Review: Guardian’s of the Galaxy- Directed by James Gunn

For nearly a decade, Marvel Studios has taken their comic book properties and turned  them into blockbuster movies but never have they taken as much of a gamble as they have this week with the release of their newest team-up adventure, Guardian’s of the Galaxy. A story centered around a group of unlikely companions thrown together by chance and tasked with saving the galaxy for certain destruction; everything you want in a summer blockbuster but with a lot more heart than we have reason to expect. Simply put, Guardian’s of the Galaxy IS the savior of this summer movie season!

Peter Quill, the self proclaimed Star Lord (Chris Pratt), is an Earthling who, as a young boy, was abducted by space pirates known as Ravagers, led by Yondu (Michael Rooker), and adopted as one of their own. Decades later, Quill travels the galaxy, thieving his way to the sounds of seventies top 40 music on his prized Walkman and making a name for himself as an intergalactic smuggler. Quill lands on the planet Morag where he is in search of a sphere for a buyer known as the Broker. After being intercepted by Korath (Djimon Hounsou), a henchman of Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), who is also in search of the sphere, Quill escapes  and heads to the planet Xandar to receive payment for the prize.

Upon arrival, Quill encounters Gamora (Zoe Saldana), an assassin sent by Ronan to retrieve the sphere as well as a duo of unusual bounty hunters, a genetically engineered raccoon named Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and a tree-like humanoid named Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) in search of a big pay day. Soon the four are taken into custody by the Nova Corp and sentence to prison where we meet the fourth member of our team, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista). Since Drax is after Ronan for killing his family, Gamora is his likely target rage, but after Gamora reveals she has betrayed Ronan and refuses to allow him to unleash the power of the sphere onto the planet Xandar, Quill convinces Drax to use Gamora as bait for Ronan.

Learning that Gamora has a buyer for the sphere, Rocket, Quill, Groot, Drax and Gamora work together to escape the Kyln. But as Ronan and his henchman get closer, the team must make choices that will shape the fate of the galaxy forever.

Director James Gunn understands the challenge at hand of taking a group of obscure comic book characters and trying to make them household names.

The script by James Gunn and co-writer Nicole Perlman is beautifully written and helps the novice in the audience acquaint themselves with Quill and Co without alienating the core comic book fans. The way Gunn sculpts the action sequences offers many nods to films of the past (Think Indiana Jones meets Star Wars meets Spaceballs) and the injection of some great bits of humor allow the film to not take itself too seriously and allows for the fun to shine through.

The use of CGI to create the aliens and world of Guardian’s is astonishing, but it is the human factor that shines thru these creatures that is the true marvel. Rocket and Groot are extraordinary and lifelike that you forget that you’re watching characters created thru special effects. Bradley Cooper is amazing as the voice of Rocket and brings humor and heart to his portrayal of the hero. In his limited verbal responses, performed by Vin Diesel, the CGI character of Groot offers more from his mannerism than most live actors portray in an entire film. Lee Pace is fantastic as Ronan the Accuser. He eerily brings the comic villain to life in such a way that the Kree government would cringe at the sight of him. Karen Gillian, completely unrecognizable as Nebula, the daughter of Thanos, turns out to be a perfect choice and turns in a stand out performance.

Zoe Saldana  was a concern for me when casting was announced for this movie. The role of the galaxy’s most dangerous assassin and the daughter of the Mad Titan Thanos needed to be a badass and a strong woman who could take on legions and I was not sold on Saldana and still am not, but she’s not bad as Gamora, I actually rather like her, but it’s still hard to see Gamora in the performance so I will leave it at that. Dave Bautista is actually rather good as Drax. While the character does not warrant much Thespian mojo, Dave holds his own and brings Drax to life with a great performance. But the real star of the movie is Chris Pratt. Another wild card at announcement time, Pratt brings a wonderful amount of human and heart to the role of Peter Quill and delivers a home run of a performance. The casting done by James Gunn deserves as much credit for the success of this film as the script.

Overall, Guardian’s of the Galaxy is one of Marvel’s finest achievements. A great mixture of humor, heart, action and drama that will have audiences cheering and begging for more…too bad we have to wait til July 28, 2017!

Stars

4 out of 5

Trailer

So The Rock is Playing Which DC Character?!

 

For months now Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been teasing fans the world over of his involvement in the DC Cinematic Universe and now we may finally be closer to finding out just who he might be playing!

Although earlier this year the rumors began to fly that perhaps The Rock would be playing John Stewart, one of the other Green Lanterns, and would be joining the cast of the jam packed Batman v Superman and ultimately be a part of the Justice League movie, but that does not seem to be the case after hearing Johnson’s recent comments.

In a recent interview with Total Film,  Johnson hints that Shazam , a movie already heavily rumored, just might be his chosen superhero  and we could have an announcement at this weeks San Diego Comic-Con!

But don’t take my word for it..read what the Brama Bull had to say…

“I will say this. There’s a character out there that we’re going to announce very soon that I’m going to play, and I’ll just say this: This character has the power of Superman, he can throw down. Just say the word. That’s all I’m going to say.”

Power of Superman? Shazam it is then

Marvel Just Added Dates to Your Day Planner Through 2019!

Marvel is sure pulling out all the stops a few days ahead of San Diego Comic Con. Today they announce that their cinematic universe will be expanding even further with the announcement of five new release dates which will help Marvel continue to dominate box office numbers through 2019

The studio already had three unscheduled release dates for films confirmed: July 8, 2016 (Doctor Strange?) which will follow Captain America 3 on May 6, 2016 and then another on May 5, 2017. If that wasn’t enough, now they’ve reserved July 28, 2017 as well as November 3, 2017, July 6, 2018, November 2, 2018 and May 3, 2019! Holy guacamole!

Now nothing about which properties has been confirmed, but I’m fairly certain that’s going to change after next week’s Marvel presentation at Comic-Con! I’ll be on site at next week’s San Diego Comic Con live tweeting all the great news. Make sure to follow #RNDSDCC to keep up!

EW’s First Look at Avengers: Age of Ultron!

 

Entertainment Weekly’s newest edition , features a first look at Iron Man and Captain America as well as the film’s villain Ultron! The story goes on to give some insight into what we can expect from the film’s direction. After the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was shaken to its core with S.H.I.E.L.D. being disbanded and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes status as a group is left in question.  Tony Stark has taken it upon himself to search for a way to secure the Earth without the need to put back on the Iron Man suit and give the rest of the team a break.  His solution is Ultron, self-aware, self-teaching, artificial intelligence designed to help assess threats, and direct Stark’s Iron Legion of drones to battle evildoers instead.

Great plan….except Ultron is not capable of human emotion and his superior intellect quickly determines that human beings are the problem and its time for them to go!

“Ultron sees the big picture and he goes, ‘Okay, we need radical change, which will be violent and appalling, in order to make everything better’; he’s not just going ‘Muhaha, soon I’ll rule!’” Whedon says, rubbing his hands together.

“He’s on a mission,” the filmmaker adds, and smiles thinly. “He wants to save us.”

The article goes on to explain Ultron’s intentions and why he will be so unstoppable!

EW have also released the first official stills from Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Sound off! Are you excited to see Avengers: Age of Ultron!

Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- Directed by Matt Reeves

 

MOVIE

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

CAST

Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Nick Thurston, Kirk Acevedo and Kodi Smit-McPhee

RATING

PG-13

RELEASE

July 11, 2014

DIRECTOR

Matt Reeves

STUDIO

20th Century Fox

RUNNING TIME

2 hour 10 minutes

REVIEW:

For all the summer blockbuster busts that 2014 has produced, it’s refreshing when a film like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is released.  Set a decade after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn takes us further into the back story of how the human race succumbed to the apes and ultimately lost the planet. Director Matt Reeves takes over the franchise and creates a  smart, visually stunning, spectacle that revolves more around the apes as the central characters than the humans. Andy Serkis returns to the motion capture suit to again play the role of Caesar, the leader of the apes, whose history has lead him to both respect and fear the human race. Will Dawn be the smash hit Fox is hoping for and pave a fresh new path for further sequels in this storied franchise?

The ALZ-113 virus has crippled the human race and the remaining survivors have struggled to survive.  It’s been ten years since Caesar lead the escape from ape sanctuary at Genisys, Caesar (Serkis), and his commune of apes still live in the Redwoods, away from civilization in hopes to continue to live a peaceful existence. Life is different for Caesar.  Now middle aged, he has married, is father to a newborn son as well as his elder son Blue Eyes (Thurston), whom is starting to come into his own in the colony. A new way of life has lead to a healthy existence with the apes, some of whom are former comrades in the escape, including former test subject Koba (Kebbell), as well as a new generation of apes learning to speak and being trained to be useful members of the colony. A far cry from the existence they once had known in the cages of humanity.

 

Some years have passed since the last humans have been seen in the woods, the apes begin to believe the human race has become extinct from the virus.  One day, on a hunt for the colony, Caesar’s son Blue Eyes and friend Ash, came across a small party of armed survivors in the forest led by a man named Malcolm (Clarke). Startled by the site of the apes, Carver (Acevedo) shoots and wounds Ash, which brings down Caesar and the rest of the apes. Caesar decides against retaliation for the action and demands the humans leave. Shocked by what they just witnessed, the group head back into the city of San Francisco where a fairly large amount of  survivors have gathered to create a new community. Greeted by Dreyfus (Oldman), the leader of the surviving humans, Malcolm tells the story of their encounter.  Fearing that the humans will not heed his warning, Caesar leads the apes to the city where he tells the humans to not enter the apes’ territory ever again, a warning that does not sit well with the human survivors.

 

Malcolm convinces Dreyfus to give him three days to make peace with the apes to gain access to a dam in their territory, which could provide long-term power to the city. Though Caesar responds to the diplomatic pleadings of Malcolm and his medic wife, Ellie (Russell), not all the apes approve of this agreement. Koba takes it upon himself to investigate the human community in the city and see just what exactly the survivors are up to. When Koba finds the smoking gun he is looking for, he returns to persuade Caesar to change his stance regarding the humans and go to war to eradicate the survivors once and for all. As a power struggle begins to ignite, will Caesar be able to keep the peaceful existence he fought so hard to achieve or will war engulf the inhabitants of the ape colony and lead to survival of the fittest?

Director Reeves has masterfully taken a story, which has been told all too many times, and made it seem fresh and exciting. As the story begins to explore the sub context of the conflict between man and ape, the real life political overtones begin to shine through (anti-gun lobbyists will be cheering in the streets after this one). Where Rise of the Planet of the Apes focused solely on the mistakes that humans make, Dawn takes a step back and evaluates all the parties involved in this conflict and calls each out on their shortcomings. The battle between the two sides is visually stunning. Reeve’s manages to create action sequences using not only visual effects but provide set pieces equally as impressive. The camera work during the siege of San Francisco is phenomenal.

The human actors, lead by the highly underrated Jason Clarke. Clarke offers a sincere performance reminiscent of James Franco’s from Rise, providing an emotional connection to Serkis’ Caesar and offers a glimmer of hope that humanity still can be compassionate through adversity. Acting legend Gary Oldman, provide truly wonderful performance as a man trying to protect those lives which have been thrust upon him. Andy Serkis is an absolute genius. A master of the motion capture suit, very few people can act under those conditions time and time again and continue to output Oscar worthy performances. Serkis’ Caesar is an amazing achievement in acting and I truly hope the Academy finally honors Mr Serkis with a nomination this year.

Overall, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes breathtaking film that re-invigorates the Apes  franchise and will have audiences wanting much much more. July 26, 2016 is a long way a way to wait for the next installment, I’m just glad we have these two films to keep us company in the meantime.

Stars:

4 out of 5

Trailer:

Review: Boyhood- Directed by Richard Linklater

MOVIE

Boyhood

CAST

Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and Lorelei Linklater

RATING

R

RELEASE

July 11, 2014 (Limited)
July 18, 2014 (Nationwide)

DIRECTOR

Richard Linklater

STUDIO

IFC Films

RUNNING TIME

2 hour 46 minutes

REVIEW:

All too many times Hollywood uses the phrase “Once in a Lifetime” to describe a film that we’ve encountered way too many times before, but finally, a director and film studio have come thru and brought us a film like nothing we’ve ever seen before.  Boyhood is that film and it just might be the best movie you will see all year.  Directed by industry legend Richard Linklater, the film is a true labor of love.  The film, shot intermittently over a twelve-year period, follows a young  boy named Mason through his childhood from first grade (age 6) thru his high school graduation (age 18). It’s a documented journey that will most likely never be duplicated in our lifetime and one that will resonate with each viewer for decades to come.

We meet Mason Jr (Coltrane) at age 6, laying in the grass, pondering the days  lesson from first grade, the beauty of a child discovering the world and the wonderful knowledge that will embrace him along the way. Mason lives with his sister Samantha (Linklater) and his single mom Olivia (Arquette) in a small town in East Texas. Mason is your average young boy, spending his days riding his bike, playing with his friends and fighting with his sister, but a decision by his mother to uproot the children and move to Houston so she can attend college to get her degree, offers Mason his first true challenge in his young life. As they pack up the house and get ready for the move, Mason is tasked with painting over the mural on his wall and the  pencil marks on the door frame which have measured the growth of him and his sister from infancy until now. A symbolic gesture that the film will now take the place of those pencil marks and will chart his growth for all of us to witness.

Showing the true innocence of a child, Mason’s biggest concern is whether his father, Mason Sr. (Hawke) will be able to find them in Houston.  Mason Sr. has been missing from the children’s lives for a little over a year and with little communication. As the move is completed and the family settles into their new hometown, Mason Sr. arrives in Houston to reconnect with his children and make up for lost time.  Mason wants to know if his parents are going to get back together and will his dad be moving back in, a question that any young child in Mason’s position would ponder, but its a question easier to ask than to answer.  The dynamics of these and other relationships will play out in great detail through vignettes along the way.

Throughout the coming years, director Linklater shows us the transitions of not only Mason but of the family as a whole.  Each year brings not only new challenges, but also offers a new perspective on the evolution of each character.  From the the changing landscape of American pop culture to the different physical change that manifests in each character; the audience is provided a valuable look into the maturation of Mason and the relationships around him.  But Linklater doesn’t allow drama to engulf his vision.  He has chosen to allow Mason’s childhood play out as authentically as possible, allowing for the actors to grow naturally with each new year and maximizing their new inherent personality to shine through his well thought out script.  By the time Mason begins year 15, his sense of self begins to take shape and discovering the world not through a child’s eyes, but through the  eye’s of a young man in search of life’s purpose and his place in the world.

The evolution of a child’s journey to manhood may never be captured with such detail again. Boyhood truly is that once in a lifetime opportunity.  Ellar Coltrane is absolutely astonishing as Mason Jr.  To watch this young man grow up before our eyes is a true honor.  Every single detailed change throughout this young life is presented in such a way that you almost feel like part of the family.  Coltrane  is given time through the years to hone his craft as a screen actor and by the time we receive the teenage Mason, we are presented with a performance that expresses the personal philosophy of a young man searching to understand his purpose. No doubt the same journey young Coltrane is on.  Lorelei Linklater, daughter of the director, has grown up around the set and has honed her craft at an early age.  Her journey is much different than Coltrane’s but her performance is just as captivating.  The sibling dynamic plays out perfectly between the two actors.

Linklater veterans Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette provide truly sensational performances as the parents struggling to find their way in life. Watching the journey of Mason Sr. is as important to the overall story and works as a perfect companion to Mason Jr’s story.  Hawke embodies his characters quirks and his attempts to raise the children through his vision of the world are thought-provoking. I will never forget the wise wisdom of Mason Sr as he uttered “You don’t need the bumpers, life doesn’t give you bumpers”.  Patricia Arquette turns in the performance of her career.  Her performance of a young, single mother looking to better herself and her children is heart breaking and beautifully portrayed. Watching the maturation of Olivia allows audiences to understand the true weight that raising two children as a single mom can take on a woman’s psyche.  Watching her final scenes’s with Coltrane were emotionally charged as you could feel that not only the character, but the actor had taken this journey and it’s conclusion truly took its toll.

At the conclusion of the film I thought to myself, “have I ever experienced anything like this in my life?”, the truth is, yes I have.  I was reminded of my own childhood and that of my young nephew Joey whom is on the same journey as Mason’s.  I have sporadic memories of my childhood as the years have taken many from me, but Joey’s development is still very fresh in my mind.  This emotionally connected me to this film in a different way.  I cannot say that this film will touch you emotionally as it did me, but I can say that  Boyhood is an exceptional movie that demands to be seen. Each audience member will take away something different from their experience, but my hope is each will be offered a sense of nostalgia that will resonate for years to come.

Stars:

5 out of 5

Trailer:

Review: Deliver Us From Evil- Directed by Scott Derrickson

MOVIE

Deliver Us From Evil

CAST

Eric Bana, Edgar Ramirez, Olivia Munn, Joel McHale and Sean Harris

RATING

R

RELEASE

July 2, 2014

DIRECTOR

Scott Derrickson

STUDIO

Sony Pictures

RUNNING TIME

1 hour 58 minutes

REVIEW:

One of Hollywood’s brightest directors, Scott Derrickson, returns to theaters with this summer’s most bone chilling film “Deliver Us From Evil”, which he co-wrote with long time partner Paul Harris Boardman.  The film is  loosely based on the stories that are contained in the book “Beware the Night” written by New York Police Sergeant Ralph Sarchie, whom is depicted in the film by Eric Bana. Sarchie, a 16 year veteran of the NY police department, worked out of the 46th Precinct  in the South Bronx where he worked the midnight shift and, when not arresting bad guys, investigated cases of demonic possession . The movie takes audiences along with Sarchie through his journey from skeptic to believer.

We open in Iraq, where a platoon of American soldiers lead by Santino (Harris),  find a mysterious catacomb within the desert with inscriptions written in Latin on the wall. A combat videographer records the events as they find a pile of human skulls and encounter a demonic entity whom unleashes a swarm of locusts. The camera fades to black.   The film takes us to New York’s South Bronx where Sergeant Ralph Sarchie is investigating yet another unspeakable act of human cruelty. The city has become a breeding ground for inhumane behavior and the toll is beginning to weigh heavily on Sarchie. This is his patrol, along with partner Butler (McHale), and tonight will test his limits.

 

The soldiers have come home from the war, but they are not the same men that left home all those years ago. Sarchie and his partner are called to the house of one of the men after a domestic disturbance is phoned in by his wife. After an encounter with the man, Sarchie realizes he has come face to face with something he cannot explain. He begins to investigate the soldier, but more unexplained acts begin to take hold of the city. As Sarchie begins to realize there is something connecting all of these events, he meets a rogue priest named Mendoza (Ramirez), who’s checkered past has lead him to seek out evil without the blessing of the church. Mendoza convinces Sarchie that these incidents are demonically related but the news is hard to swallow for Sarchie. As an evil presence inches closer to Sarchie’s wife Jen (Munn) and daughter, against his beliefs, Sarchie enlists Mendoza to help solve these crimes and stop his city from falling into darkness.

 

Director Scott Derrickson, who made “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” nearly a decade ago, triumphantly returns to the exorcism horror sub-genre that made him a household name.  The story follows faithfully through the leads left for our protagonist and immerses the audience deeper into the evil that faces Sarchie and Mendoza. The cinematography and tone of the film add to the stories overall eeriness and the combination add to the uneasiness that the audience will feel while viewing this film. The demonic possession and the ultimate exorcism of Santino, played by Sean Harris, was one of the greatest visual takes on the religious ritual that you will ever see on film.

The performances are out of the world. Eric Bana is spectacular as Sarchie. His portrayal of a man struggling with the demons of his past and the need to protect the family he loves is captivating. Edgar Ramirez is stellar as the priest Mendoza. Ramirez offers a view into the soul of a man who has been crippled by addiction and shows the power of willing himself to fulfill the need to atone for his mistakes by helping others. The chemistry between the two actors is fabulous. Joel McHale is a nice addition to the film. McHale adds his comedic flavor to the film and his offering helps tones down the darkness of the film, but not too much. The rest of the supporting cast, demonically possessed or otherwise, are key to the storytelling and turn in very strong performances as a whole.

Overall, Scott Derrickson has created a film that demands to be seen. “Deliver Us From Evil” is a thrill ride that will entertain and deliver the perfect summer scare. Do not miss this film.

Stars:

3 1/2 out of 5

Trailer

Review: Transformers: Age of Extinction- Directed by Michael Bay

MOVIE

Transformers: Age of Extinction

CAST

Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, T.J. Miller and Titus Welliver

RATING

PG-13

RELEASE

June 26, 2014

DIRECTOR

Michael Bay

STUDIO

Paramount Pictures

RUNNING TIME

2 hour 45 minutes

REVIEW:

Michael Bay needs to stop making films. PERIOD. His movies are so over the top with zero substance, but as cinema summer blockbusters go, the guy sure knows how to blow stuff up. And that’s what most audiences want from a Michael Bay film, don’t talk too much, blow stuff up and stick some pretty people in front of the camera. Well Michael, you achieved these three ingredients in your newest film Transformers: Age of Extinction….but nothing more.

Four years have passed since the battle of Chicago, the Autobots and Decepticons who did not perish in the fight are being hunted down as enemies of the state by the federal government. An elite CIA black ops team under the command of Henry Attinger (Grammer) was created for this very thing, to kill Transformers and take back their planet. The ace in the hole for these humans is a Transformer bounty hunter named Lockdown, who is hellbent on one prize, Optimus Prime. Only one problem, Prime has gone missing so the hunt begins.

Searching for junk in an old abandoned cinema, robotic inventor Cade Yeager (Wahlberg) and best friend and assistant Lucas Flannery (Miller) stumble upon an old truck within the cinema house and take it back to Yeager’s barn to strip the old truck for parts to pay for Cade’s daughter Tessa (Peltz) to go to college and pay over due mortgage bills, but what Cade find under the hood is more than meets the eye. While the hunt for Prime is going on, business tycoon and inventor Joshua Joyce (Tucci), is in the process of using destroyed Transformers salvaged in the battle of Chicago for research to search for advancements in technologies to aid in the creation of a molecule called Transformium (yes…Transformium), a unstable metal substance that recreates the genetics of Transformers, only better.

After an encounter with the CIA black ops team commander Savoy (Welliver), Cade and Tess escape with the assistance of Tess’s boyfriend Shane (Reynor) and regroup with Prime to search out the remaining Autobots, Crosshairs, Drift, Hound and Bumblebee, to find the culprit behind the Autobot assassinations and stop them once and for all. But the Autobots and their human companions find that they’re not just being hunted by Lockdown, there is another presence, one a bit more familiar, that has regenerated and is ready to take down the Autobots once and for all. However, the Autobots have some help themselves in the form of some legendary knights, the Dinobots. The battle begins!

That’s pretty much the premise which is played out over almost 3 hours and played out to exhaustion. The film is a complete waste of time. For one thing, the dialogue is atrocious. Exhibit A. “My face is my warrant” delivered by the over acting Titus Welliver. The dialogue delivered by each Auotbots is comical as well, as it should be, but at least give some meaningful lines to the humans! Continuing with the critiquing, the film editing is grade school level. Never in my life has a movie flowed LESS than it does in Transformers: Age of Extinction. The scenes abruptly end and sequences are slopped together that are suppose to offer some sort of story telling literally offer nothing but scene time for the stars and offer nothing to the overall story. Literally it is a hodgepodge of nonsense filler to add to the runtime, but adds zero to the buildup of the reason we are all there, the battle sequences. Cause that’s the only reason to see a Transformer movie directed by Michael Bay.

The special effects and spectacle are amazing as you would expect. But unfortunately it’s a prime example of too much too late. The run time is an hour too long and the film takes way too long to gain any traction to hold audiences attention. The story literally holds very little glue to keep the audience engaged between battles either. The actors do their best to deliver the insanely bad dialogue and provide an ample performance, and for the most part they do that. Mark Wahlberg and Nicola Peltz are a huge step up from Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. The addition of Stanley Tucci is a bright spot in the film with his professionalism and his acting prowess. The comedic banter is toned down from previous films which is a plus, but the quips that are present are cringe worthy.

 

The introduction of the villain(s) is underwhelming and I noticed many people in the theater scratching their heads. Lockdown is a fine character to the Transformer universe but by the time his characters intentions are revealed does anyone actually care? And please do not get me started on the use of the “other villain”. I waited for that moment all movie and it was like it never happened. Poorly handled Bay. The Autobots are unlikable for the most part, which should be a warning sign for the studio, but it appears that Paramount doesn’t care as long as kids are wearing Drift t-shirts this summer. But my main issue was with the use of the Dinobots. The build up for these iconic characters was horrific and the screen time was minimal. If you’re going to use the Dinobots then why not develop the backstory a bit more for the novice Transformer fan, offer some opportunity to create a audience to character rapport so that when they are on screen it is more than eye candy.

Overall this Transformers offering is better than the last two entries into the franchise, but that it not saying much. This is one of the worst movies I’ve seen all summer and possibly in my life. No amount of robot battle can save this film from being an utter disappointment. Transformers 5 has already been announced for release in 2016, the best thing for this franchise is to find a different director and start over, it’s the only way to save a franchise which is already on life support.

Stars:

1 1/2 out of 5

Trailer

And Hollywood Continues to Urinate All Over My Childhood: The 80’s Reboot Edition!

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Shane Black, the guy responsible for the mediocre Iron Man 3, will write and direct a REBOOT of the 80’s classic sci-fi movie Predator for 20th Century Fox.

According the the report, Black will direct and write the treatment for the film, but the screenplay duties will be in the hands of long time Black collaborator Fred Dekker (Monster Squad).

No word on how (or if) the film will tie into the 2010’s Nimrod Antal’s Predators, or the entire franchise for that matter, but considering Black’s current directorial schedule, this one could be a ways a way.

One things for sure, the mining of the 80’s for movies to reboot is becoming tiresome. Predator does not need a reboot, rather a continuation of the established storyline in Predators would’ve been a much better avenue to continue for fans.

Sound off! Do you want to see a Arnold Schwarzenegger-less Predator?!

Does Sebastian Stan Want to be Captain America???

I had a chance to sit in on the Q&A panel for Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie at Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con this weekend. After a slew of questions regarding the two actors performances in Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Stan was asked if he would like to take over Captain America’s shield one day, and after a tiny hesitation, he answered with certainty…

“Yes,” said Stan. “Yeah, I’ll do it right now. Look, it’s not up to me. I’m just showing up when they’re calling me. I means that’s it. But I wouldn’t mind a little Black Widow/Winter Soldier story happening.”

Of course a certain actor names Chris Evans might have something to say about that Sebastian…but we’ll have to wait and see

Captain America 3 hits theaters on May 6, 2016

Sound off! Do you want to see Bucky become Captain America or are you just fine with Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers?