Willow (1988)

When you’re browsing through your media library, movies usually fall into one of two categories: “Eh, whatever” or “Okay, I definitely need to make time to watch this soon”. Willow fell into that second category for me, although at first, I wasn’t sure why. I hadn’t seen the movie for over a decade before my most recent viewing, even though it was a staple of my childhood. Nostalgia is usually a powerful motivator, but even so, how well can you remember a movie from 10+ years ago? If you’re like me, then you really can’t. However, even when I was younger and didn’t know a thing about film making, I still had an appreciation for the grandness that is Willow.

In fact, being able to watch this again, so many years later, feels like a new epic experience altogether. And who knows? Maybe, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Willow could have been just as successful as Star Wars. I say that because George Lucas’ fingerprints are all over this movie, and it shows through the incredible world building. By the end of the movie, all I could think about was how many more stories could be told in this world! It’s purely by coincidence that my revelation comes on the heels of the Willow TV series news. Or is it? I’m usually the last one to get on board with remakes/reboots, but if I keep that mentality, I probably won’t be watching too many “new” movies in the future. Note the quotes around new. I’ll get on board for the reboots, but I intend to be salty about it. In any event, I think Willow has enough foundation to truly benefit from the reboot treatment. I mean, just let me recap some components of the movie: Magic, Castles, Little People, Little Little People, Dragon Monster, Armies, Sword Masters, Trolls and the list goes on. George Lucas created a vast world with Willow and it’s somewhere I won’t mind revisiting.

The last thing I’ll mention is that the score in this movie is gorgeous. So much so, that I felt compelled to do a little IMDb research after the credits. Willow is scored by the late James Horner, a brilliant composer indeed. You’ve probably heard his work before in movies such as: Aliens, Titanic or even Avatar. Like I said, brilliant. Definitely check this movie out if you haven’t already.  Happy Watching. “Courage, Willow!”

Avengers Endgame (2019)

As the numbers start pouring in for a movie primed to break every box office record there is, it’s finally time to express my thoughts on the blockbuster of the century. My initial reaction was that I loved it. Why shouldn’t I? Critics came out days before the release to praise the spectacle that is “The Avengers”. Marvel has more than earned their 3 hour masterpiece. With over 20 films set before Endgame, Marvel has not only achieved an amazing Cinematic Universe, they have also set a precedent for film making.

*SPOILERS*
In case you’re one of the 2 people who didn’t see Endgame opening weekend, I would advise you to stop reading here. As much as I like to give general thumbs up or thumbs down reviews, this movie could really benefit (or hurt) from an in depth look. So let’s get into it! 
Endgame, at it’s core, is a time travel movie. It makes sense, right? Thanos dusted half of the universe’s population in Infinity war, including half of the Avengers. The only “realistic” option to bring everyone back is for the remaining Avengers to go back in time and reverse the events of Infinity War. We’ve at least seen the Time Stone at this point, so we know it could be possible. Only, that’s not how Endgame plays it at all. Instead, we learn that the Infinity Stones have been destroyed by Thanos and the Avengers must live with the guilt of losing their friends and family for the next 5 years. In that time we see the Avengers at their lowest points, each character dealing with grief in their own way.
But as movie magic would have it, Ant-Man returns from the quantum realm, only noticing 5 minutes have passed. With this information, he seeks out the remaining Avengers to pitch his idea of time travel. Upon meeting up with the Avengers, The Hulk explains that while time travel may be possible using the quantum realm, they are unable to reverse past events. “What happens always happens”. There is no time loop like Back to the Future, or Butterfly Effect; instead, if you make changes in the past, you create a new parallel timeline (See Multiverse Theory). Oh yeah, and the Hulk is talking now as some hybrid version of himself and Bruce Banner.
So because the Avengers can not reverse the events of Infinity War, their plan changes into gathering the Infinity Stones for themselves. The idea being, if Thanos can snap away billions of people, surely they can use the stones to snap billions of people back into existence. Next, they discuss the logistics of their plan. The Avengers have had several run ins with the Infinity Stones, but only have a finite amount of Pym Particles (AKA time travel juice). Once everyone knows their mission, we see them time travel back to different moments in the MCU and that’s when the fun begins!
The character interactions with their past selves and family leads to hilarious high jinks. Of course everything doesn’t go as planned and the Avengers are forced to adapt, but that’s definitely to be expected. I will let you experience these events on your own, but you should know that they are great! All of this buildup is leads to a climactic battle involving past Thanos following Nebula back to the future with his army. The fight contains some of the best moments of the movie, possibly of the entire MCU, and I’ll just leave it at that.
I do have some gripes with Endgame, however. When I left the theater I was in awe of how much I loved this movie, but the next day I had plenty of questions keeping me from holding it up as high. While time travel is a focal point and I’ve done my best to explain it here, the movie gives us no such courtesy. The Multiverse theory is briefly mentioned and accepted right away, but never gets explained adequately. Maybe it was explained and I missed it, or maybe 2 decades of cinema has conditioned me into thinking of time travel as a loop (thanks Back to the Future). I will definitely re-watch this movie with a better understanding, but going home to do online research isn’t my idea of soaking in a great film. Another negative is how Tony Stark (Iron Man) figures out time travel in less than a day. We know he’s a genius, but really?! This is a minor flaw for me, but ultimately the movie benefits from the quick advancement of this plot, so I will allow it. My next issue is probably my biggest and I can’t quite seem to wrap my head around it. The Hulk explains that making changes in the past creates parallel timelines that don’t effect the main timeline they are on. So it’s like any other time travel movie, except without any of the repercussions of their actions in the past. Convenient much? Maybe, but the characters are made aware of these alternate timelines and the plan becomes about returning the Infinity Stones to their proper places in time to avoid creating those parallel timelines altogether. Slightly confusing, but with my newfound knowledge of the multiverse, I can see that as a possibility. My issue is that we don’t see any of the stones get returned. We see Captain America time travel one last time with the intent of returning all the stones, but that’s it. And if you’re asking me to go along with this version of time travel, at least give me some closure as to how those loose ends (parallel timelines) get tied up. I’d think returning the stones would prove to be just as difficult as getting them in the first place, but apparently not.
All in all, I think this is a brilliant addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only do time travel movies have great replay value, but since Endgame involves time travelling into other Marvel movies, I bet people will be more inclined to re-watch those earlier entries as well. So don’t let my negative points deter you. Endgame has incredible moments and delivers a fun, action packed, once in a lifetime experience. For that, I give it a solid A! So what are you waiting for? Happy Watching!

“Avengers… Assemble!”

Escape Room (2019)

Horror movies have never been my forte, but as with any dying genre, it’s only natural for filmmakers to innovate and try new techniques. I’d like to think Hollywood has made this shift just for me; Average Joe Shmoe Movie Watcher. Because it wasn’t until the last year or two that I finally started to see horror movies I LOVE. Movies like: Get Out, A Quiet Place, Annihilation. All heavy hitters. Bird Box loses originality points for me (although it was a book first), but at least I could SEE what they were going for (note the pun). In other words, I don’t like the standard cut/copy horror movies you have to watch through the cracks in your fingers. I like the ones that can keep you on the edge of your seat with suspense and thrills. And I don’t think I’m alone on this island.

Escape Room is a horror movie that can easily be added to the second category I mentioned.  Six strangers, all sole survivors from past accidents and tragedies, somehow find themselves in a maze of deadly mystery rooms, and must use their wits to survive. I say “somehow” as if they’re magically teleported into the escape room. The movie opens with each person receiving a puzzle box with the escape room location inside, but as for who sends them these mysterious boxes, well, that’s still a mystery. The movie does a great job at expediting this intro and getting all the players to where they need to be. One of whom, is an escape room aficionado that gives everyone (including the audience) a crash course on escape rooms and how they work. It’s not long after this explanation that they find themselves trapped in a room sized oven! 

Honestly, the brilliance of this movie is how intricate each escape room is. For every clue they solve, another obstacle presents itself. And there’s no time for the characters (or audience) to catch their breath, because these rooms are literally designed to be deadly. Any hesitation or false move on their part could be their last. These are the kind of non-stop thrills that separate Escape Room from your average horror movie. Highly recommend if you’re looking for something edgy and outside the box. “Thank you for your service”. Happy Watching!

Hell or High Water (2016)

It’s rare for such a well received movie to slip through the cracks time and time again when trying to fill in the gaps of your movie watching resume. But with Hollywood releasing over 700 titles a year, not all movies are as accessible as others. 

On that note, Netflix has come through with a great list of movies to kick off the 2019 year! One of which is Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan’s story of two brothers who must resort to robbing banks in order to keep their property. And while that is captivating enough to watch, the real brilliance of the film is realized by Jeff Bridge’s detective work and country charm as he tries to anticipate the brother’s next heist. Another positive takeaway is the excellent cast. Every actor is given the chance to show their chops and there isn’t a weak link in the chain.

The most impressive aspect of this film is how contained, yet layered it is. There aren’t a dozen characters to keep track of and the world isn’t ending, but for these characters, the stakes have never been higher. The movie does a great job of presenting a moral dilemma that dictates the rest of the movie. And although I know Chris Pine’s solution is wrong in the law’s eyes, he does it for the right reasons. Few movies try to rationalize the “bad guy’s” motivations, but Hell or High Water earns points here because it isn’t afraid to give us both (good and bad) perspectives throughout. Overall, this is an A+ big recommend from me. Until next time, Happy Watching!

Tusk (2014)

After cringing my way through this film, I can assuredly tell you this is not the movie you’re looking for. Whether it be for horror or suspense, Tusk has both of those elements, but the content is so disturbing that finishing the movie feels like a chore more than a relief. 
I am an emerging Kevin Smith fan. I enjoy his writing and his characters, but regrettably have only seen a small portion of his work. I know he wrote and directed Tusk, so I wanted to give it a shot. Compelling dialogue and interesting characters aside, this movie turns dark fast and it doesn’t wait for you to catch up. I believe Kevin Smith made the freaky nightmarish movie he wanted, but after one viewing,  I don’t think I’ll ever want to return to it. You’ve been warned… 

tl;dr it’s like The Human Centipede, but with walruses.

Justice League 2017

In many ways, I’m here to set the record straight. As of right now, Justice League sits at just under 40% on the Tomatometer for critics. On the other hand, about 85% of audiences enjoyed this movie and I have to side with them on this one. This was by no means a bad movie. It’s far from perfect and the story jumps around A LOT, but I have to commend DC on Justice League. By the time Avengers came out, 3/4 of the heroes had solo movies (Thor, Iron Man, Captain America) and only had to worry about introducing the Hulk. This was absolutely to the benefit of Marvel, because instead of introducing characters, they could focus on story and the villain. With Justice League however, we’ve only seen Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, which is only half of the League at this point. That leaves Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash, which are by no means small characters in the DC universe. These characters deserved better back stories, and at the very least, they deserved their own solo movies before DC threw them together. I understand that Hollywood isn’t always pretty and DC needed to fast track this in order to compete with Marvel. I understand all of that, but the story suffers for it.
If you can get past the fact that the movie rushes to introduce the remaining heroes, there are some well choreographed scenes that deserve praise. The dialogue and emotional scenes fall pretty flat, but boy do some of the action scenes make up for them! There are also some humorous moments in this movie that give me hope for DC’s future. I like gritty super heroes as much as the next person, but I like to laugh too! And there are just enough laughs in Justice League to keep that balance. The main villain deserves a mention and is a force to be reckoned with, but unfortunately, he’s so one-note that it’s hard to care about anything he does.
With all that said, I did enjoy this movie. Better than 40% at least. I would put it at 70%, maybe a low B if you want a letter grade. DC did a great job, considering what they had to work with. I can’t wait to see what’s next for these heroes and their story. Happy Watching!

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

It seems as though super hero movies have become their own genre this past decade, and I’m okay with that. It doesn’t mean they’ll all be box office hits or even that enjoyable to watch, but more often than not, they are a good time. However, not all comic book movies are created equal, it depends on personal preference. For instance, I enjoy most of Marvel’s comic book movies, but DC has fallen flat for me more than once. I have several theories as to why that is, but I’ll bring up the glaringly obvious reason: Humor. 
Marvel has never shied away from puns and one liners, it is expected at this point. Thor: Ragnarok is no exception. In fact, I would consider this Marvel’s funniest movie to date. Yes, even funnier than Guardians of the Galaxy. At the very least, they’re at the same level, which is saying a lot. 
This movie had me smiling and laughing throughout and that’s enough reason for me to wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone I know. Solid A! Happy Watching.

“The revolution has begun!”