Movie Review - Thor Ragnarok

Star Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Storyline

Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok--the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization--at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger--the Incredible Hulk! - Rotten Tomatoes

Review

Glorious Redemption!

Ragnarok has pulled Thor out of the pile of ashes caused by the flaming wreckage that was Thor: The Dark World, and reinvigorated the character in the most unexpected ways. Reborn like the Phoenix!

I found that there was a strong focus on the comedic aspects of the characters, rather than the overly serious and rather dry view that we have seen in Dark World, which left a rather stale feel to the franchise. Whilst there were some very serious moments, like the battle of the Valkyries, which was paired with some amazing cinematography, didn't cause any of that bitterness to return.

 Honestly I got chills in the middle of this scene. I still get them now, that's just how amazing this scene was.

Whilst plot wise, there is not a lot going on, you don't actually notice. You're so immersed in the colours and fighting that you don't have time to think about anything else. It did bother me some, that there was so little  focus on Hela's efforts in her claiming Asgard, or that how she had the power to completely destroy Mjolnir within the first 30 seconds of being released on Earth. As I understand it, her power comes from Asgard, so being cut of from it for so long should have left her in a weaken state, right?

And as the Goddess of Death, I feel the introduction to Hela didn't instill the level of malevolence it should have. I guess that could have stemmed from my trepidation of Cate Blanchett being used for quite a dark roll. Toward the end of the film, I did buy into the character, but it shouldn't have taken an hour and a half to establish the vibe of a death goddess.

There are also a lot of questions remaining about what happened to The Hulk between Age of Ultron and Ragnarok. Like how he flew an aircraft not designed for space travel to another planet? Thor does ask Bruce, but conveniently, amnesia.

The scenes that take place on Xandark (?) have a distinctly Guardians of the Galaxy feel, and have very similar retro space vibe. Leaving me to wonder if there was input or influence from the Guardian Crew...

Information:
 
Release Date: 25th October, 2017
Run Time: 2hrs 10mins
Rating: PG-13
Cast:

• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Tom Hiddleston as Loki
• Cate Blanchett as Hela
• Idris Elba as Heimdall
• Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster
• Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie
• Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk/ Bruce Banner
• Anthony Hopkins as Odin
• Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange

Movie Review - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Star Rating: ✮✮✮✰✰

Storyline - 

"Set to the backdrop of 'Awesome Mixtape #2,' Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team's adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill's true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes' aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand." - imdb.com

Review- 

With Guardians, I went in expecting certain cinematographic techniques to be used, techniques that gave the first movie that comic to screen feel that gave Guardians its comic charm. Unfortunately, this very specific quality was overshadowed by the fast moving action scenes. I feel Marvel has started to put less care into the stories of their films,by mostly focusing on the whole franchise rather than the quailty of the single film and how its fits in overall. 

Similarly to the 'Doctor Strange' film, Vol. 2 felt like an exaggerated set up for a single character that Marvel requires for the 'Infinity Wars'. By introducing the Sovereign race and providing motivation  to create a more powerful being, "Adam", which I assume refers to Adam Warlock (who is, hands down, the most vital character to the 'Infinity Wars' comics), is revealed in one of the three post credit scenes.

Even though the origin of the MCU Adam isn't even remotely accurate compared to comics, it was a tidy way to add him to the MCU. Hey, we don't watch these film for accuracy, do we?

But this is still exciting stuff, as the introduction of Adam means that we are so much closer to the end, which begs the question "What are Marvel going to do once the largest movie franchise to ever exist ends?". I'm also curious about how they plan to introduce the Guardians to the Avengers. Now, that is going to be interesting.

💜MetalandTeacups 

Information -

Release Date: 26 Apr 2017
Time: 2hr 16min

Cast: 

	Chris Pratt	...	Peter Quill / Star-Lord
	Zoe Saldana	...	Gamora
	Dave Bautista	...	Drax
	Vin Diesel	...	Baby Groot (voice)
	Bradley Cooper	...	Rocket (voice)
	Michael Rooker	...	Yondu
	Karen Gillan	...	Nebula
	Pom Klementieff	...	Mantis

Kurt Russell

...

Ego

Split - Movie Review

Star Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

Storyline - 

"When three girls are kidnapped by a man with 23 different personalities they have to work out which of those personalities will help them escape and which of those personalities will try to stop them." - imdb.com

Review -

Split starts of with the abduction of three young girls, who are waiting in the car whilst the father of one of the girls. They are sprayed with some 'magic' chemical that immediately puts them to sleep, when they awaken, they are locked in a nondescript room with two beds and a bathroom. They are eventually visited by their abductor and one of them is taken from the room to dance for him. She is promptly returned and they are left alone once more.

The second time he visits he is dress in a skirt and acts completely different to the first time he came in. It doesn't take long for the girls to work out that something is not quite right with their abductor. The next time they see him he claims he is a nine year old boy named Headwig, who they slowly ring clues from.

This is the kind of movie that leaves you thinking anything is possible, and instills a bit of paranoia. The character building in this movie is actually quite remarkable, considering that one person (James McAvoy) is playing at least four characters in one film. 

There is not a lot else I can say about this movie but that it's worth the watch.

💜MetalandTeacups

Information -

Release Date: 20 Jan 2017
Time: 1hr 57mins
Cast:

	James McAvoy	...	Dennis / Patricia / Hedwig / The Beast / Kevin Wendell Crumb / Barry / Orwell / Jade
	Anya Taylor-Joy	...	Casey Cooke
	Betty Buckley	...	Dr. Karen Fletcher
	Haley Lu Richardson	...	Claire Benoit
	Jessica Sula	...	Marcia

  

La La Land - Movie Review

Star Rating: ✮✰✰✰✰

Storyline - 

"Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart." - imdb.com

Review - 

If you are someone who is now upset because I gave this movie a one star rating, do yourself a favour and stop reading this review now.

If, like me, you want to watch this movie out of sheer curiosity, but have no idea what it's about, just save yourself two hours of your life and just don't.

La La Land is an unnecessarily fantastical movie about a couple who both want to make in big in LA. Mia (Emma Stone) an struggling actress who works at Warner Brothers Studios as a barista, trying to find a job. Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is a washed up musican, who is struggling to deal with finical ruin after losing he's co-owned club.

They first officially meet at a party, where Sebastian plays in a cover band and Mia heckles him. This is followed by one of the many completely random dance scenes, as he walks to her car. Sebastian invites her to the movies, but Mia has forgotten she has dinner with her current boyfriend, who she ditches at the restaurant to see Sebastian. After a long winded song and dance, Sebastian joins a friends band which becomes famous leaving Mia is neglected. Here they have a blow out.

The movie ends with Mia and her husband walking into a jazz club after dinner, where Sebastian walks on stage and plays the song she first heard him play at a restaurant.

Review time, this movie was as painful to watch as writing that synopsis was. Through out the movie I often found myself sitting there saying "What the fuck?" to myself. I can't believe that this clusterfuck movie of cliques and stereotypes actually won an Oscar. Emma Stone looked sick through out the entire movie, her face gaunt and her too thin limbs.

The only redeeming quality this movie had was passion Sebastian had for jazz before he became a sellout. The bars they went to are the kind of place I like to go, and that the only thing I could relate to in this movie. Everything else just repulsed me with its unrealistic and shallow romantic qualities.

Not a movie for those who enjoy story or depth.

💜MetalandTeacups

Information - 

Release Date:  25 Dec 2016
Time: 2hrs 7mins
Cast:

	Ryan Gosling	...	Sebastian
	Emma Stone	...	Mia

    

Power Rangers - Movie Review

Star Rating : ✮✮✮✮✰

I was really apprehensive about seeing this movie, as I hated Power Rangers as a kid, the over-exaggerated fighting style just was not my thing, however, Theo was a die hard fan. This movie has definitely changed my mind, I actually left the cinema insanely excited for the next movie.

The story starts in a locker room, where Jason Scott (Darce Montgomery) and friend are attempting to lock a bull inside. Shortly followed by a small police chase and a crash that destroys Jason's future of becoming a pro-quarterback and giving a criminal record. He now has to attend detention every Saturday until he finishes school if he wishes to graduate. Here he meets Kimberly (Naomi Scott), an outcast cheerleader, and Billy (RJ Cyler), who suffers from Autism, causing him to be endlessly bullied, Jason defends Billy from his attacker.

Later Billy convinces Jason to drive him to an undisclosed location in exchange for "tricking out" Jason's ankle bracelet. When they arrive, events so unfold allowing the introduction of Zack (Ludi Lin) and Trini (Becky G.). They eventually discover these glowing "coins" they eventually give them the enhanced abilities of the Power Rangers. They are told they have 11 days before the prior Green Ranger, Rita (Elizabeth Banks), who still posses her coin and has gone rouge, will destroy the earth.

Jason, who has been bestowed with the power of the Red Ranger must lead the group into the fight of their lives.

I'm going to be totally honest, Darce Montgomery bares a startling resemblance to a young Zac Efron, which caused me to get a little distracted during the film, as I find myself ogling him. Sorry Theo...

Outside if that, the did really well at portraying the Power Rangers origin and how their powers work, something I never really got from the TV show, as I would never see the start of the season. Condensed into a 2 hour movie rather than a 60 episode season.

There was a scene where the teens are in water about to discover their "headquarters" for the first time, and they've had to swim down to an air pocket, and the air bubbles from their mouths are going down and not up. It just really annoyed me... Another issue I had was trying to identify the  Yellow, Black and Pink Zords as dinosaurs. They've lost the definition they had in the show.

Yet small annoyances can't really bring this film down, with it's not so subtle Transformers reference. There is a promise of a sequel including the Green Ranger, Tommy Oliver. I think that Power Rangers has a potential to rival the Marvel Cinematic Universe, if done right.

Logan - Movie Review

Star Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

Set 12 years from now, in 2029, we open to Logan passed out drunk in the back of a limo, that he now drives for a living. He is then approached by an unknown woman, preaching for him to help her and her daughter to reach North Dakota. Not wanting to expose his identity he refuses. But, eventually, after being warn down, by this woman, he is eventually persuaded by Charles to take them.

For Hugh Jackman's finally movie as Wolverine, it definitely did justice to the countless years he put into developing this character. Logan can been seen as the final testament to his career. The same goes for Sir Patrick Stewart, and his role as Professor X, with has been undermined a lot in recent news.

Lauren, the young girl, was an almost heart-warming character. As she has quite a dark past, making her distant but also desperate for affection.

The number one thing that annoyed me with this movie, was how often Charles whined "Logan", which, I guess, is the idea. So, in part they did that quite well.

I believe that if they don't make other X-Men movie, the franchise will finish on a the best note possible, As Logan had a deep sense of finality.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Movie Review

Star Rating: ✮✮✰✰✰

So, last night I embarked on a mission to finally watch this. As I am not deeply invested in the Harry Potter universe, I expected to at least be able to follow the plot. Unfortunately, the plot to this movie is completely befuddled, so much so, that I am complete in capable of telling you want this movie is actually about.

There is little character development , so little that it is literally just flashing news titles at the start of the movie. The same goes for the world development; whilst Fantastic Beasts piggybacks heavily off the seven Harry Potter movies, I still feel that they could have put some effort into making this more in depth.

As Fantastically as it was, it was lack-luster in story.

Sorry HP Fans, but this was not worth the 2 hours of my life.

The Girl on the Train - Movie Review

Star Rating: ✭✭✭✭✰

Storyline -

"The Girl on the Train is the story of Rachel Watson's life post-divorce. Every day, she takes the train in to work in New York, and every day the train passes by her old house. The house she lived in with her husband, who still lives there, with his new wife and child. As she attempts to not focus on her pain, she starts watching a couple who live a few houses down -- Megan and Scott Hipwell. She creates a wonderful dream life for them in her head, about how they are a perfect happy family. And then one day, as the train passes, she sees something shocking, filling her with rage. The next day, she wakes up with a horrible hangover, various wounds and bruises, and no memory of the night before. She has only a feeling: something bad happened. Then come the TV reports: Megan Hipwell is missing. Rachel becomes invested in the case and trying to find out what happened to Megan, where she is, and what exactly she herself was up to that same night Megan went missing" - imdb.com

Review -

The Girl on the Train is based the novel written by Paula Hawkins. It focuses on Rachel, an alcoholic struggling to deal with her divorce from Tom, who has remarried to Anna, and now has a child. Rachel attempts to hide her drinking problem by traveling to and from New York City each day via train, which passes the house she bought with Tom, who still lives there with Anna. Through her travels, Rachel has developed an obsession with the couple next door to Tom and Anna, Megan and Scott. Drawing impressive sketches to pass the time.

One day on her way to the City, she witness Megan committing adultery. This crushes Rachel's delusions of their "perfect love", causing her to drink to excess which in turned causes her the blackout and make an irrational decision on the way home, to get of the train and confront Megan, being so intoxicated she blacks out after screaming at Megan "WHORE"! Megan is later found dead, with Rachel being the prime suspect.

The Girl on the Train had a dark suspense that had me so enthralled, I was on the edge of my seat the whole movie. While the start was somewhat slow-paced, the characters were well developed. I found the themes of abusive relationships to be quite raw, as it is not something often brought to light in major motion pictures. It was also intriguing to see how each of the women were connected to one another in the end.




  💜MetalandTeacups

Information - 

Release Date: 07 Oct 2016
Time: 1 hr 52mins
Cast:

	Emily Blunt	...	Rachel
	Haley Bennett	...	Megan
	Rebecca Ferguson	...	Anna
	Justin Theroux	...	Tom
	Luke Evans	...	Scott

Justice League Dark: DC Animated Movie - Movie Review

Star Rating:✮✮✮✮✰

Storyline - 

"Beings with supernatural powers join together to fight against supernatural villains. This team of supernatural beings include John Constantine, Zatanna and Jason Blood also known as the demon Etrigan." - imdb.com

Review - 

Anyone who knows me, knows I love the DC Animated Movies. They are, without a doubt, one of the best franchises to appear in recent years. 

Justice League Dark, if you aren't familiar with them already, is a team comprised of magically inclined individuals, the more commonly known characters include John Constantine, Zatanna and Batman ( who is not usually in the team), along with Deadman, Black Orchid and Jason Blood who is magically bound to the demon Etrigran.

The story mostly follows Batman as he tries to learn the cause of a series of mass murders, where all the culprits claim their victims were, in fact, demons. After a consultation with the Justice League, Batman returns to his hotel to find the name "Constantine" mysteriously written all over his walls. He then enlists the help of Zatanna to find Constantine, and to help discover whether or not the culprits were insane, or actually seeing demons.

Okay, so, I found that this film followed the same basic structure as "Justice League: War"... Mysterious beings, Batman jumping to the correct conclusions, big bad appears, reluctant team battles, clever ploy to defeat big bad, join Justice League. It was predictable, making it underwhelming.

The characters were well done, but I became insanely irritated with who much focus was put on to Zatanna's boobs with the over simplified costume.

Considering how little hype this movie received, I certainly hope the amount of hype is equivalently to the quality of the movie, because my expectations for "Teen Titans: Judas Contract" has risen significantly. 

💜MetalandTeacups

Information:

Release Date: 7 Feb 2017
Time: 1hr 15mins
Cast: 

			Matt Ryan ... John Constantine Camilla Luddington ... Zatanna Jason O'Mara ... Bruce Wayne / Batman Ray Chase ... Jason Blood / Etrigan Enrico Colantoni ... Felix Faust