Category Archives: Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

Remembering Wes Craven

If you are looking for a face that isn’t burned or a hockey mask that represents an icon of the 80s slasher genre, look no further than the great Wes Craven. There were three slasher-style horror franchises thoughout the 1980s, but A Nightmare on Elm Street stood out. While Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers hacked and killed anyone in their path, there was more to Freddy Krueger. Wes Craven created a character that killed you in your dreams. It’s a genius concept that helped Nightmare differentiate itself from Halloween and Friday the 13th. It’s one thing to look around the corner and find yourself at the mercy of a psychotic mad man…but it’s another to have no control of your dreams and subsequently be killed in them. Craven’s original Nightmare on Elm Street left many awake at night, and with good reason.

You could stop there and there would still be loyal Wes Craven fans who would praise Nightmare at every moment. But Craven wasn’t done. After Nightmare and Freddy were turned into what seemed to be pure comedy (Nightmare VI: Freddy’s Dead is a tough one to watch) Craven came back with what could be considered the true sequel to the original film: New Nightmare. When Craven turned Freddy to what seemed to be a real person (Freddy’s credited as himself in the credits), he arguably made Freddy the greatest horror icon of all time, surpassing Jason or Myers. Craven still wasn’t done, as the idea of bringing Freddy into “the real world” serves as a prelude to the Scream franchise. Of course, Craven was the director of Scream and saved the dying slasher genre.

It was a sad day on Elm Street for sure when Craven passed a few days ago. We’ll love Craven not for the memories or for the great horror icons he created…but for the fact that he kept everyone awake at night while we hoped that Freddy wasn’t coming for us. RIP Wes Craven.

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Mortal Kombat (1995)

Pretty big spoilers here…the film’s been out for 20 years now.

On the surface, Mortal Kombat is not a good film. If you weren’t a fan of the series, you found this to be junk with cool music. But if you were a fan…well…wow. The value of Mortal Kombat lies in what the film is trying to be. It’s not trying to win an Oscar Award. It’s trying to be a film adaptation of the Mortal Kombat video game series. And it’s not a bad one either.

Mortal Kombat has to get some extra credit because of where video game film adaptations were. The Super Mario Bros. Movie  was a disaster. Street Fighter came out a year before Mortal Kombat and was just as bad as Mario Bros. Fans needed something that resembled the games they played on their TVs…or more specifically in this case…the arcade.

More or less, Mortal Kombat gives it to them. The film mostly takes the story of the Mortal Kombat I game with some references to MKII. The fate of the world is decided in Mortal Kombat, a fighting tournament where two people fight until one is dead. Earth’s best warriors (Liu Kang, Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage) must defend Earth against the warriors of Outworld (led by Shang Tsung). Outworld must win ten Mortal Kombats in a row to overtake Earthrealm. They have won nine. Along the way, Earth’s heroes meet supernatural beings, both friend and foe, as they learn about themselves and find the strength to win Mortal Kombat and save the Earth. Yeah, the story is pretty bare bones, but that’s the point. The story of Mortal Kombat isn’t supposed to be complicated.

We do get all of the iconic Mortal Kombat characters in the film. While some are done justice for sure (say what you want about Christopher Lambert’s Raiden and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa’s Shang Tsung being overplayed, they both worked brilliantly, especially Tsung. Tagawa was so good he was asked to reprise Tsung in the series Mortal Kombat Legacy in 2013), others aren’t fleshed out at all (Sub-Zero, at one time perhaps the iconic character of Mortal Kombat, has one pretty cool moment and then gets beat down by Raiden and Liu Kang everywhere else). Our heroes range from okay (Robin Shou’s Liu Kang) to insufferable (Johnny Cage), although Bridgette Wilson as Sonya works out well (her character takes a lame turn as a damsel in distress though). I will give a bonus to a small twist in Liu Kang’s character. Kang is pretty much the boring primary protagonist in the games (so much that the game series eventually switched focus to Scorpion as it’s featured fighter, with good results), but here he’s sarcastic and is even skeptical of the Mortal Kombat tournament overall. There’s a scene when he just dumps Cage’s luggage in the river which got a good laugh from me.  Our villains are pretty good overall, especially Tsung and Scorpion (who puts up a much better and cooler fight against Cage than Sub-Zero does against Kang). Goro’s defeat is pretty embarrassing for the character though, but with special effects at the time I’m not sure what else could be done. Bonus points for Reptile’s fight against Liu Kang, which was an iconic moment for my 8 year old self and works really well now. Kano is a bit wasted but serves his purpose, and his Australian accent was used for future games. Princess Kitana is utterly forgettable, and Art Flores just serves as an example to get beat by Goro.

The effects are surprisingly not awful, and even some are pretty cool (Cage’s Shadow Kick and even Goro himself). There’s a few times where it doesn’t work (Tsung’s castle looked terrible) but all in all they didn’t try anything crazy and as a result didn’t do anything terrible and did a few things good.

It’s worth pointing out that this may be the greatest soundtrack for any film ever. No, that’s not an exaggeration at all.

Mortal Kombat gets one big minus though, which is that it was rated PG-13. I get why it was, but considering that the game series was not only the most violent video game series of all time at that point but also led the video games being rated, the film loses some luster for a lack of a R rating. There’s not even one drop of blood! It’s Mortal freakin’ Kombat!

Nonetheless, if you told my older self that this was the film adaptation of Mortal Kombat considering all factors (other video game films, no blood, PG-13) and this was the result, I would have called it a damn miracle.

Pros:

+Most of your favorite Mortal Kombat characters are there.

+Incredible soundtrack.

+Follows the story of the games well.

+Some iconic fights (Cags vs. Scorpion, Reptile vs. Liu Kang)

+Some iconic performances

Cons:

-For non-MK fans, this film had nothing going for it.

-Johnny Cage is insufferable.

-Some iconic characters were wasted.

Grade: B

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Big spoilers here…are you even reading this if you haven’t seen the film. Also, all Star Wars films have to invite comparison to the prequels…because inevitably any discussion of the Star Wars films invites such comparisons.

Considering the fact that the original Star Wars was just about the most successful film ever, there was never any doubt that we would get a sequel. Three years after the original, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back came to the big screen…to surprisingly mixed reviews.

I’m going to get the negative out of the way first. Episode V doesn’t resolve anything. It’s a middle of the plot film and you could basically call Episode V and Episode VI a Part 1 and Part 2 film series. There’s no real beginning and there’s no conclusion at all. You KNOW there’s going to be a sequel just how it plays out. Otherwise you’d have an incomplete story.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, Empire Strikes Back is awesome. Let’s revisit some of our characters from A New Hope. Luke Skywalker is better this time around. While I still have issues with his character in regards to maturity, he finally shows that emotion that I felt was missing in A New Hope, especially in the latter half of the film. Yes, our hero has to be saved not once but twice this time around, but he does enough to make me think that he at least has the potential to be the one to take down the Empire.

Han Solo and Princess Leia’s romance really comes together here, and Solo and Leia’s journey throughout the film may be some of the best sequences in the series. Han Solo’s “I know” to Leia when she declares her love for him is iconic (and improvised by Harrison Ford!). I might have thought their dialog missed in a New Hope, but it’s on the mark here.

And oh man, while I don’t quite see it for Episode IV (and Episode VI) I understand why Darth Vader is an iconic villain here. With Tarkin gone, Vader is in command and it’s absolutely awesome. Vader shows no mercy (with one exception that’s totally fine) for anyone that fails him. He kill his admirals who make mistakes, leading to a great moment when a newly appointed Admiral gulps in fear when called upon. Just incredible all around. When Vader is the top bad guy to deal with, you feel scared for the Rebels.

The supporting characters are all great this time around. You really believe in the loyalty Chewie has toward Solo. This time around I actually find C-3PO funny (the ridiculous odds he gives out in life or death situations is pretty great, it’s a lot better than saying “we’re doomed” all movie) and R2D2 still has incredible charisma for a robot on wheels that doesn’t even say words. One of the best scenes in the film (and the series) is when R2 opens the blast door for everyone to escape Cloud City. Lando is a new character. He’s the head of Cloud City and like Solo, he’s someone who does what’s best for his interests until eventually realizing he needs to help.

I think what helps Empire is the splitting of Solo, Luke and Leia. In a New Hope Solo at times overshadows Luke. Here, we see Luke’s story and we see Han and Leia’s, and this allows us to really get invested in both sides of the Rebellion (the Rebels themselves, and then the Jedi who need to provide the finishing blow). When both sides come together in the finale, we feel like we have a totally different Luke Skywalker and a totally different Han and Leia. It’s great character development all around. As a bonus, Yoda is pretty awesome as the old Jedi Master who teaches Luke, also giving us another iconic quote (“Do or do not, there is no try”).

There are two big moments at the end of the film, one that I’m all for and one that I don’t like. Obviously Vader being Luke’s father is incredible and a great moment in film overall. No issues there. Leia having a telepathic moment with Luke, foreshadowing their revealed brother-sister relationship I think is one of the weaker parts of the original trilogy. I don’t think it adds anything to the series. Before I believed in Luke and Leia due to their past. Adding a sibling relationship unnecessarily forces them to have a connection with one another despite that they had a strong one already. And it all starts with that telepathic link.

That’s Return of the Jedi’s problem though.

Pros:

+Once again, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2D2 and Darth Vader are all great characters. This time I also thought Leia and Luke were good to great as well. And let’s not forget Yoda!

+Strongest part of the story for sure. You really understand everyone’s motivations and feelings this time around.

+Can’t stress enough how awesome Darth Vader is here. Just considering Empire Vader you’re looking at one of the greatest film villains of all time.

+The huge reveal regarding Vader and Luke at the end is nothing short of iconic.

Cons:

-Clearly a story with no ending. Basically forced you to see the sequel in three years.

-Just how many times does our hero need to get saved?

I might prefer the prequels, but I have full appreciation for Empire. It’s great.

Grade: A

 

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Pixels (2015)

Probably big spoilers here…although I will try not to make it too bad

The lead up to Pixels was a roller coaster. When Patrick Jean made the short film Pixels in 2010, it was downright awesome. Old school video games attacking the world? That’s money waiting to be printed. As a result we have a feature film in 2015 of the same name. When I first saw the trailer for Pixels I was agog. The potential was limitless. If this movie succeeded, and really, the idea sells itself, this could open doors to perhaps distributers looking monetize video game franchises into film. What video game fan doesn’t want to see a Nintendo Cinematic Universe? The trailer even looked awesome. We just needed Pixels to succeed. It just had one obstacle: Adam Sandler.

Now I haven’t completely followed Sandler’s career and the last thing I remember seeing him in was 2006’s Click, which I recall enjoying at the time. But critics and movie goers have had enough of Sandler. More recently, Jack and Jill, starring Sandler, was regarded as one of the worst films of all time (I haven’t seen it). So everyone was over Sandler at this point. As the reviews for Pixels came in (the drop of the roller coaster) I feared the worst. 18% on Rotten Tomatoes.  Critically panned everywhere. Calls for Adam Sandler to retire. Nintendo tweeted that fans should go see Pixels and got tons of negative responses. I felt like I needed to see Pixels, mainly because I’m a video gamer.

Truth be told…Pixels gets a bad rap. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some bad (even awful) stuff here…but there was definitely some good as well.

Let’s talk about Sandler’s Sam Brenner. First question: if you were told an actor had to play an underachieving middle aged electronics installer in a film that doesn’t take itself remotely seriously who would you pick? Sandler right? So at least he fits the part. His shtick is tired for sure. Some of his jokes downright missed. But he does occasionally get a good line in and I don’t think he’s terrible at all. He’s just there. If you’re sick of Sandler at this point you probably hate him here. That’s fine.

Kevin James’ President Will Cooper also isn’t great, pretty much because they went with the stupid president path which just dates the film since George W. Bush hasn’t been in office for seven years. But…I will say that I think they also were making fun of potential Presidential candidate Chris Christie here, which again, is merely okay.

For the most part, Peter Dinklage’s Eddie Plant is played so over the top it’s great. Definitely the best character in the film.

Josh Gad’s Ludlow is very hit or miss. It’s more miss, but he does have his moments.

Michelle Monaghan in reviews was referred as one of the bright spots of the film, but her Violet Van Patten wasn’t anything special.

So let’s get to the plot. Back in 1982 there was an Arcade Game contest to which Plant defeated Brenner in the finals where Donkey Kong was played. It was said that the footage from the tournament would be sent to outer space so that life forms perhaps could see intelligence from Earth. Before you claim how ridiculous that idea is, you find a way for aliens to send video games to attack Earth and let me know how much sense it makes. It should be noted that this entire opening sequence is pretty awesome and captures what playing games in arcades was like. We get to the present time where Brenner is hired to install a TV and PS4 for a kid, and they get into a discussion about games and patterns. For some reason the kid goes into his mother’s personal life, and in one of the weaker moments of the film Sandler and the mother, Van Patten, share a moment drinking in a closet. It doesn’t work at all.

We see the first attack on the Island of Guam…by Galaga. It’s a bit of a shame that Galaga isn’t part of the climax later (I think Galaga and Centipede should have been switched) but it’s still pretty cool. The President makes a call to his Colonel, who we find out is Van Patten, and his best friend who happens to be great at video games, Brenner. While there’s another really weak joke attempt during this sequence, Cooper confirms what he thought…that Galaga attacked Guam. Brenner happens to find Ludlow, who’s a conspiracy nut, and Ludlow shows Brenner old 80s footage that’s doctored with alien voices that warns of the next attack. Cooper ignores this, as he believes the press would further laugh at him. Arkanoid attacks India (there’s a scene during this that I thought was at first stupid…but then I laughed realizing if this actually were to happen someone would probably do this…you’ll have to see for yourself), which is another cool sequence. The video games warn the U.S.: they are down 2-0 and if the Video Games get up 3-0, Earth will be destroyed.

From that point it’s up to Brenner and Ludlow to train the military to learn how to fight any classic arcade game…monster (?). But when the time comes, the military is overwhelmed by Centipede before Brenner and Ludlow take over and win. I was surprised at this, as reviews stated that it made no sense that the characters good at the games would actually do the fighting. But, here, the military tried and couldn’t keep up with the patterns…so I can actually by the idea of the gamers coming in and taking over.

We find out what happened to Eddie Plant and he has some funny and not so funny demands in exchange for his help (funny one: no more taxes). His character would provide an interesting twist later in the film that I won’t spoil here. We move onto the Pac-Man battle, which is a pretty awesome sequence and definitely the high point of the film. It logically doesn’t make sense (because Brenner is good at patterns…but he’s the ghost and Pac-Man has no pattern). Of course eventually we get to the finale, which the trailer pretty much gave away. The Donkey Kong sequence is pretty great too though.

Pixels tells a pretty solid story considering the premise, and all of the video games look absolutely great. Some of the running gags do have a pretty good payoff (Ludlow’s dream love, for example), but some aren’t just bad, they’re terrible. I’ll give this one away but for some reason we have Q*Bert peeing himself after being afraid, which was just unnecessary and not funny at all. Most of the comedy misses, and like in this case, misses badly.

But it’s not an 18% film. Definitely better than that. Maybe it’s a straight nostalgia money grab. But at least it pays respect to the great games involved.

 

Pros:

+The video game attackers look incredible, and each scene is awesome.

+Peter Dinklage is the only character that’s funny more often than not.

+Some funny gags.

+Story is better than it has any right to be.

+Opening sequence of the film is well done.

Cons:

-Some really unfunny gags.

-Sandler and James’s time has past.

-Love story is uninspiring and clichéd.

-Can’t stress enough about the unfunny stuff.

-An unfortunate waste of a great idea.

We probably aren’t getting the Nintendo Cinematic Universe out of this unfortunately. But I did have a good time watching, and I guess that’s what counts.

Grade: C+

 

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Big spoilers here…are you even reading this if you haven’t seen the film. Also, all Star Wars films have to invite comparison to the prequels…because inevitably any discussion of the Star Wars films invites such comparisons.

Without a doubt, Star Wars changed the way we look at big blockbuster films. It’s crazy looking back that George Lucas didn’t have a ton of confidence in his film and thought he was going to get killed by Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. While perhaps it hasn’t aged beautifully, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was a special effects masterpiece that launched the careers of several stars (Harrison Ford, for example) and made more money than any other movie at that point.

But let’s be honest, that doesn’t mean it’s the greatest film of all time or anything. In fact, it may be the most overrated. Looking at the critical acclaim the film has received in every way, as well as it’s revered state among most Star Wars fans only shows just how overrated the film is.

I had some pre-conceived notions about A New Hope before watching it again for this review, since truthfully I didn’t entirely enjoy it when I was younger. I found it rather boring and I didn’t see much in Luke Skywalker, our main protagonist, to get invested in. I felt the same way on both accounts watching the film again.

The film begins with the evil Empire, led by Darth Vader, hunting down several members of the Rebellion who have stolen integral plans of the Empire’s moon-sized weapon, the Death Star. The best that Princess Leia can do is send the plans and a message with a droid named R2D2 to another planet where Obi-Wan Kenobi resides. After that we get an unnecessary argument between R2 and fellow droid C3PO, splitting the two. They end up captured and reunited, and it’s really one of the more pointless and slower starts to a film I’ve ever seen.

They eventually get bought by Luke Skywalker and his aunt and uncle. Luke stumbles upon the message for Kenobi, and knows a Ben Kenobi himself. We learn a little bit about Luke’s dream of one day being a Jedi like his father and Kenobi’s past as a Jedi Knight himself. Kenobi tries to convince Luke to come with him to follow him and follow his dream, although Luke declines as he feels tied at home. Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed though, and we come upon one of the first problems with Luke Skywalker. Other than a two second bowing of his head, he seems to not be all that concerned that his family as just brutally murdered and joins Kenobi on his quest.

On the Empire side of things, I think it’s well known that Darth Vader is one of the best film characters in cinema history. I don’t buy him as particularly a great villain though, and some of the interactions here with Grand Moff Tarkin, the commander of the Death Star show why.  While Vader definitely shows his dominance at times, there are other moments where it seems like Tarkin is running the show on the Death Star. Luckily, that’s rectified near the end.

The film picks up when we’re introduced to Han Solo, a smuggler/pilot looking to make money however he can in order to pay back from debts. Ford’s Solo outshines Mark Hamill’s Skywalker on pretty much every level. Eventually, they are picked up by Death Star and Solo and Skywalker look to rescue Princess Leia while Obi-Wan looks to help anyway he can…and confront Vader. Our heroes end up in a pretty ridiculous situation…without the droids our New Hope would have been crushed in a garbage disposal…while Kenobi faces off with Vader. Vader kills Kenobi in front of Luke’s eyes…and we finally get some emotion out of Luke that isn’t whining or complaining.

Getting to that point, Luke Skywalker complains about everything. Watching them film he actually reminded me of Robin in Batman and Robin. So I don’t continue to harp on the weakness of Skywalker, it’s also worth noting that his fascination with Leia is pretty creepy considering what would happen with the rest of the series.

Anyway, the film does end on a strong note, although the pacing is messy. The Empire tracks Skywalker, Solo and Leia to the Rebel base, and the race is on. The Rebels send attack fighters to exploit a weakness in the Death Star while the Empire look to destroy the planet the Rebels are on. With some “help” from Kenobi, Luke gets in the final blow at the last minute with a Han Solo assist…and the Rebels win for now. The Death Star blows up (Vader wasn’t inside) and the Luke and Han are given medals at the end. The entire ending sequence is the first time we can believe in Skywalker as a top hero…although I’m unsure how we got that to that point.

There’s a lot to analyze with Star Wars and there is more good than bad for sure. But the bad is often ignored for whatever reason. I often laugh at some of the comments about the prequels in regards to the terrible dialog in those three films (a fair criticism) while wondering where those comments are when it comes to a New Hope. There’s an especially cringe worthy statement from Leia to Tarkin that made me wonder if Lucas wanted to base Leia off of spoiled English royalty. C3PO is also quite annoying here, which surprised me because I remember at one time thinking C3PO was funny.

Pros:

+Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chewbacca, R2D2 and Darth Vader are all great characters.

+For 1977, this was a technical masterpiece.

+Great third act.

Cons:

-There’s nothing inspiring about Luke Skywalker at all.

-Tarkin is a good character, but unfortunately his presence holds Vader back.

-Downright boring opening.

-Dialog misses at some parts

For its historical significance and the pros listed I can’t put the film too low, but’s worth repeating that this is one of the most overrated films in cinema history.

Grade: B-

 

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Iron Man (2008)

Big spoilers here…I mean the film has been out for seven years now…

I’m sure Marvel looked at Batman Begins and wondered “how can we do that?” While Marvel has had a part in many of the films involving their characters (obviously), this was the first full production from Marvel Studios and only Marvel Studios. And they would one-up the DC Comics Dark Knight Trilogy with the idea to connect all of their main characters and weave them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While Iron Man technically isn’t the Marvel Comics counterpart to DC’s Batman (you can argue that would be Steel), the message was there…that Marvel is on the big screen now in direct competition to DC and Batman (and Christopher Nolan’s trilogy). Iron Man has to be a hit for this to really work and Marvel delivered for sure.

The first twenty minutes of the film is fantastic. We quickly get an idea of who Tony Stark is and why he in fact becomes Iron Man. It’s done so well that we don’t really need a long backstory. The message is clear: Tony Stark realizes the weapons he’s created are doing more harm than good, and after a traumatic experience of being captured and made to create more of these weapons, he realizes he should use his resources to defend the world. Considering the direction the Marvel Cinematic Universe has went, this is an impressive start considering Tony’s still trying to do everything he can to defend the world. Stark’s partner, Obadiah Stane, of course isn’t exactly about to just let Tony Stark change the entire direction of the company at a moment’s notice. Also brilliantly done in the film is show Stane’s power. When it’s revealed he tried to overtake Stark Industries by having Stark captured and killed, Stane kills many of the Ten Rings (the group that captured Tony) members when they make demands. For most of the film Stane is a great villain.

Even the smaller storylines are done well. We get a lot of plot development from Pepper Potts and her relationship with Tony without taking up tons of screen time and narration to explain it. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson even makes an appearance, looking to gain info about Stark and Iron Man for the Avengers Initiative. Stark’s best friend Colonel James Rhodes is also established as someone who looks to keep Stark in check when he can.

If there’s one part of the film I don’t like, it’s what Stane does toward the end. He quickly goes from someone just looking to overtake the company to someone who becomes mad with power. Once he gets control of his own suit, the Iron Monger, it makes you wonder just what Stane’s motivation suddenly is. It’s disappointing to see a cunning business man go crazy just like that.

It’s worth noting that Iron Man feels a lot darker than later MCU films would be. There’s not a whole lot of comedy, although the bits that are intended for that work too (although, I’m pretty sure Stark would have died when one of his tests go wrong and he crashes into a wall). I find this to be quite refreshing as it helps us feel the dilemma and pain Tony Stark goes through as he realizes what his weapons have done to people all over the world.

The cast hits everywhere. Robert Downey Jr. is so good that it can be debated he’s as much Tony Stark as Hugh Jackman is Wolverine. Gwyneth Paltrow works as Pepper. Terrence Howard, although not long for the role, is good as Rhodey. I also bought into Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane.

It should also be pointed out that the end credits sequence was a huge deal at the time and left no questions about where Marvel was headed.

Pros:

+Cast hits their marks, especially Downey as Iron Man.

+Efficient and great character development.

+Great story…you really believe in Tony Stark.

+Obadiah Stane is a good villain…for most of the film.

+Subtle moments that looking back made you realize the MCU was going to be a huge deal.

Cons:

-Stane’s motivations don’t really jive with the rest of the film.

A pretty great start to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for sure.

Grade: A

 

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Terminator: Genisys

Massive spoilers here…I really don’t know how to review this without spoiling the whole thing. Then again the trailers did that anyway.

Let’s get something out of the way first. Anytime you mess with time travel, you have to have a suspension of disbelief when it comes to matching things up between timelines. No doubt, you’ll need to do it for Terminator: Genisys (referred from now on as T5).

It would help to have seen Terminator 1 and Terminator 2: Judgment Day before this. Quick synopsis of the Terminator franchise: In 2029 John Connor leads humanity in victory over a computer intelligence program named Skynet. Skynet looked to wipe out all of humanity as it felt humanity was the greatest threat to the world. In a last ditch attempt before losing the war, Skynet sent a T-800 Terminator (cyborg killing machine) into the past, specifically 1984, to kill John’s mother, Sarah, so that John is never born and Skynet defeats the human led Resistance. The Resistance sends Kyle Reese back to protect Sarah and ensure John is born. Interestingly enough, Reese turns out to be John’s father, but that’s a time paradox I won’t get into.

That’s mainly what you need to know here. All of that happens in T1, and T5 we start with a recreation of that day of victory, with John Connor looking to take out that time machine. As Kyle is about to be sent back in time though, he sees John get attacked. This event here leads to the changes in the time period. The assumption I think here is that Skynet has already seen the events of T1, T2 (I think T3 and T4 get wiped out in this scenario but I’m not sure). Nonetheless, the 1984 Kyle Reese goes back into obviously looks the same to the audience as T1 did, but it has one big change: Sarah Connor already knows all of this and is prepared. While time traveling Kyle Reese also received memories that he didn’t know, which I’m not a fan of but I’ll get into it later.

The entire early portion of this film is pretty fun. Skynet had planned another assassination attempt on Sarah Connor when she was a child, but the Resistance already planned for that too and sent a T-800 to protect her (and as it turned out, to raise her too). We also get a lot of reference to the past and the original two films here, as Skynet also sent a T-1000 (who is awesome, again) to intercept Reese. While again, we’re a little screwy with the timelines, I think it’s handled rather well considering how complicated multiple timelines and time travel is.

The film takes a downturn though when Sarah plans on going to 1997 to stop Judgment Day. Reese, through his “memories” convinces Sarah to go to 2017 instead. This is a strange plot point here, as I assume then that T2’s events would still happen in 1997 (or at least J-Day starting then). Reese claims that a program called Genisys leads to the Judgment Day in 2017. The T-800 (“Pops”, which I’ll get into) can’t go though, as apparently you can’t have exposed metal in the time machine and it would take too long to heal.

Here is where the trailer really hurt the film, as there is a great reveal here. Of course there’s tons of confusion about Reese and Sarah when they show up. They get arrested but cops can’t ID Sarah. They ID Kyle, but are just as confused as Kyle Reese is a kid in 2017. Things even get MORE confusing, as John Connor shows up and frees Sarah and Kyle. The trailer ruined this reveal about John Connor being a Terminator, which is a shame because it was pretty well done and would have made a great twist. The rest of the film turns into a by the numbers “blow up this building” plot, which considering the characters, is quite the letdown (Sarah Connor sees her unborn son all grown up? What?). Also, to continually screw with the timeline, 2029 Kyle tells 2017 Kyle about Genisys and Skynet, so that 2029 Kyle can remember it when he’s sent back to 1984. All of that was just so Kyle could convince Sarah to go to 2017 instead of 1997 (why not do both by the way? Is the time machine going anywhere?)

There’s two more points to make. The first of which is that the way to stop Genisys is pretty stupid and goes against pretty much the entire franchise. First let’s talk about what Genisys is. Genisys is a software that links everyone together over the internet. Sound familiar? It’s a brilliant idea because it’s something that audience members today can connect to. I mean I could see Apple or Windows doing this by 2017. So the idea of blowing up the server doesn’t really work for me. You’re telling me that Genisys can’t survive the blowing up of a physical server over the internet? Oh, and while we’re on this, the personification of Skynet was not something I wanted to see. Less is more, right?

The second point is that the film really misses a trick with the very end. As established in T2 and said in this film, everything from Skynet must be destroyed. That’s what made the very ending of T2 so powerful, after the relationship John Connor and the T-800 had established in that film the self-destruction of the T-800 is a great movie moment. Here we get close to that moment, but then a very lame explanation on why the T-800 survived. Nevermind that the T-800 is still around, and Skynet could always reboot itself through it. Very bad choice here. Anyway…

Arnold Schwarzenegger is pretty great as the T-800 throughout the entire film. The relationship with Arnold’s T-800 and Emilia Clarke’s Sarah Connor is pretty good and is definitely a reference to T2’s John and the T-800. I definitely see where critics came from with Clarke being miscast as Connor, and I don’t even necessarily agree, but I think it was done to get that daughter image that we didn’t have an opportunity for in the original films. Still, she’s obviously no Linda Hamilton.

I didn’t like Jason Clarke’s John Connor though. He felt like a poor man’s version of Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jai Courtney’s Kyle Reese is also underwhelming and I’d even argue bad. For someone who’s supposed to have been John Connor’s right hand in the war against the machines, he seems to be a complete wreck when he sees that 1984 isn’t what he seemed.

But we all showed up for Arnold anyway, and as I wrote before, he’s great.

There’s just way too many things going on here, and as a result it takes away from moments that potentially could be great. I will say though that this didn’t feel like a straight money grab. It seems clear that there is a lot of effort in T5 and they tried to make the story actually make sense.

Pros:

+Arnold is great.

+Good callback to earlier films.

+Good effort in trying to make sense of what feels like a million different timelines.

+Arnold-Sarah relationship works and is an interesting new take.

+Twist is intriguing; too bad it was spoiled in the trailers.

+There’s another awesome T-1000.

Cons:

-Kyle Reese is underwhelming.

-John Connor is underwhelming.

-Way too much going on takes away from more important plot points.

-Some misplaced comedy.

-Plan to stop Judgment Day is terrible.

-Personification of Skynet.

-Huge plot problem goes against the Terminator fracnhise with the ending.

Can’t deny I had fun with this one though. Was a lot better than I expected and really, considering all of the elements of the film, could have been FAR worse.

Grade: C+

 

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Inside Out

There are some spoilers in this review, although I will try to avoid any big ones.

Over the years Pixar has done an exceptional job is relating their films, and more specifically, their characters to the audience. Inside Out is a perfect example of this Pixar specialty. The story is about the five emotions of a young girl named Riley, and how each emotion influences Riley’s memories and behaviors.

Our primary protagonist, Joy, is the emotion responsible for making Riley happy (duh). She’s the life of this film, always looking for the positive in every scenario, good or bad. When Riley moves from her perfect life in Minnesota to an unknown, unattractive life in San Francisco, those bad scenarios become the norm. Before Joy had complete control of Riley’s emotions. Now, Fear, Disgust, Anger, and most importantly, Sadness can’t help themselves in their influence of Riley, and Sadness especially seems to have a strong effect on Riley. Things go astray when Joy and Sadness both lose access to Riley’s controls, and it’s up to them to get back and steer Riley back on track.

The level of detail in Riley’s mind is visually beautiful and brilliant created. There’s a memory bank, a subconscious, a dream world even a literal train of thought (quite clever). It’s a smart movie that will make you wonder how you once forgot about your favorite toy or even remind you about those memories that strengthen your family ties or even career goals. You’ll wonder about those moments you became frustrated with your friends and how you made new ones. And the whole time you’ll wonder if it’s because your inner Anger took control, or if your inner Joy got stuck in a memory bank somewhere. Throughout the film, you’ll think of your friends and each emotion and wonder about them too. Children will relate to Riley. Parents will relate to Riley’s parents.

It’s worth noting that this movie is absolutely hilarious, with each character adding a certain flavor. Each character is memorable and the jokes lead to a good laugh every time.

If there’s one flaw in the film, it has to do with Joy. No doubt Joy is a great character and really what makes Inside Out work. But I can’t help but dislike a lot of Joy and Sadness’s interactions. It’s certainly not intended by the writers, but I did find Joy to come off as a bit of a bully to Sadness in two scenes specifically.

Still, that’s nitpicking. Everything else works great and it’s fantastic.

Pros:

+Great Story

+Vividly incredible visuals

+Great, memorable characters

+Relatable to the audience

+Absolutely hilarious

Cons:

-Great as she is, Joy can come off as a bit of a bully

Grade: A

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

Good Bye To the Great David Letterman

The great David Letterman has hosted his last Late Show.

I haven’t really watched late night talk shows in a really long time, and even when I did I only watched when I had nothing go on at midnight. But when I watched, I always watched Dave. Even as a kid, David Letterman was often the last thing I saw on the television before I went to sleep. A lot of the times I didn’t get the jokes. A lot of the times I didn’t care about the guests. But something about Dave was just…funny.

I should point out I hated Jay Leno. There were a few reasons for this. One was that I hated his run in WCW in 1998. The 2nd was that Leno just felt…fake. The third? He was against Letterman. (Other reasons would come up over time, which I will address here). As I got older I became a Letterman and Conan guy. There would be occasional moments where a notable Letterman moment (both good and bad) would come up and I would find ways to watch online (a lot easier later with Youtube). My first memory of Letterman that I actually remember watching live was his comeback from his quintuple bypass surgery in 2000. After that, he helped bring together a nation with his 9/11 monologue. There were the funny flirtations with ABC, including one where Dave got a “tattoo” of the ABC logo. There were the times he tormented poor Richard Simmons, and other times where he put someone like Paris Hilton in her place (it’s up to you if you think that was an unprofessional thing to do or not). Of course, Letterman’s retirement ranked right up there as well.

To be honest though, my favorite Letterman moments were any time he made jokes at the expense of Jay Leno.

There’s some history here of course. Leno got the Tonight Show over Letterman in 1992 (against the wishes of Johnny Carson), and then both were rivals ever since. Each one took any jab they could at one another, Leno particularly taking shots at Letterman in 2009 during Letterman’s extortion/affair debacle. But when Conan O’Brien was in danger of losing the Tonight Show after five months back to Leno, Letterman took every shot he could and it was glorious. Conan would show up on the Late Show in 2012, again to hilarious results.

I remember being shocked about when Letterman spoke to Oprah about his depression. It amazed me (as it did with Robin Williams) that someone whose life was to entertain millions could be so sad. And while probably completely unrelated, I was happy to hear he was retiring on what seemed like his terms. I was happy to hear that it seemed like his family was more important to him than the show. Sometimes it’s easy to lose that as an entertainer.

One of my favorite tidbits about Letterman, he always seemed to care about upcoming comedians around him. A young Jon Stewart had been told that his late night show was being cancelled…Letterman was called and made an appearance. Letterman had an iconic piece of advice for Stewart: “Do not confuse cancellation with failure”. Letterman also showed up on Conan O’Brien’s new Late Night program, a program he inherited from Letterman, which was struggling in the ratings early on. It just shows how much Letterman really cared about the business he performed for.

I could keep ranting on, but instead I feel like posting some iconic Letterman videos and calling it.

Of course, Letterman began his final broadcast with a classic and hilarious joke: “It still looks like I’m not hosting the Tonight Show”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1f2_01URYQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhFkC1Z18c8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBLgp1qTCTg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQF5JF06NYM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5sVI_-LRCI

 

 

 

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

I’m Worried About Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

If I had to pick between Marvel and DC, I’m on the DC side. It’s more about what I grew up with than anything else. I grew up with Batman. The only Marvel properties I enjoyed as a kid were X-Men and Spider-Man, but neither of those were Batman. Iconic villains, a bad ass hero, an awesome animated series (I was never a comic book reader), Batman had everything. It took until the Justice League animated series for me to appreciate any other DC heroes (Flash, Green Lantern etc.), but even then I would avoid episodes that didn’t really feature Batman.

I hated Superman. I found Superman to be perhaps the most boring superhero of them all with just about nothing capturing my interest. When watching The World’s Finest, a three part Batman/Superman Animated Series crossover, I cheered each time Batman (and The Joker) would outsmart the overpowered alien. I was frustrated when Superman easily dispatched a robot Batman struggled with. It’s interesting how looking back on it, Batman is actually more overpowered than Superman considering he’s outsmarted every being in the world, which really doesn’t make any sense. But I don’t care. I just hated Superman. And up until Man of Steel, I hated Superman.

The only way Batman could beat Superman
The only way Batman could beat Superman

Man of Steel’s direction was a riskier proposition than perhaps all fans realize, and here’s why. As X-Men and Spider-Man were dominating the big screen with light hearted, yet serious films, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins rebuilt the Batman franchise from the pit that the awful and nearly genre killing Batman and Robin left it in. Before Batman Begins, the Batman franchise experienced massive success with two exceptionally dark films, the 1989 version of Batman and its sequel Batman Returns. Batman Begins went back to the dark Batman, drawing inspiration from Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One. And it was an incredible film. Suddenly, the talk wasn’t about Spider-Man or X-Men. It was about Batman again. The hype for Begins’ sequel, The Dark Knight was incredible. And then the film itself delivered like nothing else. DC found its stride as the brooding dark world Nolan gave DC a leg-up in the film business.

The Scarecrow was just one example of the darker tone Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy used
The Scarecrow was just one example of the darker tone Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy used

But something else happened along the way. Marvel figured out the big screen superhero movie better than DC ever could. The reason? Outside of the hardcores, no one really cares about DC heroes other than Batman or Superman (and maybe Wonder Woman). Sure the Flash and Green Lantern are cool, but they aren’t Batman. It didn’t help that the Green Lantern film bombed in every way as well. Marvel had a roster of heroes that all fans could get into. Suddenly, after a series of successful films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel had the whole Avengers team going up against Nolan’s last Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. Marvel had created 6 or 7 characters the casual fan cares about. DC still had one. And now at least a couple of them could draw on par with Batman at the box office (well, that’s stretching it for Captain America, but certainly Iron Man was at that point). If you were looking at this as a pair of basketball teams, DC were the late 80s Bulls, with Michael Jordan and not much else. Marvel had become the mid 80s Celtics or Lakers, with multiple top guys and real top guys like Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

avengersvsjl
There’s just more big box office money on the Marvel side right now

 

Marvel had also provided a more kid friendly action packed film experience as well. Surely no one would describe Rises that way. So it seemed the lines were drawn, Marvel had the colorful over the top super hero experience, and DC had the dark, realistic (for a lack of a better term) Batman. And Nolan, Warner Bros. and DC continued that route with Man of Steel. Was Superman that type of hero? Man of Steel’s visuals are excessively dark, and while I enjoyed Superman for the first time, many others didn’t. It turns out the dark thing is a Batman gimmick, and it just didn’t click for Superman. And now for the risk factor: Marvel, which has done pretty much everything right in terms of creating a cinematic universe that is critically acclaimed, has also turned to the dark. Age of Ultron not only looks like the MCU’s darkest film yet, it looks a hell of a lot better than DC’s last film, which was Man of Steel. With other Marvel properties doing the dark thing quite well (X-Men: Days of Future’s Past was great), what DC specialized in is something they are now behind in. (It should be noted DC went a different direction seven years earlier with 2006’s Superman Returns…which didn’t work either and also had a strange, dark tone to it)

Have no fear though, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is probably going to be the darkest installment ever seen for a superhero film (which is saying something…again, just look at DOFP or Nolan’s trilogy). Just look at this trailer.

It’s admittedly pretty awesome. But I’m still worried. I’m worried we’re going to see Age of Ultron…and next year’s Captain America: Civil War and just see BvS playing catch-up. It’s trying to be darker. It’s trying to gain ground on Marvel. Worst part is DC knows that it’s doing this. The other fear I have for BvS, is that they are trying to cram way too much into this universe into one film. The only established characters for this film so far are Superman and Lois Lane. This is a new Batman, and apparently a Batman inspired by Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, which is a problem for me as that storyline should be something that should be at the end of the Justice League, not before it. In the midst of all this, Wonder Woman is in there to be established as well. Marvel smartly had the Black Widow play a supporting character in many different Marvel films to establish her where she actually could have her own film and I could buy it. Here, we have to establish Wonder Woman to the point where she can have her own film. At first glance it seems like a distraction. There’s also the rumor of Carrie Kelley, the female Robin, which would make sense as she was Robin in the Dark Knight Returns. There’s just a lot going on here. Funny enough, this Dorkly Bits video pretty much sums up my feelings.

I didn’t even get into the fact that Civil War has Spider-Man in it. I mean just how can DC regain the advantage? Can DC pull ahead while playing catch-up and without overcompensating? I just don’t see it. I’m worried. But I still stand by Batman. Always have, and hopefully always will.