REVIEW | X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

The Story: In a dark and desolate future where humans and mutants alike are being hunted and murdered by machines know as Sentinels our beloved X-Men are trying to keep themselves alive and find a way to stop this war and make everything right. But after the realization that they can’t stop it, they devise a plan to make sure if never starts in the first place by using Kitty Pryde to send Wolverine’s mind back to his 1973 counterpart and get the cast of 2011’s X-Men: First Class to unite against a common enemy.

The Facts: X-Men:Days of Future Past is written by Simon Kinberg and sees the return of X-Men and X2 director Bryan singer. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Logan/Wolverine, Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast and Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask.

My Overall Take on the Movie: As soon as this movie started with a voice over from Patrick Stewart and the opening credits zooming through DNA strands (which is how both X-Men 1 and 2 started) I knew I was in for a good movie. This film is truly a return to form of the X-Men series. While First Class and The Wolverine were good the series has had a few flops with The Last Stand and X-Men Origins:Wolverine this movie does its best to correct those errors in the series and ultimately I think it succeeds (Mostly because it completely resets the timeline and pretty much takes those movies out of existence) This is also probably my favorite film in the series to date because I really enjoyed the entire plot and I really enjoyed seeing the original actors and the First Class actors making appearances and I loved seeing most of the characters from the original trilogy make a come back.

Things I liked: This may sound like a cop out but there are way too many things I liked about this movie to list here because I liked almost everything except for two very specific things, which I will list below.

Things I Didn’t Like:

      1.    Although I really enjoyed the fact that all my favorite characters from the original movies were back I really didn’t like the fact that most of them didn’t get much screen time. I realize its because the story was mostly about the 70’s and that they’ll probably be in the sequel but I just really wish I had gotten to see more of those characters.

      2.    Now this may be considered a spoiler so I’m going to mark it appropriately. This movie basically hit the reset button on the entire X-Men franchise, which is okay because it takes out the bad movies like Last Stand and Origins but it also takes out The Wolverine which is after seeing this my second favorite X-Men movie. I realize it didn’t take the movie out of existence and I can still watch it whenever I want but what’s the point of watching a movie that doesn’t matter to the rest of the series. So its not a big deal at all but it just slightly bothers me.

Rating: 9 out of 10

         Final Verdict: See it in theaters (not 3d) and buy it on Blu-Ray!!!

My Favorite Scene: My favorite scene has to be the Quicksilver scene. If you’ve seen the movie then you definitely know what I’m talking about. It was wonderful!

REVIEW | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

The Story: Peter Parker is living and loving life as Spider-Man. Having just graduated from high school and newly single things are looking up for him. But when a man he saved from getting hit by a car becomes obsessed with him and becomes the villain known as Electro Spider-Man has to face his greatest foe yet!

The Facts: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is directed by Marc Webb. Written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner. And stars Andrew Garfield as PeterParker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Jamie Foxx as Max Dillion/Electro, Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborne and Sally Field as Aunt May Parker.

My Overall Take on the Movie: I absolutely loved this movie! I went into it with low expectations because of the first film. I thought it was okay but it was nothing special and I only watched it once after I saw it in theaters the first time. But this sequel is what a sequel should be in my eyes. It’s a much better story because it can be its own thing and isn’t hindered by being forced to tell an origin story. The action is better, the cinematography is better, the acting is better, and the writing is better. Everything about this movie is better than the first. I laughed, I almost cried, I cheered on the inside (not out loud because I don’t do that sort of thing in a theater) this is without a doubt my favorite Spider-Man movie so far out of both the original series and this reboot series and I believe my favorite Comic-Book movie to be released this year.

Things I liked: The score was amazing. I loved the story in this movie as I said above. It was “streets ahead” of the first movie. Andrew Garfield is perfect, he is the quintessential Spider-Man in my eyes. I feel as though I’m betraying Tobey Maguire but with this movie Garfield has become Spider-Man to me. He has the wit down the, for lack of a better word, sassiness down, he acts like Peter Parker and Spider-Man should act. I enjoyed the love story going on in this film between Peter and Gwen. I enjoyed the little easter-eggs for fans of the comics sprinkled in.

Spoilers that I liked: I love that they’re setting up the sinister six with this movie and all the easter eggs like Vulture’s wings and Doc Ock’s arms. I was also extremely happy but, also a little sad that they followed the comics and killed Gwen Stacy. I was expecting them to tease it but have Peter save her at the last second. But when her head hit the ground and Peter jumped down thinking he had saved her when in reality he hadn’t that was heartbreaking.

Things I Didn’t Like: I actually enjoyed everything about this movie so there's nothing I didn’t like!

Rating: 10 out of 10

    Final Verdict: See it in 3d and Buy the Blu-Ray!!!

My Favorite Scene: My favorite scene would have to be the fight with The Rhino at the very end of the movie because it got me so excited for the future Spider-Man/Sinister Six films.

REVIEW | Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

The Story:  Two years after “The Avengers” the first of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is working for S.H.I.E.L.D and is confronted with a Russian Super Soldier that is just as powerful as him, if not more so. This is the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature Captain America and his second solo film following “Captain America: The First Avenger”

The Facts: The movie is Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans as Captain America/Steve Rogers, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Sebastian Stan as The Winter Soldier(Link Contains Spoilers), Anthony Mackie as Falcon/Sam Wilson, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce.

My Overall Take on the Movie: This is Captain America's first time to fully shine on his own without being held back by either his origin story or any of the other members of The Avengers. Not to say that Cap is alone in this film. There are a number of others helping him but unlike in The Avengers Captain America is the undisputed star of this group. This film was 100% better than “The First Avenger.” The writing was better, the action was better, the stakes were higher and it actually felt like a movie that Marvel wanted to make and not just something that was made as a stepping-stone toward “The Avengers”. This film was also a great political thriller. With this phase of the MCU Marvel is blending different genres and this particular film is pretty much an espionage/superhero movie. Some have said that this is the best non-avenger solo film that Marvel has made so far, and while I’m not saying I dispute that, Captain America is my least favorite of The Avengers so my personal ranking of Phase 2 would have to be Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Cap 2.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Things I liked: I really enjoyed the character of The Winter Soldier even though I knew who he was from the comics but the reveal didn’t really take away from the film at all. I enjoyed the dynamic between Cap and Falcon and I’m really hoping he comes back for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Black widow was actually a good and useful character in this film as opposed to iron man 2 and the avengers versions of her character. The humor was good and was dispersed in just the right amount for this type of movie (which marvel movies all do very well.) This movie is also full of social commentary of our own government.

Things I Didn’t Like:  There’s really only one thing I can think of that is the overt product placement. I don’t necessarily mind product placement in films but as I’ve mentioned in previous reviews I absolutely hate when it takes me out of the movie. For instance almost every vehicle shown in the film is a Chevy, which isn’t too bad, but there’s one scene where Cap and Black Widow go to a mall specifically so they can go to an Apple Store while the MacBook pro logo was proudly displayed across the screen.

         Final Verdict: See it in theaters and buy it on Blu-Ray!!!

My Favorite Scene: The fight between Captain America and The Winter Soldier in the streets with Black Widow and Falcon just because of how well done and realistic it looked and also because Winter Soldier is a badass with the knife.

REVIEW | Her (2014)

The Story: How do you react when the person you’ve decided to share your life with decides they no longer want you? Her is the story of man currently going through a divorce who falls in love with an Artificially Intelligent operating system named Samantha.

The Facts: Her is written and directed by Spike Jonze, stars Joaquin Phoenix as our main character Theodore Twombly, Amy Adams as Theodore’s friend Aimee, and Scarlett Johansson as the voice of Samantha.

My Overall Take on the Movie: Her is without a doubt a very good movie and its one of the best I’ve seen in recent memory. It is an intriguing film with an original plot, which is hard to find these days. This is the type of movie that makes you feel your feelings. In a good way, at least I consider it in a good way, the happy parts of the film made me feel happy and the low down sad parts made me feel down in the dumps with the characters. I think I’m just in tune romantic movies like this because I know how the characters are feeling because I’ve experienced similar things. But this is not a movie to take just anyone to go see.

Warning: This is a romantic movie and can be a good date movie if it’s a date with someone you know and feel comfortable around. I would highly recommend not taking someone to see this on a first date because there are a few uncomfortable scenes of a sexual nature…and its also really sad and you don’t want to cry on a first date because that’s just not cool, man.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Things I liked: I loved the costume design and how everything looked almost like the way we currently dressed but something was different but you just can’t pinpoint what it is. All of the actors did great in their roles especially Scarlett Johansson because even though she isn’t there you still feel her presence in the movie.

Things I Didn’t Like: The only thing I didn’t like about this movie were the sex scenes where it would zoom in on Joaquin Phoenix’s face because nothing against him personally or even as an actor but something about him is a little creepy and it made me slightly uncomfortable. 

   Final Verdict: See it theaters!!!

My Favorite Scene: My favorite scene would have to be when Theodore takes Samantha to the beach and they’re both so happy to be there, because a good movie can make you feel genuinely happy when its characters are happy.