Favourite Movies of 2016

1. Captain America: Civil War - Avengers 2.0, this marvel flick finally brings in Spider-man! 
2. The Jungle Book - A classic tale reborn with superb special effects and top notch acting! 
3. 10 Cloverfield Lane - Tense and claustrophobic, John Goodman surprises! 
4. Arrival - Science fiction at its best with a scene stealing performance by Amy Adams! 
5. Finding Dory - A sequel that was truly worth the wait with a heartwarming story to boot! 
6. The Conjuring 2 - A horror sequel that breaks the trend of bad horror sequels! 
7. Sully - Starring Tom Hanks, directed by Clint Eastwood, dreams really do come true!
8. Doctor Strange - A unique origins story with an amazing cast and terrific direction! 
9. Lights Out - Highly original, smart, scary and emotional, it also ends with a shocker! 
10. Star Trek: Beyond - Fun and exciting, this chapter finally goes deeper with its characters! 

Doctor Strange Review

Story: Dr. Stephen Strange's (Benedict Cumberbatch) life changes after a car accident robs him of the use of his hands. When traditional medicine fails him, he looks for healing, and hope, in a mysterious enclave. He quickly learns that the enclave is at the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying reality. Before long, he's forced into choosing between a life of fortune or a life of being the only defence for the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence. 

The 14th film in the ever growing Marvel saga, we now see magic introduced to the cinematic universe. You are spellbound from the moment the movie starts, even with the new logo for Marvel they had my heart pumping.

 A new origins story now having come after one of the biggest hits of this past summer, Captain America: Civil War, Strange had a lot to live up to, and it did its part. Coming into Doctor Strange I really was unsure of where the film would go. I went to see the film in both IMAX 3D and 3D so I have seen the film twice now, it is a joyride of a film. But, on first viewing, I found the film was going so far into the recesses of unknown realities that my own mind started to bend.

Visually, the film is astounding, strange and scary at parts (one should note that the director is known for his horror films such as Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose), man does Marvel know how to pick them. The sequence where Strange is first given a taste of the ancient one's abilities, its like going on a roller coaster. Hold your breathe and prepare to be flown across the known universe. So much visual creations are thrown at you that it was hard at times to keep focus. If you keep your eyes from melting you'll see some visual references to the work of Steve Ditko (Spider-man, Doctor Strange), who did some crazy designs within the comic book that they included them in the film. The bending of realities and the way they are able to visually portray magic is beyond amazing. Every time they fight its like re-watching Inception. Yes, there are some huge fight sequences that seem to take visual cues from that amazing mind bending film by Christopher Nolan. I am sure it was all just coincidence, its great anyways too and makes the fight scenes even crazier. The end battle is also flipped on its head and is another visual achievement, Doctor Strange and The Jungle Book defiantly deserve Oscar nods for their work. An note to the director, get out to New Line Cinema about doing A Nightmare on Elm Street, with what you've done on Doctor Strange and Sinister I am sure you'd be able to make Freddy scary again.

   Let's get the whitewashing controversy over with shall we. Tilda Swinton plays the ancient one, there has been more than one ancient one, so there are different ethnic groups who take on the role of the ancient one. Tilda is terrific, amazing and was a thrill to watch. She brought a smile to my face as her and Ben meet. Its a great back and forth. Benedict is by far a unique choice to star in a film such as this. He brings a certain melancholy  to his role, and his accent is actually pretty good. He trys to make Wong (played by funny enough Benedict Wong) to laugh, get into Beyonce. He does do both, when he laughs its at a surprising moment. Rachel McAdams, who stars as Strange's estranged lover and college plays her part with great strength and realism. Its the scenes she and Ben share that I loved the most. The two have a very powerful scene in Strange's apartment when he accuses her about wanting to get back with him. Christine trys to tell him that there's more out their than just his hands and then he bluntly asks "what, like you!" The power in this scene is so real, so emotional. It just proves the strength and pure talent these actors have. Its not like that scene in Spider-man 3 between Mary Jane and Peter, the actors play to their strengths and play the characters with real push.  Chiwetel who plays Mordo, friend to Stephen, goes mysterious with his role and does a great job at keeping Mordo from going too evil or too good. He's in-between, neutral. He sides with what he believes the ancient one stands for. He and Wong are powerful in their roles, they play their characters with true strength. As with the whole cast not one of them plays it hammy or sloppy or cheesy. Again, going back to Spider-man 3, the scene where Peter and Mary Jane are on the bridge as she has to break up with him, they both are crying but it feels forced, it doesn't feel real. What I wish happened was that Tobey played his part less with forced tears and more power, some angst. Again, I love that movie but in Doctor Strange the actors are serious, no funny business. They play the parts like their life is on the line.

    Mads Mikkelsen (who played Hannibal Lector) plays Kaecilius, that goes against the ancient one in order to bring the dark force Dormammu in order to keep people from dying. He plays his part, like the rest of the cast, with true strength and vulnerability.  I felt Mads played a great role and was the most engaging villain since Jeff Bridge's turn in Iron Man. It has been an issue that Marvel never seems to have any villains that are very engaging or interesting. I feel Mads does break the chain, he's an astounding actor and thats what is needed more of. A good villain consists of either one who was a friend or ally to the hero or a very character driven actor. Here's my list of favourite villains: Jeff Bridges from Iron Man, Tom Hiddleston from The Avengers, Robert Redford from Winter Solider, and Sebastian Stan from Winter Solider/Civil War.

Doctor Strange has astounding 3D visuals, a great musical score, a strong cast and a brilliantly original well written origins story. This film is the best movie so far in the marvel series. I love DC and their movies too, Man of Steel was a grande action packed superman movie and suicide squad gave us the cinematic representation of Harley Quinn!!! Plus Batman v Superman, while the battle was short it had a great performance by Ben Affleck, but Marvel sadly started out sooner, 2008, and while they have had films that are mediocre (Thor: The Dark World, The Incredible Hulk) but they learned from their mistakes and kept trying to make better films, Thor Ragnarok looks to improve on what went wrong in Thor 2, Iron Man 3 mostly made up for Iron Man 2 and Winter Solider defiantly improved on Captain America: The First Avenger.

Rating - A

Inferno Review

Story: When famous symbologist Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks) wakes up in an italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) in the hopes of gaining his memories back. With the government hot on their tails Robert and Sienna race against time to stop a madman (Ben Foster) from releasing literal hell on earth. 

It's been 7 years since we last saw the cinematic appearance of the symbology professor Robert Langdon, too long in fact, and it has been with great excitement and glee that I was overjoyed to find a new follow-up has been unleashed.

 Based on the 2013 novel of the same name Inferno, the 4th book in the Robert Langdon series, we see a different side to Robert as events spiral out of his control and we are lost in the dark as he is. The difference, he's suffering from amnesia. Its an interesting change to a character who has been known to use his brain a lot. Another difference from previous instalments is the change in from religious undertones about the church and a focus on Dante's inferno and over-population.

Ron Howard returns to direct Tom Hanks in this third adaptation, I could never imagine one of these without Ron Howard. He gives these films a quality that you don't get in most franchise pictures. While these films are not oscar worthy, they are fun packed action thrillers that make you think.

I will start with the major changes this film adaptation makes, it does have a bit of a more hollywood feel as its gained controversy for its change to the ending. With past films/books Dan Brown's books have endings that leave you thinking. Ron Howard's adaptations do take some liberties with the material, Angels & Demons makes a small alteration having a character who died in the book survive in the film. The virus that is set to be unleashed is more of a threat in the film than in the book and while in the book its more tragic, the film sets itself with a more less darker ending. The change will have readers of the books up in arms. I, however, feel the change does not effect the story and does still provide an ending that can still be talked about.

Inferno is a very interesting and fascinating beast as it deals with the subject of over-population and how the main antagonist seeks to decrease it. The twist in the book is that prior to anyone's knowledge the virus had already been released before the events of the novel and there really was
nothing anyone could do. However, this version does not kill but upon release will make half the earth's population infertile. The overall new ending, making the virus more of a deadly infection and W.H.O being able to seal it before exposure, I find is even more tragic as without the said infection life on earth will end for us. It is true, our species has grown immensely with more animal species going extinct and the ever coming true fear that one day humans may go extinct the way of the dodo bird. Inferno's new ending is more tragic in the way that we just sweep the problem under the rug when something like this can have one of the worst impacts in human history.

Compared with the first two films Inferno has a less bigger budget, having being made on a 75 million, and it is the best thing to happen to this series. Why? The previous films used a fair amount of CGI and I felt this took you out of the movie. Its true that it had to be done in order for the sets to look like the locations in the books and a cast of highly well known talent (Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Ewan McGregor) In the end I found that the lower budget gave the film a more grounded, realistic feel. The cast (Felicity Jones, Ben Foster, Omar Sy, Irrfan Khan) is not as famous but is very talented and multi-cultural, diverse. One major aspect of the film that I loved was no CGI. This added to the overall realism. It made the film even more enjoyable in IMAX as the scenery is a wonder to behold.

One quick aspect of Inferno is that Hans Zimmer did return to score. I'll go into more detail about the score on my other site but will give a quick rundown of my feelings. I was not fond of the electronic aspect he took with Inferno and preferred the orchestral flow he did with Angels & Demons. Hans brings back themes from the first two films and does have tracks without the electronic tunes.

Inferno is a perfectly solid adaption, with the returns of Ron Howard as director, Tom Hanks as the lead, Hans Zimmer as the composer and Brian Grazer as producer. Cinematographer Salvatore Totino also returns, continuing to give the series its epic scope.

The sad news is this will probably be the final film in this franchise as even with the lower budget the film only made barely over 150 mill, the budget of Angels & Demons. Tom and Ron do a fantastic job though in closing the doors as we finally get some insight something we never learned, his love life. I was also pleased with the nightmare sequences as they were a perfect treat and another part of the film I had been looking forward to.

Goodbye Professor, you took us on a marvellous journey and as one great writer once said;

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end - Ernest Hemingway

3 1/2 out of 4

Jack Reacher 2 Review

Story: Jack Reacher must uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name. On the run as a fugitive from the law, Reacher uncovers a potential secret from his past that could change his life forever. 

  Reacher, Jack Reacher. Is he the next James Bond for American audiences? Has Tom decided to take over the role of badass cop aka Bruce Willis. Who knows, as far as this franchise goes looks like a bit of both.

    Jack Reacher is an interesting character as he's a drifter, one who drifts from town to town looking for something or someone. In the first film, Jack sought to put an old rival behind bars, now he's gotten entangled in one woman's quest to find the truth. For starters, the sequel has some good points. Cobie Smoulders smoulders on screen as the new female lead, she even by passes Rosamund Pike, as she stands toe to toe with Tom. Honestly like Ilsa Faust from the new MI5, Cobie needs to come back for another one. One of my favourite moments when she and Reacher argue about how he treats women, how he treats her.

    As supporting roles go Danika Yarosh reminded me of a young Patricia Arquette, she's strong willed, fierce, firert, and spirited. Aldis Hodge who plays Officer Espin plays an interesting role of one who just wants to do the right thing and I feel is like a young Jack Reacher. A surprise note is that he starred in two Die Hard films, both the third chapter and the most resent one. These films have a habit of casting actors from Die Hard films, Jai Courtney from the first film (Jack Reacher: One Shot) played the son of Bruce Willis from A Good Day to Die Hard). This film actually does follow a similar story, A Good Day to Die Hard deals with Bruce 's character trying to rework his relationship with his son just as Jack Reacher deals with the thoughts that he may have a daughter. While both deal with the similarities with their kids, Jack's story is more mysterious as he does not know if she is her daughter. It also adds a more emotional backbone to the film with a truly emotional climax.

The sequel is not without its downsides. While the father/daughter side plot drives Reacher's character and develops him as more than just a drifter, the main plot has much to be desired. It starts off easy enough as the woman Jack comes to see is behind bars. He makes an effort to help, even when she doesn't want it. He saves her, she makes an effort to do things the right way. They break out
and are on the run. The story doesn't pick up for a while and you're left wondering whats going on. It turns out to be some sort of money laundering situation with her two lieutenants dead and she is accused of doing it. Then there's this clean up service, a general who is wanting the mess cleaned up , fake guns being sold? I'm still a little confused. Jack's first outing was simple, did the guy kill all those people? Simple and to the point. As well as the villain, Werner Herzog was a way better villain. And this time, Jack Reacher does not kill the bad guy? He said in the first film that a prison would not hold him, Werner, so in order to stop him he kills him. Simple and to the point.

  Honestly, the first film has grown on me. Christopher Mcquarrie was a great director making the first film in the vein  of action films of the 80s like Road House. There was a limit to the music, a car chase without a background score actually makes you focus on what's going on. It was gritty, intense, shocking, surprising and the story was tight. With the sequel the tone is lifted a bit, its lighter in tone and more in tune with today's action flicks with a love interest, sprinkled humour, an action packed score and a sprawling tale about government conspiracies. Henry Jackman is the shining light as I love him as a composer and he does a terrific job at making a score thats fully entertaining and emotional.

As with the length of the two films I found chapter two to be a little too long. Again, the story in parts didn't seem to go anywhere, it dragged. Action heavy or not the story I wish was more to the point, as I keep saying.  I'd say the main issue with the sequel is with its story and changes in tone.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is a sequel that is a different beast with more of a lighter tone, more action and a sprawling story. Its one adventure that takes Jack on a journey of self discovery. What really makes this sequel stand up to the first film is its leads. Cobie and Tom work so well together its like magic. Can Jack Reacher reach the heights of M:I? No. Is it an enjoyable time at the movies?its not bad. I love Tom Cruise and this film was a good solid thriller. New lead Cobie Smoulders is excellent.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back has a solid cast, entertaining action scenes, and a solid emotional backbone that develops Jack's character but lacks a coherent story.

3 out of 4 stars

Jason Bourne Review

Story: The CIA's most dangerous operative is drawn back out of the shadows to uncover more explosive truths about his past.

It's been 10 years since Matt Damon last played the amnesiatic spy Jason Bourne, now he's back with director Paul Greengrass as they bring back our favourite action hero. Times have changed  and now black-ops and government agencies have taken the war on terror online as what is known as cyber-warfare.

The new film brings into the fold a new set of actors and characters. Alicia Vikander plays the role of CIA head of cyber ops division Heather Lee.  She is fantastic in the role and brings great dimension to the character. I found her very believable in the role and felt she was excellent going toe to toe with both Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones and Vincent Cassel. Vincent plays the role of a Blackbriar asset who holds a grudge against Bourne for the aftermath following the events of Ultimatum. Vincent is terrific in the role and is a step up from the previous antagonist from Legacy. Vincent's asset has more of an arc and is more of a well rounded character. Tommy plays CIA director Robert Dewey and as always he nails the part. Following in the line of excellent actors from Chris Cooper and Joan Allen, to David Strathairn and Edward Norton he gives a resounding performance and he is a pure joy to watch. His and Vincent's characters hold secrets to Bourne's past and is a nice change having the asset and government agent have past connections.

The cast is excellent, the only complaint I have is the story needs to be more tightly knit. I just found that too much was going on and was a little hard to follow. A second viewing might be beneficial.

The actor from Nightcrawler, Riz Ahmed plays the head of social media enterprise that CIA Robert Dewey helped get started. It's nice to see Riz have a decent role in a summer action blockbuster. He plays one of the side characters that was a bit breezed over. Also, Julia Stiles returns as Nicky Parsons who informs Bourne about new information about his past connections to Treadstone. Both Riz and Julia are excellent in their parts and Julia gives a performance that adds new layers to her character.

Another great return is John Powell, composer of the first three movies, who this time teams up with composer David Buckley (The Good Wife). It's excellent to hear the old themes again.

The fifth instalment in this action franchise, Jason Bourne, holds up pretty well with a story that might be a little too complicated to follow at first but has a terrific cast and a great return by Matt Damon, John Powell and Paul Greengrass. With a franchise still full of more stories to tell, this series is still going strong. Next, The Cross Conspiracy? The Bourne Betrayal?

Rating: B+

X-men Apocalypse Review

Story: With the emergence of the world's first mutant, Apocalypse, the X-men must unite to defeat his extinction level plan.

Teased at the end of 2014's Days of Future Past, the story of the x-men's battle with the first mutant Apocalypse has come. Bryan Singer returns to direct this concluding chapter of the prequel trilogy which started with Matthew Vaughn's 60s auctioneer X-men: First Class and continued with Bryan Singer's return to the franchise X-men: Days of Future Past.

X-men: Apocalypse sees the rise of the most powerful mutant in the comics history and the true birth of the original x-men, Storm, Jean Grey and Cyclops. What is also worthwhile noting this film does all it can to keep true to the comics and come full circle within its 16 year cinematic history.

The film starts off with an exciting prologue narrated by the new Xavier (James McAvoy) and shows the beginnings of the first mutant apocalypse. After he is betrayed and buried alive we travel forward to the 1980s where we finally see the origins of the first x-men, Scott Summers. He's played with snarky intent by new comer Tye Sheridan. Tye makes for a much better Scott as he adds more layers to the character and actually makes him more suave, a more bad boy persona. Alexandra Shipp plays the role of Ororo Munroe aka Storm. We see her character's origins as she starts off as a mutant using her powers for thievery and she didn't always have the white hair. She is the first to meet apocalypse and become the first of his four horsemen. Alexandra is actually quiet good in the role, a surprise for an actress new to the film scape. She does a great job with the accent and is very defining in her role. I do feel Alexandra loves playing the character, it shows.

Time has passed and both Xavier and Eric are living their lives, Xavier has finally opened his school for the gifted and has become ever closer to the Patrick Stewart version of 2000. As for Eric, his character is living in peace with a good job and a wife and child, things are good. Raven, meanwhile, has become a saviour to mutants as she hunts down mutants in need. She rescues Nightcrawler (played wonderfully by Kodi Smit-McPhee) from a fighting ring similar to the one that contained Logan in the first film. The new angel is also seen in the fight as Nightcrawler's adversary. New comer Ben Hardy plays Angel and while there's not much of a backstory to his character (he got more of a backstory in The Last Stand) he eventually becomes one of the four horsemen and his transformation is both cool and terrifying. Olivia Munn (from the gamer program Attack of the Show) surprises as the character Psylocke. She is fantastic in the role and even did sword training for it. Her costume is identical to the one in the comics and she clearly is playing the role of Psylocke. She too becomes a follower of Apocalypse and is the one who leads him to Angel. The remaining Horseman is Eric, who goes down a dark path in this film. We see Michael Fassbender tap into Magneto's inner struggle to be good like Charles and live along side man, but when the family he tried to build is accidentally killed it triggers his inner anger and out of spite he joins Apocalypse in his mission to remake the world.

As villains go I was most excited about Apocalypse and how fascinating of a character he is. The costume is nearly spot on but one thing that is done right is the feeling of dread when he is near. I would smile whenever I saw him on screen but that is just due to the fact that I love his character so much. Oscar Issac does an amazing job humanizing him and acting under all the layers of prosthetics. Apocalypse is by far the most deadliest villain the x-men have faced as he uses Magneto to tap in to his inner power which leads to some of the biggest disaster sequences in the franchise. For those worried about how Apocalypse may be portrayed have no fear as the character stays true to the comic and is a true terror.

The film also sees a return of Alex Summers, Moira MacTaggert, Quicksilver and Stryker, as well as Wolverine. There is a terrific segment that sets up the future finale for Wolverine and finally brings the Weapon X story to the screen in the proper way.

And before I forget we also see new intros to such beloved X-men as Jubilee and Jean Grey. Sophie Turner is beautiful as Jean. She plays the role with amazing strength and portrays Jean's inner struggle perfectly, its a great start to reworking the eventual story of the phoenix (and yes there is an awesome easter egg in the final battle which confirms her eventual turn into the fiery bird).  Vietnamese actress Lana Condor plays Jubilee and while she gets more screen time than she has previously and looks great in a costume inspired by her appearing in the 90s cartoon she sadly still does not use her powers. Fingers crossed her role gets enlarged down the road.

Music wise John Ottman returns for his third go around as composer. He is at his all time best in this series and it will be sad to see him go as he collaborates solely with Bryan Singer (Like Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass on the Bourne movies). He's done another amazing job composing the score for this epic finale and it is great to see him and Bryan complete something that they started together (though Michael Kamen scored X-men with Bryan Singer back in 2000 before his death.)

X-men: Apocalypse is a brilliant finale to the excellent prequel trilogy and is a major step above X-men: The Last Stand. To be frank I feel other critics were very harsh with this film as they saw it as nothing more than a boring, dull retread of things that have been done before. I for one was never once bored with the film, found it extremely entertaining and feel that the familiarity was a good thing. Other issues had been with the length of the film, lack of original villain and over abundance in action scenes. To clarify the length of the film was never an issue for me as the film flew by with excellent pace. Being a fan of Oscar Isaac I loved his portrayal of Apocalypse and felt him to be the first villain in the series to create world wide destruction. Maybe overall he's not the most original villain in film but within the x-men series he would only closely resemble the villain Sebastian Shaw as he too wanted to recreate the world but for mutants, apocalypse sought to rid the world of humanity and the weak, only the strong would survive.

If you loved the previous instalments or just plain love superhero movies, this one is a must see. Maybe not as excellent as Days of Future Past, Apocalypse is still a fun popcorn film to see this summer.

Rating: A-

The Nice Guys Review

Story: A mismatched pair of private eyes investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles.

Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe and Shane Black have made the new Lethal Weapon. If you have never seen the Lethal Weapon movies, you should. While Shane only wrote the first two instalments of Lethal Weapon, he has become a nifty director (just check out Iron Man 3, one of the best Iron Man movies in my opinion)

Right off the bat,  Nice Guys introduces us to the characters of Russell and Ryan. One is a lone shark who hunts down bad guys for cash while the other is a widower / detective who helps look for people in exchange for cash.

The two get wrangled up together when a girl named Amelia hires Russell to take care of some guys who are asking around about her. Eventually Ryan and Russell team up to help find Amelia, as she is under threat of death. Ryan' s daughter in the film (played by Angourie Rice) helps out and she so reminds me of a young Naomi Watts. Matt Bomer (Magic Mike) appears as a gun for hire and he plays the villain role well. Keith David and Kim Basinger pop up as other characters looking for Amelia. Keith is fantastic and Kim plays it like she did in L.A Confidential.

John Ottman and David Buckley compose the score and its surprisingly witty and pretty good. David will be teaming up with another John...Powell, for Mr. Bourne's return.

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe make the movie as the two have such solid chemistry. Russell is tough as nails and Ryan is really bumbling hilarious. They both make the movie a fun and entertaining romp. Shane Black, of course, has given them a fantastic script to work from.

Shane Black's third movie is a great throw back to 70s action comedies and benefits from some terrific chemistry between its leads.

By the way, as news may have it, Shane Black is set next to direct and write a new instalment in a classic 80s franchise. And a certain governa may return.

The Predator will be back!

The Nice Guys Rating - B+

Captain America: Civil War Review

Story: Political interference into The Avengers activities causes a rift to form between former allies Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr).

The second big superhero flick to hit theatres this year, the last being the exhilarating Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It is, in reality, a war between DC cinematic universe and Marvel's cinematic universe as the two are competing as to which is the better cinematic superhero juggernaut. One difference though is Zack Snyder is fast tracking the Justice League movie while Disney made 5 movies in 4 years that built up the characters backstories leading up to The Avengers. Warner Bros rebooted Superman and then did a direct sequel building on the aftermath of Superman's destruction of Metropolis.

 Captain America: Civil War plays out as the epic conclusion to one of the most highly rated Marvel trilogies. The First Avenger was a classic introduction to one of Marvel's celebrated heroes, The Winter Solider was the Bourn modelled entry where our hero learned the troublesome ideals of Shield and the conspiracies hiding within the government. Civil War continues the look and tone of the previous chapter and also goes on to tie up loose ends started in Winter Soilder.

With the final chapter, Marvel adapts the popular comic book series Civil War to the big screen which sees Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man) take on a full on role in the movie. New additions to the series rooster include Black Panther from Wakanda and your friendly neighbourhood Spider-man from Queens.

With so many heroes in one film and such an enormous cast you would think the film would feel bloated and it doesn't, essentially the film is a follow up to Age of Ultron as well. It was terrific to have Robert Downey Jr. have a pivotal role in the movie and he really has a fantastic story arc in this film where we get a better understanding of his parents and what happened to them. Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie continue to develop their characters from the last two Captain America movies. Canadian starlet Emily VanCamp finally gets a bigger role here and shines in the moments she gets to delve deeper into her character. As for the rest of the cast everyone gets a chance to shine and continue to build on their characters.

There is a villain here who gets The Avengers to fight with one another, similar to what Lex Luthor did with Batman and Superman. Daniel Bruhl plays the bad guy here and he never reveals his true motives, only to someone outside The Avengers. While Lex reveals his master plan all to Superman! There are some moments in Civil War that better those in DC's BVS, but its a different universe with characters and different plot threads. I enjoyed both movies, but yes Civil War was actually more serious than Batman v Superman. It was more real while BVS seemed too dark to truly be real, that and the amount of CGI. Its Superman but there just seems to be a huge amount of CGI that isn't needed in places. At least Civil War works well with its bigger use of practical effects.

  Each one of the two new characters get the perfect moments in the film. I am a huge Spider-man fan, I loved Tobey Maguire as Spider-man. Tom Holland plays the role of a young Peter Parker, the youngest so far. As with Aunt May. It adds for some great humour as (SPOILER!) Tony Stark is the one who comes knocking to pick him up. Tom is by far the truest to the ultimate version of Spider-man. All of his scenes are the truest to the character, even Marisa Tomei is true to form as Aunt May. Black Panther also gets a great build up as his character is portrayed brilliantly by Chadwick Boseman.

As for the music we get Henry Jackman returning to the helm. While critics tore his score to Winter Solider to shreds (many missed the tunes played by Alan Silvestri) I loved The Winter Solider theme and he uses that theme as a jumping off point here and crafts a riveting score. BVS had Hans Zimmer returning teaming up with his protege, Junkie Xl (also named Tom Holkenborg). They teamed up to bring new themes to Batman and crafted completely original themes to Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor. One thing to note, Hans Zimmer found the experience so exhausting he has now sworn off doing any more superhero themed scores (his other contributions include The Dark Knight trilogy with James Newton Howard and The Amazing Spiderman 2). Thankfully, Henry Jackman hasn't. He's set to bring Jack Reacher back to the silver screens and has his first video game score coming out for Uncharted 4.

When it comes to comparisons, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was more comic book that realistic thriller while Captain America: Civil War had the comic book heroes but flowed more like an actual intense thriller. Captain America: Civil War succeeds  in that it had time to build up all the heroes in separate movies so that when it came to this film, there was no need to jam pack the film full of information and character backstories (like BVS). Batman v Superman is a entertaining comic book movie but Civil War was able to be more than that. Plus, it gives us the best iteration of one of my all time favourite heroes, Spider-man.

Captain America: Civil War stands up along side films such as Spider-man 2 and The Dark Knight as being a film about comic book heroes while having the stakes be real and an added dose of consequence, no one gets off easy.

Rating: A++

P.S Spiderman will Return!

The Jungle Book Review

Story: The man-cub Mowgli flees the jungle after a threat from the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba). Guided by Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) the panther and the bear Baloo (Bill Murray), Mowgli embarks on a journey of self-discovery, though he also meets creatures who don't have his best interests at heart.

Based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling, director Jon Favreau pulls a James Cameron and creates a jungle that is immersive and a character all in itself.  Like Avatar, The Jungle Book's jungle and animal inhabitants are completely done in CGI while also using motion capture to really add depth and human emotions. The detail put into this really fantastic. To make the animals and jungle look so real they took many photos of the indian jungle and got photos of animals to get all the features just right. The Jungle Book sets a new standard for CGI and is sure to get a nod for Best Visual Effects.

Neel Sethi is perfectly cast as Mowgli and he does an excellent job working along the many amazing visual effects. He is basically working all alone and he does such great work here. It is also his first film and I am very impressed, would love to see him in more.

 The voice cast is on mark, Ben Kingsley plays the black panther Bagheera, Bill Murray plays the loveable bear Baloo, and Idris Elba plays the terrifying tiger Shere Khan.  These three are craft the most interesting sidekicks, comics and villains. Idris is by far the best villain so far this year. Lupita Nyong'o is a great addition to the cast, she is so sympathetic as the wolf mother, Raksha. Christopher Walken plays the part of King Louie and is brilliant. And the late Gary Shandling makes his last voice/screen appearance as a little character called Ikki. One who is very underused is Scarlet Johansen. It may be due to her commitment to work with Marvel but I would have loved more exploration into her snake character like what they did with Mother wolf.

Composer John Debney does a wonderful job with the score. His score with the combination with the amazing visuals add to the enticing fun you'll have watching this movie.

The Jungle Book is bottom line the new Avatar with a better story and a much more family friendly adventure.

A sequel has been confirmed with the same director and hopefully the same cast. There is still more material to mine so it is an excepting treat. I wish it to come out sooner than the many Avatar sequels, maybe go head to head with Andy Serkis's adaptation, I would say this one would still win out. In all honesty, why is Andy even doing an adaptation this one is the best. If Andy doesn't get the visuals right it will flunk, the story is a family friendly story and Disney has done the best job. I am also afraid Tarzan has big shoes to fill.

Thats what made this film work, it was not dark, it was pure family fun adventure and did not try to be anything else. Andy's take and Tarzan may only be good and not be the fun family adventure that this was.

Rating = A +, 5/5, Gold Star
 

The Boss Review

Story: Melissa McCarthy headlines The Boss as a titan of the industry who is sent to prison for insider trading. When she emerges ready to rebrand herself as America's latest sweetheart, not everyone she screwed over is so quick to forgive and forget.

This is another comedy from the husband/wife duo of Melissa and husband Ben Falcone, Tammy being their first directed team effort movie.  Kristen Bell, Kathy Bates and Peter Dinklage co-star as her assistant, her idol and her ex-lover Ron. Its a great cast which is full of great laughs, some sadly which are spoiled from the trailer.

As the story goes her ex lover gets her thrown in jail for insider trading and when she comes back out, he's taken her company away from her. So, she stays with her ex-assitant, Claire, for a while until she comes up with a plan. After tasting Claire's brownies and taking Claire's daughter, Rachel, to her Girl Guide's meeting Michelle creates a group of tough ass chick girl guides selling brownies.

The shenanigans she gets up to with the girls, the street fight, are hilarious and worth the price of admission. Eventually, things get awkward when Rachel gives Michelle a family made gift. This causes her to cut Claire out of the girl brownie guides and eventually she sells the company all because, like her idol (played by Kathy Bates) she gets to close to her business partner and she breaks things off.

It is a surprisingly short film which climaxes in a heist to steal the papers about selling the company to her ex, Ron. Dinklage is a perfect comedian and is perfect in this, he goes so far as to sword fight with Melissa, which was both cool (he was in Game of thrones) and hilarious. Kristen was great as ever, her best scene is the bra scene with Melissa, which was sadly spoiled in trailers. Kathy Bates was also quiet the funny bone tickler as she played up the role of Boss to Michelle. Tyler Labine from  comedies such as Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and Animal Practice plays the love interest of Kristen and gets a funny role to play in the film's third act. Comedian Kristen Schaal also appears as one of the girl guide leaders, she provides some good chuckles as well.

While not as emotional as Tammy or gut wrenchingly funny as Spy it is still a fun enjoyable little movie to see for fans of Melissa McCarthy, she is a true comedian and will knock all expectations out of the park this summer with Ghostbusters!

Rating: B

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Story: Its been two years since Superman's colossal battle with General Zod devastated the city of
Metropolis. The loss of life and collateral damage left many feeling angry and helpless, including crime fighting vigilante Batman aka Bruce Wayne, who starts a vendetta to end Superman's reign on Earth; while the conniving Lex Luthor launches his own crusade against the Man of Steel.

Two years ago we got the retooling of comic book icon Superman, now we get the battle of all battles in Batman v Superman, which also stands as a prequel to the epic two-parter Justice League. While I loved Man of Steel, BVS has a lot in it creating a very lengthy picture that goes on for a bit too long. A few dream sequences could be cut and some unnecessary cameos can be taken out. As far as sequels go this one is by far the very best in what it does, entertain. The story is fitting as Batman seeks to take down the man of steel using the kryptonite that Lex had discovered from Zod's terraformer. He just needed an extra push to get him to really go after Superman. There's some nice surprise guests from the first film and an ending that will surely shock any avid fan, unless you find the seriousness of the entire affair to be beyond laughable.

Casting, Ben Affleck makes for the perfect battle worn hero and Gal is a wonder as the Princess of the Amazon. Even Jesse Eisenberg is able to nail the role of Lex Luthor, becoming very menacing near the end. Henry, Amy, Laurence, Diane, and even Harry Lennix make substantial returns to their roles from the first film. I was actually very happy to see the return of Harry Lennix and his sidekick Major Carrie Farris, gave some good continuation from the last film. Even seeing a cameo of Kevin Costner as Clark's dad make a surprise appearance was a sweet touch.

Hans Zimmer and new comer Junkie XL do a fantastic job composing the new themes for Wonder Woman and Batman while also developing the themes Hans wrote for Superman in the first film.

A visual action blockbuster Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the popcorn movie of the year and is an excellent way to start the summer movie season. See this over the third Divergent film as it may not be a favourite among critics but at least you'll still have a fun time. I mean come on, its Batman vs Superman, how could you not pass this up.

Rating: B+

Deadpool - The Review

Story: A former Special Forces operative turned mercenary is subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopting the alter ego Deadpool.

X-men Origins: Wolverine was a movie for Wolverine yet it was packed full of mutants, fan favourites, that it just left a sore taste in everyone's mouth. Thankfully, The Wolverine somewhat righted what we missed, a good wolverine movie. Now, for them to right Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds played the character in Origins but was shut up in the end. Years later we get the film that he deserves.

A character study in his own right, watching a Deadpool movie is like diving into his mind. Story is simple. Tough guy falls in love with hot chick, develops troubling disease and then finds help from a dark organization.  The film does justice with the character of Wade Wilson and gives Ryan Reynolds the opportunity to stretch his comedic muscles and man is he funny. The jokes are by the dozen but all spot on, one line pointed to the fact we only really see two x-men in the movie. Deadpool jokes the studio couldn't afford to bring in more x-men.

One huge plus is we finally get to see Deadpool the way he is meant to be seen. His costume is amazingly spot on. Plus, the physical comedy is spot on, especially when he tries to beat up Colossus by breaking every bone in his body. Colossus is also done service here as his character gets more than nothing said and looks more like he does in the comics. Though, given the chance, I am sure Bryan Singer would have given Colossus more to say and do (but with x-men movie comes so many characters)

In all truth, Ryan Reynolds is the true star of this picture and the one and only who brought it to the screen. So to Ryan I say thank you and lets hope a sequel gets green lit, or we'll have to wait another 6-7 years for a follow-up.

Rating: A

Deadpool

The movie and score reviews for Deadpool I will write and release tonight. You can read my review on the score for the film over on my other blog, http://listen2themovies.blogspot.ca.

Kung Fu Panda 3 Review

Story: Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness", Po must face two epic, but different threats; one supernatural and one that hits a little closer to home.

As with all franchises there is a beginning, middle and end. First,  in 2008, we saw Po first learn that that he is the dragon warrior, than three years later we watch as he learns about his past and comes to obtain inner peace. Now, five years later, he must complete his training and become a teacher of his craft.

My main issue with the new film sadly is the casting. I love J.K Simmons and Kate Hudson but I really would have loved to see what Rebel Wilson and Mads Mikkelsen would have brought to the table. Mads was originally set to play the villain Kai. J.K does a perfect job in the role, just nothing compared to Gary Oldman's performance in the previous picture. Same goes with Kate Hudson in the role of Mei Mei, originally to be played by Rebel Wilson. Rebel has this brand of comedic genius just like Mads has a way with playing villains. Sadly, J.K and Kate are just average in their roles, nothing great but as far as Kai goes the supernatural aspect of the character is something new and very interesting as he takes the powers of fighters dead and alive and becomes ever stronger. Bryan Cranston is the breakout star here as his part never got recast. He plays great as the father figure to Jack Black's Po. They play well off each other and there is a sense of fun that the two are having. Bryan also brings gravitas to the role when it comes to parts about loss and forgiveness.

As for the rest of the cast its great to see everyone come back for the final showdown, even Randall Duk Kim as Master Oogway.

With this film it is defiantly a concluding chapter to an amazing trilogy. Po comes to know his real father and learn more about his heritage while also learning to become a teacher. At first he doesn't succeed and whines up humiliating himself. For a time he focuses on becoming one with himself and truly learning who he is. That is when he learns that he must train his father and fellow pandas to add to their strengths, doing what each one does best.

The choreography is fantastic in this film. Very amazingly animated and fun to watch, adding the supernatural element to the film really gave the final chapter some new stuff to work through and create some very interesting fights and battles as the climactic final battle between Kai and Po is profoundly epic in both its fighting style and visual flare.

Casting miss-haps aside Kung Fu Panda 3 gives a terrific conclusion to Po's journey and is a fun fond farewell to a cast of characters we have come to love so much.

Rated: A-

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

Story: Three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat rises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a ragtag team of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance.

After 30 years return to a galaxy far, far away in The Force Awakens. It has actually been at least 10 years since the last Star Wars movie which saw the completion of the prequel trilogy.

Now, the new film follows the events after Return of the Jedi. You'd never think something like this would happen but it now has after the sale of Lucas Films to Disney a new film series has gotten off the ground. If you think Disney and Trekkie JJ Abrams might not do a grande continuation, you'd be wrong.

The story is simple, everyone is looking for Luke Skywalker. The resistance wants him home and the First Order seeks to destroy him. I found previous chapters were more complex but it is nice to reintroduce fans to the saga with an easy to follow story.

We follow characters old (Han and Leia) and new (Poe, Finn and Rey) as begins the follow-up trilogy to the originals. Poe goes seeking for part of a map to find Luke, he is captured but not before giving what he found to his android BB-8. The film is similar to A New Hope as JJ based the new Star Wars film off it, igniting George Lucas to comment on how his version would have been more original.

I still found a great interest in the new characters (both light and Dark). Kylo Ren is a terrific villain and has one amazing costume. His villain is also very believable and dimensional. Another interesting character is Finn (a stormtrooper) who abandons his post and goes on the run. Rey is the true light of this movie, and may be the next Jedi.

Awakens has some terrific side characters, such amazing alien creatures. You can tell JJ had a lot of fun with this film, the movie feels fun. The visuals are also very grounded and realistically crafted. The space battles have never looked so good.

Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens is an excellent continuation of a saga beloved by all with characters old and new and a more grounded visual flare.

Rating: A+