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Justice League (2017)
DC finally expands it's horizons bringing the league together on the big screen to lukewarm results.
Ben Affleck owns the cowl and doesn't disappoint. Both his interrogation techniques and fighting skills resemble something out of an Arkham game. Batman doesn't kill any humans this time around but he shows off his wonderful toys. Gal Gadot is on her game again, her character becomes just as important as Bruce Wayne especially early in the film bringing the team together. Her lasso becomes her version of a utility belt and doesn't go to waste. Superman is far closer to the character than his previous portrayals. Metropolis and it's Man of steel are portrayed lighter and brighter this time around, differentiating their world from Batman and Gotham. Henry Cavill really shows his acting range here giving us an altered version of the character from the last time we saw him Cyborg feels somewhat cut down, the character isn't fleshed out as much as he could have been. The scenes we get are a treat though, Cyborg's hacking abilities are showcased. Victor Stone has a complex relationship with his father which is hinted at but not fully developed. Aquaman is portrayed similar to his presence in the New 52. Far less comedic relief and silly, and more tough and edgy. Jason Momoa gives us a character we don't need to feel ashamed cheering for, of the six heroes featured here, one could argue Aquaman is the most badass. Barry Allen is still early in his career, learning what he can do. Nothing against the TV show but it is nice seeing the Flash have to make decisions on his own without having a team at S.T.A.R. labs in his ear telling him what to do. Showing a flawed and somewhat sloppy hero helps ground the story and allows the audience to relate more to the humanity of a character who possesses a power we can only dream off. Steppenwolf is less than impressive. Great name, mediocre character. He's not a bad villain but he isn't delightful and menacing the way Loki was in the Avengers, nor were his motivations as developed as Loki's. Instead we have another monster looking to take over the world because that's something he likes to do. Certainly a powerful and fearsome villain but not an overly memorable one.
Overall I liked how every character meant something unique to the team. Some may question if Aquaman needed to be there. He does as Atlantis while rarely shown plays a key part in the film's plot as does the Amazon. Danny Elfman gives some nods to the classic Batman and Superman themes though the score is merely acceptable. Danny doesn't crank out any new scores likely to become part of his classics. One problem which has plagued every DCEU film without 'Wonder Woman' in the title is the uneven tones of the films. Man of Steel has a heavy Christopher Nolan influence at certain parts, Batman V Superman suffered from tonal shifts due to the editing, and Suicide Squad was all over the pace. Despite having two directors, Justice League keeps a steady flow, even if it is flowing slightly too fast for some moviegoers. Inevitably with this project cut down from two films to one 121 minute film, useful content will be left on the cutting room floor. At the end of the day this leaves many fans including me wanting more. Luckily we'll get our chance, either via an extended cut or sequel. Take your pick but either way I can't wait for more from these characters.
Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie (2017)
Not bad Jeff Garlin, not bad
This may be Murray Goldberg's big break and he certainly could have done worse.
While nothing groundbreaking, this quirky film hits all the right notes. A gem within the film is just how well Garlin's detective subordinates are written and acted.
One word of caution: while this film does something unique and daring for a so-called mystery and reveals the killer in the opening scene. Typically films centering around solving a mystery involve characters whom are extremely perceptive or buffoons who end up being the person least suspected to solve the case. This one meets halfway; the detectives all have their respective skills and flaws, The main charm to the film isn't the crime or plot itself but simply seeing the main character go about his job and life while investigating.
King Cobra (1999)
an objective review of King cobra
I saw this movie after reading plenty of the negative reviews on IMDb so I had low expectations.
The good; -this film had the scariest and most realistic snake of any snake movie I've seen including the Anaconda and Python movies. I've seen people slam it because the snake didn't look real enough but even the shark in Jaws looked rather fake (not claiming this is equal to Jaws or even in the same class but people need to cut films some slack and realize that not everything is 100% factual). -a fairly good musical score -scares: a few scenes where the snake pops out of nowhere to attack really sends chills up your spine -Pat Moriata: I have never seen the Karate Kid so I have no bias but he definitely played a cool character
the bad: -several Jaws rip off scenes; the scare at the beginning (though to be fair all giant predator movies seem to have attacks at the start) except done inferiorly due to breaking the rule of showing the creature on the first attack. The blatant ripoff line "we're going to need bigger guns" and the plot line of a money hungry mayor not wanting to close down an event to protect the civilians from the monster and eventual hiring of an expert of the monster in question -some of the death scenes were long and drawn out and predictable. The director did a good job with a false scare early in the movie with using the attacker as the camera peering up to a little girl only to realize that it was her brother sneaking up on her with a rubber snake (though this may be a copy of the Jaws scene with the pranksters swimming with a a shark fin on to scare the people on the beach), we then get a long drawn out stalking of the King Cobra on the little boy. It would have worked much better to have the snake pop out of nowhere. -we end with an unresolved cliffhanger; Seth is still alive but likely no sequel
Final grade: 7 out of 10
Red Water (2003)
this review could be two words long
note; contains spoilers
All I can say is DUMP RIPOFF! The shark practically disappears for the middle part of the movie when we're forced to watch a boring hostage situation that had little plot and made little sense. Now when asked why there were so few shark scenes, the producers will likely give the 'less is more' rubbish but that's just not true. The shark scenes were mostly crappy. Showing the entire shark swimming underwater at the beginning wrecked it since we've seen the entire shark so any suspense of a possible magic moment when we first see the shark is now destroyed and the shark is tiny (maybe 8 or 9 feet in length) which makes it salmon compared to just about any killer shark we've seen in a Jaws/Deep Blue Sea/Shark Attack film. Any fear we could have had about this shark was ruined with the ridiculous scene when Lou Diamond Phillips is half way between the shark and the boat (he's originally trying to stay still but then realizes it wont work) and somehow manages to get on the boat without being eaten. The average shark swims 25 times faster then the average human which means that this shark likely could have swam to the bottom, swam to the boat, done a triple lutz and then eaten Lou but yet apparently it couldn't even swim twice as fast as a human.
Other stupid scenes; -the whole scenario of the kid seeing his grandfather get pulled off the boat and eaten, then hiding in the boat, the boat saling into the docks on it's own, the kid being too shocked to speak was a COMPLETE RIPOFF of the sequence in Jaws 2 when the beauty pageant winner sees her boyfriend Eddie eaten while on a boat (everything with these two characters plays out the exact same way). -The opening sequence of the brunette in the red bikini getting eaten is a ripoff of the Jaws flicks: They go into the water all smiley and giggly to have some fun (Chrissy in Jaws), she gets brushed against by the shark (which is stupid because she feels the shark and at first doesn't know what it is but then figures out it was a shark without even seeing it and why would the shark have not eaten her then?). And then the shark gets seen and the classic lifeguard on the megaphone and people rushing out of the water sequence which happens in 3 out of the 4 Jaws flicks occurs.
-pretty much any scene involving Lou Diamond Phillips. When the shark attacks the older fellow, Lou jumps in the water after him (trying to be a hero even though he has no weapons to attack the shark with and there's a 95% chance that anybody who is in a shark's mouth isn't coming out). Then when he sees the shark, he looks all shocked. The guy was given umpteen opportunities to be a hero in and out of the water and fails every last time with the possible exception of the ending. How in the world does he get a shark tooth stuck in his foot from an attack but not lose a single part of his foot is beyond be (the tooth supposedly broke off but a sharks jaw and tooth is much stronger then a human foot). The guy has huge financial troubles and is about to lose his most passionate asset (his boat) yet when he's killed the shark which would trigger an automatic 100 grand, he decides not to tell anybody about the shark because of some stupid legend. Could you see anybody with huge financial troubles throwing away money like that?
-the ending: it would be physcially impossible for the shark to be suspended in air with the drill going in it's mouth. The outwards spin of the drill would push the shark away from it (in fact even if the drill were set in reverse and had an inwards spin, the shark would have fallen down into the water). Even if it were possible for the shark to be suspended in air like that, eventually once the drill cut a big enough hole through the shark, it would have fallen down into the water. There is no way it could be torn to pieces like it was.