Category: Movies

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Spider-Man Heads Back To Marvel!

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Well after all the leaked email messages, and all the disinformation the Spider-Man movies are headed back to the Marvel Universe!  Marvel has been trying to get its most popular property back for some time, so for them this is cause for celebration.  According to the deal Sony will still make all the stand-alone films, but they will now be produced by Marvel’s super producer Kevin Feige, and they will at least be acknowledged by the other Marvel movies.  All the team-ups however, will be made by Marvel.  It is very likely that the new Spider-Man will make his debut in Captain America: Civil War.

Spidey’s new stand-alone film comes out July 28th 2017, and to make sure that he is not being crowded by his Marvel buddies, Marvel is shuffling its releases.  The list now looks like this:

  • Black Panther moves up from November 3rd 2017 to July 6th 2017.
  • Thor will move from July 28th to fill Black Panther’s spot on November 3rd.
  • Inhumans gets kicked all the way back to “Summer 2019”
  • Lastly Captain America now fills the November 2018 slot.

I am not sure why moving Black Panther up helps, and why they just didn’t move Thor up a couple of weekends, but I am sure they are better at this than I am.  This is a day Marvel comic book fans have been waiting for, and I am sure they are all celebrating in some way today.

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The Untitled Star Wars Film Has Its Lead!

Felicity Jones

Disney is very serious about getting one Star Wars movie a year made, so they are doing their best to get the casting done on the Gareth Edwards’ Star Wars spin-off by all but signing the Theory of Everything star Felicity Jones.  Jones had a great year in ’14, and to be able to cash in on it by landing a lead in a Star Wars film would a great way to start ’15 off.  If this movie is successful she would become a very big name indeed.

I am curious to see what the director of the latest Godzilla film will bring to the table, and to see how much freedom Disney will let him have to come up with something new inside the Star Wars Universe.  I hope they make something amazing!  But, before I get too excited, (it is already to late) we will have to see how Disney does this Christmas with Episode VII.

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The Paladin remembers an American Sniper

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American Sniper, directed by Clint Eastwood, is now the top grossing war movie of all time. This is both extremely fascinating and surprising. American Sniper is a modern tale about a modern war, where most successful war movies are those about the second World War where the enemy is clear, the Americans are the heroes, and a victory is certain. American Sniper doesn’t give us a clear enemy, the Americans are heroic but not infallible, and victory is just surviving to the next day. What makes this movie so powerful is not wrapping the film in a flag and singing “God Bless America”, it’s that it is wrapped in humanity.

Chris Kyle was the most deadly sniper in US Military history with 160 confirmed kills, edging out Marine Sniper Chuck Mahwinney from the Vietnam War who was credited with 103. Bradley Cooper turns in an excellent performance as the bold, yet caring Chris Kyle. We are able to see and feel the weight of Chris’ war with every scene – how it eats at his own soul and on the relationship with his wife. The focus is what’s really the fascinating part about this film; it juxtaposes Chris’s life at war with his life at home where we can see the effects of his four tours and the PTSD he is obviously suffering from. This is highlighted in a fantastic scene at a mechanic’s shop where Chris is confronted by a man he saved and considers him a hero. The scene is long and awkward and you as a viewer share in Chris’ suffering through this hero worship. You feel for the guy because he doesn’t consider himself a hero and yet he very much is.

American Sniper, I think works where other modern war films do not is that it is an honest look at the Iraq war with a protagonist you connect with and can root for. He’s not going back tour after tour because he’s a war junkie like Jeremey Renner’s character in the Hurt Locker and its not preachy like other “war” films. Chris is portrayed as a guy who goes back because he cares about people and returns again and again because he want to make sure others can go home. The final part of the film gives a glimpse to how he uses that heart of service to help himself and others rebuild their shattered lives from PTSD. A heart that sadly costs him his life.

American Sniper is not perfect. The actors are great, the pacing is superb, and the heart of the film is never lost. However the visual effects are not so great. I’m assuming the studio didn’t have much faith in this film because the effects look like a ScyFy channel movie-of-the-week or something from the 90’s. It was just off and in some places distracting. You may have also heard about the fake babies. It is true, the babies are fake and I can’t explain why. Maybe Bradley Cooper doesn’t work with babies? Or maybe it’s Clint? Either way it’s weird.

Still, you should see this movie if you haven’t already. It is a haunting and honest look at war, but also a touching tribute to love and life.

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Don’t Visit Pompeii!

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Oh man, I have been dreading this day.  Today is the day that I review the 2014 film Pompeii distributed by TriStar Pictures.  What is sad about this movie is that it could have been a mindless action/disaster movie and been okay, but instead it is just all around bad.  The acting is bad, the special effects are bad, and you guessed it the script is bad.  That is the trifecta of bad.  I should expect no less (more?) of Paul W. S. Anderson.  He has a true gift for making terrible movies.

The story is about a young Celt named Milo (Kit Harington) who watches his family get butchered by the Romans and then is forced to become a gladiator.  He becomes a premier fighter and is moved to Pompeii where he falls for the Governor’s daughter (Emily Browning).  She is also being wooed (poorly) by Senator Quintas Attius Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) who just happens to be the guy responsible for killing Milo’s family.  None of this really matters because they are all going to get killed by a Volcano.

Oh man this movie.  Really it is a Gladiator ripoff with a little Titanic thrown in for good measure.  Now I understand that there has to be some sort of story so we care about the people running from the fiery ash at the end of this movie.  Sadly, you don’t because they are all very stupid and one note.  You have to watch them make dumb move after dumb move until the end.  I wish at that point they would stop being dumb, but no, they continue to hold their grudges and act out their stupid storylines while the city is falling down around them.  Luckily for them the Volcano will stop erupting for them to have their epic(?) face-offs.

Normally with a script this terrible I give the cast a pass.  I mean there is only so much you can do with something like this, but these people all find ways to add to the garbage pile.  Harrington always looks like a sad puppy.  Browning looks confused, but best (worst) of all is Sutherland.  He tries his best to have a British accent (never mind that he should be trying to have an Italian one), but it is awful, but he does it with such gusto that it is almost funny.  Almost.  No one comes out looking good in this film.

The special effects artists deserve a Razzie for their work in this film.  I have never seen so many obvious green-screen shots in my life.  It was like watching a 90s made for TV Sci-Fi movie.  I was blown away with how bad everything looked.  If this was on the Discovery Channel or something maybe it would be passible, but for a big budget film it is inexcusable.

I have spent way too much time writing about this film, but all you need to know is that it is terrible.  It isn’t even so bad it is good, and I love those types of films, no this movie fails at even that.  Don’t watch Pompeii.  It is an hour and a half of your life that you will never get back.  Everyone who was part of this movie should feel bad about themselves.