Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

AVENGERS 2 REVIEW!!!

You should know by now I love the MCU movies; comic book movies in general, actually. So, I went to see AoU the day it came out, the first big movie that I haven't gone to a midnight release in a long time. I have to be honest, I might never go see a movie on a midnight release or at night in general, ever again. I went to see it at 3 PM and it was AMAZING. There were three people in the auditorium, other than my girlfriend and I. You know what that means? No one was near us, no one talked, no CRYING BABIES, no one on their phones....and if they were on their phones, I couldnt care because I couldnt hear them. Everyone that wanted to see it was ACTUALLY there, so no one was just there because they couldn't find shit to do. I loved it. Moving on, I have to write something ACTUALLY interesting after my horrible(not so bad but still not so good so on the internet that makes it rated horrible)mock draft, which was rushed, got like 10 views, since I didnt share it anywhere. I wouldnt like to say I need to stick to reviews but they are definitely my strong suit at the moment. So, while I work on improving my skills on other things, I'll continue to keep pushing out the stuff that everyone loves. 

Before I start, I wanted to mention something, I got yelled at by some random reader in a former article, that I spoil too much in my reviews and that I should either mention that there are spoilers in my review or try to leave them out altogether. See, this is because people dont think, "hey....here's a guy who has seen/read/listened to something that I havent and about to write his thoughts on it and explain why he feels that way....perhaps I should hold back on reading this until I have also seen/read/listened to it as well."

Nah....not in the age of immediacy that we're in now. Though, I cant hate, I do want more readers and I do want it to be easy for readers to come and read a review without having to worry about me ending the world for them. So, in respect to all of those people, I have decided that I will no longer....

The Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Its been since May that I stepped into a theater. The Spring and Summer movies thus far haven't quite reached the hype that was once said to rival the record-breaking one last year. Days of Future Past didnt deliver quite like it could have, Godzilla was better than the 1998 version, but you didnt get to see much of the lizard itself. Amazing Spider-Man 2, got many mixed reviews and so on and so forth. You have to go all the way back to Captain America 2 to see a really good quality movie that reached if not surpassed the anticipation surrounding it. So, it was kind of up to GotG to save the summer. So let's see how it made out.

Guadians of the Galaxy, directed by James Gunn, is the next big thing from Marvel Studios. Its about a man named Peter Quill(Chris Pratt) who gets abducted by aliens, at a young age, and grows up to become a thief in space. Due to his actions, he gets the attention of bounty hunters Rocket(Bradley Cooper) and Groot(Vin Diesel), along with an assassin named Gamora(Zoe Saldana)looking for the orb he's stolen. After the four meet and clash, they get arrested and thrown in jail. This is where they meet Drax(Dave Batista) due to a personal vendetta against Gamora. They decide to team up because of the orb and take out the main antagonist, Ronan(Lee Pace)who is also after the orb, but wants to do very bad, villainy things with it(your typical bad guy stuff). And.....that is pretty much all I can say without spoiling anything. You get the basic gist, right? Good. Let's move on!

The performances were some of the best this year. As mentioned before, the conversations between Drax and Peter Quill were full of laughs. In fact, Batista was a pleasant surprise. I expected him to be the weakest of the group, but he ended up holding his own very well. The delivery of his lines was perfect, especially a certain quote about him catching things trying to get over his head. In my mind, Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana can do no wrong. So asking me how they did is like me trying to describe the taste of pizza or tacos or taco pizzas or pizza tacos or something like that so we'll just move on. Vin Diesel was good because he didnt have many lines. His performance reminded me of that in Iron Giant. As for Chris Pratt, he was damn near perfection to play Peter Quill. Wait....you mean the fat guy from Parks and Recreation?

Yup.

As a guy who reads the comics, it was easy for me to understand the characters and to also follow along with the story and direction. Knowing the back story behind all the characters due to my experience, does make me wonder if the movie did enough for the average movie goer who doesnt know anything about where there guys come from. However, they do give you a quick introduction during conversations. You really get to learn what makes each character tick in subtle ways throughout the movie; why Gamora turns on Thanos, why Drax wants to kill Ronan so bad, why Rocket is an ass, etc. 

Which brings me to the writing. Which was absolutely fabulous throughout the movie. Im a guy who likes subtitles. I like when movies that take place in other countries(or in this case, planets), speak their languages. It gives the movie a certain feeling of realism, even if its science fiction like Gaurdians of the Galaxy. A small gripe but easily can be forgotten since this IS a comic book movie. Moving on, I want to say this is probably the best written Marvel movie. Despite the movie being all in one language, there was an obvious separation between characters from different planets and galaxies. Drax is a perfect example. Many times throughout the movie Peter does a figure of speech, from Earth, that Drax does not understand. This brings on most of the hilarious dialogue throughout. 

When Peter Quill was first abducted, he had his walkman with him. So, as he is playing his tunes in his ear, we're hearing it as the main soundtrack. Most, if not all of the music is from the 70s. It contrasts with the futuristic sci fi feel. But...there is a reason behind it and the music plays a huge role, more so than many movies' soundtracks have before.

The movie did seem like it had something missing. Ronan the Accuser wasnt that great as a main villain. He did the job that he was supposed to do, but he felt really cliche. The patience might be getting the best of some fans, since once again, Thanos(Josh Brolin) was pretty much just teased to everyone, again. The only negative about the movie was the fact that it felt a bit like it was just a stepping stone to the next movies in Marvel's arsenal. 

That's not to say it was filler or bad at all. It was a great movie and really does rival Captain America 2 for best movie of the year, so far. Its actually commendable that Marvel is deciding to put some of their less popular comic books to the big screen. It shows they're not afraid to take risks despite being way ahead in the comic book movie rivalry, between DC and themselves. While Marvel is taking care of ALL their fans, DC is too busy not showing trailers to everyone, who pays their bills and having their characters go against the well known rules they have always followed *COUGH* Superman.

From: DC To: You and vice versa.

Guardians of the Galaxy was a great addition to the Marvel movie family. It held its own against Avengers and raises the bar for the following films. Great performances, soundtrack and story with very little negatives make this movie one of the best of the year. 

9.25 out of 10 

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review

Spoilers may follow

Constructive Criticism is highly welcomed and appreciated !

Oh the amount of memes and .gifs I can't wait to use in this one! 

What's up, world? This is is you're man, Eazy in the world of writing once again. You might not know this about me, but if you know me, you know I do. So, I've definitely been looking forward to Amazing Spider-Man 2 and all its glorious action. I haven't written a movie review in a while and its my first on the blog, so without further ado. Here it goes...

The Mechanics...

The story of the film is probably where the film lacks the most. Not because its bad. Its just very jumbled together. It begins with Richard Parker talking about Oscorp and seeming to be in a hurry. Yes, the second film took a bigger focus on Peter's parents. The intro to the movie is a recap of the beginning of the first Amazing Spider-Man, you just get to see more into it. Although a certain Peter Parker discovery does light a spark inside him, later on in the movie, it just wasn't a necessary piece to the story. This brings back the familiar feeling that the director, Marc Webb, did certain things, to avoid being too much like the original Sam Raimi films. Which is understandable, of course. The first one only came out 12 years before this one. Where certain additions from him work well, the Richard and Mary element of the film just doesnt fit in.

After the flashback, it brings you back to present day. Spider-Man(Andrew Garfield) is saving the city and having a good time being himself. He has Gwen Stacy(Emma Stone). He's graduating. All is well. Except for the visions he has of Gwen's father. This is the first domino falling to make Peter's life suck in the film. This leads to the introduction of Max Dillon/Electro(Jamie Foxx) and later on, Harry Osborn/Green Goblin(Dane Dehaan), the main villains of the movie. Trying to develop them both at the same time, while Peter is trying to figure out his parents, as mentioned earlier, its easy to see why it could get jumbled, pretty quickly. Even though its 2 hours and 22 minutes, it almost feels like too many things were left out. And it feels like it ended too soon.

However, a good part of the story is the love between Gwen and Peter. The love story roots are obvious in Marc Webb's DNA. This is where Amazing Spider-Man seemed to flow the best. If it wasn't because of the comfort Webb had in this situation, it was definitely due to the chemistry between Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield, who are actually dating in real life.

Really? I thought that guy was gay.

The script is another con to the movie, overall, but just like the chemistry between Stone and Garfield, saves the complicated parts of the story. The rest of the cast really delivers. While Tobey Maguire pretty much nailed his portrayal of Peter Parker, Andrew Garfield is easily a superior Spider-Man than anyone before him. Garfield talked about how honored he was to be cast in this movie and it shows. Hes fun to watch, the wise cracks are there in full effect. He is constantly worried about his loved ones, yet as all know know, he is the furthest thing from perfect. 

Emma Stone is charming as always. She portrays Gwen Stacy well. People probably dont realize how good, actually. The caring science nerd, who's as hot as she is smart. In fact, probably as smart/or smarter than Peter is. A scene talking about Spider-Man's webbing was a great example of that.

Jamie Foxx plays Max Dillon and Electro well. Dane Dehaan follows up his performance in The Chronicle greatly and is very convincing as Harry Osborn. Too bad you dont get to see a lot of him as Green Goblin because the small portion of the movie he is, is the best the film has to offer, which is also the biggest twist, as well. 

Sally Field is a sweetheart as Aunt May. Paul Giamatti doesnt really get enough time to shine as Aleksei Sytsevich, which he will in the future, so thats perfectly fine, since the film was already a little crowded. Plus, its still a little weird seeing the robotic Rhino suit.

Peter Parker seems to be portrayed as sort of a hipster with the way he dresses. Yet, this is probably the BEST Spidey costume in a live-action movie before.

The size of the eyes really make a difference.

If there is something that the Amazing Spider-Man 2 did right, man oh man, is it the costume. It took everything right about the original and just made the eyes bigger. Perfection. The rest of the costumes that they wore were done well too. It is pretty obvious the influence the story and character appearances get from the Ultimate universe, despite the title being Amazing. This is welcomed because its hard to modernize something from way back in the 60s. Some of the ways they introduced characters in the Ultimate series works out a lot better as well, especially for Electro.

New York will probably always be a perfect place to have a superhero movie take place. Especially for Spider-Man. Web slinging around NYC just seems so right. Every scene in the movie had the perfect set design to match it. 

The music in the movie, with Hans Zimmer as the big acception here, was pretty forgettable. Honestly, it just depends on the viewer's tastes. Although, the old school spidey theme used as a ring tone and a techno Itsy Bitsy Spider was cool.

Thoughts and Opinions...

As I said before, I really enjoyed the performances. That really made this movie grand. Sure its a little messy and inconsistent, it doesnt quite hit like its Disney counterparts. Its still a good movie. I grew up on Spider-Man, he's probably my favorite superhero. He was a game changer for Stan Lee when he was thought of and very different at the time. Since I started reading and watching Spider-Man things, there hasnt been a more accurate representation of the character and his story. That includes the animated shows and Sam Raimi's films. As far as ranking goes, I'll definitely put it like this...

Spider-Man 2 > Spider-Man 1 > Amazing Spider-Man 2 > Amazing Spider-Man > Spider-Man 3

Right in the middle there. And it deserves to be in the middle, I think. I get while certain people are just used to the Raimi films, others just wont be happy because its not dark and gritty enough. Which is far from what Spider-Man is anyway. Others just can never be pleased. Some just wont like it because they dont like Spider-Man. And I'm not going to care about that too much because Spider-Man probably doesnt care either.

See...I told you.

All in all, it was entertaining and I feel anyone who complains about the movie, most likely didnt read a Spider-Man comic in their life. They more so, like the idea of Spider-Man than they do the actual character himself. I digress...I have mentioned its not the perfect movie. And nothing is. It isnt DKR or Avengers. It is probably as good as Man of Steel though. I dont know...maybe if one of the actors actually died right before it was released people would've given it a more attention. Not saying thats happened with a movie before or anything.

I talked before about how Richard and Mary's part dont fit in. I think that maybe it wouldve been better if Disney owned the franchise and that part of the story could benefit from the huge universe Marvel has going on right now. Ari Avad is making his own little universe with this smaller franchise, to compete with Disney and Fox. That's part of the reason the movie feels crowded. They already announced Amazing Spider-Man 3 and unofficially the fourth as well. Plus, they announced two spin-offs, Venom and The Sinister Six, as well. Nothing wrong with that. Its always wise to plan for the future....but not when it negatively affects the present to the point, that the future might not have the chance to become. 

And what they're doing with this movie kind of does that. Rhino is only in the film for a few minutes at the most.....and its screen time that couldve gone to something else. Perhaps, they couldve just hinted at it like they did with Doc Ock's arms, Venom's symbiote and Vulture's wings. 

Ari Avad forced Venom on Sam Raimi and I feel some of the things, in the film, were forced on Marc Webb. That's why we didnt get a Spider-Man 4 with the originals. That's why Marc Webb is gone after Amazing Spider-Man 3. I respect Ari Avad and he's an important part in getting Marvel Studios started let alone Spider-Man. But that dude is really enjoying the hell out of his power too much. I do hope that some day they can sell it back to Disney I mean IMAGINE the possibilities!

Hopefully, the future movies can take advantage of the money it made in the first weekend and continue to do better, since the second movie was so much better than the first. This movie wasnt a let down but it wasnt a game changer. It wasnt a horrible film but it wont win any awards either. It is a decent movie. 

It is a 7.75 out of 10.