Week Ending on 3/18/18 Movie Reviews (Including Black Panther, Justice League, and The Cloverfield Paradox,)

Wow, we have a lot to go over. For the record, I didn't watch all of these this weekend, but I'm going to try to start a trend for when I see new movies. And this is like a whole month of them so get ready.

ONLY THE BRAVE
Score: 5/10
When I checked out this movie, I was expecting a warm, old fashioned biopic about some great American heroes. Wasn't expecting much. Instead, for most of the movie, I was subjected some of the worst dialogue I had ever heard for a large portion of the film. I felt like it dishonored the real heroes who died trying to save a whole town from being engulfed in flames. I was ready to write the whole movie off as a failure, but it did take a turn for the better in the second half of the movie, which was written better, was more engaging, and contained an unbelievably tear-jerking ending. It's not enough to make me watch it again, but it does redeem the movie from its early flaws. I think whoever wrote the first half probably will never write movies again.

BLACK PANTHER
Score: 10/10
WOW. I was completely blown away by this one. Most Marvel movies are great, but honestly, they are also the same-old thing without adding too much to the established formula (Homecoming and Ragnarok are recent exceptions). BUT DANG! This movie was truly inventive. It managed to be political in a way that wouldn't pull people apart but instead bring them together. It was funny, thrilling, and still managed to feel like a normal Marvel movie. It also has some amazing performances from everyone in it. Special props need to go to Chadwick Boseman, who has an amazing lead performance without ever hogging the spotlight, Letitia Wright, who has one of the funniest performances in the MCU, and Michael B. Jordan, who play a rare MCU villain that you can understand and even sympathize for. This is just an amazing effort from Marvel Studios. WAKANDA FOREVER! (AKA, please give us a sequel now.)



ROMAN J. ISRAEL ESQ.
Score 6/10
So, um....yeah. This was a......movie, that had some.......point to it. I feel that this film was designed to polarizing for the sake of being polarizing. It's honestly not terrible, though. If it indeed is a thriller (I have no freaking clue at this point), I was intrigued for the majority of the movie. Denzel Washington was easily the best part of the movie, which is good, especially when the movie is primarily a character study (I think?). The rest of the cast seems as confused as the audience most of the time, but the story is all about Roman so it doesn't matter as much. The final act is surprisingly fast-paced and tense, which gives the movie major points in its favor. Honestly, I say watch it and see what you think about it. If you think it's bad, don't blame me. I didn't make this strange movie.

WONDER
Score: 10/10
This movie was all sorts of great. It was funny, inspiring, heartbreaking, and heartwarming all at the same time. All of the performances were great, the story is very engaging (that's probably mostly due to the source material, but it's still good), and the writing is amazing. Or shall I say, wonderful? (I'm sorry about that one.) This will be high in my top ten for 2017. I think I should really just leave it there honestly. Just see it for yourself. Trust me, you won't want to miss this one. Grab your family and watch this ASAP.


THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX
Score: 8/10
17% you say? 17%? WHAT? Listen, I'm a huge Cloverfield fan and I waited for this movie like almost a year, but it kept getting pushed back. When it was announced that it would come out on Netflix after the SuperBowl, I naturally went berzerk. But then the reviews came out and I had second thoughts about watching it. NOPE. The reviews don't reflect the movie at all. It's pure Cloverfield magic. I think a lot people who watched this hadn't watched Cloverfield or 10 Cloverfield Lane and didn't know what to expect. I knew exactly what to expect: an absolutely cray-cray sci-fi horror thriller with doses of some witty humor and lots of shock value. Listen, it's no masterpiece like 10 Cloverfield, and it is probably my least favorite of the three (due to its numerous, although hilarious, plot holes), but I had a blast watching it, so it was good in my books. If you don't like really weird movies (or jump scares for that matter, its got some shockers in that category), then you REALLY shouldn't watch this. Otherwise, you definitely should!
Also these billboards for it are just amazing. You'll know why when you see it. #armshaverights:



COCO
Score: 9/10
This was not my most anticipated Pixar movies in recent years, but it truly did impress me in an unexpected way. The story was heartwarming, the animation was beautiful and the music was great too. Also, the plot twist was absolutely killer (you'll get what I mean when you see it). And the ending yet again again made this young man cry like a little baby (WHY U DO THIS TO MEH PIXAR????? SPARE ME MY MASCULINITY!!!!!) All-in-all, it's not the best Pixar movie, heck I don't think I'd even put it in my top ten, but it sure is a great one. This is a great movie for families. Watch this over the Emoji Movie any day.

DARKEST HOUR
Score: 8/10
I know what you're thinking: "You gave the Cloverfield Paradox, a movie with an 17% on Rotten Tomatoes, and this Best Picture nominated movie the same score? Are you nuts?" You know, maybe I am, but maybe I'm not. I didn't think it was bad at all, but I thought the movie as a whole was not THAT impressive. The cinematography was excellent, the performances were great, but the pace was way too slow for me most of the time. Later in the movie, the pace really picks up in a way that really made me happy. But not make me want to get out my seat and cheer like Dunkirk made me want to do the first time I saw it. My parents watched it with me and said that they thought this rivaled Dunkirk in quality, which I humbly disagreed with, because I kinda think Dunkirk is the greatest movie ever made. I don't know, maybe I was just too tired to enjoy it at its full capacity, so I'll give it another chance in the near future. The movie was great though, and Gary Oldman had the best performance in his career. It just didn't wow me as much as people told me it would or I thought it would.
I must say though, nothing pumps me up like this one line:



7/31/18 UPDATE:
I have since watched the movie for a second time and have completely changed my opinion. The parents were right after all: it is a masterpiece. I think what turned me off about it originally was its simplicity. It just seemed like any other drama I'd seen before. But it was deceptively simple. One you start to realize the complexity of the film, the pace is quicker and the film is much more enjoyable. It was actually funnier than I remember it to be, believe or not. And yes, the humor was intentional. I also highly recommend accompanying this movie with either The King's Speech or Dunkirk. I did it with the former and it was truly an experience.

Updated Score: 10/10

SOUR RANGERS 
Score: 4/10
Yes, I willingly watched this movie. I was not held at gunpoint. I went on Amazon Prime and watched it. And I actually started to like it at first. However, that was due to the high school drama that transpired for most of the movie. For awhile, I forgot I was watching a movie based on the Power Rangers. And then it turned into a Power Rangers movie. I had never seen anything related to Power Rangers before this disaster, and I must say this: what a dumb concept. So it's harder to summon armor that they use for like 2 seconds than to activate one of those vehicles? (I'm sorry. Zords, not vehicles.) And the method of control for that giant robot is so inefficient. A person controls each limb? Why would you subject yourself to something like that? And how were those teens able to master the controls for that Megatron so quickly? (I'm sorry. Megazord, not Megatron.) Seriously, I wanted it to turn back to a knockoff Breakfast Club many times while watching it, but it wouldn't happen due the fact that it is a Power Rangers movie, rather than an angsty high school movie. Ugh, it's frustrating. Diehard Power Rangers fans almost certainly dislike it more than me.

JUST-STOP LEAGUE
Score: 3/10
Some spoilers in this review BTW.
And here we are. I saved the best for last. Or in this case, the worst. Here's what bothers me more than anything: It had a higher budget than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Thor Ragnarok, and Black Panther, AND more than double the budget of Wonder Woman (all good movies). Despite all of this, it couldn't have anything remotely representing good special effects. THEY COULD'VE AT THE VERY LEAST FIXED THAT JANKY LIP! WHY WAS IT SO PUFFY?!?! If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me show you:






If they couldn't simply edit out a dude's mustache, then you have to be be worried when the movie is CGI heavy. And it doesn't just look bad: the plot is just awful and incoherent. EVEN FOR DC STANDARDS! Steppenwolf is so dull that Malekith, Ronan the Accuser, Whiplash, and Ares would die from sheer boredom. The plot brings up too many questions to count. For what reason is Aquaman so against joining the league? What happened to Wonder Woman's view of the world? I though it changed back after the end of Wonder Woman. How did Lex Luthor get out of jail? They say that no Amazon can leave the island, yet Wonder Woman just up and left in her movie. Why is that? At the end of the final battle, the parademons eat Steppenwolf because he is afraid, yet they don't swarm Flash? He was terrified  the whole time! Why didn't they bring Lois with them when they resurrected Superman? They could've prevented a complete smackdown if she was there! And why didn't Batman just say, "MARTHA!"? According to Batman V. Superman logic, the fight would've ended. Why didn't they give one of the Mother Boxes to the Green Lanterns? They were in the original battle against Steppenwolf and it would've given an excuse to put Green Lantern in the movie instead of just teasing him. Also, space is always a better hiding place for a cube that could destroy the Earth, than.....oh I don't know....... EARTH! AND WHY DID THEY CHOOSE STEPPENWOLF AS THE VILLAIN OVER DARKSEID? OR ANY DC VILLAIN? (I take that last one back, not ANY DC villain. I forgot that the Suicide Squad movie existed. I also forgot about the Condiment King.) If you wanted any of those questions answered, I guarantee that by the end of the useless post credit scene, none of these questions (and many more, sooooooo many more) will be answered by the end of this colossal trainwreck. This should've been better. It reeks of promise throughout the 2 hr runtime (2 hours? WHAT THE HECK? I THOUGHT IT WAS 4! XD). However, the movie never lives up to that promise or its awesome trailers, leaving this movie as duddiest of all DC duds. Well, at least we still have Wonder Woman.