way to setup the film. Having recently re-watched the original 1954 film, it was very nostalgic for me. Bryan Cranston was great in his role. He really brought something to the character. The scene were he is frustrated and talking to them about what he knows was very emotional. Ken Watanabe was really good in his role as Dr. Ichiro Serizawa just like in the original film. What really drew me away from the characters was the fact that Bryan Cranston wasn't in it that much. From the trailers that I saw, I thought he would have been one of the main characters. Instead we get Aaron Taylor Johnson who you would know better from Kick-Ass. We follow him around trying to get back to his family back in the US. He was OK but I didn't feel like they promoted him correctly. Elizabeth Olsen who plays his wife was ok but nothing special.

The visuals and sound effects were great!! The size, scope and design of Godzilla and the other monsters are fantastic!! Once they reveal Godzilla, you are amazed! I know that at least 2 or 3 times, I verbally said out loud "OMG!" It was great! The disaster scenes were fantastic with the MUTO in Hawaii causing a tidal wave and Las Vegas breaking through the casinos. I also liked the scene with Aaron Taylor Johnson on the train tracks and the MUTO attacks it. Very intense! It was some of the best disaster porn I have seen since the movie 2012 or Olympus Has Fallen.

It was a great suspense build up to the reveal of the monsters. You get glimpses and you hear them a lot in the first part of the film but it takes a while to build. I liked that suspense. Now here is the problem with that though. I don't think most audiences will like it. They came to see a Godzilla movie and they want him from beginning to end. 

I liked it but I didn't like it. It takes too long! And when the great action fight scenes with Godzilla and the MUTOs happens the director or the editor, cuts away! The monsters see each other and then the director or editor says "Ok, let's go back to the humans!" WHAT?!? I wanna see them fight!! I get it. You are teasing the audience. Ken Watanabe's character at one point says "Let Them Fight!" I agree! Let them fight and let us see it! We do get a great battle between Godzilla and the other monsters but it is a little too late. I wanted to see more and earlier. But let me tell you, when they do fight, it is awesome! Very big and EPIC! Godzilla is fantastic! VERY BIG!!! I kept waiting to see if they were going to use the atomic breath and they did!! It was so cool!! Godzilla's back lights up and then BAM!!! He even opens up the last MUTO's mouth and breathes down his neck! WHAT?!? AMAZING! That is what I wanted to see more of. 

Overall, I would say it was good! The build to the reveal is good and the climax is great. But I just wish they had more. Like I said with Amazing Spiderman 2 and Man of Steel, it was good in parts but not amazing! I would have liked a little less human story. It kind of got into the way. I didn't care about them except Bryan Cranston but he wasn't in it enough. Also, there was a little too much convenience! Something bad was going to happen and then oh let's just let them get loose or find safety. Every-time! I understand it some of the time but all of the time?!? I didn't expect Elizabeth Olsen's character to live but she does. So convenient! Kill off some of the characters besides Bryan Cranston. I would say if you go see it, it should be in IMAX! I would recommend the film but lower your expectations some. I might actually bump up my review to 4 stars but I need to see it again.

3 1/2 stars out of 5.

The Amazing Spider-man 2 - 3 Stars

SPOILER ALERT!!! IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS MOVIE, PLEASE DON’T READ THIS REVIEW! I WILL PROBABLY SPOIL VERY IMPORTANT PLOT POINTS! 

Now that is out of the way, WOW! What an interesting movie. Let me start by saying, it is a good movie but not Amazing! After seeing the first Amazing Spiderman movie and really enjoying it, I was very excited to see the second. The marketing on this movie has been great but a little saturated. I managed to not watch too much promotion for fear that I would have seen 80% of the action in the movie. Little did I know that the entire Rhino sequences would be placed right in the trailers. Ok, let’s start with the characters. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are great as Peter Parker/Spiderman and Gwen Stacy. The chemistry between the two comes off on screen in a fantastic way! It probably helps that they are in a relationship in real life. However it’s not a natural thing to do. I don’t think Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s relationship ever came across to the screen in that natural way. One thing I didn’t like about this Spiderman character was that he had this heavy New York accent that seemed to come out of nowhere. As Peter, I couldn’t even here it but all of a sudden as Spiderman he became a New Yorker. Very weird! A lot of people might not catch it but I did. Jamie Foxx is a great actor. However in this film, all I kept seeing was Jamie Foxx. As an actor that is playing a villain in a superhero movie, I should see you lose yourself to that character. Kind of how I feel Andrew Garfield does with Spiderman. Silly quips and cheesy one-liners for Jamie Foxx’s character as Electro were kind of stupid. Changing his voice with the electric synthesizer sound didn’t really help him lose himself as an actor. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the sound. It was pretty awesome. Dane Dehaan as Harry Osborn was really good. He was supposed to come off as this “I’m better than you” type of attitude and I think he pulled it off well. You could feel the evil inside of him. I also believe Dane Dehaan is going to be the next Leonardo Dicaprio.  I would love to see the two of them in a film. To wrap up this segment, I hated Paul Giamatti as Rhino! So stupid and unnecessary. I understand they are trying to set it up for the Sinister Six movie but he was awful!! Bad accent and horrible acting. Totally took me out of the mood I was in. Especially the end scene!! The same can be said for Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn.

As far as the visuals/action, the new changes that they made to the Spiderman suit were great improvements.  The white eyes instead of the black. The belt they added. The web shooters being more integrated and upgraded. Adding little things like fabric folds for when he is swinging so that it catches the wind, just gave it that more punch. The action scenes were awesome! I loved the two big action sequences with Electro. Great use of sound and visuals. The score was very nicely done as well. The mix done for Electro was a cool new trick. Hans Zimmer has always been one of my favorite composers. However there was one scene where Peter is trying to put together a graph of all the clues about his parents death in his bedroom and there is a montage with the song “Gone, Gone, Gone” by Philip Philips. That was totally out of place!! It was like what are we watching?? Am I in a romantic comedy now all of a sudden? It was totally out of left field and removed me again from the movie! So stupid!! The way they created Electro’s costume wasn’t very creative! Basically they stole the same design that was used for Dr. Manhattan from The Watchmen and combined it with Mr. Freeze from Batman and Robin. Very un-original!!! I understand you can’t do the comic thing with the giant yellow bolt on the head but change it up some how.  I felt like the visual effects of the electricity coming off his hands and body was pretty cool and I liked the effect of him transporting himself into the outlets but I still had issues with the costume and makeup.

As for the plot, I felt like it was all over the place. The most interesting aspects of the film were the chemistry between Peter and Gwen. I also liked the chemistry between Peter and Harry. However they really didn’t spend a lot time developing the relationship between the latter. Why was Electro so mad at Spiderman? Did he really have to get so obsessed with Spiderman after he only met him once? How come we didn’t spend more time with his character Max before he changed into Electro? Why did we have to repeat the same plot steps that were done with Jim Carrey’s The Riddler character in Batman Forever? Go back and re-watch it. It’s the same thing! Again WHY IS RHINO THERE?? Why did we only spend 5 mins with Chris Cooper in a bed? (Who is not really dead by the way.) How did Harry Osborn become the Green Goblin and be able to fly on the glider so easily? Oh and I hated that Gwen was able to help Peter figure out the magnetic web shooters so easily!! Why is she helping?? Why is Aunt May taking nursing classes? I think they had originally planned to use Aunt May as a nurse to help with the death scene of Gwen Stacy but it ended up on the cutting room floor. I thought the plot needed more adjustment. There were way too many villains and it seemed as though the director didn’t really learn much from Sam Raimi’s Spiderman 3.

The best part of this movie to me was the death of Gwen Stacy! Sort of! I loved how they basically took the comic book pages and put them on screen. Slight changes but still gave us the death scene us comic book fans wanted. Everything from the costume to the way she was killed. I knew it was coming but most of the audience that was with me didn’t and they just gasped!! I did too actually! It was very emotional and impactful! The pain on Spiderman/Peter’s face and actions are fantastic! Again I think this plays into the relationship that Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have. The way the movie shows the passage of time after her death is really cool with Peter standing at the gravesite during the seasons. Now here is where the “Sort of” comment that I made earlier comes into play. I think they should have waited to kill off Gwen until the 3^rd movie. In the comics, Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane are friends. They should have built that friendship in this movie and then used the 3^rd movie to introduce the love building between Mary Jane and Peter Parker after her death. How do you introduce Mary Jane as her friend now? I also think the death scene is where they should have ended the movie. They could have shown Peter Parker trying to cope with the death of his girlfriend and trying to get back to reality but struggling. Movies don’t always have to have a happy ending. Leaving it on a sad note and have the audience wanting to come back for more would have been better. Instead we get a quick little speech from Aunt May and then another audio recording from Gwen’s graduation speech just like we did with Uncle Ben’s voice mail from the last movie. Go back and watch the end of Amazing Spiderman 1. IT’S THE EXACT SAME THING!!! And then we get the stupid Rhino scene! Sure let’s have Rhino shooting at police officers and a crowd just chanting instead of running for fear of their lives. Then let’s bring in a little kid to save the day and have him talk to Spiderman for 5 mins while the Rhino just stands there. It was so stupid and lazy!!

Despite what it might sound like in this review, it was a good movie. I had fun at times watching it and it is a visually stunning movie. I just wish they had more to offer after the first one was such a great re-boot for me. I’ll probably watch it again and buy it on Blu-Ray. I’ll give this movie a 3-star rating.

NEBRASKA - 5 Stars

Every year I usually pay close attention to the Oscar movie race and watch pretty much all of them before the Oscar show. However this year was a little different. I didn't really know much about the nominations. I still haven't seen them all but caught a little teaser of this film during the Oscars. So going into this film, I wasn't completely interested. This film completely took me by surprise! I think the best way to go into viewing this film is by not knowing anything about it at all. Even my wife who doesn't like "old movies", liked it. The reason why I say "old movies" is because it is in black and white. She doesn't like movies that look "old" will automatically categorize it in the "old movie" genre.

This movie had everything! It had so much charm than I had seen in a film in a long time. Bruce Dern stars as an aging-alcoholic father who thinks he won a million-dollars in a sweepstakes and takes his family along for the ride. Bruce Dern is brilliant in this role! He reminded me of several older people that have this same mentality. Getting older is something that we all have to do but how we handle it or how we handle those who get there before us, is important. Playing a role like this doesn't seem too challenging to the average person but he brings this character to a vision that most everyone can see. You will find that you know someone that resembles this character. You might even fear that you will become this character one day or that one of your parents will. June Squibb who plays the mother role is fantastic! She had me dying with laughter! At first, she seems to be a mean old woman but then you grow to love her. Will Forte as the son was pretty good as well but the main focus for me was Bruce Dern's character.

The cinematic choice to shoot the movie in black and white was a great move! It was funny because my wife and I were watching the film at first and trying to guess what colors things where. Like I said "I wonder if the car they are driving is red?". And she would say something like "I bet his hat is blue.". After about 30 mins into the movie, we forgot that the film was in black and white. After the movie was over, we watched some of the making of and was like "Oh yeah, the car is red, I forgot all about that."

I felt like the score was composed beautifully by Mark Orton. For majority of the film, you don't even recognize that it's there because it's so subtlety. It blends into the scenes so seamlessly. It really almost brings the film back into the early 30's movie era before music was used so heavily.

This movie to me was exactly what a best picture nomination should look and feel like. A great story with fantastic acting, great direction and great cinematography. 

This movie is 5 stars for me!! I will buy the Blu-Ray!