Captain America a hit to the feels.

It took me a week, but i finally got to get out to the theater and see Captain America Civil war.

I have to say i was impressed, the movie was a perfect combination of action, adventure, and slapstick comedy blended into a nice marvel milkshake of goodness.

The movie itself follows closely with the other Marvel movies that have happened. If you can’t remember, The Avengers were founded and the World got attacked, and attacked again. Tony Stark tried to protect the world but he created a super crazy robot that nearly ended the world again.

Steve Rogers has spent a quite substantial amount of time finding and losing his friend Bucky Barnes. Civil War starts with another series of hide and seek with Steve and Bucky. Of course a number of things go wrong or this wouldn’t be a Marvel movie.

I am sure that you all are aware of the new spiderman in the movie. I have to say that i am 100% on board the Tom Holland/Spiderman train. Tom Holland absolutely killed the Peter Parker in my eyes. His accent, his rather naive optimism absolutely sold his Spiderman character. I think when he gets a standalone, he will kill it. I enjoyed watching him and his rather upbeat personality. He was a superhero but when he was around the other hero’s he was like a kid seeing his favorite sports star up close and talking to them. Just imagine if your pro idol walked up and  gave a high five to you, you would lose your mind.

The movie had a lot of touching moments in it, showing the internal pain that some of the characters were going through, they were all suffering in their own ways. Everyone was fighting their own inner demons and couldn’t seem to let go of the past. The story was pushed along by the fact that Captain is the Eternal soldier who can never stop fighting, while Tony is a man who has grown weary of war and death. I walked into this movie siding with Steve Rogers, #TeamCaptain but in the end i could see both sides of the coin, both had valid reasons for taking the stance they did.

Paul Rudd makes a cameo in this movie and he really adds a lot of comedy to the scenes that he is in. I can never take him seriously, he just seems so goofy, and it made the movie very refreshing. I enjoy a dark gritty movie, but Paul and Tom’s light hearted childish demeanor only helped pull the movie into bright spots. When the movie hits DVD i will be picking up a copy that is for sure.

 

Deadpool, Its better than GreenLantern

Tonight i got a chance that doesn’t come by very often. Tonight I was lucky enough to get a chance to see the new Ryan Reynolds movie Deadpool before its release. It was one of those screenings that is usually a bunch of critics for various papers and radios and those people were there as well.

I will say one thing, when they give you a pre release showing, they make sure you are not trying to record it, which i fully support. The movie itself was packed and i don’t believe there was a single empty seat. I want to take the chance to thank the guys from New Dimension Comics and 3 Rivers Comicon. were gracious enough to provide myself and a handful of other lucky Science Fiction Enthusiasts. ((i am starting a new trend, we aren’t nerds. We are SciFI enthusiasts.)) If you get a chance, please go to their Facebook pages and send them some love. Had they not been so generous, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to see Deadpool. Seeing this movie really made my week.

So the movie itself was really well done. It is clear to me that everyone involved put everything they had into making this movie the best it could be. Ryan Reynolds really put himself out there getting this movie made and convincing 20th Century Fox to let him make it Rated R. I am sure if you ask Ryan, he will tell you that it was the fans that got this movie made. I believe he helped make this movie what it was, a well crafted movie.

This movie is not a typical super hero movie, but i can only summarize that you are fully aware of what this movie it about. This movie is about a man with a heart of gold, trying to save the woman he loves from being a prostitute. Also this movie is about a badass who wants revenge on the man who tried to turn him into a super slave. The movie has some very heavy sexual innuendos that are lined through the movie. I think that the movie had its first last thirty seconds in, and it rolled long through the movie.

Deadpool could honestly be considered a comedy that just happened to be an action adventure flick. The team of writers behind this movie packed as many jokes as they could into every single scene. there were stretches of laughter that lasted minutes.  The Jokes ranged from typical slapstick humor, to tongue in cheek jokes, and even a few smart jokes thrown in there.

I am not sure how i feel about breaking the 4th wall in movies. For people who are not aware what the fourth wall is, basically it is when the character in the movie knows and acknowledges that they are in a movie and are aware of the audience watching them. Most movies do not break this, but Deadpool has always been about breaking the 4th wall, even in his comics. They didn’t break the 4th wall a ton, but it was still done in hilarious ways.

The CGI in the movie was a bit heavy in certain parts, but that is to be expected when you have certain characters like Colossus, a giant man made of metal. The practical affects were also well done, and the fight scenes spectacular. Everything about this movie was crisp and enjoyable. There were a few parts that seemed a little bit forced, but the movie itself flowed well and really seemed to sit well with everyone who was there.

I can honestly say that this movie earned its R rating in a big way and i wouldn’t be surprised if at one point it had a NC17. There is some serious nudity in the movie on top of the sex and violence. I have to say that this movie is going to be one of the best of 2016, and the year has only begun. I fully intend to go to the theater and see this a few more times. I think Ryan Reynolds found his niche. I like the and i bet he is awesome, but he really does come off as a smug self centered smart ass with a heart of gold. He was made to play Deadpool and it showed in this movie. I recommend going to see it in the theaters, but don’t take your kids. After watching this movie, there is no way they could make a PG-13 movie without heavily watering down the movie.

I highly doubt that a successful box office take for Deadpool will bring about a new era of Rated R super hero movies, but i can only hope that we get to see more of them. I think that Rated R movies can let more raw emotion into the film, and really show the dark side of movies. I doubt that i am alone in wanting to see more edgier super hero movies, but i realize that the die hard fans need the mainstream to keep our passions alive. Everyone needs to come together to make movies like this and the other super hero movies a reality.

 

Sorry Mom’s, Deadpool shouldn’t be PG-13

Unless you avoid facebook and some of its click bait posts, or you aren’t a nerd and just so happened to randomly find this, then you have seen the story about the 8 yr old boy who told his mother he should go see it. It was then followed up by a youtuber who decided to start a petition to make the studio release a PG-13 version. It is clear that this woman does not know anything about deadpool, or she would have understood the reason why Deadpool can’t and shouldn’t be made in a PG-13 version.

Deadpool was never written or animated to be a comic book for children. Deadpool has always been a character that was more Adult themed. While he has appeared in a handful of various Spiderman and other superhero comics, he has always been a foul mouthed merciless killer. Since his inception in the early 90’s, Deadpool has been shot, stabbed, crushed, ripped apart, and even turn into a fine red mist by the Hulk himself. He is a bit of a lunatic and has voices in his head. Deadpool is one of those few characters that while in other comics, still always is one of those that was geared towards adult readers rather than children.

I realize that part of this small push for a PG13 deadpool stems from his appearance in the spiderman cartoons. The fact of the matter is, that Deadpool is an extremely Tame and toned down version. I realize that many of the young kids, see the Marvel logo attached to Deadpool and think that is must be another super hero like Iron man, Thor, and Captain America.

Deadpool is quite possibly the polar opposite of Captain America. It’s Ironic cause Deadpool is a Canadian but he is also a man with almost zero morals or filter. Captain America was built to be a character that the whole family could get behind. His comics were something anyone could read, but Deadpool has never been a family friendly character. He has been a mercenary that killed people thought deserved death. He was a killer for hire. Does that sound like a Character you want an 8yr old child to be reading about or seeing a movie about? I would hope not.

Another part of Deadpool’s story has him fall for a prostitute. Yes it is in his back story. He fell in love with a prostitute and then got cancer. He then Went through a similiar process that Wolverine went through which is why he has the ability to heal and is pretty much immortal. Dead pool’s history and story is always dark and marred with nothing but violence and death. As long as i have loved comics, Deadpool was never one of the ones i thought was a kid friendly character. I can not ever support a petition to tame down his character as it would only make children want to explore the character and once they discover his comics and the fact that he is not like the Thor’s and Cap’n of the world, they could be turned off. On top of that if parents were to discover this (having not known what deadpool was about) they could start a backlash against studio’s preventing us adults from getting grittier more realistic movies based on our favorite characters.

I am urging the nerd parents of the world, or the parents who have nerdy kids. If you wish to fight for PG-13 please go buy a few deadpool comics and read them. I assure you that after you read them you will reconsider wanting your kid to follow him. I am not a parent so i can not accurately tell you how to raise your child, i am merely suggesting that anything under 15 is not a suitable age for Deadpool, especially if your child is 8, the fact that you would let him see a pg13 deadpool worries me slightly. Please, as a nerd in his 30’s it is very rare that i get a superhero movie the way it should be. Please don’t take this away from me.

Ridiculous 6: Surprisingly good

Yesterday i was sitting around and debating what i wanted to do with my day and i was flipping through Netflix when i stumbled on an Adam Sandler movie. The movie in question was called the Ridiculous 6, which if you know your movie history is a parody of the Magnificent 7 or 7 samurai. Basically there are a handful of movies that have followed the premise of 7 gifted individuals who come together for a greater good.

Ridiculous 6 is nothing like that movie, it is a comedy about 6 brothers who come together to save their father. The movie stars Adam Sandler as the main character White Knife (a boy who was raised by Indians after his mom was murdered.) He meets his father who is played by Nick Nolte. His father (Frank Stockburn) needs his help. Adam then takes it upon himself to help his biological father.

On his adventure , Adam Sandler meets five other people who’s mothers had a run in with Frank Stockburn. (Terry Crews, Jorge Garcia, Taylor Lautner, Luke Wilson, and Rob Schneider.) I am convinced that Rob has a contact that he must be in every movie Adam Sandler makes, but its not always a bad thing.

While the Magnificent 7 was a very serious movie, this is the complete opposite. While there were parts of the movie that made me think that they were trying to be serious, it was quickly broken up by something overly silly. That is what kept the movie interesting for me over the 2 hour run time. This isn’t a typical Romantic Comedy that Adam Sandler has been making on a regular basis, but when you are married with a family, you are going to try and make more kid friendly movies that your family can watch.

I realize that there was a lot of Flack about the movie and the Indians in it and several other things, but as far as the movie is concerned its not bad. I am not condoning any of the things that happened during the filming of the movie, i am merely stating that the movie was better than some of the more Recent Sandler Movies. I enjoyed that they didn’t take historic characters seriously and kind of mocked the movie that this was spoofing.

If i had to give it a rating i would give it a 3/5, its worth watching at least once. I would like to see Sandler maybe invest into producing other movies, maybe start making comedies that doesn’t star him and his friends. I think Sandler if he has a good story and some younger talent, could make some pretty funny movies. Maybe if you got him and Seth Rogan together, they could make a family friendly stoner comedy. Or not, it was just a thought.

The Floptastic 4

It is pretty safe to say that the latest installment of the Fantastic four franchise hit a wall, and by wall i mean the kind you see in a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. The fantastic 4 has never really been a block buster franchise that dominated the box office, in fact every version has barely been afloat. Its not to say that the directors behind these movies or the actors were bad, its more or less the fantastic 4 themselves.

Before Fox began trying to create their own Marvel based money machine, the Fantastic 4 was more or less just a footnote in the Marvel Universe. Characters like Iron man, Thor, and Captain America have always been The Marvel cash crop; even before they were made into billion dollar movies, their comics were always the more popular. The x-men has always been a favorite of mine. I remember when i was younger; There was always something x-men based on tv. They had a long running cartoon that i really enjoyed.

I remember there being a Fantastic 4 cartoon, but i can’t say that i really liked it that much. I never really gravitated towards F4. I think it was because their powers weren’t all that impressive to me. One of them was a giant rock, one was a rubber band, while the female was able to turn invisible and make forcefields, while her brother could be on fire and fly around and all that. To be honest they felt like x-men outcasts.

F4 was never really a huge seller, even their comic books were never really that popular compared to other Marvel characters. There has been a rumor that fox is going to proceed with a sequel, even though the movie performed poorly. Many of the Marvel fan base have cried out that they need to give Marvel/Disney the rights to the movie so that they could do the movie some justice and finally get a proper movie made, but i disagree. I realize that Disney has been batting 1000 making billion dollar marvel movie’s like its nothing, but i just don’t think they can do it with f4, i don’t think that the franchise has the backing like Captain America or Iron man.

I honestly don’t believe that Marvel could right the sinking ship that is the Fantastic 4 franchise. the last two versions of it died in theaters and never really had the pull, even with the right cast and the directing chops of someone like J.J Abrams (Money Printer) could bring this dead franchise back to life.

Ronda Rousey SuperHero or super Villian?

Social media has made its pretty clear that current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey wants to be immortalized as a super hero. In the last few months, she has been posturing hollywood to make her Captain Marvel, in an upcoming Captain Marvel Movie which is expected to release in 2018. Director Kevin Smith, has thrown his hat in the ring, supporting Ronda for Captain Marvel

There seems to be one problem, Ronda isn’t an actress; she is a MMA fighter. Granted she was in the movie Expendables 3, but she was not a leading character. Playing a super hero is both a gift and a curse. It can either launch you into the halls of stardom that will never fade (i.e Robert Downey Jr., Chris Pratt, or Chris Evans) or totally wreck your career, making people question your super hero credibility (i.e Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern, Toby McQuire in Spiderman, or everyone who has been in the Fantastic Four.))

I am not saying that Ronda doesn’t have what it takes to be Captain Marvel, nor would i ever. Have you seen what she has done to trained MMA fighters in under a minute? I am pretty sure i don’t stand a snowballs chance in the center of the earth. Ok maybe slightly better, i am pretty fast and could possibly just keep running until she got tired of chasing me, but what i am saying is playing a Leading role is difficult.

I think if there is one female who can play an ass kicking lead, outside of Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie, and Scarlett Johansson, it would be Ronda. If there is one thing that makes her an ideal candidate, its the fact that she has Mixed Martial arts training, as well as she is an olympic Judo Champion. Few if any actors can say that they are Judo champions, let alone trained fighters, This means that it is more than likely that she can do her own stunts. It add’s a bit of realism to the movie, if the actor is doing her own stunts. Tom Cruise is living proof that doing your own stunts can make the movies more exciting than when the actor is added in post, or not there at all.

Another thing that Ronda has for her, is the fact that she is a fellow nerd. Ronda has been very open about her love for Pokemon and Dragonball Z. Ronda has been rather proud of her Pokemon collection, what is better for the Marvel universe, than a female lead who is a trained fighter, that loves Nerdy things. the only fault i can give her, is her supposed crush on Vegeta.

Come on Ronda, seriously? He is a self centered jerk. Granted Bulma is the one person tougher than he is, and he has a reason (His wife and kids) to not wipe out the planet, but you can’t tell me that Krillin and his little bald head don’t excite you just a little bit. They say big things come in small packages and he is rather tiny.

With that being said, i can not really find fault with Ronda being a possible candidate for Captain Marvel. She clearly wants the role, and you don’t see many people that adamant about playing the role. If you look at Pictures of Captain Marvel next to Pictures of Ronda, you can’t help but see the resemblance in the two of them. Ronda’s fans have been like a snowball on a down hill path, with their support; posting pictures of her in the costume which looks amazing.

There seems to be one small thing that is dogging Ronda as of late, it is past comments she made about her clothing brand and a fellow MMA fighter. But lets be honest, her comments were not that derogatory as much as they were just her personal opinion. It recently resurfaced, a series of comments she made about a transgender fighter, and she made it known that she believed the fighter had an unfair advantage over other women because she was once a man. she cited that the bone and muscle structure gave her an advantage regardless of her sex change. Most people took this as an attack on the trans community, saying that she hated them; but she never made that comment. She never said she didn’t like the fighter or the community, just she believed there was an advantage.

Another thing that people have been attacking her for is her clothing brand, DNB or Do Nothing Bitch. People are attacking her, saying that it is belittling the female cause, but she doesn’t see it that way. Ronda has supported the brand and the fact that she doesn’t want to be a female that just sits around and waits for life, she goes out and lives her life; hence the name of her clothing.

Some people may try to use that against her, and say that she doesn’t deserve to have the accolades she does, or deserves to be a movie star, but i sure as hell wouldn’t say that to her face.

It is only a matter of time before we find out if Ronda gets to be the next Female Super Hero, but if her fans are anything like Deadpool fans, I am sure Disney has their servers being spammed non stop with Ronda for Marvel emails.

Mad Max Fury Road. Awesome and Shiny!

Mad Max Fury Road is the newest installment in the George Miller Post Apocalypse fun house. This movie is the fourth in the series and it did not disappoint. While the three Prior Mad Max movies stared Mel Gibson, George Miller decided to go a new direction and give the lead role to the super villain Bane, (Tom Hardy). The movie was originally supposed to be filmed in Australia where the story takes place, unusually wet weather in the Australian desert  forced them to delay shooting and eventually shoot the film in Africa. The film, which was highly publicized and anticipated, was released on May 15, 2015.

Without saying to much to spoil the movie, It contained enough Explosions and fireballs to make Michael Bay giddy.

The movie definitely stuck very close to its roots which is most likely due to George Miller’s continuing with his project, on top of the fact that he has a passion for using practical affects rather than using CGI for action sequences. Throughout most of the movie, there is a large truck chalk full of guitar amps with large drummers on the back. In front of the amplifiers, a single guitarist hung by bungie chords playing a flame spitting guitar. While most people even myself thought much of his scenes might have been CGI, a recent interview with MTV would prove different. It was revealed that not only did the guitar shoot large balls of fire, but it was also a fully functioning guitar plugged into a fully functioning wall of Amplifiers.

While the Guitar playing “War Boy” (As they are called) does not draw focus and take away from the film, it is a rather welcome addition as it only adds to the feel of the movie. The guitar combined with the war drums, is almost a rally cry for the War Boys as they chase Max through the desert. On top of the moving concert, many of the war vehicles were also completely drivable and used through the entire movie. This only made the movie feel more realistic. While i didn’t see the movie in 3D, i can only imagine that it would have made the movie that much more intense, to combine many practical affects with the in your face 3D glasses.

One of the big points of this move was Charlize Theron, who plays “The Imperator Furiosa” in the movie. the Imperator is basically the right hand of Immortan Joe which was played by Hugh Keays-Byrne. Many people complain that movies have become very sexist against women, in the fact that women can only be kick ass characters until a man shows up and then they become helpless and need the man to save them and basically save the day. This movie did not come off on that in any way. If anything i felt that Mad Max would have been dead long before if it wasn’t for Furiosa and her ability to be hardcore.

  One of the scenes that sticks out is when one of Immortan Joe’s brothers is tracking their truck at night and is using a spotlight and random gun fire to lure them out. Max fires two shots, missing both. Furiosa comes up and takes the come from him and knocks out the spot light in one shot. There are many other scenes, like when Furiosa climbs out and repairs the rig while Max is driving, or several fight scenes where she is shooting bad guys and taking out everyone that tries to climb on her truck and stop her. While some people complained about her being too tough, i honestly thought it made the movie that much stronger having Furiosa, as her own independent badass that helped Max save the day, and not stand there while he does everything. 

If you have not seen this movie, i highly recommend going out and getting a ticket. While i can’t say that it is worth the 3D ticket price, i can tell you that seeing it in the theater only makes it that much better, one of the best movies of the year by far.

Aaron Paul. The next big action star?

Before breaking bad became one of the best drama’s on television, would you have even know who Aaron Paul was if someone said his name, or if he walked up and introduced himself. For me, the answer is no i would not have known who he was. Going back through his career on IMDB, he played in a lot of television shows and some movies. I was always a fan of the Mission Impossible series, but i never remember him being in the third one. It is not like he was in no name shows or anything, He was in major shows from CSI to Criminal Minds, and Bones. Most of his roles were rather small or short, but the fact is he is a good actor that he got roles in major shows.

In my opinion, if it wasn’t for his role as one of the stars in Breaking bad, it is possible that he would never have been the lead in Need for Speed, which would have been sad because in watching Need for Speed, i thought he was perfect for the role. When i got Need for Speed in the mail i was rather opened minded about it, but skeptical. Video games turned movies sometimes tend to be rather lack luster and don’t perform very well (See, Super Mario Brothers, Mortal Combat, Street Fighter, Doom, I Think you get my point). While Need for Speed is no Fast and the Furious, I liked that. There is nothing wrong with a racing movie that doesn’t involve car explosions every five seconds and several fight scenes while a plane tries taking off. There are a few car explosions in Need for Speed it wasn’t overkilled.

(Here come some Spoilers)

The Story for Need for Speed is pretty simple, its about driving. There is a lot more to it than just that, Tobey Marshal (Aaron Paul) Plays a former racer turned mechanic and car customizer who’s old rival and the movies antagonist Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper) comes to him with a proposition, the chance to help tune a 2million dollar Shelby Mustang that Dino plans to sell . The car is a success and Tobey finds himself in the presence of some rich clientele. After the sale, Tobey and one of his friends and pseudo little brother Pete (Harrison Gilbertson) find themselves staring at three very rare very expensive European Koenigsegg Agera cars that are owned by Dino’s dad.

Dino makes a bet with Tobey for the money that was made off the sale of the Mustang. Dino ends up clipping the Car Pete is in and kills him, but is able to Frame Tobey for it. Tobey then spends two years in prison and can only think of one thing, redemption. The movie itself is very powerful. As there is a lot of action for it not being your typical action movie where there are guns and explosions and fights every five seconds.

Aaron plays the lead very well. When i look at him, he kind of seems like a blue collar street racer that tends to get in trouble, and would be seen running from the cops. His grizzled tone of voice seems to fit the persona of a person with nothing to lose who may be a wild card. While i am not sure If he would make a typical action star that runs around with an assault rifle that magically fires nonstop for 90 minutes, i could see him playing the lead in a action role that may involve multiple car chases. It is clear that Aaron Paul has some sort of spark, It has long been said that his Breaking Bad character (Jesse Pinkman) was supposed to be killed early in the series but the fans loved him and wanted him to stay. It seems now that the sky is the limit now that Breaking Bad has ended. Does this mean we will see him running lead in more Action movies, or do we see him play the hero in a horror flick? Time will tell but i think he is the next big star who could make a run in many movies.