theantisocialcritic

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - November 28, 2014 - Force Awakens Trailer

Guys!! Well its finally here! Since back in 2012 when the fledgling news of Star Wars being taken over by Disney completely took the internet by surprise i've been dying to see what will come out of this deal. I've had high hopes despite the initial mixed reactions. We've still got one year until the premiere next Christmas but the kind people at Bad Robot were awesome enough to give us a teaser trailer this fine black friday to hint at some of the things upcoming. And so far i'm… not entirely sure how I feel about it. I'm not gonna say I'm disappointed or that its bad or anything like that because its not. I more or less got what I was expecting from the trailer, a lot of vague suggestion with some gentle nods to the kinds of stuff they have been working on with the movie. In that, i'm still really excited to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, just that i'm not quite as pumped for it the same way I am for Avengers Age of Ultron, Inside Out or Jurassic World. At least not quite yet. With that though, lets take a look at the trailer and dissect what information we can from the 90 seconds of footage! If you haven't seen it, here you go! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEfV0gTo03c 0:13 I'm gonna assume the desert in the opening is Tattooine. A man where storm trooper armor gets up and runs at the screen. One of the descriptions of the movie's plot describes that the movie starts largely on tattooine with a group of padowans searching for the Millennium Falcon. This would seem to confirm that somewhat. 0:29 Volley-ball droid! Thats kinda fun! 0:32 Stormtroopers in a murky shuttle bay prepare to fight as the camera shakes. Definitely a bit of Star Trek into Darkness style cinematography going on here but the return of the Stormtroopers as the primary enemy doesn't surprise me all that much. While the traditional Star Wars expanded universe suggests that the Empire crumbles after the Battle of Endor, ignoring that for a more original trilogy vibe doesn't surprise me. Hey it might be interesting! 0:38 Daisy Rider is the one of the new characters that is slated to be the central cast of the new Trilogy going forward. She is relatively unknown and her acting abilities aren't available to see yet. This will be one of the movie's genuine surprises when it comes out. She appears to be reading a speeder, loosely a hybrid to the ones in Star War and Return of the Jedi, which would seemingly fit since her character is very desert bandit-esc. 0:43 Hey its Oscar Isaac! You probably don't remember this guy but he's been a hardworking character actor for the better part of a decade. He's been in a bunch of movies you've probably seen like Robin Hood, Sucker Punch, Drive, For Greater Glory and The Bourne Legacy. His big claim to fame though is last year's Inside Llewyn Davis in which he gave a fantastic central performance! He's a really good actor his upcoming performances in Star Wars and X-Men Apocalypse will probably push him up to the A-List in the near future! We see him hear at the pilot of an X-Wing fighter in one of the best looking shots in the trailer. Great visuals and I hope we get to see a lot with him in the movie! 0:49 A man in black pulls out a red, three pronged lightsaber. If I were to make a guess this is probably The Inquisitor from Star Wars: Rebels, albeit with a new lightsaber. The new big bad guy has yet to actually be fully revealed but his recent setup in the cartoons would seem to support the idea. 1:01 The Millennium Falcon in all its glory in glorious CGI with somewhat lopsided cinematography being attacked by Tie Fighters. Interestingly enough you can see a brand new radar dish on the top after it having been destroyed in the second Death Star. Fun detail! 1:10 The Star Wars theme plays in full orchestration as the title appears. I was hoping for a new twist on the existing orchestration to suite the change in visual style but I can live with the traditional score! 1:20 December 2015. We already knew this! So there we have it! Alittle proof of concept and some fun fanboy baiting to tide us over for the next few months until the next Marvel news drops. Overall… Thank you for reading! My the Force be with You!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - November 19, 2014 - Agents of SHIELD and the Krull

So the big Marvel news today other than the reveal of potential casting for the Jessica Jones and Luke Cage netflix series (link below) is the identity of the strange blue alien corpse that was spotted in the last season of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. Speculation has been running pretty wild since the episode and the vast majority of hardcore Marvel fans at this point had pretty much figured it out.. The alien is……. <DRUMROLL> <daadadadadadaddadadadadadadadadadadaadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadad> A Kree……! Yes yes! Surprising very people the blue alien is the same species as the ONLY other blue alien in the Marvel Universe that has thus far been revealed. Thats not necessarly a bad thing. The Kree are a pretty huge part of Marvel lore and their inclusion has a lot of implications on the near and distant future of the movies. To be perfectly honest I haven't been all that interested in Agents of SHIELD since the big Hydra twist last April. Sure its sporadically fun and i'll probably rematch it on Netflix at some point but it never stayed consistently great or consistently… consistent enough to dedicate every Tuesday night too, especially with ongoing school projects being a reality. Yah I wanna find out about he big Nick Fury twist in the final and i've heard a lot of great stuff about this season in passing but for now it can wait. The news in passing from the show however has been rather consistently fascinating though. It seems that as a whole Agents of SHIELD is being used as the jumping point for full-time introduction of the Inhumans into the Marvel movies. Be it the inclusion of strange alien markings, the mysterious city hologram and the appearance of a Kree himself whose blood has varying affects on the humans, inhumans are almost certainly going to appear soon. I'm sure most are probably asking what Inhumans are? To that, Inhumans are functionally very similar to that of the Mutants from X-Men, albeit with a drastically different origin and status quo. In ancient times, the Kree race came to Earth and performed biological experiments on Humans using Terragen bombs as a means of accelerating human evolution and creating superior breeds of humans. As time went by their descendants maintained their super human abilities and have grown into a hidden society of super heroes living in the hidden city of Attilan.   COMICS…. ARE…. WEIRD!!! There are plenty of reasons why Marvel has decided to include this particularly odd segment of their canon into the movies. The biggest probably to establish a Mutant-like group within the movies that can be used as all purpose fodder for universe building and offbeat character explanations. For example, the inclusion of Quicksilver and the Scarlett Witch in these movies doesn't make much sense given the fact that they are mutants and thus should be X-Men which are owned by FOX. By switching their origin to Inhumans it gives Marvel-Disney the leeway it needs to basically get away with whatever it wants in terms of copyrights battles. It will also be an effective means of establishing characters with superpowers down the line like what it is implied they are doing with Agents of SHIELD. So yah! Thats my extended explanation for the recent events of Marvel..   Aye.. I'm exhausted… Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper! Identity of the Alien http://comicbook.com/2014/11/19/agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-alien-race-officially-revealed/ Casting News http://schmoesknow.com/actresses-actors-eyed-for-marvels-jessica-jones-luke-cage-have-been-revealed/31649/

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - November 19, 2014 - Hulkbuster Armor Sucks

Ok so i've officially been too long since I railed about how excited I am for Marvel. Roughly two weeks.. so lets talk about something I felt was underwhelming in the Age of Ultron trailer! The Hulk-buster armor…. Yah…. CONTROVERSY!!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk24PuBUUkQ Ok, lets contextualize this… I've been following Avengers 2 for the past 2 and a half years and i've seen just about every piece of news relevant to the production of this movie that I possibly could. Naturally i've seen the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer over two hundred times now at this point… I didn't watch Winter Soldier's and Guardian's trailers this many times… I think… In any case, I saw all the concept art for Age of Ultron more than a year ago. Included amongst them was art for a potential Hulk-buster armor so i've been more or less expecting to see it when the trailer came out. For most fans who didn't see the concept art the Hulk-buster armor made the VAST majority of the internet collectively blow a casket. While I liked what I saw I didn't feel the need to run the streets of Chicago screaming the glories of the holy Hulk-buster. I'm more excited for Age of Ultron right now than just about anything else. When that particular part of the trailer didn't work for me though I realized awkwardly that I was the only one in the room not loosing my crap. The movie isn't out yet so I can't speak to how well it will work in the actual movie but for now, I need more to convince me.. Come at me bro!! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - November 16, 2014 - Birdman and Nightcrawler Reviews

One of the hardest parts of learning film criticism is literary analysis. Films are art and many mainstream movies bury very deep and complicated themes under the surfaces. Despite my more natural inclination towards reading and history growing up, being able to properly analysis a movie down to the core of what the director wants to tell you can range from blunt to cryptic. Bird Man is a good example of a movie that has something to say but keeps the majority of its themes on the surface to better insure that audience members that aren't privy to thematic analysis can pick up the basic ideas of what is going on under the surface. To that end, Bird Man has ALOT going on under the surface. The movie focuses on a man by the name of Reegan, played by Michael Keaton. Twenty years prior to today, Reegan starred in a trilogy of superhero blockbuster movies called Bird Man but quit after the third installment to pursue other areas of his career. Unfortunately they all dried up and now Reegan is a washed up actor with very little to keep him going. In a last ditch effort to inject life into his career, he invests all of his remaining money into a broadway stage adaption of a very old book in the slim chance of finding relevancy. Unfortunately again, the play is suffering setbacks and Reegan is forced to bring in a replacement lead actor, played by Edward Norton, who quickly usurps the play and threatens to derail it. Worse still, Reegan is being haunted by his own shadow. An apportion of the Bird Man persona haunts him and tries to convince him to give up his artistic pursuits to just sell out already and make Bird Man 4. Also Reegan might have telepathic superpowers. This might all come across as incredibly silly but the actors sell the heck out of it with some career best performances from most of the cast. Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Zack Galifianakis all give amazing performances with a lot of range on display, some of which stand as the best in their careers. What might be the most fascinating aspect of the film however is its cinematography. The whole movie is edited to look like a single shot without any editing. Forget Goodfellas!! This movie might set the gold standard for tracking shots from here on out. The music and sound are also really strong, with a high energy composition almost entirely done in percussion. The script is also amongst the best we have seen this year. The movie's basic premise is an obviously blunt allegory for Michael Keaton's own career with the Batman movies the movie takes the allegory all the way by placing a large stretch of the story time about Reegan's desire to stay relevant after loosing relevancy in the new digital world. This plays into the movies other broad range of themes which deal with everything from the artistic value of art movies versus blockbuster action flicks, the nature of criticism applied to art and multiple story arcs dedicated to existence and what it means to us as people. This all happened in a movie called Bird Man… It might sound silly, but as it stands Bird Man might be the best movie of 2014 depending on how Oscar Bait season goes. Its a modern day masterpiece and its the kind of movie a lot of people are going to be talking about years in the future, especially in regard to this particular corner of the history of the cinematic arts. DEFINITELY Check this one out!! The recent works of Jake Gyllenhaal have lead me to the conclusion that he might be one of the most understated actors currently working in Hollywood. End of Watch, Prisoner and Enemy all stand as testimates to incredible skill as an actor. Now he has come back this year with Nightcrawler, a crime thriller with a similar disposition and tone to several of his recent movies but with enough changed to make it fresh and a strong central performance to make it work well. Lou Bloom is has been trying to find a job working urban Los Angeles for a while now but unfortunately hasn't been able to find stable work inspite of his professionalism and desire to work hard. When he comes across the scene of an accident and meets a pair of News camera men known as night crawlers, he is inspired to go out on his own and record accidents for the local news. After pawning some possessions to get a camera and a police radio he starts driving the streets of LA in search of accidents. When he manages to get a good shot of a horrific shooting he catches the attention of Nina, the manage of a local news station desperate for ratings who agrees to work exclusively with Lou for his videos. What Nina doesn't know about Lou however is that he is that he exhibits sociopathic behavior and starts taking unethical behavior to get the best videos against nightcrawlers. The movie that most comes to mind when watching this is Drive, in that they are both movies about sociopathic individuals that blend into society through their jobs and do shady stuff for their careers. Granted Ryan Gosling in Drive was a very different character with a different story arc than Lou. Lou isn't at all reserved and all of his actions indicate those of a man that doesn't quite understand humans but desperately wants to blend in with them. He runs his mouth with business jargon anytime he talks professionally and even in personal conversations he speaks almost entirely like he is negotiating a business call. Unlike Drive as well is the insistence of an overall message. You may have heard the old broadcast montra "If it Bleeds, it Leads". The movie is all about this very idea. Nina needs the goriest news videos because her station is constantly on the low end of ratings and she stands to loose her job within the month if they don't improve. To that end she sells out the integrity of the station on a daily basis to report the goriest news stories and frame it as a part of a message that often conflicts with the truth. The more panic they can stir up the better their ratings get. This is very reflective of ALOT of problems that modern news channels deal with today. Given how easy it is just to get news through Yahoo or Facebook Trending, the majority of people no longer dedicate an hour each night to watch news broadcasts. Given low ratings, ALOT of modern news today has sold out and compromised their integrity in the name of getting attention that the vast majority of major news networks are no longer reliable sources of information, given to that they are liable to stringing random bits of news together to catch the eyes of perspective viewship. This isn't something that is specific to FOX or MSNBC either. This is ABC, NBC, CNN, really anything that calls itself news. Without spoiling anything, the movie really does take this theme to heart and the ending reflects it with a bitter, ironic punctuation to the lack of integrity amongst journalism in the twenty-first century. In terms of the film's technical accomplishments there isn't very much to speak of. The editing is alright. The sound design switches from ok to sloppy from scene to scene and if it weren't for the occasional perspective shifts of cam-corders the cinematography wouldn't be much to speak of. Still, in terms of its script and central performances there is plenty to recommend! Nightcrawler is a solid, creepy and fascinating movie while not entirely pulling itself together in the technical compartment! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - November 5, 2014 - Interstellar Review

Somebody once said that the only way Christopher Nolan could make a movie bigger than Batman would be to send Batman to Space. Well he's halfway there! In my opinion Christopher Nolan stands as one of the most fascinating filmmakers of the 21st century. Thanks to the endless good will he earned at Warner Bros, he is now able to get auteur blockbuster movies like Inception and Interstellar made with relative ease. It helps that The Dark Knight movies are among the highest grossing films of all time, but his movies despite their bloat, occasionally convoluted writing and exposition heavy storytelling, are always among the most talked about and influential productions to come out. Interstellar in particular represents Nolan's most ambitious project to date. In the near future, human population has declined due to an indescript apocalypse scenario. Massive dust storms have overtaken the planet and what's left of human kind lives as farmers, growing corn and surviving on the hope that their children will know a better world. Matthew McConaughey is Cooper, a farmer and former NASA test pilot with two children. He is approached by a group of scientists planning a mission into deep space to explore and colonize a new planet for humanity. There is a lot going on in this movie and for the most part it all hold up really really well! I'll just say it now, Interstellar might one of the best movies this year! Its not completely tight in the storytelling department and there are some loose ends here and there that aren't quite up to par with the movie at its best. As I was watching it though I didn't care because of how freakin compelling the movie was. For the entire last half hour of the movie I had to goto the restroom really really badly and I held it in because I was afraid to miss anything. The most immediate comparison I have for this movie is 2001: A Space Odyssey.   That movie currently stands as the best Science Fiction movie of all time and nothing is ever going to derail that record. Interstellar puts its cinematic reference point on 2001 and constantly makes references to the film in its audio, visuals and themes. At times though the line between influence and ripping off it ride pretty hard with a lot of the elements removed almost entirely full sail. Still, in the long run of things that matter I would rather a big ambitious movie to rip off 2001 than a movie that doesn't deserve to get ripped of. Goodness knows we don't need anymore influence by Transformers on the state of the film industry… I'd argue to that Interstellar is enough of its own creature that the borrowed elements don't detract from the movie. I've yet to hear any movie critics complain that it is TOO much like 2001. I'd be amiss if I didn't bring up the recent 35mm controversy for the film. I saw the movie at the Hollywood Palms as part of Nolan's promotion to release the movie three days early for theaters that project it in real film. This was my first experience with 35mm and I can honestly say that I wasn't impress. The projector and audio were extremely grainy and muffled thanks to the format. I'm wondering if theaters showing it are just not used to playing in 35mm and screwed up the presentations but apparently my showing wasn't the only one with this. It might be a limitation of the format, and I don't think it ruined the film at all. 35mm is often called the truest form of film and I can see why, but the resolution was crap and it took me out of the movie every time the audio got crunched or the visuals blurred. When it worked though it worked like gangbusters!! Bottom line, Interstellar is an incredibly ambitious, well made movie. Its great! If you like Inception and The Dark Knight then you have no excuse for avoiding this movie! Check this one out! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - October 28, 2014 - Marvel Phase 3

I've been meaning to write a new article lately. I was planning to write one today on how the Inquisitor in Star Wars: Rebels has in just one episode become the best villain in Star Wars lore since The Emperor in Return of the Jedi… but……. The Marvel just announced all their Phase 3 movies!!!! Ant-Man:                                        July 2015 Captain America: Civil War:            May 2016 Doctor Strange:                    November 2016 Guardians of the Galaxy 2:             May 2017 Thor: Ragnarok:                             July 2017 Black Panther:                      November 2017 Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1:        May 2018 Captain Marvel:                              July 2018 Inhumans:                            November 2018 Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2:        May 2019 Wow… That is wonderful!! I was a little disappointed that we didn't get Planet Hulk, Iron Man 4 or Black Widow, but there is always time to do those down the road after Infinity War. Lets explore each movie! Ant-Man Originally set to be directed by Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim alum, Edgar Wright, Ant-Man has been a highly controversial movie following a long series of firing and people leaving the project. If the concept sounds a little bit silly, watch this test footage revealed at Comic Con last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-pFrplmexo Silly? Yah! Ant-Man however has a lot of hype being built around it and a lot of anxiety currently stands on Marvel's ability to pull it off after having a great director like Wright leave. I could do a more extensive article on that but I won't do it hear. Needless to say, this movie will be fascinating when it comes out. Captain America: Civil War The second Captain America movie took the series in a much darker direction under Community Alums the Russo Brothers. Now it appears they wish to do it again with a sequel, co-starring Iron Man that is centered around the controversial Civil War storyline from the comics. To sum it up quickly, the government forces superheroes to register with them and publicly reveal their identity and Captain America and Iron Man get into a war over whether or not the law should be enforced. Its a preachy, albeit powerful and memorable one that caused ripples in the Marvel universe. Doctor Strange You may remember this character being name dropped in The Winter Soldier. Steven Strange is a doctor that gets into an accident and is granted the powers of the Sorcerer Supreme, which basically turns him into a dark wizard that serves as Earth's defense against the powers of magic… This movie will be interesting… And hey! Benedict Cumberbatch is playing him! REAL TALK TIME!!! Several people I have heard have been mad that Cumberbatch has received the role and to that I would like to make a rebuttal. Yes. He is overrated. However he is overrated for a reason. His performances in Sherlock, The Hobbit and Star Trek into Darkness, as well as some artier productions such as 12 Years a Slave, have all been very good! He's a really good actor and I trust Marvel Studios at this point with the judgement to make an appropriate decision with casting like this. He might be a really good Steven Strange! Guardians of the Galaxy 2 This summer's Guardians of the Galaxy movie has become one of the most successful blockbusters in recent years, miraculously outgrossing the cynical money printing machine of Transformers: Age of Extinction. The inevitable sequel is shaping up already to be pretty fun! James Gun and the entire cast are returning and rumors suggest that Adam Warlock will be joining the cast. Thor: Ragnarok In the lore of Thor Comics, Ragnarok loosely translates to the Norse equivalent of the apocalypse. That alone sets the profile for this movie pretty high. The Thor movies in my opinion have always been at the lower percentile of the series, mainly due to the poorly executed, but well intentioned first movie and good but not great sequel. Given that this movie in particular is being sold as the Winter Soldier of Phase 3, we can expect a lot of big, universe changing events to pop up in this iteration. Please this will be the fourth canonical appearance of Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is always something to look forward too! Black Panther There have been several black supporting characters in the Marvel movies thus far like War Machine/Iron Patriot and the Falcon. Black Panther will be the first time however that any of them have been the front runner for an entire movie. Don't get me wrong! There is nothing wrong with the Avengers line up as it stands. I for one would just like to see some non-white, non-dudes lining up amongst the group, other than Black Widow. Girls and Black people are awesome and they deserve their own Superheroes too! Given the important of Vibranium and a possible appearance by the villain Klaw in Age of Ultron, its safe to say at this point that the nation of Wakanda and the Black Panther won't be on the sidelines for much longer! (This probably needs explaining to non-Comicbook readers). In Marvel Lore, the nation of Wakanda is an isolated tribe in Africa. They'd developed super advanced technology rivaling that of humanities and possess the Earth's only Vibranium mine, which is what Captain America's shield is made from. The Black Panther is the prince, and eventually becomes king of Wakanda. He is a part time member of the Avengers and has consistently made appearances as part of the team's cycle since his debut. This movie is shaping up to be really awesome! Captain Marvel I've been personally hoping for a Cpt. Marvel origin movie amongst this series for a LOOONG time now!! Carol Danvers has a long, sordid history in Marvel comics and at times has been on of the most underused and abused female characters in comic books. At her best though, Ms. Marvel or her current iteration Captain Marvel is an incredible female superhero. Once just a secretary on an Air Force base, she was given powers during a battle between the Kree turncoat Mar-Vel and joined the Avengers. She can fly and shoot laser beams out of her hands. Her incarnation in the Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heros cartoon is my favorite iteration of the character thus far, a strong, hardworking woman that stands up among the best superheroes that makes her way not only as a full-time SHIELD operative but a full time Avenger. Heck! She even made a cameo recently in the Guardians of the Galaxy comic books! Along with Iron Man, Agent Venom and a character from Spawn… This movie could be great and i'm super excited for it!!!   Inhumans                           This is definitely gonna be a strange one. The Inhumans in Marvel lore are a group very similar to that of the X-Men in terms of their roster and place in the universe. Early in man's evolution, scientists from the Kree came to earth and exposed specific humans to a substance called terrigen. The substance casted strange mutations in humans and gave them superhuman abilities. In modern day, the Inhumans live together in the hidden city of Attilan, which houses the entire Inhuman population away from the eyes of the world. Their leader is Blackbolt, a superhuman with the ability to control energy with his voice. Vin Diesel is rumored to be in talks to play Blackbolt! Avengers: Infinity War And of course we get to the big final of Marvel's Phase 3! I've been awaiting an Infinity Gauntlet storyline since the end credits of the first Avengers movie and this confirmation was no surprise to me personally. Given that we've already seen Josh Brolin suited up in Guardians of the Galaxy, its only a matter of time before he takes to the screen in a more physical role! We'll probably get to see him again in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 or maybe even Thor: Ragnarok. His big payoff is set to be great though! The plot is likely to involve the Mad Titan Thanos combining all of the Infinity Stones from the first three phases of movies (including the Tesseract, the Ether and the Orb) into a glove that gives him the ability to control time and space. And since he is a nihilist with a romantic attraction to the embodiment of Death (literally…) that doesn't say good things about whats yet to come. Rumors are that we will get a full team up of the Avengers, all the new characters and the Guardians of the Galaxy in this movie as well as the likely demise of a number of major cast members. Words cannot express my excitement!! There yah have it! Prepare for the next 5 years of your life!!! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - October 24, 2014 - John Wick Review

I'm always fascinated by the work of Keanu Reeves. On one hand, he's one of the weirdest bad-actors that Hollywood has churned out but consistently gets movie roles. On the other, his personal filmography of movies consists of some of the best action movies of the last two decades. The Matrix, Speed and Man of Tai Chi, all range between good movies to among the best action movies of their respective moments in history. Now we've got John Wick, a rather offbeat action movie centered around one of the great action movie cliches of the modern age. The main character is John Wick, an omnipotent ex-hit man that has moved on from his life of crime to get married and live a happy life. Unfortunately his wife passes away from nature causes and he is left to greave alone. By chance, he runs into the son of the mob boss he formally worked for who wrongs him in a deeply personal way. Now John Wick seeks to take revenge on the son and any mobsters that stand in his way. On a surface level, John Wick sounds like the average plot to just about ever post-Taken action movie we have gotten. John Wick handles it however with a level of subtle and detail that most action movies don't have. The movie starts out completely calm and very quiet, emphasizing the life he now lives outside of the criminal world. As he gets sucked into that world again however the small details start showing up that poke fun at the nature of action movies by answering offbeat questions most people like to make fun of action movies for. Who cleans up all those bodys? Why doesn't he get noise complaints for all those gunshots? etc. Keanu Reeves sells the heck out of his role, relatively speaking. He still can't act very well but the movie works around it by centering his performance on his physicality and giving him very little dialog. Over the course of 90 minutes he has only a few conversations. Most of the dialog and exposition regarding his character and who he is is all done by the supporting characters. If I do have a problem with the movie its that John Wick himself is too over powered. The character is described as "The man that you hire to kill the Boogieman", emphasizing that he is so far above all the others that essentially nothing can kill him. This has the effect of making a lot of the action scenes lack a level of tension and you know in advance that John Wick is going to win, because he can't possible lose. I'll refer to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Raid 2 as this years best action movies, and those did so by making the character very human. Yes, Rogers and Rama are both super humanly strong but they are still vulnerable to being stabbed, shot and beat up. John Wick's action scenes are brutal and fun to watch but he lacks that humanity and weakness. The movie also continues for about twenty minutes after the main story concludes, attempting to tie up loose ends. It really slows down during the segment, though the action scenes are decent. Once the relief of John's revenge story concludes the movie just ramps down a bit and I found myself really bored and hoping for the movie to end. Overall though i'd say John Wick is a solid action movie. Its smart and well crafted enough that I was entertained the whole way through and Keanu Reeve's fight choreography is as great as ever. The script comes with enough levity that the whole production avoids becoming too broody. I'd give it a recommendation! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - October 20, 2014 - Book of Life Review

When I first heard of Book of Life, I was reminded of some of the weird, racially questionable stuff Nickelodeon made back in the day like El Tigre and Nacho Libre. Shows and movies that walk the line of being celebrations of another culture and racially insensitive stereotype perpetuator. With the last several months though and getting a great deal of promotion sent my way and seeing the high caliper talent that is backing up the production such as Guillermo Del Toro, its quickly grown to be one of my most anticipated movies this fall. So how is the movie? Well, I really liked it! The story is kinda complicated because it is weaved together on multiple levels and planes of reality but the basic story goes something like this: Mexico is the center of the universe! On the day of the dead, the people of Mexico are celebrate the legacy of their dead loved ones. Those loved ones in turn rise from the dead to join the living and celebrate. Amongst the celebration, who deities have made a bet amongst a love triangle between three young children. Both Manolo and Joaquin seek the heart of Maria, a strong willed young girl. Whichever of the Gods wins the bet and wins the heart of the Maria to their child wins control over their equivalent of Heaven. As the three children grown up and part ways, each falls into their destiny. They never forget each other though, and as adults they reunite and their love triangle returns. If the description doesn't sound very enticing its because trying to wrap up this movie in a nutshell is very difficult. It switches between the bet of the deities, a love triangle, a Mexican themed remake of Corpse Bride and a group of kids on a field trip fluidly but makes summing up the story in a meaningful way next to impossible. With that, I really liked The Book of Life! The story is a bit more convoluted than I'd like but the characters, visual design and vocal performances are all cranked to 11. With most animated movies, i've found that the central story and visual aesthetic tends to overpower the characters. If an animated movie is made cynically, for the money without a lot of time this tends to be the result. Reel FX Studios however took the time to flesh out each of the characters with a sympathetic and unique personalities. Even the lesser half of the proscribed love triangle is entirely sympathetic. In a lessor movie, Joaquin, voiced by Channing Tatum no less, would be the meathead tough guy fighting for the girl's attention. Book of Life however makes the character very sympathetic from the beginning. While he does fall into the cliche of a crappy fiancee, it is fairly obvious why because he spent his youth growing up under a military general, Maria's father, who has some very old school attitudes to gender politics. Even with that though, Joaquin is still sympathetic. I like that the movie is able to dedicate portions of its screen time over to just letting the characters breath, interact and talk. Most kids movies wouldn't seem to have the patience for that. I also adore the visual design for this movie. Its gorgeous to look at and its full of tiny details and color. Initially I kinda worried that it would carry a bit of racial insensitivity (especially after the trailer where the guy bragged about unlimited churros…) but the movie handles its take on Mexican folklore effectively. Book of Life carries itself both with the confidence of good intentions and a childlike sense of wonder towards the culture it is exploring. It isn't perpetuating stereotypes and doing things to hurt people of Mexican lineage but admires the culture and wants to show people how cool it is. I have a lot of respect for the movie for that. Sadly though the movie was not perfect. There were some weird set ups they didn't quite pay off and visa versa here and there. I was hoping that the movie would put me through the ringer a little harder and make some of the harsher moments more emotional. Not that the weren't good but I wanted more of them than I got. Still a lot to recommend with this movie even though it didn't quite hit the high water mark I wanted it too. Still, Book of Life joins the long list of 2013's great animated movies like The LEGO Movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The BoxTrolls! I definitely recommend you go see it! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - October 4, 2014 - Gone Girl Review

Its officially Oscar Bait season!! CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES COME ON!!! And what better way to kick it off than with a delightfully dark suspense thriller from directed David Fincher. Nick and Amy were always a great couple, better in fact than most. Wealthy! Sexy! Happy! As time went on however their relationship started hitting road blocks. On the day of their fifth anniversary Nick comes home to find that Amy is missing. The only clues to her whereabouts are a broken piece of furniture and a splatter of blood on the door. As the police and neighbors investigate into her disappearance however clue start appearing that seem to indicate Nick is hiding details of their marriage and that he might have more to do with her disappearance than is assumed. Then as the story unfolds and finally reveals the true nature of the unfurling events, the story takes a drastically different direction and starts to fall into the territory of both being a powerful deconstruction of suspense thriller and the nature of the American middle class status quo, and a sickeningly dark story wrapped up in David Fincher's horrifying sensibilities. If you don't know who David Fincher is, do not fret! That is perfectly normal. Fincher is one of those directors that exists just outside the realm of mainstream popularity but has created a bunch of well known movies you've probably heard of:Fight Club Se7enPanic RoomZodiacThe Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonThe Social NetworkThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoo And now Gone Girl! And its really good! Its hard to really discuss the story thematically and how effectively it all comes together without delving into serious spoiler territory so I won't go there too much. Needless to say, any movie that can make Tyler Perry one of the coolest members of the cast deserves 5 Oscars by merit alone. If you want a more detailed analysis of the story and you have already seen it I would recommend checking out MovieBob's review of it on The Escapist. He spoilers the who movie but goes into a lot more detail about the stories underlying ideas. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/9779-Gone-Girl-Movie-Review With that said, the movie is really good! My first comparison I can think of to compare it to would be last year's Prisoners, which is also a dark, there hour long genre deconstruction that takes a hammer to the middle American status quo, but does it with ease to the point where you feel the three hours but your having fun along the way enough that it doesn't bother you and the slow reveal of information becomes exciting. Prisoners however was not NEARLY as violent and sexual. This movie is a HARD R with a number of nearly soft core sex scenes and a few very gruesome images. This movie gets dark and dirty and the images it evokes are ones that will stick with the squeamish. If you can handle all that though, Gone Girl is one of the best movies we have gotten this year! Its a serious contender for awards season and one heck of an opening salvo for what this fall has in store for us! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - September 30, 2014 - Boxtrolls Review

Wow… I've really been slipping lately. I haven't written a new movie review since The Giver came out in August.. O.o' I've missed: Sin City.. If I Stay.. November Man.. Atlas Shrugged.. Walk Among the Tombstones.. Maze Runner.. Tusk.. and The Equalizer… ……… Aye…… I did get around to seeing TMNT in late August but at that point everything that needed to be said had been said about that movie… it sucked! Now i've finally gotten around to seeing something new! Laika is one of the world's best current animation houses. Despite only having created three movies, they're quality rivals that of most mainstream animated movies. Unfortunately, with the notable exception of Coraline, all of their movies have been box office non-starters. Hopefully this track record can be rectified with their newest flick, The BoxTrolls! In the town of CheeseBurg, the people have always been at ends with the BoxTrolls. This race of goblins walks the streets at night to steal from the populace. One night however a baby is kidnapped by the BoxTrolls and the upper class citizens of CheeseBurg declare that all of the BoxTrolls must be exterminated. For a decade, a group of BoxTrolls exterminators slowly dwindle the population, obvious to an important fact; The baby was never killed by the BoxTrolls. The baby, named Eggs by the BoxTrolls, now lives among them as a member of their family. Now as a young boy he seeks to go go amongst the people of CheeseBurg to find the Exterminators and one of his closest BoxTroll friends. (This came up a few things btw..) Lemme just say from the get go that I really liked The BoxTrolls! Its a fantastic animated movie with a ton of creativity and hard work put into it. I loved all the characters and the story. Many of them are cliche and archetypal but they are infused with a layer of charm and sincerity that makes them consistently entertaining on screen. Its not perfect, a few lines of dialog seemed out of place and I could have used a little more depth in the central character Eggs. Otherwise though I thought BoxTrolls was really strong! If your a fan of stop motion animation you'll probably get a lot of fun out of this and if you just like to watch good movies you'll enjoy it as well! Considering your choices in theaters right now are lots of bloated, dark and unoriginal action movies you'd probably get a lot right now out of seeing BoxTrolls if you in the mood for a movie! Please check this one out! Support good filmmaking! Thank you for reading!Its good to be back! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - September 26, 2014 - Go See Boxtrolls

So i'm sure your all going to be seeing BoxTrolls this weekend! Right? ……….. …….. …… … .. Right….? RIGHT….????? WHY AREN"T YOU SEEING BOXTROLLS THIS WEEKEND??? …… Annoyed Tyler is annoyed…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2dFVnp5K0o Ok, so heres my deal… BoxTrolls is from the incredible people at Laika animation who have created such stop motion classics as Coraline and ParaNorman. This studio has an unprecedented record for just having been established within the last few years and its newest movie just came out today. Its garnering a lot of really positive reviews! On top of that its a fiercely creative project from people that have a history of really great output. That should be more than enough reasons to go see this movie!! Unfortunately the world isn't that lucky… Everybody is gonna go see something less interesting like Equalizer, or Maze Runner or Guardians of the Galaxy for the fifth time this month. I've got less of a problem with these movies in particular being successful since I know they are good movies and I know they deserve whatever they make. What bother me is that genuinely creative and inspired work like BoxTrolls is going to be ignored. I mean, yah. Does the movie sound cliche or unimaginative? On the surface maybe a little but the kind people at Laika are really good at infusing their material with emotion and meaning. BoxTrolls might be to some a stupid kids movie, but as I see it, it looks like a really creative and potentially meaningful movie by a team of animators that deserve credit! PLEASE!!! I am begging you!! Go see BoxTrolls this weekend so that a Hollywood can see that creativity and hard work ought to be rewarded in the box office… hollywood won't become a better place if yet another Marvel Movie, Taken ripoff or book adaption triples its budget. This movie succeeding however will! PLEASE, GO SEE BOXTROLLS!!!! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - September 11, 2014 - Upcoming Fall 2014 Films

Yay! Its fall movie season! Blockbuster season is over and its time for Oscar Bait to rise! There is a lot of stuff coming out in the next 4 months, a lot of which I won't get around to reviewing. Lets take a look at what we're in for! September A Walk Among the Tombstones: Everybody loves Liam Neeson! The fall's first interesting movie stars him in something of a film noir murder mystery. The latter part of September tends to be when a lot of really underrated movies come out like Dredd, Looper, Prisoners and Rush. I have a good feeling about this one! Maze Runner: Hollywood will, for the fiftieth time this year, attempt to make the Hunger Games lighting strike again with another book adaption… This looks terrible… Tusk: If your a fan of the works of Kevin Smith your probably already dying for this one! Human Centipede with a Walrus! If your not familiar with the works of Kevin Smith… Go out and watch Clerks right now!! The Equalizer: Despite some early low reviews, film geeks are all clamming to see this movie! Hopes are high that Denzel Washington can create his own action series. Will it…? Probably not but hope so! October Annabelle: Fans of The Conjuring have been ranting about this too me for months now and i;ll take their word for it! I'm not a horror fan but this should be interesting! Gone Girl: The director of Fight Club, Seven, The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo brings us a Ben Affleck film! Theres a lot of hype around this! Should be a good movie! Alexander and the No Good, etc: This looks lame… Automata: Some critics in high places have been mentioning this a lot. I haven't seen much promotional material for it but its supposed to be a decent Sci-Fi movie! We'll see! The Judge: Robert Downey Jr. plays a Judge that must defend his estranged father in court. Sounds good to me! Crimson Peak: Guillermo Del Toro fans have been collectively flipping out about this new horror movie. Del Toro is one of the best directs of horror in Hollywood and has a strong grasp of subtlety and a morbid sense of creativity. Might be something brilliant here! Dracula Untold: This movie reminds me of I, Frankenstein… thats a baaaaaad sign…. Book of Life: Topping the list of my most anticipated movies right now is Book of Life! A Disney movie filtered through the cultural sensibilities of El Tigre with all the racism beaten out of it by Guillermo Del Toro! This movie is visually gorgeous and looks fiercely creative! I'm super excited! BoxTrolls: Have you seen Coraline and ParaNorman? YOU NEED TO SEE CORALINE AND PARANORMAN!! Also see this! A fun, creative stop motion movie by an incredibly talented team! ParaNorman flopped in theaters and BoxTrolls needs to succeed! KingsMan: The Secret Service: Matthew Vaughn's newest pick starts British SS agents in training that have to stop some sort of plot from happening! Vaughn brought us Kick-A** and X-Men: First Class! Both excellent action movies! KingsMan should be interesting! Rifftrax LIVE Anaconda: The last two live shows by Rifftrax have been amazing! The live roasts of Sharknado and Godzilla (98) were absolutely hilarious! Their next roast should be really great! November Big Hero 6: Disney is on a freakin roll!! Frozen, Wreck it Ralph and Tangled were all great animated films that managed to go beyond just being cynically made animated films. They were all genuinely great pieces of film and now they look to be about to make light night strike again! Adapting the barely known Marvel comic series the same way they approach classic fairy tales might be a stroke of genius and seeing it play out with the same energy and style of Wreck it Ralph and Guardians of the Galaxy. This is my most anticipated movie of the fall! Intersteller: Someone once said that if Nolan ever made a forth Batman movie it would have to goto space to be bigger than the Dark Knight Rises. At least part of that was true. In his first movie since the completion of the Dark Knight Trilogy, Nolan presents a high caliper Science Fiction movie about man's last attempt to stave off extinction, looking beyond into the stars for a new home. This movie might be great! Dumb and Dumber Too: sooo… This is a thing…. Theory of Everything: I haven't heard much on this but its an art house romance movie about Steven Hawking. Should be fascinating if nothing else. Fox catcher: Why am I imagining Channing Tatum as Cinderella Man here..? Fury: Brad Pit plays a WWII tank driver, fighting on the front lines with a rookie crew member after the loss of his best soldier. These men must survive the war. Should be fascinating. MockingJay Part 1: I'm not sure how to feel about Hunger Games now that Catching Fire has passed. The first movie was extremely boring but the followup was a vast improvement I rather enjoyed. From here though I don't know where the series is going to go and how well the characters work within the formula of the first two movies is beyond me.. well see.. The Penguins of Madagascar: I generally hate spinoff animated movies. They aren't always bad but they feel terribly cynical and i'd rather they don't exist. Penguins feels like a rather good idea though, simply because there is proof of concept that has me thinking this might be well thought through. The animated cartoon on Nick Penguins of Madagascar has been an intermitedly interesting exercise in cynicism but managed a few really great episodes that I enjoyed as a teenager. It helps of course that the Penguins were the best part of the Madagascar movies. This might be something great! December Paddington: A wacky British bear goes on wacky misadventures! I… don't know how to feel... Exodus: With the rampant success of movies like Son of God and Noah, Biblical epics are becoming popular again in Hollywood. Now Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner) is throwing his hat into the ring with a retelling of the story of Moses. Despite the weird casting and crappy promotional materials, Exodus has a lot of potential and might be one of the year's cinematic highlights! Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies: What is the Hobbit Trilogy? A cynical, forced production? A party to celebrate the Lord of the Rings?  Whatever it is, these movies have been fun if nothing else. Finally the newest run through Middle-Earth will come to a conclusion. Can John Wattson defeat the voice of Khan…? Well clearly, he survives because he is in Fellowship… It'll still be cool though! Annie: I hate Annie… No amount of gimmicks and stunt casting will make me like it… Night at the Museum 3: I actually liked the first movie. It came out when I was young enough to find some enjoyment in it. The second one sucked… Now we have a long awaited by nobody third one which is anybody's guess. At this point the most interesting thing about it is that it is Robin William's last post-mortem performance so that will be fascinating. Into the Woods: This might be quietly brilliant. With Disney currently in the works on producing a full line of live action adaptions like Maleficient and Cinderella, a big production of the famed musical Into the Woods seems.. interesting… I'm not a huge fan to the musical but this might be what it takes for me to really get into it, depending on how they pull it off. The stage production is in my opinion a very disjointed story that only really gets by on its more anachronistic and surprisingly dark comedic moments. Seeing Disney try to pull it off however might be what it takes to elevate the story if they take it somewhere interesting! In any case, the cast is interesting and interested to see it. Unbroken: Angelina Jolie's directorial debut tells the story of an Olympic runner that is drafted to WWII, captured and forced into a prison camp. I don't know how good this is going to be, but at the very least it will be a strange, different sort of movie. The Interview: And to finish off the year, whats likely the thing that will finally spark WW3 with the North Koreans! Seth Rogen and James Franco are spies that infiltrate N. Korea and attempt to kill Kim Jong Un. Given Rogen's incredible recent filmography of This is the End and Neighbors, I think we are in for something special!   This will be an interesting season! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - September 6, 2014 - Attack on Titan’s Tonal Jump

So as i've ranted a lot lately, i've fallen hard in love with the world's newest anime fixation (other than Tokyo Ghoul), Attack on Titan! Ah yes.. such a journey through violence and nihilism.. really freakin awesome though! As i'm making my way through the series for a second time i'm starting to get a feeling about the anime that has been continuing to prod at me since I finished the second half of the series. I've finally been able to put words to this inkling though. Attack on Titan has some very noticeable seams showing on the surface. Seams that would imply that the series was the odd fusion of two completely different anime series with completely different tones and styles. SPOILER ALERT! I'm going to indiscriminately talk about the entirety of the anime of Attack on Titan. If you haven't watched it yet.. why not?? Its awesome! Anyway, the discrepancy of the tone and style of the theoretical two halves of Attack on Titan have in my opinion separated the show in ways that make specific aspects more interesting and developed than others. Simply put, you can divide the series into the following two animes: 1. We're All Gonna Die!!!! For the first part of the series, Attack on Titan gets into a really solid grove that works like gangbusters. Up through about halfway through the Siege of Trost, the series holds a consistently dark tone and gets across the functional metaphor of the events representing the disenfranchisement of youth in the face of the "titan" like challenges they face. 2. Congrats! Your Eren has Evolved! … And then the show takes a left turn and out of nowhere, Eren goes Super Saiyan and murders twenty Titans in cold blood. The somber, thoughtful and blissfully depressing tone of the first art of the series jumps ship so that the series can jump into HEY LOOK I'M A SHONEN mode. The twist of Eren's titan transformation ability isn't bad by any means but its really the difference between DragonBall Z and The Matrix. One is gloriously violent, the other is gloriously violent but thoughtful and intelligent. As a further explanation on my point, i'd like to bring to attention the vast difference in quality between Part 1 and Part 2 of the series. As a whole, its really good! The series does however have a notable fracture at its halfway mark that differentiates the series as two different parts of the same whole. That difference is comprised of the different focus of each series. Part 1, which focuses mostly on the loss of Wall Maria and the Siege of Trost, is in my opinion much more interesting and intellectually stimulating than Part 2, which mostly focuses on the Female Titan subplot. Its not that the Titan conspiracy isn't interesting on its own (granted it does need a lot more time to play out), but theres less to mentally chew on in that part of the season. The focus on just having all of the Titan-Humans doing battle also drains a bit of tension that Part 1 had from being a story of humanity at it's last line of defense. Overall, I love Attack on Titan and i'm anxious to see where the series carries on given how strong the first season has been. I just think it stands to reason that a little self evaluation can do it good going forward. I hope Season 2 and 3 are even better and can do cool stuff with the Titan conspiracy! I also hope though that the series can keep up the underlying themes and metaphors that give the shows its intellectual heft. We'll see though. Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - September 5, 2014 - Sherlock Series 1-3 Review

In the long lines of "Shows Tyler Needs to Watch Yesterday" (Dexter, Star Trek TNG, Arrow, Once Upon a Time, Adventure Time, etc.), Sherlock has been on the list for about as long as I can remember having a Netflix account. Thanks to a little glorious peer pressure from some wonderful people I know, I finally got off my but and put in the effort to binge watch a tv show. For those not in the know, Sherlock Holmes started out as a series of mystery stories by British writer Conan Doyle around the turn of last century. Through the four novels and dozens of short stories, we are introduced to Sherlock Holmes, a sociopath-consultant detective with super-human mental abilities and a disregard for normal people. SH is accompanied by his partner John Watson, a doctor and veteran that functions usually to ground SH as a character and narrate his stories. The pair run around Europe solving mysteries! Most people nowadays are most likely aware of the character through the Robert Downey Jr. personification of the character in the not terribly good, not terribly bad, but visually inspired Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes movies. Downey and Jude Law's depictions of the characters in those movies were very strong and for the time they were a decent adaption. The BBC's Sherlock blows those movies right out of the water.. Right off the bat I was really surprised by Sherlock's format as a show. For whatever reason, each of the show's three seasons consists of only 3 episodes. I don't, for the life of me, get exactly why they would choose that particular format unless the British have some different way of broadcasting television than here in the US. As it stands though there are only nine episodes of BBC's Sherlock. Admittably I didn't mind this at first. The last BBC show I dedicated time to was Doctor Who and, great as it is, it chewed up months to get through the first six seasons. In further discussion of the format of the series, while looking back at all three seasons, the basic order of operations for a season of Sherlock goes something like this: ep. 1: Strong introduction episode that sets up the season. ep. 2: Filler episode barely relevent to larger story but made to quell Sherlock Holmes fanatics. ep. 3: Strongest episode of the season which ends on an infuriating cliffhanger. This happens more or less for each season of the show, though some variance is notable. The weird format and predictable quality/episode ratio aside, Sherlock is a really freakin good show!! The BBC's lead writers and producers for the current run of Doctor Who comprise the majority of the shows creative mechanisms, and while the writing tropes, visual styles and collective aesthetic from DW does tend to bleed through a bit, its a perfect fit for what is being attempted. Combine that with Oscar worthy performances by Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson and the ultimate product is a solid, excited and fast paced mystery-suspence thriller. If I do have a major flaw with the series it is just what I mentioned earlier with the show's strange format. I've never been able to confirm my suspicion about the nature of the show, but Sherlock feels like a show that the Doctor Who producers made with the good will they earned from BBC, who only work on the show when the resources not applied to DW's growly inflated productions aren't an issue. That would explain in infuriating three episodes every two years trend that has series fans collectively steaming. Admittably though that isn't so much a criticism of narrative or execution in the way of traditional understanding Film/TV. Its just a frustrating reality of being a fan of something that can't exist at the convenience of the audience. Otherwise, Sherlock is a really dang good series! Even the filler episodes are interesting and solid enough that without the boost of the greater narrative through line, they hold up quite well as stories. I'd argue they compare favorably to just about any serialized Murder-Mystery show for the last decent or so. BBC's Sherlock gets a strong recommendation! Definitely check it out! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - September 2, 2014 - Best Summer Movies 2014

2014 has been a really solid summer for quality Blockbuster movies! Lots of really compelling and fun stuff has graced our local theaters and i'd like to talk about my favorite ones! For the sake of the point though, i'm only going to include "Summer" movies. A Most Wanted Man would easily break this list but its not really a summer movie, its an independent movie for film geeks that can tolerate slow as molasses pacing (like me!!). Here we go! My top six movies of the summer (which for technical purposes includes only movies that released between May to August)!!! But first, some honorable mentions: 22 Jump Street Godzilla Neighbors Fault in Our Stars DragonBall Z: Battle of Gods And now... 6. X-Men: Days of Future Past The newest X-Men movie is an extremely flawed movie, but at the time I really didn't give it what it deserved. After seeing it again, i've come to terms with just how compelling and fun the newest iteration is, even after 17 years of this annoying and convoluted continuity. In any case it easily breaks the top 3 X-Men movies we've had so far and its made me excited for the next movie! Cheers to Apocalypse! 5. How to Train Your Dragon 2 The Dragon movies are such a weird force in modern filmmaking. What seem on the surface like a series of cliche Dreamworks movies have become some of the most claimed and exciting animated films since Pixar fell into it's unfortunate coma. Its not quite as grand as The LEGO Movie in my eyes (because few movies are…), but for being an exciting, visually fantastic and very well written and compelling story, How to Train Your Dragon 2 earns my 5th best!   4. Edge of Tomorrow Like or hate Tom Cruise, this movie is the perfect Tom Cruise movie. If you don't like him, enjoy watching him die hundreds of times in awesome, hilarious ways! If you do like Cruise, prepare to enjoy a surprisingly well written, well conceived action movie. Despite the, "I've seen this before" style of the visuals, the characters in Edge of Tomorrow are fantastically written and relatable. I can't recommend this movie enough! Mainly because almost nobody saw it… oh well, it comes out on DVD in October! Definitely check it out then! SUPPORT GOOD MOVIES PEOPLE!!! 3. Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians has been my most anticipated movie this summer and it hasn't disappointed me! Few movies that come out nowadays are filled with the kind of fun and creativity that Marvel's newest ego boost has brought to the world. Great comedy! Fully realized worlds and a sci-fi action movie that might actually be the best Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi! If you still haven't seen this movie for some reason… prepare to meet my FISTSS.. <Disclaimer, writer is extremely passionate in regards to the proceeding movie. Do not take threats literally.>   2. Snow Piercer This summer's out of left field hit for me was a little Korean sci-fi flick by the name of Snow Piercer… AND IT IS AWESOME!! In the near future, humanity is destroyed by an ice age and the few remaining survivors are left alive on an Ark-like train that circumnavigates the glove once a year. Whats left of humanity is forceable segregated between the rich first class riders and the poor people living in the back of the train. Now Captain America and the War Doctor must team up to revolt against the social injustice of the train… GEE!! I THINK THE MOVIE IS TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING!!! If you can't get over the liberal wankfest self congratulatory thats running amuck in this movie I can get why you wouldn't like it but thankfully i've seen Elysium a few times so it doesn't work on me anymore. Snow Piercer is a ridiculous, awesome action movie that puts to shame most American movies we've gotten this summer. If your a fan of movies, definitely give this one a rental! 1. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes And this summer's best, most emotionally impactful, most well made and exciting movie goes to the movie with the most ridiculous title! Dawn is a powerful sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes and carries the story to new heights! With a powerful, emotional lead performance by Andy Kircus (Gollum, Kong), the movie about apes with long stretches of no dialog and extreme amounts of CGI is one of the most emotionally compelling and tense movies all summer. Its like watching the fuse to a bomb ignite and burn its way to the end, with the movie's final confrontation being surprisingly insightful. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the best movie that Summer 2014 had to offer! And now for some good contrast, here are my least favorite movies of the summer.   4. The Rover The Rover isn't a bad movie, not at all. What it is is a movie that made me horribly frustrated and upset. I've seen plenty of downer movies, ones that aren't meant to give you a happy feeling. No movie i've ever seen though has left me feeling as bleak as this movie did. I don't think I was even able to give this movie a review, just because of how emotional I was after seeing it. This movie isn't bad, but its one of my least favorite things i've seen this entire summer and I don't feel compelled to give it a fair analysis. 3. TMNT I don't hate TMNT. TMNT is naively lame and horribly constructed and it feels like a movie made by people that don't know how to make a movie. I've seen much worse this summer but no movie I saw had me laughing at huge chunks of it for being lame. The characters for the most part don't work, aren't really well conceived and Michalanglo was a pervert for some reason. TMNT is a hilariously bad movie that can't reach the legacy of its surprisingly well made predecessors from the '90s. 2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Yah, I'm going there… I really didn't like this movie. Spider-Man has never been one of my favorite superheroes but I grew up with the Sam Raimi films, and having reviewed them before seeing this movie, i've come to the conclusion that they were infinitely better. Even Spider-Man 3, yah! I'll go THERE!! That movie had great moments mixed into a pot of mediocrity. Remember the birth of the Sand-Man? MAN TEARS DUDE!!! AS2 didn't have anything that good. AS2 is a long, boring movie with no central story! It doesn't understand the character of Peter Parker in any meaningful way and the whole production feels as corporate and cynical as any movie i've ever seen, and I gave Transformers 4 a positive review… If you honestly liked this movie, i'm not going to argue with you. I can basically understand why people liked it. I merely disagree with you. 1. Persecuted You probably didn't hear about this movie, GOOD FOR YOU!!! Persecuted is the WORST Christian movie i've ever seen. I really like the genre and i'm always willing to give it another chance. Every once in a while they come up with something sweet like I'm In Love With A Church Girl that feels sincere and sweet, and i'm willing to wade my way through all the Son of Gods and Black Nativitys to find them! But Persecuted doesn't just fail as a film, it wastes a really powerful concept. We live in an ever changing world, where concepts like religion and faith are slowly being marginalized and a lot of people within these communities fear the possibility of persecution. Persecuted had the power to be something great, a movie about being persecuted for faith at the hands of ones government and the personal challenge of having to stay convicted to ones beliefs no matter what. Instead what we got was a wannabe action movie with inconsistent characters whose actions don't seem human, with a plot that doesn't quite mean anything beyond paranoid jabs at progressivism. YOU DROPPED THE BALL Persecuted! You could've meant something to people and you couldn't do any of it right! Persecuted is the worst movie of the summer! Now, with that all out of my system, lets look forward! I'll post my thoughts on this fall's upcoming movie releases as soon as I can! Till then, avoid November Man… Its looks awful… Thank you for reading! Live Long And Prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - August 16, 2014 - Anime Catchup

If the title isn't subtle enough for you, I've watched a bunch of anime movies and shows lately and i'd like to talk about my thoughts on all the ones i've completed! Here we go: Wolf Children This movie falls has something that I very rarely see in Anime and endlessly appreciate: subtlety and a grounded, really world story. Granted the actual premise is very much of the high concept fantasy type that anime tends to be, Wolf Children ends up being emotional and powerful enough on its own and a lot of that has to do with the fact that its other elements are grounded in a world and scenario that feels more or less like the real world. The story follows the life of a young woman studying college in Japan when she comes across a reclusive young man. He has a secret that he conceals but the two of them fall in love and he entrusts her with his secret. He is the last surviving descendent of a tribe of people with the ability to transform themselves into Wolfs. Not Werewolves, just wolves. They maintain their personality and the ability to talk in wolf form and otherwise live lives as normal people. The couple fall in love, conceive children and start building a family. Unfortunately, things transpire that force the couple apart and now the young woman is forced to raise her two half-wolf children alone, with little money and understanding of how to raise children that have the ability to become wolves at any time. Wolf Children isn't really a normal anime, its somber, emotional and centers it's drama around the central characters ability to function as a single mother in a difficult situation. It might sound silly but its one of the best anime movies i've seen once The Wind Rises. Check it out! Summer Wars This movie comes from the same director as Wolf Children. I checked it out on Netflix shortly after seeing Wolf Children for the first time and I was very impressed by it. Its not nearly as good as his other major piece but its fun, emotional and engaging enough that it didn't bother me at all. Summer Wars is far more rooted in it's anime origins in style and substance than Wolf Children. In the near future, an ultra advanced Social Network has become the center of global technology in almost all aspects of life. A young tech support member who is working on coding for the social network is pulled away from his job by a girl who needs him to pose as a boyfriend for her extended family. Events are conspiring away from the public eye as a super powered virus has entered the network and is threatening to pose damage to the entire network which potentially included access to transportation, hospitals and global weapons systems. Now only a young group of tech support operators stand in the way of the virus destroying the lives of millions of people. As I said, this movie is FAR more in touch with mainstream anime than Wolf Children. That being said its also a very emotional, exciting and visually fascinating movie to watch! If you have a Netflix DVD account I'd definitely suggest renting this one! Akira My oh my… In the realm of anime movies, few stand more hollowed than Akira, a movie so powerful, emotionally effecting and deep that even great the great Siskel and Ebert loved it. Following the destruction of Tokyo in the third World War, a new city called Neo Tokyo was build up from the ruins. Now the city runs rampant with crime, civil unrest and talk of revelation against its corrupt ruling class. One night, a group of street thugs come across a mysterious individual whom the government immediately arrests. Shortly after that one of the members of the street gang begins to have strange outbursts and fever dreams. I won't reveal too much of the plot beyond that but be warned, you are in for a dark, dank, and terribly strange movie with psychics, super powers, chase scenes and some of the best animation that has ever been put into an anime. Akira is so powerful and influential that it is regularly cited as a notable inspiration for The Matrix. The only problems I really have with this movie are the pacing and the tone. They aren't bad! For me though, the movie felt very slow. That, and the tone was so dark and downright disturbing that I was in a pretty foul mood for the next two days after I saw it. That being said though, Akira is a must see anime movie! Ranma 1/2 Season 1 The works of Rumiko Takahashi are beloved amongst anime fanatics the world over! Her most famous work is the beloved, though notably flawed Inuyasha, which I do very much enjoy! Much earlier in her career though she created a martial arts-comedy Manga titled Ranma 1/2. The story follows the life and romantic exploits of a teenage boy named Ranma. He and his father are training in China at a cursed spring, unaware that it is so, when both of them fall into the water and are transformed. Now whenever Ranma is splashed with water he is transformed into a teenage girl, while his father becomes a panda. Inspite of their curses, Ranma and his father move back to Tokyo, Japan where he reveals that Ranma is to be wed to Akane Tendo, the daughter of a training partner of Ranma's father. From there the story begins as Ranma becomes the center of attention for all the young ladies in Tokyo and similarly for Akane to all the boys. I just finished reading the 36 volume manga for Ranma 1/2 last month and in retrospective I thought it was a really fun story! Its a manga that came out of that wonderful moment in the 1980s when Martial Arts was the coolest thing ever. This was about the time when stuff like Karate Kid and DragonBall were getting popular. For a couple months this year, Walmart had the first season of the anime adaption of Ranma 1/2 for sale and I was lucky enough to pick it up. While not totally perfect, and to my knowledge the first season is infamously slow, I thought it was a lot of fun! It really picks up towards the end of the season when the side characters start showing up and it starts getting into a regular beat that would come to define the series. Check out the Manga adaption sometime! In my opinion its a little better than the anime but this is still dang fun! Ghost Hunt Thanks a lot to FYE for keeping the Funimation SAVE boxes on discount for a couple weeks! I was able to pick up the Shojo Anime Ghost Hunt for less than $20! In this anime, a young teenage girl named Mai meets a strange, distant and very narcissistic Ghost Investigator named Naru. After an accident in which Mai breaks a piece of Naru's equipment, Mai agrees to work for Naru to pay off her dept. The two work together with a team of Exorcists and Medians to solve strange cases and hauntings. Taken as a whole, Ghost Hunt is a surprisingly compelling and interesting anime to watch. It does however suffer from a number of issues, namely the characters. Aside from Mai and Naru, most of the cast lack any compelling character traits to make them fully formed. A few of them get last minute traits thrown on them towards the end of the anime but they are pretty much uninteresting up until then. On the other hand, Mai is a genuine and sweet character that I found enjoyable. Naru works pretty well too, carrying the same sense of "I know everything better than you" confidence that characters like Sherlock Holmes and The Doctor carry, granted with their more humanistic optimism replaced with a duller more world wear affectation. Overall, fun and compelling anime to watch! Attack on Titan Now we get to THE BIG ONE. Attack on Titan is the holy grail of anime to come out of the last couple years. The world as we knew it no longer exists. Sometime in the past, a race of beings known as the Titans have devastated humanity, eating them and driving them to extinction. All that remains of mankind lives behind the a fortress. One day however, a strange, enormous Titan appears and destroys the outer wall of humanities last fortress. Hundreds of Titans are let loose into the city and hundreds of thousands of people are killed. In the aftermath, a group of children swear revenge on the Titans for the destruction of their homes and families. I don't know what to say for this anime that hasn't been said elsewhere. Yah! Its great! Its really really awesome! The characters are well conceived and fully dimensional. The story is powerful and compelling. The music and anime are some of the best in years! Beyond the fact that this anime is at the center of attention for Anime fandom at the moment, there are dozens of reasons to check out Attack on Titan! Definitely do! Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - August 15, 2014 - The Giver Review

Man, it feels good to be back in the critic seat :) The Giver is the grandaddy of "Post Apocalypse as Metaphor for High School" genre. Its also one of the few books I read growing up that I actually really liked. I was not a reader but The Giver was unique and had a sense of intrigue that most books didn't have. I even read it's pseudo-sequel Gathering Blue and enjoyed it. Naturally when I first saw the trailer for the film adaption of The Giver, I was suspicious. We live in the age of "Throw it at the Wall and see if it sticks!!!" in terms of moviemaking. In a world where lame movies like Amazing Spiderman 2, Transformers 4 and TMNT make hundreds of millions of dollars, major novels that have name recognizability and have any tangentially similar formulas to Harry Potter or The Hunger Games are GOING to become movies. Thus movie adaptions of Percy Jackson, Mortal Instruments, Enders Game, Divergent, Maze Runner, etc and now The Giver. Thats not to same any of the novels they are based on, I can't speak to their quality. Its just that the franchise mentality that is getting these movies made is annoying. The Giver in particular is the only one that has really interested me because of my background with the book. Incidently, The Giver is the book that launched the entire genre this is based off of for most readers. For me at least, that gives this adaption slightly more notoriety than most. In the distant future, in the aftermath of an event known simply as "The Ruin", humanity has sterilized their existence through technology and strict government control. Jonas is a young boy who receives his appointment for the job he is set to do to serve the community. He is introduced to a man known as The Giver, played by Jeff Bridges. Jonas is declared The Receiver and is appointed the holder of memories. He must endure the memories of the world as it was once known. Now to answer the question. Is The Giver good? Kinda… sorta…. C-..? I actually did like it better than a lot of the movies in this genre to be honest! There are nice details, a fully realized world and a great central performance by Jeff Bridges. Thankfully the movie did stay true to the book, inspite of the trailer portraying quite a number of liberal changes to the source material. It still carries the dead weight this entire genre of filmmaking does. The visuals look dull and uninspired, the acting is mostly done by non-mainstream actors with a couple of hammy celebrities thrown in for good measure, and there is an underlying layer of cynicism with the material, as though the people charged to make this movie really had no passion for the source material. Granted, in the lines of this genre the anchors of the usual problems didn't pull the movie down completely. There are a lot of parts that hold up really well. The second act especially had a lot of great dialog between Jonas and The Giver. Watching Jonas slowing receive the memories and react to them was just as interesting as it was in the book. As previously mentioned, Jeff Bridges performance as The Giver was phenomenal! The rumor has it that Bridges was the central individual responsible for getting this movie created because he has a strong passion for original book. His performance as a man, both blessed and cursed to carry the memories of humankind is great! Alot of his scenes almost have a sense of confidence about them that suggest they came straight out of another, more notable movie. It also does help a lot that the visual design and details of the world are very true to the book. The details and world look EXACTLY the way I would want an adaption of The Giver to look and for that I will give it due credit! While I did like a lot about this movie, the actual meat of the movie reveals problems. Not necessarily with the story itself but with it's own genre. I had a revelation in the theater about the nature of the "Post Apocalypse as Metaphor for High School" genre. As I thought about the underlying themes at play for the movie I had a weird recollection from some of the last movies in this genre and the differations of people's reactions to the underlying message. When Hunger Games came out, I heard from conservatives that the movie was an anti-government movie. Liberals alternatively called it an anti-upper class movie. That example is a more clear showing of what I picked up from this movie. The underlying theme was strangely vague and malleable. I got the impression that the movie was trying to say something but it did so in a way so that anybody with a point of view could manipulate it to make a point about their respective viewpoints. Anti-Communist, Anti-Facist, Anti-Republican, Anti-Religon, Anti-Science. Roughly anything that a person could be against, is vaguely possible to be cited as the central theme the movie is lashing out against. The genre tenor of the movie was a rise against conformity. That being said though, just about every philosophy in the world is a statement against conformity of some kind. That is the great secret of this genre. While it's message is vague, its a vague anti-conformity message with the central demographic of the movie pointed directly at teenagers. Hey! Have you ever felt like you don't fit in? Have you ever felt like the society is forcing you to conform? Doesn't it suck that your parents try to force their beliefs on you? Your worldview is entirely unique and YOU alone have the power to change the world because your parents and/or authority figures are ignorant and just don't understand you, man! Movies like The Giver, Divergent, Twilight and all the others are specifically targeted to the sensibilities of emotionally disenfranchised teenagers. I don't know if that speaks much about the overall quality of these movies but it makes it clear that these movies are more interested in pandering than they are in making good, lasting movies just because they know they can get away with it. The Giver is a movie that, unless your invested in the book and REALLY need to see on the big screen, isn't going to change your life or even really be worth your money. Its got some fun parts here and there, but its overall just not worth it. The only thing that I can conceive positive coming out of this would be a possible adaption of Gathering Blue, which would actually be pretty cool if they pulled it off! The story is way weirder than The Giver!   Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

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