Power Rangers (2017) Overview (Spoilers)

     So this reboot among reboots made me real skeptical at first, but when the trailers came out I got excited enough to have some hope. After seeing it I'd have to say the first act was all pretty successful. I thought the acting was good enough and the characterizations of the teens felt appropriate. It was a pretty slow build up that could have been cut down a bit, but I was enjoying it. The problem is when it was finally MORPHIN' TIME everything felt pretty boring and contrived. I didn't get that big hero rush that usually happens when the heroes finally start kicking ass. The original series was famous for this because as soon as they morphed their heavy metal theme song would lend additional power to the battle and it just made you want to jump off your couch and do karate moves along with them. Scenes like this can go a long way to redeeming a lackluster movie in my eyes, for example when Wonder Woman shows up to the fight in Batman vs Superman or when The Beastie Boys' Sabotage is used to kill aliens in Star Trek Beyond. Power Rangers 2017 didn't have one of these big hero moments, so as a viewer it made all that build up feel wasted with no payoff. Having them just morph in their base and walk out in slow motion (albeit to an awesome song) was really disappointing.

Time for the ole list-of-thing-I-wish-had-been-changed:

-I didn't really like their armor, but I was willing to let it slide. I would have rather had them wear suits more like their original movie suits which were just slightly bulked up versions of the TV costumes. These ones looked a little too bulky and curvy at the same time or something. I'm not sure exactly, but I don't like them.
-However the new suits weren't as bad at the new Zords. In their animal forms they were pretty good (except the mastodon's design was too complicated. If I didn't know it was supposed to be a mastodon I probably wouldn't have been able to figure it out.) Mainly I didn't like the Megazord itself. It was too skinny, I prefer a nice heavy, clunky, robot. I also don't recall them ever actually mentioning the names of their Zords even though they're on their helmets and are supposed to be a part of their power. The way they finally formed the Megazord was kind of stupid too. We all know damn well they're going to do it, why bother acting like their going to die in a pit of unnecessary drama? Just have them form up and win! Another missed opportunity for a big hero moment. I will say I really appreciated that they spent some time fighting as individual Zords before combining though; this was something I always felt was missing from the original series.
-The Putties looked pretty cool as giant stone golems, but I wish only a few were huge like that. Being so much bigger than a human meant normal martial arts wouldn't really work on them and there goes your chance to put in some classic fighting stunt work. Even though the rangers had super powers without their armor they were still basically worthless against the enemies until they were able to morph.
-Lastly, Rita and Goldar were pretty boring but I can let that slide.

     It seems pretty obvious that Rita will return (probably along with Lord Zedd) and use her green coin to make Tommy an evil green ranger. I'll probably go and see that one too. And it will probably also be lackluster. I don't really fault Hollywood for all these reboots because a lot of these franchises really deserve a proper blockbuster treatment (especially Power Rangers) and I really felt like this one was so close to nailing it, but they just couldn't pull it together well enough for me to be satisfied in the end.

Rogue One Overview (SPOILERS)

     Now that Rogue One has been out for over a week I think it would be a good time for a spoiler heavy discussion. Not that spoilers matter too too much for this film since we know exactly what happens right after it, but still, you've been warned.

     Overall I basically liked the movie but felt like it didn't really matter. Usually the things that make me watch a movie more than once are scenes that give you goosebumps and charge up your heroic emotions even after multiple viewings. (This is why I can watch Lord of the Rings every year and not get sick of it.) Maybe it is a piece of dialogue, a heroic charge, or a bit of cleverness making the villain look like a fool, to me, these are the best parts of a sci-fi/fantasy story. I felt like Rogue One had a few of these moments, but when it came time to really wrap it up and bring the big punch home I was mostly kind of bored cause I already knew how it would end. We got to see AT-AT walkers do some stuff and some X-Wings and other fighters do some stuff, and Jyn climbs into space tube "fall down forever" thing, and basically the whole end sequence could have been cut together from existing Star Wars footage and it wouldn't have to change much. The main exception I can think of here is the ramming ship. That was awesome. We've seen the Super Star Destroyer crash into the Death Star in Return of the Jedi, but we haven't seen a cool little space battering ram ship be the cause of that. In fact, spaceship battering rams are pretty rare in sci fi which is odd because it is a historical naval strategy and seems like it would work pretty well in space too.

     Anyway, before I get into what I would change about the ending I want to point out that I really liked the slow build up and the way the rebellion looked weak and struggling here. That's obviously a key part of the timeline, and all the more reason to have a solid victory at the end to properly unite them in time for the big strike against the Death Star. I feel like it would be better if the end sequence went something like this:

-Jyn and crew go off on their own as Rogue One and start the assault that no one thought would work.
-The rebels get word that it might be working and show up with their whole fleet.
-At this point I would have loved to see the Rebels absolutely smash this Imperial base, destroy most of their fleet and get enough ships and ground troops through the shield to have a few platoons on the ground. (Side note: what do the big rebel ships even do? Have we ever seen them be useful?)
-At this point Vader and his fleet show up and the Rebels have to go into defensive mode in the space battle, waiting for Jyn to fly out with the plans. They realize they can't get back out because of the shield or something and have to go with plan B, send the plans to the fleet with the big dish on the tower. (Side note: I really like Vader's little battle scene. He probably doesn't get out much and this was a good chance for him to just rampage and it probably felt really good.)
-Then we get a better ground battle that rivals or even tops Hoth as the rebels defend the tower from the AT-ATs and other garrison forces. Instead we got discount Hoth and that's not cool.
-The plans get sent just as the Death Star arrives and blasts the planet, the remaining rebel fleet escapes with the plans and it's considered a big win. The Rebels now know they can actually achieve things, and while it's not as good as the victory to come when a new Jedi kid blows up the Death Star, it's enough to get that ball rolling. (Side note: It would have been nice to get some shots of Leia doing something during the battle. As it is, it looks like they brought the Princess into battle just so she could sit in her special ship-within-a-ship, but got lucky when it turned out there was something useful she could do.)

Other side notes:
-Rogue One, as in the actual ship, was boring and ugly. I know it's just a shuttle but even Shuttle Tydirium looked cool and iconic. Rogue One is a black rectangle with four wings. They missed a huge opportunity here to design something legendary that could be placed next to the likes of the Falcon and Slave 1. Considering it is the namesake for the top Rebel Squadron, Rogue One deserved better. Even just from a marketing and toy sales perspective I am really surprised they just gave us a rectangle with wings.
-K-2SO is one of those characters that is so likable that I kind of don't really like him. (Luna Lovegood is another example of this.) It's like he is just so obviously likable that I didn't really have a choice in the matter and just have to accept him as "that character that's just so cool!" Groot probably should be in this category too, but he did some pretty unexpected things on screen, and Guardians of the Galaxy had other humorous cool characters to focus on too. So Groot is still rad in my book. K-2SO just didn't seem that interesting to me and I didn't care when he died. Chirrut and Baze were great though, no complaints there. Actually one complaint: Chirrut's lightbow was able to shoot down a TIE fighter, but then he uses it to shoot individual Stormtroopers. I was expecting to see it lance through a few of them with one shot which would have been righteous, but no. :(

Ghostbusters (2016) Overview

     Summer school and Pokemon Go really threw me off my normal pattern of riding my bike to the theater to see all the big movies but I'm starting to catch up. (Sorry Independence Day, you'll have to wait 'till Redbox.) So here is the Ghostbusters post!

     I had pretty low expectations about this based on the original trailer and recent crap reboots like Robocop, but holy crap was I pleasantly surprised. I usually like to write about things I would have done differently but honestly the only thing about this movie I felt was odd was the parade fight scene. It was cool to have it, but something about it felt out of place. Maybe it was just the editing, or maybe I felt like it made their main weapon (the proton pack) seem obsolete, but this is a pretty minor gripe. (Maybe the side arms were more effective because they were designed to destroy ghosts while the pack is meant to capture them? Sure, we'll go with that.)

     

Anyway, here is a list of good things:

-The characters felt a bit more like scientists here because their goal was to capture a ghost to prove a hypothesis and I really appreciated that as being their clear motive.

-Kate McKinnon as Holtzmann all day every day. Her facial expressions were something to look forward to in every scene, and the way she wrapped it all up with that toast was really cute. Egon is typically my favorite buster and I am in no way disappointed with Holtzmann being his spiritual successor. 

-I've never really seen any of the other movies from this cast and crew so maybe it is a trademark of theirs, but I liked how fast paced the dialogue was.

-It was pretty clear that Chris Hemsworth had the time of his life filming this.

-Really glad they did something other than cross the streams to win the day in the end.

PLUS: We finally got Ecto Cooler back. 

Batman vs Superman: Movie and Cereal Overview (Spoilers)

     I'm going to start with the cereal actually and put the spoilers after the jump just to be safe. The Superman cereal wins the box design category because the logo is shiny. Overall, I have to say these are probably the nicest cereal boxes I've ever seen. It's hard to tell in the picture but both of their logos are embossed and feature unique textures which is probably the main reason I felt like they were worth buying. Now I have to decide if I actually want to keep the boxes...

     In terms of flavor, the Superman one sort of tastes like graham crackers with a hint of Waffle Crisp flavoring, and the Batman one is like a combination of Cocoa Puffs and Cap'n Crunch Berries. Both are good, but I have to give the points to Batman here for at least being unique. The Superman one just tastes like a run of the mill sugary cereal although the sugar at the bottom of the bag was REALLY fricken good. So basically overall I think Superman wins this one.

     Now, as for the movie, I'm pretty sure I actually liked it. I was mostly just in it for Wonder Woman, but throughout the movie I didn't notice any glaring issues. I kind of felt like the animosity Batman had toward Superman shifted too quickly, and maybe should have never really been there to begin with? I don't know. I guess I'll just let it slide. And I know Lex Luthor is a brilliant schemer and all that, but he totally chumps Batman and that doesn't feel right to me. Otherwise the only real issue I have is that it's a Zack Snyder movie which means green barely exists and lots of high contrast shadow stuff going on.

     As for the good stuff, I think Ben Affleck did a pretty damn good job as Batman/Bruce Wayne. And while Gal Gadot isn't as beefy as Wonder Woman probably should be, it's hard to argue with how good she looks in that costume. When she first shows up to block the laser and her music starts I nearly jumped out of my seat. Also really glad to see her grinning in battle; that's the Wonder Woman I love most. 

     So overall I'm fairly pleased with this. I thought Man of Steel was pretty crappy but Dawn of Justice has made me excited to see how this franchise evolves. 

(P.S. I just decided I will keep the boxes in the hopes that Wonder Woman gets her own cereal when her movie comes out. She damn well better.)

Luke Skywalker in The Force Awakens (predictions, not spoilers)

     First, look at this festive Luke gif I made:

     Anyway, Luke hasn't been in any of the trailers for The Force Awakens, leading many to assume he has gone dark side and it's going to be a dramatic reveal. There are many valid points to this theory, and in all honesty it does make sense but NO. 

     No.

     If Luke ends up dark side it throws the whole ending of Return of the Jedi out the window. The scene when Luke tosses his lightsaber to the side saying "Never. I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed, your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me." will now be meaningless. On top of that, and I would say even more importantly, it would completely ruin Vader's redemption. Darth Vader's image suffered enough in the prequels; please don't also murder his legacy.

     However, it also wouldn't be very fitting for Luke to be some shining paragon of the light side of the force. We clearly saw him taking several steps to the dark side, and Yoda knew what he was talking about when he thought it would be a bad idea to continue Luke's training. With this in mind, I'm really hoping when Luke is revealed he is massively powerful (as he should be) but as some kind of gray Jedi, not light or dark. I want to see a Luke that has had a thirty year struggle with the dark side, but never gave in. This would be so much more interesting to me than watching him be some Sith bastard while Han and Leia cry over it. 

Ant-Man Impressions

*SPOILERS*

     I saw Ant-Man today, and it was okay but not really great. Basically the whole first hour is spent explaining things: explaining how the suit works, explaining how Scott was a burglar and got caught and has a daughter, explaining how the boring bad guy figured out how to make another suit etc... It's a lot of exposition with barely any actual interaction between the characters 'cause they spend most of the time setting everything up for the audience to understand.

     So anyway, once all the explaining is taken care of, it gets lot more interesting. I really liked the fight scene with Falcon, because if we're being honest, the MCU tie ins are the only reason we are even here. (Though it would have been nice to hear another voice on the end of Falcon's comm. It wasn't Cap, but then who? It made the scene feel a little cheap, as in they literally didn't want to pay one of the other Avengers to do a quick voice over.)

     We have to see the old formula from Iron Man 1 and 2 at work again here (good guy makes a suit, bad guy uses tech for their own suit, and then they fight) but at least the suits ARE cool. I really liked the differences between them too, with the bad guy (Yellow Jacket) having a weaponized fighting advantage, but the Ant-Man suit having control of ants and little size-changing throwing discs to balance it out. 

     I pretty much did a face palm during the "Siri, play the (I forgot the name) song by the Cure" scene. It was just awkward and out of place. I think they were trying to go for a Guardians of the Galaxy style music-comedy tie in, but it didn't work for me.

     I think it will be cool to see Ant-Man working with the other Avengers, and as an MCU fan I'd say this movie still delivers the goods. Bonus points for feeling like a sci-fi Ferngully.

John Wick and The Seventh Son Impressions

     I did a little walk to RedBox and came back with John Wick and Seventh Son. Both of them were "okay," but I would say John Wick was closer to being "good." Anyway, here are the movie posters and some of my thoughts. (This is meant to be for a discussion with people who have already seen the movies, so beware of ***spoilers*** if you haven't.)

John Wick

     I generally liked a lot of things about this movie, but the plot was too predictable for me to really get invested. I think the thing I liked most though was how John kept having these little polite conversations with people who obviously respected him. It felt unique enough, and made you want to root for John even more. I didn't really appreciate the oddball "artistic" subtitles; it just made me want to roll my eyes. 

Notes:

-WHAT THE HELL ARE THE ODDS that Viggo's son would happen to run into John Wick and set this whole thing into motion? Oh well. It's pretty silly, but I'm ok with it.

-The whole scene at the night club was pretty stellar, especially due to this song. I liked that the hand to hand combat was kind of slow, but honestly I couldn't tell if it was more realistic that way or if the actors simply didn't rehearse enough. Bonus points for including two of my favorite ladies from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

-Seriously, Adrianne Palicki is amazing and should have been Wonder Woman.

-Viggo is the dumbest crimelord ever for putting all his stuff in one spot; he only has himself to blame for losing it. I clearly saw data discs in there, he REALLY didn't make multiple copies of those???

- The scene where Ms Perkins gets executed was cool, but all I could think of was the very real danger of cross fire. 

Seventh Son

     This was almost on level with a made for TV fantasy movie, but the solid cast set it up just a few notches higher. Sadly, Julianne Moore felt like discount Maleficent, and Jeff Bridges was genuinely doing a damn good impression of Ian McKellen's Gandalf which was both awesome and awkward. Bonus points for Kit Harrington.

     Honestly, that's about all I can say about it. The plot was a lot of typical crap with typical characters. The only obvious WTF moment I can think of is how two novices like Tom and Alice are able to even stand up to the "best assassins," let alone actually beat any of them. ಠ_ಠ

Jurassic World Impressions

     I saw Jurassic World yesterday, and it was pretty ok. It kind of felt like I was watching a check list of references to the original movie and other general blockbustery things (like a side plot romance and mischievous villain guy.) Essentially, it's a fun as hell movie for exactly all the reasons you would expect, and also a dumb as hell movie, for exactly all the reasons you would expect.

Fun
     Chris Pratt, in general.
     Scary dinosaur bits!
     The really nice homage to the original park with the old dusty equipment.
     But really, the absolute best part was when Bryce Dallas Howard does the whole "flare+T-Rex" trick, and we are treated to an old school Godzilla throw down. When the T-Rex comes out you just really want to cheer for her. We, as a species, are in love with the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It's just a thing.

Dumb
     Are the poor raptors stuck in those head cages whenever Christ Pratt isn't around? At first I thought it was just to put them on display, but then they were all still in there later on! How would they ever convince them to do this more than once?
     WHY DO THEY LET THE PARK GUESTS DRIVE THEIR OWN HAMSTER BALLS WITHOUT SOME KIND OF GPS OVERRIDE BACKUP!?
     Their little team of dino catchers had the most pathetic gear and training possible. Just three helicopters (with proper pilots) and there wouldn't have been an issue. They should have learned their lesson from the first park: your Dinosaur SWAT Team needs to be legit. Spare no expense.

     Well, I think that's about it. It's Jurassic World: it delivers what you ordered. (Smells Good!)

Tomorrowland Impressions

     This is basically a movie about being optimistic and trying to save the world with the spirit of dreams and the power of imagination. I'll be honest, that kind of shit hits me hard in the feels and I was pretty emotional during the ending sequence. Unfortunately there are some solid failures here which make it hard to really love the movie.

     I think the biggest problem is that the villain had no real reason to be a villain. Nix (Hugh Laurie) is the main antagonist, but it's basically because he gave up and became a cynic. So, scriptwriters, I have something to tell you: people who give up don't put effort into things. That's part of the whole "giving up" thing; they just don't care anymore. So why would Nix even bother to have crazy robots killing the shit out of everything in an effort to stop the main characters? It is literally only so there to have some cool action sequences in the movie. It sucks.

    I'm pretty bummed that a lot of the negative reviews are more focused on how "preachy" the movie is. I mean, it was pretty preachy I guess, but it was all true. A huge theme of the movie is about how people can't be bothered to fix a world that is crumbling around them, and then in real life the reviewers are LITERALLY LIVING UP TO THIS by acting like it's a bad thing for a movie to try and communicate the message that our society is in serious danger if we don't do something about it.

     I still liked the movie though. Keegan-Michael Key's cameo was pretty neat, and I really enjoyed hearing Clooney say "aw HELL!" over and over as the movie's allowable dirty language.

     It really is up to the dreamers, the scientists and artists, to save the world, and for highlighting that, I still have to say Tomorrowland is a good movie.

Netflix Daredevil Overview

     Well I marathoned the 13 episodes of Daredevil last week and I was far from disappointed. The series did an excellent job of portraying a crime drama with a super hero twist, and left me really excited to see how this Defenders project will unfold. If you haven't watched it yet, stop reading, 'cause here be spoilers.

First, a few nitpicky things:

-If Wilson Fisk (or any other 'mysterious person') wants to get around unnoticed, 2 black SUVs is NOT as stealthy as it might seem; it just screams "I'm up to some sketchy biz."

-When Daredevil has Vladimir all banged up in the empty warehouse, and Vladimir pulls that "I'm dying and going to talk quietly so this guy leans in and I can hit him" maneuver, I call BS. Daredevil can hear everything, there was no way he would need to lean in for that.

And now, my favorite stuff:

-All the Catholic stuff; the angel and the church in the opening sequence is my favorite part, and Father Lantom rocked all of his scenes.
-This portrayal of Fisk is so damn good. I especially like the part at the end where he is telling the story of the Good Samaritan and realizes "I am the ill intent."
-Karen, Foggy, and Murdock have an awesome relationship, and I never felt like the "non hero" stuff was getting in the way or slowing things down.
-Hnnnng, love for Rosario Dawson continues to flourish.
-The way he finally gets his "real" costume was done really well, and I hope we continue to see Melvin Potter.

     So now it's time to speculate about the future. The biggest loose end right now seems to be with Stick and his war, and whoever he was talking to in all that incense at the end of episode 7. I'm sure I could dig through some Marvel stuff to figure out who that dude is, but either way I'm betting we will see it tie into The Hand, and possibly even Elektra and Bullseye as being a part of the Defenders story line a few seasons from now. Or maybe they will save that for a possible season 2?

     In anycase, Marvel's Netflix stuff=so far, so good!  

Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix, First Impressions

     The Daredevil miniseries hit Netflix yesterday, crashing right into my productivity weak point. But if I write a blog post about it I will feel like something was accomplished, and that is generally the whole reason I started this blog anyway!

     So I'm four episodes into it and basically, it's awesome. Every character has been really interesting, the fights are pretty well done, and there is even a good chunk of legal drama for fans of that kind of thing. All in all, it's pretty damn impressive, especially the way the series seems to be handling main antagonist Wilson Fisk. So far, he has been shown to have a soft side, and a genuine sincerity about the underground crime lord work he does, and I really wasn't expecting that level of commitment to character development from this series. To top it off, there's even been enough reference to the greater MCU to satisfy me, though it is obvious the creators are making this with the intent for it to stand on it's own.

     Stay tuned for a spoiler filled "review" in a few days when I finish watching, and if you have Netflix, go watch it yourself so we can talk about it!

Miles Morales FTW

     "If I have to watch another Peter Parker origin story, I'll shoot Uncle Ben myself." ~Lu

     Yea, pretty much how I feel about the idea there could be another Peter Parker on the big screen.

So let's look at some of the possibilities here:

-Give Peter Parker his full story (again) and have him steal the spotlight from Cap and Stark.
-Shoehorn him into the movie awkwardly without giving him the weight he deserves.

     I think the writers are going to have a real tough time trying to walk this line. So you know what would be an awesome way to solve all of these problems, plus a few extra ones?

Miles Morales

     Using Miles would give the audience a fresh new back story, so that problem is solved. Plus, he is younger than Peter and a total rookie, so there is no chance of him butting in on Captain America and Iron-Man's turf as the "main" characters of the MCU. As a bonus, we get more cast diversity, and Miles gets to become a more legitimate version of Spidey instead of just in the Ultimate Universe, which if you ask me, barely even counts as real. 

     So here is how I would do it (possible spoilers.) Show newsreel footage implying Spider-Man is a relatively new hero who has had some success and people generally like him. Give him a quick scene on his own, nothing special, just some bank robbers or something. Then let there be some bigger shit that hits the fan, and he gets bailed out by Cap or Stark (probably Stark). All this time, just Spider-Man is on screen. So then when it comes time for the registration act thingy, and Stark's plan to make the big Spider-Man reveal, THEN show that it is Miles. People watching the movie who don't follow these things will be all like "WHAT!? HE'S BLACK!?" It would be awesome, and give that scene the touch of surprise and drama that it deserves. 

     Check back in a year or so to see if I'm psychic.

     Wait. Hot damn right before I was going to post this I see articles like this:

http://screencrush.com/spider-man-rumor-black-latino/

     Perhaps there is hope!

Jupiter Ascending Impressions

(this get-up is so 'Wachowski' it hurts)

     Well the reviews I saw for Jupiter Ascending were saying what I suspected: great visuals but a convoluted plot. After seeing it I can say I agree, but it was still a pretty cool movie. Something that really disappointed me though was the under-utilization of the bounty hunters Razo and Ibis. (Razo, pictured above, played by Doona Bae, and Ibis was played by David Ajala.)

***spoilers***

     They decided to ignore their original plan and bring Jupiter to Kalique, and then they're never heard from again. This would have been a perfect time to bring them into the story as real characters if they instead decided to help Jupiter directly, cause hey, she's royalty and about to be crazy rich. Then they could have teamed up with Cain and Stinger and we would have had a real party on our hands. Instead we have to watch Cain fly his little space ship to save Jupiter at the last second twice.

     Also, I'm not the only one who noticed Cain's gun sounded like a dog barking as he shot it, right?

Portlandia :/

     I've had multiple friends tell me I should watch Portlandia (especially when I mention Battlestar Galactica) and today I decided to watch the first episode. Well, try to watch, anyway. I got about 10 minutes in and was too annoyed by the characters to keep going. Don't get me wrong, parts were pretty funny (like the "Dream of the 90's" song, picture related) but the scenes go on too long and what could have been amusing just ended up making me feel aggravated. I can't really get behind Portlandia for the same reason I wouldn't watch a show about children screaming in supermarkets.