Ghostbusters 2016: I'm Ready to Believe Them! (Spoiler Review)

Hello again everyone. I know in my previous post I said I was going to do a Finding Dory review, but that never materialized and I apologize. But the truth of the matter is, I don't have much to say about it. I found it to be a disappointment. Pixar was so concerned about hitting all those 'feels' buttons that everyone has raved about since the first ten minutes of Up, that they forgot about the actual movie. Most of the characters, except for Nemo is a horrible asshole to Dory the whole film (even Marlin, who should be accustomed to Dory by now as this movie takes place a year after the events of Finding Nemo) and none of the new characters really stick with you this time. It lacked the heart and the humor of the first film and couldn't seem to keep the attention of the children in the theater. The short that ran before it, called Piper, was much better and was utterly stunning visually. Finding Dory was a letdown, and I don't understand what people are seeing in it.

With that out of the way, let's move on to the task at hand. This is now my third entry regarding the new Ghostbusters film. And this time, we're actually going to talk about the movie itself, now that it has opened and I've had a chance to see it.

Yay!

So let’s get right down to it. I’ve already written two rather long posts regarding the first trailer and how the backlash against this movie has been ridiculous and infantile, and now is the moment of truth: is the movie actually any good?

                The answer to that is: YES. And even I am surprised at how emphatically I assert that. At times, I even wondered, ‘should I be enjoying this film as much as I am?’ I went into this with an open mind, hoping for, at bare minimum, a passable, okay film that was ultimately harmless and mediocre. And Ghostbusters surpassed those expectations with ease. Is it as good as the original 1984 film? Of course not, and it’s a silly question to ask. Was Jurassic World as good as Jurassic Park? What about Robocop, Point Break, Total Recall, Carrie, Clash of the Titans, War of the Worlds? Does any long-awaited sequel or remake/reboot ever live up to the originals? Very, very rarely. Many would argue that Ghostbusters’ own sequel (1989) doesn’t. So let’s put aside that argument and actually look at the film. 

                Part of what made the first film so memorable and incredible was the chemistry between the cast members, which is a tricky thing to pull off. So it was nice to see these women (and Chris Hemworth) have good chemistry with one another. And while it might be a similar character dynamic to the original film, I like that the characters themselves and their motivations and personalities are new and different. While you might look at the cast and correspond them to their male counterparts, they really do bring a fresh spin on it rather than have these ladies be gender-swapped carbon copies of the originals. Kristen Wiig’s Erin Gilbert might be the ‘Venkman’ character, but as a character, she’s a complete 180 from the one Bill Murray played. Where Venkman was a skeevy (though lovable) douche with no regard for actual science, Erin is looking for empirical evidence, is looking at this from the side being able to do real experimentation and research and be taken seriously as a scientist for it. She at first doesn’t even want anything to do with ‘ghostbusting’, considering it more of a fancy from her past. Melissa McCarthy’s Abby might be the closest to resembling her male counterpart as the ‘Ray Stantz’ of the group. She’s the go-getter, the one who’s really into all of this, the one who gets possessed. But she makes it her own, and not just the same over again. Leslie Jones’ Patty may have been the ‘everywoman’, but she was knowledgeable about not only the city from her MTA job, but in the city’s history. And while the trailer portrayed her as the ‘sassy black woman’ trope, she was a much more well-rounded character in the film. Kate McKinnon’s Holtzmann might be the ‘Egon’ of the group, but rather than the ‘too smart to deal with regular people’ type, she’s her own brand of socially awkward scientist that doesn’t rely on retreading the originals. She even gets a badass ghost-fighting sequence that just made me love her even more. She was easily my favorite. And it was a highlight for me, that each of these characters were their own person, had their own quirks and tics and were their own selves. The fact that they were women was incidental, and wasn’t the driving force of their personalities.  

So no, the movie is not just this.

                That’s not to say there were no callbacks to the first Ghostbusters films. All of the original cast (excepting Rick Moranis) shows up in cameo in the movie. Even the late Harold Ramis appears as a bronze bust in the university where Erin is working. There is also a dedication to him in the end credits, which made me misty, as Egon has always been my favorite. Even Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man show up, and the end-credits scene teases the name Zuul. The kicker, they are not playing their original Ghostbusters character. They are quick, fun, fanservice, and I didn’t find they took me out of the movie at all. In fact, Annie Potts’ cameo made me squee. And Bill Murray got what he wanted, to get killed off. I know for a fact that irks some people, as it further cements that this film does not take place in the same universe, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. If they’re going to start fresh, then do it. If they were going to get the original cast back in their original roles, they would have just made Ghostbusters 3, and probably would have done so long before now. So I consider it a non-issue, but not everyone does. Although speaking of cameos, Ozzy Osbourne himself has a quick cameo in the film. I was not expecting that at all, and as a metalhead, I got a kick out of it. 

                The second big thing about a movie like Ghostbusters is the humor. The 1984 film remains a classic of comedy that is funny no matter how many times you see it and is eminently quotable. This new film was certainly funny, but not as much and not in the same way. This unfortunately is a greater problem for me in modern comedy overall is not at all limited to this film. It’s part of the reason I don’t watch many comedies anymore; their style and type of humor rarely resonates with me. I’ll watch Blackadder on loop and laugh every time, or quote Spaceballs and even The 40 Year Old Virgin, but most modern comedies fall flat for me. Unless we're talking about Last Week Tonight, because that is awesome stuff.

Blackadder Goes Forth. Also, the funniest shit ever.

             I will give this movie credit for one thing as far as the humor, though: the lack of gross-out jokes. My greatest fear going in was an overabundance of period jokes and objectification of Chris Hemsworth’s character, Kevin. Because, let’s be real, in Bridesmaids Melissa McCarthy shits in a sink. That is the opposite of what I wanted for this film, I wanted it to be smarter than that. And thankfully, it was. Although, this brings me to a character I haven’t touched on, Kevin. Kevin was interesting. He was the stereotypical hot, dizty blonde. We’ve seen this role as played by women hundreds of times, and it was really fun to see that reversed. And Chris Hemsworth himself seemed to be having a blast; he looked like he was having so much fun in the role. They even address the elephant in the room when it comes to his character (the fact that he is ridiculously attractive), as a small running joke. But I never found it gross or icky. And once Kevin is possessed by the villain, Rowan, you get to see a whole other performance that was really excellent. 

More Chris Hemsworth as a villain? Maybe after Thor? Please?

                And that brings me to my third big factor in a movie like this: the effects. There were both practical effects (gear, partly the ghosts) and computer effects (ghosts, etc.) while engaged in the fight against Rowan. The gear was a lot of fun. While they had the standard proton packs, there were also new toys that they developed to add to their arsenal. What was the best about this was actually getting to see them building, testing, and tweaking their gear throughout the course of the movie, which happened mainly offscreen in the originals. It really helped to get attached to the characters when you grow with them and how they evolve themselves and their gear. Many of the ghosts (at least the human-looking ones) were people in costume who then had CGI added to make them more ghostly. And truth be told, the ghost effects were quite good and there was a lot more variety than I was expecting. Overall, the visuals were much better than many were fearing based on the trailers (never judge the effects from the trailers, people!). 

One thing that was a bit meh for me was the villain, Rowan. You just don’t get enough time with him and we could have fleshed him out more. As it is, you get the basic gist that he’s a lonely, bitter guy that’s been picked on and beaten down his whole life, and that’s about it. He really could have used something more. His Destructor form worked better in context than I was expecting, but the final fight with him seemed really short and was over very quickly. There was other stuff to fill in the third act, but the big boss fight was over way too quick. 

So my final verdict is this: this movie was better than even I had hoped it would be. It was fun, fresh, and while paying homage to the originals, was its own animal. In a moment of self-awareness during the film, Abby and Erin read a YouTube comment on their video which sounded much like one you would find beneath promotional material for this movie: Ain’t no bitch gonna catch no ghost.* And to everyone who believed some variation of those words, you’re right. There were no bitches catching ghosts. Just Ghosbusters, saving the city from peril. 

*That may not be the exact wording, but that’s basically what it was.   

Warcraft SPOILER REVIEW

Hello again, everyone. Anyone who watches my counterpart, the Cynic, knows that we don't have a theater in the town we live in, and so we have to travel to see movies. This weekend, since we had gone into the closest city anyway, we managed to hit up the theater twice. And so, I will be doing reviews of both Warcraft and Finding Dory. As usual, spoiler warnings in effect.


    First up, Warcraft!

I have to start with a little background. The Cynic and I went into this film very differently. I played World of Warcraft for several years, and have a decent grasp on the lore of the games, albeit a bit rusty as I haven't played in quite a while. That was, however, an advantage over the Cynic who went in with a rudimentary (at best) grasp of the story of the world of Azeroth. And that seemed to be an important distinction. This film does not hold your hand and explain you through the characters and the factions involved. It helps to have foreknowledge of the world going in. So fans of the games, you'll have a good time with this. I know I did.

A lot of skepticism I heard before this film came out was the CG and motion capture characters (especially the orcs) and how that would look on the big screen. And they looked great. In fact, this whole movie looked amazing. The orcs were fantastically done, and the locations! Seeing Ironforge, Stormwind, the Dark Portal, it was awesome to see places and think, I've been there! And they looked incredible on the big screen. Hat's off to Duncan Jones and all the other folks who made this movie, because the cinematography was gorgeous. There were a lot of great shots too, different angles and approaches that were outside the standard, predictable fare, and it makes me want to go back and visit Duncan Jones' other films. Because I really like what I see here. Also want to make mention of the use of the Wilhelm scream and the Murloc cameo. I appreciated those. And were those Draenei at the beginning? Methinks so.

Looking at this as a fantasy film, outside of the property it's attached to, I still enjoyed it. The armor and outfit's the characters wore were, while very Blizzard and very Warcraft, were far more practical than was often the case in the games. And the characters were beautifully realized, they looked individual, not like all identical. This was especially true for the orcs. Every orc was personalized in their look; hair, clothes, armor, piercings, decorations, right down to the smallest details. There was no horde of faceless mobs who all look the same, this was a massive crowd of individuals, and that was amazing. the attention to detail was rather staggering. The humans were less so, as the human soldiers all wore the same basic armor, outside of King Llane, of course. There were a few characters we get to know, but really, this movie is about the orcs. The central character in this story really is Durotan; his struggles to help find a new home for his people, and his conflicted feelings about the methods they are using to do so. The actor portraying him, Toby Kebbell, is no stranger to giving excellent performances in motion-capture, as seen in the other film I'm familiar with him from, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, where he was the (understandably) aggressive and untrusting Koba. Here he is a much more sympathetic character, and one that you really root for; a father wanting to ensure the future of his family, and a leader wanting to ensure the future of his clan. If you cared about anyone in this movie, it was Durotan.

How awesome was this entrance? Super awesome.

One thing, as a fantasy fan, that I also liked, was how the more fantastical elements were incorporated into the world. Here, it was as everyday as any other thing in the world. Riding a griffon? Floating city? Magic? No big deal, it's all just a part of the world. I liked the way the spellcasting worked: small spells were cast quickly, while bigger, more difficult ones took longer. It's hard to explain, it just seemed more organic than it seems to be a lot of the time. I also liked the look of the magic onscreen, the teleport spell, the wall of lightning, the drifting magic of the ley lines around Karazhan, the polymorph (which gave me a laugh). Even Gul'dan's fel magic, which he uses often, is something that, while vile and demonic, is no big deal to this character. Too often, magic in fantasy is either cheesy or horribly toned-down, and I liked that this was neither. I don't want to necessarily ooh and ahh every time magic happens, especially if it's supposed to be somewhat commonplace, and I really appreciated how normalized it was.

And the action, the fight scenes. They're brutal. There's no mincing about here. Orcs throw horses about, smash soldiers to paste in their armors, and pick up men like ragdolls and crush them. That's not to say the humans are completely defenseless; their swords taste plenty of orcish blood in once scene, they mow down scores with dwarven boomsticks. At one point, the wizard Medivh literally melts a group of fel-touched orcs. Draka, the wife of Durotan, tears out a fellow orc's throat to protect her son with nothing but her teeth. This is to say nothing of the throwdown between Durotan and Gul'dan. There's not a lot of flipping around and fanciness, this is straight-up, visceral combat. The movie is PG-13, so it's not going to show Deadpool-levels of blood and guts, but the battles don't skimp. They're also not quick-cut and shaky and hard to follow. You're in the thick of it, but you can see what's going on.  

This shot. I loved the way they did this.

 But let's face it, this movie is not perfect. In fact, basically everyone else is lambasting the hell out of it. And I'm not going to pretend there aren't problems. There are great, touching scenes between Durotan, his mate Draka, and their son Go'el (Thrall), but there just aren't enough of those character moments. I was hoping for more. You really don't get invested in the human characters, other than maybe Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer). But I wanted to get to know them more, go deeper into their characters. Give a little more on Medivh and why he was helping Gul'dan bring the orcs through the Portal. I know that there's so much to explain and and only so much you can do, but it just needed a little more. Or did much of that end up on the cutting room floor? With so dense a mythology, did scenes get sacrificed to keep the pace fast, or where they never there at all? Is there a director's cut of this? Because if there is I'm there, even if it's five hours long.

So what to say in conclusion? This movie is not as bad as others are making it out to be. It really isn't. This film is gorgeous; it looks fantastic, it's shot in really amazing and creative ways, the fights are fun, and the characters look awesome. It just needed a bit more in the story, especially to make it easier for people without knowledge of the Warcraft universe to get more involved in the characters. But in a genre of absolute, unfiltered shit, this really is one of the best video game movies I've ever seen (the other being the first Mortal Kombat). It's certainly the best looking, and you can see it was made with love, and by someone with real talent. So you know what, the haters can stuff it. I enjoyed the hell out of this movie and I would happily recommend it. Even my counterpart, the Cynic, who isn't a fan of Warcraft, and indeed not a fan of fantasy in general, has already said he wants to see it again. And I would be perfectly happy to do so.  And that is my final verdict.


 Until we meet again (to talk about Finding Dory),

 The Scholar 

 Post Script: So, are we going to be doing this all over again in a few months when the next video game adaptation film comes out that looks really cool and is being made by someone very talented and passionate about the property? Cause if I have to listen to this same crap all over again when Assassin's Creed drops...
   

X-Men Apocalypse SPOILER REVIEW

Hello again everyone and welcome back! Now that we've got Batman vs. Superman and Captain America: Civil War under out belts, let's take a look at the newest comic book ensemble film, X-Men Apocalypse. As usual, spoiler warnings ahead, but I think any of you that have stopped by here before are probably accustomed to that by now. Though the video review I did for Civil War was a fun way to shake things up, it's nice to be back in my regular, written format. So, without further ado, let's get right into this one.

Let's jump right in. The very first thing in this movie that struck me was in fact the first thing in the movie. At the start, James McAvoy does a narration as the camera pans over a desert landscape. What hit me immediately is how absolutely bang-on the mannerisms, enunciation, and cadence of his words were to how Sir Patrick Stewart speaks. It was a really great way to keep that the continuity of the characters progressing through their films and eventually becoming their older counterparts from the original X-Men trilogy (for all that the timeline has now been altered because of Days of Future Past). It was a little thing, but something I really liked.

With that to start us off, let's look at the cast. And why not start with Professor X himself? Carrying over from the previous films, this is the one where you really start to feel this time around that we're really getting to that Charles Xavier that we all know and love. Especially by the end of the movie, where it really feels that the character as we know him from other incarnations has truly arrived. In a lovely bit of callback, he and Magneto even have the same conversation at the end of the film that they do at the end of the first film, where Erik asks him if it ever keeps him up at night that someone may come after his school. It was a nice bit of fan service and almost a stamp placed upon the movie declaring that after all he has gone through in the previous two films, Charles Xavier has truly become Professor X.

But for every hero (or team of heroes), there needs to be a villain. This time around, we are introduced to En Sabah Nur, born in ancient Egypt. He is never actually called 'Apocalypse' in the film, and never refers to himself as such. Now, going in my knowledge of the character was based mostly on the X-Men Animated Series; an oversized grey mutant in blue and purple armor given to grandiose proclamations of how superior he is to the rest of the world.

This guy.

When the complaints started with the first released picture of Apocalypse for the film, I waited to see what would come of it. I figured there would be a lot of tweaking that would happen before we saw the finished product. And all we really had to go on as far as his personality was his declaration that he was going to build a better world from the ashes of the old one. The fact that he was being played by Oscar Isaac was enough to interest me. I'd been eager to see more of him after Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Ex Machina is still on my list to to-watch, but I will get to it!) and I was curious to see how he would play the character. And I really like that he was a little more toned down from the cartoon version. This was a destructive force playing himself as a benevolent god, who believed the world had gone to rot in his absence and needed to be cleansed for the strongest of his mutant 'children'. This was a character that didn't need to be bombastic and over-the-top all of the time. That would have gotten cheesy. Instead, this Apocalypse could speak softly and still feel menacing, and Oscar Isaac's performance really brought the character to life in a way that was different from what I was accustomed to, but I liked the change. Also, in-film, he looked much better for anyone who was worried about that.

A lot less purple.

There's a lot of characters in this film, so I'll try and condense this as much as possible in talking about the rest of the cast:

Mystique- Jennifer Lawrence pulls a bit of a Katniss this time around. While Raven is still an intriguing character, she really felt Katniss-y. She wasn't pulling me into her story this time as much as the burnt-out, don't want to be a hero but doing it anyway type. 

Hank McCoy/Beast- Nicholas Hoult continues to also grow into his character and you can see he's on the path towards what we saw in the original films, much like Xavier.

Quicksilver- He's back, for everyone who loved him the first time around, this time with a bigger sequence. You actually get more from the character this time around, with his conflict as to whether he tells Magneto he's his son or not. He definitely provided some levity.

Jean Grey & Cyclops- Yeah, I'm putting them together. You get to see them meet, and the budding relationship between the two. Cyclops always seems a bit meh, but he made out better this time around than in the original three films, where he was just a foil/cockblock for Wolverine. In this film, Jean teases us with a taste of a future when she unleashes the Phoenix Force on En Sabah Nur at the end, and it was pretty freaking cool. I want to see Sophie Turner have a chance to grow into her character the way some of the other cast has, I think she could do some really cool things in the future.

As far as Cyclops goes, this was my favorite part

Nightcrawler- One of my favorite X-Men, I was eager to see Nightcrawler back on the big screen. I like that he actually had quite a lot to do. Again, I want to see more, because what I saw I really liked and I really felt that they got his character really well.

Storm, Angel, Jubilee, and Psylocke- Four characters that really didn't get enough screen time. Storm and Angel had great introductions, but didn't do as much as I'd hoped. And they even did mohawk!Storm, which made me very happy. Psylocke was awesome in the time that she had, and her fight at the end was badass, but again, not enough time. Jubilee had  very little time in the movie, and we didn't even get to see her powers, which was a shame.

Wolverine- Yup, there's a Wolverine cameo. As soon as they started flying over those mountains, even before you see that dam, you know exactly where you're going. At this point in the timeline, Logan is still in the facility as Weapon X, and Jean, Scott, and Kurt break him out of the crate he's in. After they do so, he goes on a killing spree, even wearing the iconic Weapon X electronic helmet/belt combo.  It was pretty damn cool to watch.

He did get some pants in the movie, Pg-13 and all.

   
Now I know what you're thinking 'hey Scholar, didn't you miss a rather important character here in your character discussion?'. And you would be correct, because we're going to talk about him right now. I'm talking of course, about Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto. Because let's face it, other than the events that actually wake up Apocalypse, Magneto is the pivotal character in this movie. A lot of what happens revolves around what happens to him. Michael Fassbender is just mesmerizing in this role. From the happy family man who's trying to put the past behind him, which killed me knowing that it couldn't possibly end well. And that scene in the forest, it was absolutely wrenching to watch him screaming at the sky, demanding why, demanding why this was all he could be, clinging to his murdered family. And then to move into the factory, to listen to him so calmly tell those men he's about to kill them; so calmly but with such brutal grief and rage under the surface. I almost expected him to be angrier at Apocalypse for doing them in for him, not to mention taking him back to Auschwitz to 'unlock his full power'. Watching that place be destroyed by him was oddly satisfying, and yet tragic as it showed the character plunging back into darkness. He spent so much of the movie utterly broken, that I got excited again when the two steel beams slammed down (in an x-shape of course) in front of Apocalypse and you see Magneto wake up again. That simple "No, I betrayed them" spoke volumes. I thought he was easily the highlight of the movie, and much of the emotional punch came from Erik's arc from love, to loss, and redemption. Amazing.

In this pic: feels

So what about the story? Well, the story is very much a comic book story. Taking a break from shadowy organizations, real-world consequences, and grounded themes, we're going balls to the wall comic book here. Apocalypse wants to raze the world to the ground and build anew, washing away the weakness of mankind and leaving the strong. Simple enough, and a nice change of pace. Alongside that is the mutants trying to live in a post-Days of Future Past world, and what that means for their kind. Anyone who knows anything about the X-Men knows that there has always been an underlying, and often quite overt message about tolerance and prejudice. I think the fact that this message is so entrenched gives them a freedom to do the more over the top stuff without worrying about losing the real, gritty feel so many comic movies have been doing lately (there is certainly nothing wrong with that, but I do like variety). They don't have to formulate a plot around a message, it's already built in.    

And action! You have to have action in these kinds of movies! Well, you'll be happy to know there's no shortage of action and spectacle. Mutant powers are on display aplenty through the film, from moments of discovery to moments of destruction. And in no way are they used sparingly. The fight scenes are well done, the end fight is a lot of fun. There's a lot of CG in this movie, which may turn off some, but kind of feels par for the course here. The level of destruction also somewhat demands it. I didn't find the movie dragged at all and had enough levity to balance the harsh feels to make it fun. To be honest, there is nothing wrong with the action, it was pretty much what you would and have come to expect in a movie like this. I find myself having a hard time talking about it because I was so much more invested in the characters than I was the in the action. 

So in the end, I really liked this movie. A lot. I don't really understand why this movie is receiving as much dislike as it is. It felt to me very much like an X-Men film, which is to say it is very much it's own thing. I thought it was keeping with the original trilogy more than it's own immediate predecessors, but I don't see anything wrong with that. First Class and Days of Future Past were both excellent, and while I perhaps don't feel this one is quite as good (which the film itself seems to acknowledge in a moment of self-awareness that would make Deadpool proud), I think it's still a very solid movie. And yes, it's very different to the other comic book franchises we have. But I didn't want it to be like Civil War, as fantastic of a movie that was, and I sure as hell didn't want it to be like Batman vs. Superman. This was its own thing, and I hate that we have to compare all movies in the genre to one another. X-Men Apocalypse was a very good entry into the series, and I'm still down to see more. There was a lot introduced in this one, and I'd like to see them build on that and expand the world, especially those characters that didn't get as much time to shine. But a bad movie? Hardly. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and will gladly recommend this one. So yeah, if you haven't (and if you haven't, why on earth are you reading this review?), go see this film!

As always,
The Scholar

A Reflection on the Upcoming Ghostbusters Film Part 2

Good evening everyone. I promised a while back, and again in my Captain America: Civil War video, that I would do a follow-up to my Ghostbusters 2016 post. Well, a second trailer has dropped, and I thought it was high time to wade back into that mess and make something from it.

And with that, let me share with you my thoughts on Ghostbusters 2016:

I found this graphic, and it more accurately and succinctly sums up my thoughts on this movie that five pages of written text can. The first Ghostbusters movie came out a couple of years before I was born, so there has never been a time in my life when the franchise wasn't part of the public consciousness. In fact, my first exposure to the property that I actually remember wasn't the films, but the animated Real Ghostbusters TV show.

Fun fact: one of my favorite authors wrote a couple of episodes of this show.

There's been a lot of hate, a lot of vitriol, and a lot of straight-up bullshit that has come out of the reaction to this film's release. And it isn't even being released in theaters until July. It's become ridiculous. I refuse to lambaste a movie I haven't even see yet on the strength of two trailers, the second of which was actually head and shoulders above the first. And despite the fact, that as I already have said, there's never been a time for me when there hasn't been Ghostbusters, I just don't see the franchise as the sacred cow that other seem to. Do I think it should have been put to rest with the death of Harold Ramis? Probably, but the deaths of Michael Crichton, Stan Winston, and Richard Attenborough didn't stop the making and release of Jurassic World. And it isn't as if this is the first questionable-looking remake/reboot that's being made. There have been a great many, and I doubt this will be the worst one out there (Robocop, Total Recall, etc. come to mind as recent examples. Also Terminator Genisys). In fact, I can say I'm not a fan of the direction of the reboot Star Trek movies. They really don't capture the feeling of the franchise for me as someone who grew up watching the original runs of the shows from Next Generation onward, and the Original Series in reruns. But I'm also not going to downvote videos about it, flag comments that are even slightly positive, and make threats and general assholery on the Internet about it. Because I recognize that other people enjoy it. I'm even willing to give the upcoming Dark Tower movie a chance, and that is a film I'm not sure should even be made. But that's what we should be doing. We should also give the film a chance to prove us wrong before we tear it to shreds in some kind of fandom frenzy. We're better than this, people.

So those are my thoughts, and I stand by them. Check back very soon for a review of X-Men: Apocalypse. Probably around Monday-Tuesday, as we'll be out of town over the weekend when we see it. 

Until next time,
Late Nite Scholar

Captain America: Civil War Spoiler Discussion

Hello again, everybody.  Today we're doing things a little differently. Because I had so much to talk about with Civil War, I ended up doing a video to see how that process would go versus a written version. So here it is, my thoughts on Captain America: Civil War.

As a side note, there were a two of things I didn't mention in the video, because for some reason I didn't have that page of notes with me.

1. Aunt May. I thought it was interesting to have a younger Aunt May, as it always seemed a little odd that a teenager would have such an elderly aunt (not saying it's not possible, of course). There was a bit of a flirting interaction with Tony Stark that could set up some possible comedic situations in further films, and was a nice moment of levity in the movie. I appreciated the moment of seeming self-awareness the film had when Tony called out the fact that this Aunt May is young and attractive. I'm already looking forward to Spider-Man Homecoming, so it will be nice to see more then.

2. A big thing that I didn't touch on was the characterization of Captain America. I talked about the performance of Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, but not of Chris Evans as Cap. Shame on me, I know. I loved how the character was realized, as has been realized, but especially in this film and Winter Soldier. While he may have the costume, the costume is not what makes Steve Rogers into Captain America (as we have seen throughout the run of the character). What I like is that it is a distinct, yet subtle change that distinguishes the two. It's a small shift of demeanor, a subtle change in voice and tone that separates the two. He can be Steve while in costume and Cap out of it, as while they are one in the same, they are distinct. There is a divide between the sweet, shy guy from Brooklyn and the authoritative hero that was born in a WWII lab, much as they overlap. That was an excellent choice to make, it gives him a humanity and a compelling character that many (myself included) never really saw up until now. So, good on you guys for making one of the most bland, boy-scout heroes into one of the best MCU characters ever. Well done.     

Batman v. Superman: Doing them Justice? SPOILER DISCUSSION

Welcome back, all. I know it's been a while, and that's my fault. And I am sure you are wondering, where is Part 2 of the Ghostbusters discussion? All in good time, friends. I have a plan regarding that particular topic but it requires that I ruminate on that subject further. So instead, let us discuss the newest offering of the superhero genre, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. This post will potentially contain massive spoilers. If you have not seen the movie yet and do not want to know the finer details, please skip to the bottom, past the Grumpy Cat picture. That will take you to the conclusion and my final thoughts, and will prevent an unnecessary spoiling. So, let's dive in and take a look at the the film that is the set up to the DC Cinematic Universe.

I hope that is sufficient warning. I am trying my best not to give away plot details to those who don't want them, but I feel as though I need to discuss this film in detail in order to really articulate my thoughts on it. For those of you still with me, I thank you and let's unpack this one, shall we?

Now, I was of two minds going into the theater to see this one. First, as fan going to see a live-action superhero film that not so long ago would have seemed impossible; not only Superman, but Batman and Wonder Woman, all in the same movie! The other part of me was the skeptical part, the part that had seen the trailers, had followed the creation of this movie and feared that were elements that would be questionable, if not downright bad. So, it was this combination of optimism and trepidation that I watched Batman vs. Superman.

The Good 
 I am going to make this review as fair as possible, and look at both the good and the bad before giving my final verdict. And there was good in this movie, this wasn't a case of grasping at straws to balance this review. There were elements I legitimately enjoyed. First and foremost, our three heroes. Full disclosure, I have seen approximately ten to fifteen minutes of Man of Steel, which happened to be just ending when I came home from work one day. So for all intents and purposes, this was my first outing with Henry Cavill's Superman. And to be honest, he is perfectly serviceable and does well as the character. Watching him saving people in his heroic montage, I bought it. It worked. Even small things like the way he flew in and then walked into the Capitol Building, ready to talk. Not only does that really showcase what Superman is and his values, but having the inquiry at all, and showing the human impact of this superbeing really grounds the movie in reality. He does well with the character. The problem comes in that he is overshadowed by others, but that is not necessarily the actor's fault. I though he looked the part, and did well with what he had, but more on that later. Most of this overshadowing came from Ben Affleck's Batman, who came into this universe as a force to be reckoned with. He is the older, jaded counterpoint to Superman's younger, wanting-to-do-good-by-others heroics, and I liked that dynamic and wanted to see more of it.

So let's really talk Batman. If there's one character (and seemingly one character only) that live-action DC movies know how to do, it's Batman. And this Batman is the best in a very long time. Not only that, but Ben Affleck can play both Batman and Bruce Wayne, which is a rarity. This Batman also utilizes his intelligence, his detective skills and his gadgets far more than Christopher Nolan's Batman ever did. I will go so far as to say (and perhaps this is a heresy) that I prefer this older, yet more dynamic and more true to form version of the character than the thuggish brute of Nolan's trilogy. Not that there aren't nods to that version. The Batmobile is very much a fusion of the Tumbler and the old, impractical, long car. And yet, the Batplane is a modern take on the sleek, bat-shaped one most of us remember and the modulated voice that Batman uses is almost a reaction against Bale's infamous in-costume voice. And the gadgets, they abound. I appreciated the love for the grappling hook this film seemed to have. I don't know that Batman has ever used his grapple gun so much in a live action movie. The Batcave was also very well done, and the water entrance with the long road in was just perfect. And to see in use, fixing the car, the computer, Alfred randomly tinkering with Bruce's armor, it felt like a space that was used. Alfred himself was good, although Jeremy Irons almost didn't seem old enough to be Alfred to an older Batman. Regardless, it grew on me, and it's really more of a nitpick.

That brings us to the third member of the DC Trinity, and the one I was looking most forward to: Wonder Woman. And... well anyone who was worried about Gal Gadot can put their minds at ease. She did not have as much time as the other two, but I enjoyed every scene she was in. And when it got down to the big fight and she came out in costume, then it got good. Her track on the score 'Is She With You', which played during that scene, is my favorite piece of music in the film. So I was disappointed when they cut away from the fight for 'Lois and Clark romance stuff', because I wanted to watch Wonder Woman hacking away at Doomsday. Even when he threw her across the screen and her sword skids away she just smiles, gets up, and goes back at it. She was badass and my concerns about her were alleviated one hundred percent. While some will continue to argue she is too thin, etc., she stood side by side with Batman and Superman (both actors being in ridiculously amazing shape), and held her own. Bring on more.

Now a superhero needs action, right? So, how was the action? Well, when it was there, it was good. Really good. The best fight was the one seen in the trailer, with Batman taking out a warehouse full of bad guys. And it was beautiful, it looked like it was pulled straight from one of the Arkham games. The titular fight, while all too short, also showcases the Dark Knight's ingenuity, showing off the preparation that has become a staple of the character. The suit he wears, in direct homage to The Dark Knight Returns comic, is both great looking and practical in action. As I said above, the fight with Doomsday is good for the most part, but that one gets very.... explosion-happy and becomes messy looking in parts. Although, in another homage, Superman becoming all withered and gnarly, and then healed by exposure to the sun, was a nice add.

Other things I enjoyed: Batman's parents, although given that they were played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan, it was more for meta reasons. I liked the look of Aquaman, the brief look at him that you get. The TV hosts playing themselves was a nice extra to add realism as well, when showing the news coverage of Superman's exploits. And of course, my favorite cameo in the film, none other than Neil deGrasse Tyson, as himself. The Cynic and I had a fan moment at that part, I must admit.

Squeeeeee!

The Bad
 Well, now that the niceties are out of the way, we now turn to the more frustrating elements of Batman vs. Superman. And unfortunately, they were numerous. I wish I could say otherwise, but unfortunately, that's where we are.

First and foremost, I want to talk about my biggest problem with this movie. Looking through my notes, this is the one aspect that absolutely dominates the 'con' side. Lex Luthor, as portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg. I have nothing against the man personally, and in fact it is a unanimous opinion in our house that had he introduced himself as Edward Nygma instead of Lex Luthor, then it would have been a vast improvement. In that case, I would most likely be extolling his performance, instead of excoriating it. But the plain fact remains, of all the routes to take the character of Lex Luthor, this was the strangest and most painful. I realize that they have a throwaway line insinuating that this Lex is the son of the character we all know, but given that this version is called Lex throughout the film, and never with a 'junior' to amend it, that the line is question was just an attempt at appeasement. This character has none of the manner or personality of Lex Luthor. Not. One. Single. Thing. Where as Lex Luthor is a genius businessman, who absolutely believes in his own superiority and carries himself as such, there is none of that here. This Lex is jittery and twitchy, he stutters and talks too fast. He is intelligent but we never really see that, we never really see the resentment he has for Superman; the fact that there is someone who is better than him and he cannot overcome that. There was one moment in this movie that ruined this character for me, one small scene that pushed me past the point at which this Lex could be redeemed in any way. It was easy to miss, Lex walking down a hall and away from the camera as he begins to enact his plan and recover General Zod's body. He walked hunched over, slouched and shuffling his feet. It was a tiny thing, and it seems a strange point to fixate on, but that was the straw the broke the camel's back, as it were. A man convinced of his own superiority, a man that holds himself above the rest of humanity, a god in his own eyes, would never slouch along like a regular schlub before his first coffee of the morning. If he was truly not supposed to be the Luthor we know, then he should have been 'Alexander', or 'Lex Jr.'. End of story.  The saddest part is, I saw a clip from The Social Network, and in that short video, Jesse Eisenberg was a better Lex Luthor than he was through the entirety of Batman vs. Superman. It boggles the mind.  There was only one instance where he actually did something in the spirit of Lex Luthor. The 'Granny's Peach Tea' thing. He wanted that senator to know he was responsible, even if only for that split second before the explosion. That was the Lex Luthor ego and the one in-character moment in the movie.

#notmyLuthor

 

Well, now that I've got that particular rant off my chest, let's look at some of the other negatives. The second largest problem was the pacing and editing of the film. Bluntly put, this movie was horribly disjointed, especially for the first half. It isn't until almost the titular fight that the movie gains any semblance of coherency. It was a scene, then a scene, then a scene, etc., but with no flow and jumping all over. Added to this are dream sequences that appear out of left field, only to jump up, tweak your nose and shout 'gotcha!' when the character in question wakes up. This can work for a movie, but it is obvious that this one was probably mangled in editing to achieve this particular result. In fact, this is likely the case, as the original cut was apparently 3 hours or better, and a deleted scene was already been released on YouTube. This scene actually answered one of my questions/issues, in that 'How does Lex know about Darkseid/Apokolips?'. I wonder how many other of the many questions this film raised actually has answers that we didn't see, and how many were sequel or prequel bait?

My question above leads into my next point. This movie had way too much that it was trying to do and too many things that it was trying to be. It was trying to be an introduction for two of DC's most important heroes, plus a sequel film for a third, in addition a set up for Justice League, all while tackling not one, but two well-known stories of the comic world as well as a commentary on the impact of heroes in the real world. That is a lot for one movie to accomplish, even if that movie clocks in at two and a half hours in length. All these plots should have been split into their own movies, and given proper attention. Batman and Wonder Woman should have had their solo movies first to introduce the characters and give the stories of how they have gotten to the points in their lives/careers they are at in Batman vs. Superman. Why is Wonder Woman out of the business at this point, what happened to bring this about? Why does Batman have no compunctions about killing? Does it have anything to do with the defaced Robin costume in the Batcave? Why is Wayne Manor destroyed/abandoned? Bring us these stories first, before shoehorning the characters into another film. Although, Batman's origin again? We all know why he becomes Batman, honestly. Theater, mugging, gun, pearls, bang, orphan. We got it. But that's a nitpick. Do the solo movies, give Superman a proper Man of Steel 2, discussing the ideas from the beginning of Batman vs. Superman. Look at the impact of heroes on the world and how the world would react to something like that. That's a really interesting idea, and one that doesn't go deep enough here. Then if you want to do The Dark Knight Returns and the Death of Superman, go ahead. I'm not sure they need to be combined, though. It was an interesting choice, to have Death of Superman be the catalyst for creation of the Justice League, but again, it was all too rushed. And at this point in the cinematic universe, we haven't spent enough time with the character to give it the emotional impact that the comic series did. And as for setting up the Justice League, that scene with the computer files would have been better as a mid-credits one, with Batman opening the folder, but the audience only seeing the logos, or just the names, and no footage. That would build excitement better than a lazy shoehorn into the middle of the film.

Speaking of losing impact, that brings me to the things that bugged me, but weren't outright dealbreakers like above. That second trailer. Damn. That first shot of the trinity together ready to go up against Doomsday really lost a lot of the 'wow' factor and impact having already been seen in that trailer.

Cool, but not as cool as it should have been.

     
     
Also low on wow-factor: the titular fight. It was surprisingly short, and the motivations changed from what the movie had built up until that point. Not on the level of the T-Rex/Spinosaurus fight from Jurassic Park III, but certainly not nearly on the level that it should have been. Although, on the other side of that, I really thought that Superman would try to reason with Batman more, as he didn't really at all. I had hopes that the fight against Abomination-Blaze-Doomsday would be better. And in fact, watching Batman kite around on the grappling hook, and Wonder Woman charging in, sword raised, was a great start. Unfortunately (as I mentioned earlier), we had to cut away from that for 'Lois and Clark' romance stuff on the side, completely derailing what should have been an epic climatic fight and seeing the trinity really coming together. Also in that fight, and a few other places, the CG looked... oddly terrible. Upon further reflection, I wonder if those were 3D shots (we saw it in 2D) and they don't translate as well in 2D. I have noticed that in other 3D movies that I watched in 2D, so I'm almost willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

It behooves me to point out that this film has one whole joke. Well, one funny one, at least. That comes courtesy of Martha Kent, after Batman saves her. While I didn't need the movie filled with laughs, it was worth noting that it was funny once. Also funny was that, while others hear notes of the Nolan film score in the music centered around Batman, I heard notes that almost made me think it would burst into Danny Elfman's Batman theme. Perhaps I was the only one, but odd notes pricked at my brain and made me think of it. It could have also been wishful thinking, I guess. But here I end the spoilers and we go to the conclusion and my final thoughts.

/end spoilers 

Well, that was quite the essay, and if you're still with me, I thank you. We've talked a lot here, and now time for my final verdict. And, my opinion of this movie is: I'm indifferent to it. There were some really good things, but there were also some really bad things. Even my notes came up quite even between pros and cons. Nothing I saw on the screen was a surprise. In that I mean, everything I thought would be good was, and everything I thought would fall flat did. I wanted this film to surprise me. I wanted to come out of it blown away. This was a huge deal; the DC Trinity, on screen, together, in live action. And yet, I find myself more excited for the fact that The Killing Joke is getting an animated movie, with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their roles as Batman and Joker, respectively. Because in the end, that's the problem. DC does fantastic animated work, and there are countless examples to back that up, from the seminal Batman: The Animated Series, to Justice League Unlimited, to film-length features such as Batman: Under the Red Hood, Wonder Woman (2009), and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. This is just a tiny sample of their incredible animated offerings. And yet in live action, if it's not Batman, they seem lost (with the exception being at least the first two Superman movies with Christopher Reeve). Until that problem can be resolved, and I truly hope it is, I can only anticipate the future with apprehension. I am still hopeful for Wonder Woman's solo film, and that is my most anticipated of the known upcoming DC lineup. If I end up wrong, and DC live action going forth is everything that we want and hope it to be, then wrong I will be, and gladly. So here's to the future, and to live action DC that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with it's animated counterparts.

Again, I want to thank you all if you've made it here to the end, and I hope to see you next time. We had a lot to talk about here, so maybe we'll try something lighter next time. 

Respectfully yours,

The Scholar