Reviews

Definitely a lot of issues with the last season, Marty had this confession to Wendy about blood on his hands and Ruth losing her entire family... what was the point of that? He clearly did not care. The moral of this story was Wendy wins and Marty goes along, and the kids will go along. Pretty pathetic after years of building... to end up basically back where it started. Camilla isn't dead, they still aren't safe or out. They have another Del, and less allies than ever.

Super disappointed.

Poor 3...

So the tone of this movie stays consistent and interesting, it's original while also pulling tidbits of successful former movies and reworking them into new dynamics. I do think there was a lack of development for both Bruce and Edward. Why is Edward doing this? What was his breaking point? How long has he been plotting these crimes? And Bruce... he has been Batman for a few years, okay fine, but why did he choose this? What exactly is going on with the family as Alfred warns the Wayne estate is in some type of jeopardy because of Bruce's lack of involvement in maintaining those relationships?

I do like the fact that a real world aspect adds to this dilemma, too often Batman movies show playboy Bruce happy and enjoying wealth, then suddenly an off switch to be dark and brooding Batman. Bruce is not a superhero, he is a guy deciding to use wealth to impact his sorroundings do to corruption and the lack of justice as a result. It makes sense that a person cannot flick that switch as easily.

Overall, the origin of Penguin interwined with Marrone off screen and Falcone on screen makes sense. Catwoman is an interesting but necessary piece of plot to push Batman in directions, unlike say Dark Knight Rises, where it feels she is there to be there, not really to serve any particular purpose.

It is a good movie that stays true to itself, but the world it takes place in definitely has more questions than answers. How is Gordon the only cop who believes in Batman? When did that start? How does he as saavy as he is not piece together that is could be Bruce Wayne? How doesn't Riddler? Just a few points to a good movie that can be tighter. Don't mistake this for nitpicking a great flick, I simply was left wanting more which is the goal, overall I think it is very well done. Not quite the best ever, as Dark Knight really is a hard act to top in many ways. Dark Knight also had a prequel to set up and by the second and third movies we understood version of Gotham better. That is something Reeves can still do in the future.

Where to start? Continuity is real in movies. If you don't make things correlate shot to shot when someone has a wound or they do things you cannot do with said injury, it distracts from plot because it is unrealistic. This movie isn't in an alternate universe where people get shot 3 times and keep jumping off carports onto cars and barely dent them after being in an accident and moving country to country almost entirely on foot in rugged terrain. Another huge issue that bothered me a lot is this starts out in the remote Mountains. Yet somehow everyone he encounters speaks english if he asks if they do. It is absurd. What a series of coincidences and good luck for someone who seemingly is in this situation because of shit luck and reckless driving while too tired to steer. After such a start with Blackkklansman and Tennant I can't help but wonder what Washington was thinking when he read this and said okay. The plot is awful. So many loose ends... why did they kidnap the kid, what the hell is going on, why would they kill someone who doesnt even know the country or can ID anyone he sees especially after a traumatic accident and event like losing a significant other. Why go back to a heart on his hand when you spent the last hour making her life meaningless by having her death be the thing that coincidentally sets off a political murder plot over literally nothing? I'm really asking. Love John, and like his dad the movies arent all perfect, but nowhere to go but up after this mistake.

People on here who post about how bad or boring this is clearly don't get why it is terrifying. Seriously, those of you comparing it to Wickerman should rewatch that movie, this is far better. Midsommar is a movie about why you don't brush things under the rug. You wanna break up? Do it. You're not a Hero for sparing anyone what everyone already knows is going to happen. You have a family death and/or tragedy? Deal with those emotions. This is a movie about a woman who cannot handle brushing anything else under, and finally is given an outlet to let it all out. Acceptance greets her in the form of eerie contests and rituals that culminate in her own rebirth of no longer needing to be burdened with trivial eventually meaningless compromise. As many "oh, come on" moments as there are, understand the situation in a foreign country; you are overly polite, trying not to smash customs of something you went out of your way to attend. This movie is not designed to scare you in the sense of a fright, it is a true horror ambiance based art film. Everything is about the building of the story. Every scene. Every word. Every place. Ingredients only tasting right when they are mixed with the right recipe at the right times... only, you're the centerpiece.

Redemption doesn't seem like the theme the name Breaking Bad sets out to deliver. And depending on your idea of redemption, maybe this isn't even that, maybe moving on is a better way to describe it. Jesse went from a practically teenage Captain Cook living an oblivious New Mexico existence slinging Chilli-P, to a well rounded humbled adult who just wants to be free to chose his own path. El Camino means exactly that. If you are looking for a standalone feel good movie of the year you have wandered into the wrong yard. This is a direct continuation of Breaking Bad that allows us peaks at what comes after for Jesse. It also plays on nostalgia through flashbacks and never before seen scenes with characters like Mike, Todd, and even Walt. If you love Breaking Bad this is eye candy. Just imagine if Felina part 2 and 3 combined into 1 long episode, and focus primarily on Pinkman. We don't get many White family nods or updates, or a crossover from Saul as a Cinnabon fishing criminal lawyer. This stays true to the aftermath of the series in a dark way that also feels as light as possible in Jesse's current world. I appreciate the courage it took to make this, and believe when you simply attach it as the finale of Breaking Bad, it still completes the whole. On its own you may not see it as groundbreaking. On its own you may not be satisfied if you expect anything but a man who was held captive as a hostage and the things one has to escape to move forward from that. Jesse accepts his fate, the one that truly tortured him throughout the series... he finally chose what he wanted to do over what anyone else tried to force or manipulate him to do. Unlike the arch of Walt or even Saul, Jesse finds experience and swallows it to do something different. He chooses not to go further down the rabbit hole until it consumes him completely. He was the ying to Walt's yang because of that.

True fans will get why this movie is not flashy, not just a romp with light hearted nods at bad things that happened, because the human experience is more than a line in a passing moment. It doesn't search for nostalgia. It tells the linear story of Jesse after Walt. One where he can breathe and have his own frontier.

Why do this to end another trilogy? Did we learn nothing from Last Stand? It's a bad idea that never gets executed correctly. The comics are so rich, which keep revisiting this arch?

This movie is literally like if you merged the worst elements of other blockbuster flops like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, X-Men The Last Stand, and every cliche in Cinema Sins history. Then called it Dark Phoenix. Don't waste your time. I love Days of Future Past, then thought Apocalypse left a lot to be desired, but this is literally just a plethora of bad scripting, lack of ANY development, and an even worse version of a story that was already recently bad. This movie doesn't follow its own rules. Why can Nightcrawler transport anywhere when they clearly make it a point he has to see it visually first? Why is Scott so helpless? Why is Raven a meaningless sacrifice when the relationship between her and Jean is not built up to produce meaning in such a pivotal moment? Can they make an X-Men movie without Charles having endless guilt then regretting his decision, Magneto becoming a peacekeeper, and the X-Men looking more like extras in a Sly Stallone prison movie? I am really asking.

I hope Marvel gives this series more attention than Fox who clearly has its eyes on days of future past.

While the theme is admirable, the filming suitably claustrophobic, and the actors beyond committed... there are still a lot of missed opportunities with this film. Make no mistake, it is a piece of art that should be discussed and interpreted like any other. My own is that it tragically falls short of a masterpiece. The ingredients were there but cooked incorrectly, separately from one another before being put into a melodramatic bland stew. Adding spice at the end does not fix the taste. It sits on a ledge afraid of its own moral, edging toward a lost sense of "what is happening here" and losing it half way into its own dinner. The tone starts out with solid consistency, trying to clearly slow burn to a metaphor about fame and sensationalism devouring the human element; literally. However, after what feels like a clear psychotic set of "normalized downplayed" psychological abuses; it reverts to intimate finding, then back to the abuse. Now, such is life, right? But the problem here is that despite Jennifer Lawrence's phenomenal pulse of the character, it never quite feels like this gets the meaning it sets out for. Gore can be stunning, meaningful, and poetic. Simply using a poet who achieves fame imagining he can contain it no matter what, is not in itself poetic. Obviously, displacement of real emotions and reactions plays to the decentization of modern social aged indifference. Missed in the climax are the things that made the first half of the movie so interesting; an unnerving but familiar discomfort. It tries too hard to justify itself through Javier Bardem's character, and ironically plays on abuse in a relationship, yet she knows where to draw a clear line. Simplicity in complications only further undresses this as not knowing what's unnerving about itself. Worth a watch, conversation, comparisons, not much more.

As a writer, I enjoy the craft of weaving stories together in a natural unforced way with occasional coincidences while avoiding contrived or ridiculous situations. It's not as easy as it sounds. West Wing is a masterpiece of temperament, humor, situations, and moving fast enough where you don't have a lot of time to analyze the validity of what's said until later- then, when you do it makes the show brilliant and re-watchable. Obviously, having actors like Allison Janney, Rob Lowe, Martin Sheen, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, Elisabeth Moss and a season to season all-star cast of fill-in character actors makes lines come alive in a meaningful way. A lot of shows don't have the deep resources or revolving characters that make perfect episodic sense on such a high level as dealing with Governmental affairs. Subjects are touched on in real ways, from sensible situations, and yes resolved in usually a far too easy predicament- but hey, it's television. It really evolves from an infant President and his staff trying to figure out which way is up, to a resilient administration fending off all comers and issues, often picking the lesser of two bad choices, until two elections later when the show ends with the fact that the Presidency doesn't. It's a beautiful character study of the positions and operations without being too dull, annoying, dreadfully political, or harmfully bias.

Watch. This. Show.

I admit when I heard the premise about the plot I was certainly thinking "great another horrible small budget horror flick". Though something about the previews kept telling me I may be wrong. I was with my girlfriend looking for a movie to see at the theater, we like to read up on our IMDb and Fandango info before we commit to anything. We decided this looked better than Furious 7(we have seen 1-6) and the other unimpressive roster at our local cinema a few weeks ago.

Enter, It Follows. ***Spoilers Follow as well*** We get some snacks, sit in the theater, and after some previews we both notice that immediately there is a formula for success. The opening scene is one of frantic confusion, but not by the viewer, by the girl on the screen who's name and situation are not explained but she seems in a genuine panic to get away from something. Eventually she drives out to the middle of nowhere, and seems content with waiting for whatever she feared and looking toward the direction she just drove from. Not sure what exactly to expect, I popped open my snacks, and looks over to my girlfriend and shrugged. She was not looking back, she was following the action with wide eyes. I won't ruin the end of that scene, but suffice to say it is worth watching to find out.

As the movie progresses you meet another young girl, most of this focusing on high school teenagers, but not the vein stereotypes we are used to in this type of movie. These characters seem like your friends, they seem like they are real people who make real decisions, based on real circumstances. It would not ruin the movie for me to tell you that something is following them based on a sexual encounter that basically passes it along like a virus. What it is I will not explain, but it does not stop until it gets what it wants. it cannot be reasoned with, and it is not considerate of how they feel about it. Unlike a slasher film, this tension here isn't about a ruthless murderer, it's about knowing that eventually you will have to pay up and nothing will stop it from happening.

This movie really impressed me, it is a little predictable but not to the point of being miserable, the plot majority is relatively easy to see coming, but the smaller intricate turns make it really enjoyable. The 70's style filming and booming soundtrack reminds me of watching The Shining or some other unorthodox fright from decades past. The circumstances can change for what it wants, or whom, which makes it not such a straight path you get tired of. The length of the movie isn't so short it's annoying, but isn't so long you feel like it should have ended already. The acting, sound, length, and overall idea is very well executed and believable.

It Follows, It Delivers.

I had heard some good things about this and after watching "It Follows" recently I admit I temporarily was restored in thinking maybe a new wave in the genre was sweeping over the immersive slasher takeover of recent years in horror films. However, despite high hopes and really wishing this moving was at least up to par, I realized after a short time that it was really just a recycled version of every other movie with little explained and even less sense made.

SPOILERS BELOW*** The movie opens with an odd sequence involving an accident and a floating lady which most certainly feels like a quick and easy way to either foreshadow or get cheap on character development(never a good way to start a movie, set it up first...). As the movie trails beyond that opening you learn that she is a withdrawn mother after a tragic accident with a child who seems to have serious behavioral issues at school and even around his own cousins. The acting is not bad, but the plot is filled with holes as a book is introduced from nowhere in their home, and the mother reads it to her son despite there being obvious connections to his behavior(she reads it out loud to him which then terrifies him even further).

Slowly she begins to realize the book is why her son has acted strange and makes attempts to find out about it and then get rid of it as actions escalate. Eventually it gets to a point where her own family thinks they are both crazy and don't want to help them. She begins to get more aggressive until the sequences of dreams and dealing with her son turn into her not having an aggressive nature and treating him as if she is possessed and want to harm him.

Eventually she is fully possessed and her son makes good on a promise that they will protect each other and ties her up in the basement. He gets a little too close and she tries to kill him, but she internally fights the Babadook with the love for her child which then causes her to throw up the black vomit that apparently is what has possessed her and then makes an epic last stand which apparently causes the Babadook to fear hurting them as she claims it is trepassing. The movie ends with them reclaiming their lives in normalcy and feeding worms to the Babadook which is now living among them in the basement for some reason unbeknown to the viewer.

Starts odd, ends odd. Just an overall odd attempt and generally not scary at all.