50/50 : Review

Summary: Great movie that shows that sickness isn’t always the stereotypical full sadness or rainbows and sunshine. Like a better less teenage TFIOS, with better direction and better characters. And a really cute romance and broship.

In this movie we have Adam, a young 20 plus guy who gets cancer. His friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) , a therapist Katie (Anna Kendrick whoops) and his mom help him along this journey, while having not-the-best relationships either. Here we also have his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) which also causes heartbreak.

The best part about this movie is how it shows that sickness is a part of life. A sad part but it breaks all the cliches. You don’t meet the love of your life, your girlfriend cheats on you. Your best friend isn’t always supportive sometimes he just wants to get laid. They show the sad parts of sickness but they also show that it’s just like daily life It makes the movie have an authentic, relatable feel that feels much more grounded and emotional.

At the core of this movie is really the friendship between Kyle and Adam which is fun to watch with lots of laughs and great chemistry among the two actors. They do a great loner-outgoing pair and just adds comic relief in a way that fits in day to day life. Again very grounded movie.

We also have this awkward relationship between Adam and his therapist who is younger than him, but it plays out really cutely and is great fun to watch. This is especially so in a cute car scene which when you see it it makes you warm and giggly inside.

Adam’s relationship with his mother is also strained but portrayed in a non-cliche way, which again adds to the groundedness of the situation.

Ultimately in a movie about cancer, it really uses the horror of the sickness and makes fun of it but also really shows the way it affects everyone around the patient and the patient itself.

A great movie, with a grounded feel that makes you feel good and happy about life, in a non-cliche way. Beautiful.

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London Has Fallen : Review

Summary: ⅗. Good action fun and nice camaraderie between characters but the cgi throws it off and the plot is sloppily resolved.

In this movie, Gerard Butler’ character saves the president again in a die hard style movie. It's similar to the original but just a whole larger scale.

The best part of this movie is the action scenes. Citywide destruction and huge set pieces. In the finale there's this long shot which just tracks the destruction and the whole scene was almost as good as the tank shot in dawn of the planet of the apes.

Gerard Butler’s character is the most fun being smart and physically awesome. Although at times he is a little bit too invulnerable, at least they tried to show him struggling. They also show the camaraderie between him and the president very well so it doesn't seem like just saving the prezzie but also saving a friend which adds more heart.

Despite this, the CGI is really horrid and the explosions are so unbelievable it throws you way off. And the resolution is...die hard die harder bad.

So all in all it’s a fun movie to just stuff popcorn but if you’re looking for a good plot just pop in die hard again.

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Hello Hollywood : Save Our Superheroes

Hello Hollywood,

I am Darren and I really like superheroes and superhero movies. But I see that they’re in trouble so let me talk to you about it for a bit.

Focus on the characters

You guys remember Rocky right? You know that won an Oscar and why it’s a symbol of the American Dream? Why we cheered for Rocky and felt our hearts drop when Rocky didn’t win? Because we knew he was fighting against the odds, against people’s expectation. We knew how hard he fought and how much was at stake. We were invested with the character so we were invested in the fight. The same applies for superheroes. If we want the hero to win more than “so the bad guy goes bye bye” we root for him more, the emotions rise and fall higher. That’s why it hurt us when Captain America was punching Bucky. That’s why it hurt us when Black Widow has to fight Hawkeye when she is an aunt to his children. If you focus on the characters, those who don’t just want fights get a reason to watch your movie.

Make the villains good

As much as we want to spend time with our favourite heroes we also want to feel a sense of fear and hate to our villains. It makes it feel so much better when they are defeated. At the same time, we need to feel for this villain too. Threatening to destroy the galaxy is starting to get really underwhelming. If there’s tragedy with the character this leaves a bittersweet feel that makes it more interesting than good vs bad. Think of the most popular villains. Vader, Khan, hell even Loki, had a tragedy and a great plan. This is a perfect formula that few movies, ahem marvel, have not gotten. So please. fanboys want our heroes adapted well but we want our villains fleshed out as we dreamt it too.

Work different formulas

Superhero films have little change to their formula. Hero has troubles, fights villain but fails, and after regrouping and recovering there is a big fight where the hero wins. Try changing this up please. One great example is Chronicle, where a broken teen uses his powers not only irresponsibly but also turn evil when he is truly broken. The thing about powers is that it doesn’t always end with the good one winning. Look at our daily lives and you know we have crazy people with too much power. I appreciate what you tried with Civil War and Batman V Superman but in the end we still had a vilification and a goodness triumphing story line. Work with it. Let the villains win. Let the villains form a team (good job suicide squad). Let heroes be pitted against one another (Daredevil vs Punisher well done now go tell your Civil War brothers to feel ashamed). This also means some non comic book superhero films can be added which add a new taste to the series, don’t be afraid to fund them if they’re good!

If you can’t (or don’t want too), you can try to change the tones and genres. Like how Marvel did Phase 2 with a different genre each, like the Winter Soldier being a spy movie and Thor being a fantasy. If you guys do this well this fans get superhero movies of every type on screen just like the variety on paper.

Don’t rush a universe

Look. I get it. Universes mean money and money is great. And I love shared universes too. But don’t rush it. Build the characters, get people to like them individually. That’s how you get them interested to see more. Flashing lights on a cctv doesn't make me excited for the flash in justice league but knowing his character and powers would if he had a solo movie. That’s why deadpool was great. Cause they didn’t try squeezing in as many Xmen or references it just made us love the character.

Studios stop being selfish

Guys. Really. IDK how your profits work but causing your competitor to have a loss does not mean you win. A lousy Fant4stic isn’t better than a good Marvel Fantastic 4. If you guys can work contracts to have them all exist in the same universe, you guys split the profits and everyone wins. Look at spidey and how after all this time we are hyped for Spiderman again, earning both Marvel and Sony money. Money! Great isn’t it!

Stop spoiling your movies in your trailer

Guys. If people wanted to watch Batman V Superman or a Captain America movie, they would go regardless of trailer material. And if they didn’t want too they won’t. These movies are a brand and people just need to get a sense of the movie. You don’t have to show scene after scene, spoiler after spoiler. How cool would it be if we didn’t expect Vision and got him? That type of surprise gets people hype through word of mouth after release which works way better than just a shot of his eyes after the trailer. Showing an entire fight scene is just disrespectful. That could have been in the movie and enjoyed in a theatre. But no, you guys just had to tell people that there is gonna be a fight in the Avengers movie!!! Wow! Shocking!

Hollywood we live in the golden age of superhero movies. But if you don’t change and don’t change fast, we are all gonna get superhero fatigue and your precious million dollar franchises are gonna go bye bye. So please, for all of us, save our superheroes.

Cheers,

Darren Does Movies

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Civil War : SPOILER review

Summary: 3.8999/5. Wonderful superhero film and Marvel delivers yet again. The characters get a lot of interesting development, and the plot is well planned and executed. Just goes to show what you can achieve with a shared universe done well.

Plot: A veteran goes against a broken cocky man in a tin can with a black cat and a teenager who learnt to shoot sticky white substance 6 months ago. Mid way through the movie, the veteran calls his gang of army bros and they cause a big ruckus at an airport.

Howdy there mates spoilers ahead

Basically, in this movie the UN wants to make the Avengers their standing army, to control them and use them. Cap doesn’t trust them because of hidden agendas and Tony thinks their a loose cannon that needs to be controlled. Meanwhile, Bucky reappears in Cap’s life and a hidden scheme is developed.

Again, let’s start with my favourite part of every movies, the characters:

This movie has done something that something that Marvel has been struggling to do. Set up a good villain. Baron Zemo is smart, and his diabolical plan is hidden but when it all ends it hits a big punch. His monologue showed his vulnerability and he was so well written. From the beginning his cruelty and smarts are shown when we are first introduced to him. We have him tricking a Hydra agent to let him in his house very slyly, and then he drowns the agent a sink to show his character. This just shows his entire character in one simple scene that makes him memorable unlike ahem, other ahem phase 2 villains. Then we have him get a “phone call” which seems very intimate yet he does not show any emotion, which hints that something happened to his family and that that is his motivation. Then we have the big reveal with a Daredevil level good monologue and we find out it’s a recording. Damn son that hits hard, and it perfectly shows his motivation. See DC!!! Not that hard to make a good diabolical villain is it?? If this quality of villains continue in Phase 3 then Marvel has solved one of their films biggest problems.

Next Blank Panther and Spidey, the new peeps. Blank Panther’s character is very well developed. He shows his power, his ability to fight and also his powers as a king. This is a great way to establish a character in a non-solo movie. Awesome fight scenes, with amazing moves. His powers as a king was hilariously and awesomely portrayed in him finding Bucky in a day when Shield couldn’t for 75 years and his threats to Bucky. His character furthers the theme where vengeance blinds the characters and he also shows how he is growing more diplomatic, just like his father wants him to, like when he didn’t continue to fight Bucky under the bridge but just unmasked himself instead. Spidey was absolutely perfect. He quips just like he should. He is young just like he should be. He is inexperienced, underestimated but strong and capable, just like he should be. Now i cannot wait for either of their solo movies. Oh yes and both characters were again perfectly casted, well done Marvel, Chadwick Boseman and Tom Holland.

Wanda (scarlet witch) and Vision. Hooof they definitely increase they punching power in both teams. But they don’t end there. They have an interesting discussion about power and identity which in less than 4 minutes shows Wanda’s fear of her own power (hulk got a counselling buddy) and Vision being unsure what he is. This can be seen as both film deepness but also for any popcorn eating movie goer (me). See DC!!! Not hard to be deep huh?

I must say even the absence of thor and hulk furthers their character. Thor is a responsible god now. And hulk is really scared of his powers.

Now on to the actual civil war. Like the war war and the commanders.

On the left side we have Iron Mannnn. You could tell from the beginning of the film that he was broken, lonely and guilty. He feels hurt about his parents. And his guilt led him to a break up. He is desperate for an answer and he gets one with the accords. He thinks that he needs someone to control him to guide him. And they don’t establish this just here but also in previous movie, Iron Man 3 and Avengers. You could tell his motivation and you don’t blame him. And this is what differentiates “He killed my mother!” from “martha!!” . Because you could tell that all this boiled up hurt and anger and guilt is just exploding t Bucky. Hell Cmon just wanting to kill someone who choked your mother and plummeted your dad seems like a reasonable excuse to be overridden with anger.

On the right side we have OMG Cappppp. You get all overlaying reasons with Cap too. Him feeling like the leader of this Avengers family, and he wants to protect them. You see him go from patriot to being painfully backstabbed by Hydra run shield which breeds his lack of trust (rmbr this being a major theme in Winter Soldier oooo development). Then you have him wanting to reconnect with his close friend Bucky which is established from the beginning of thee movie. Then you have this nailed home with the death of the love of his life. Great motivation. But one gripe. God damn Sharon Carter. Really. No. stop shoehorning romance, No. No. Ugh.

And with this they have an amazing clash of ideologies which are both justified. They made nerds and geeks all over the world watch a debate about power and authority dammit. Look at that. You could tell the reason for the fighting and this actually throws you in and makes you choose a side, being much more invested. Wooo debate woop. See DC! Make a smart movie that can be a film and a popcorn movie. Stop saying Marvel is ooo only about talking racoons and metal flying men. They have heart! And character! Not sloppily done mess of a “ooo look at me I am deep and insightful ooo”. Still angry.

And the war man. That fight scene at the airport is amazing. Wonderfully planned action which uses all the heroes abilities and was funny too. Oh Marvel, what did i do to deserve you?

Now. List of awesome moments. Giantman. Werrrp. Antman on an arrow. Werrrp. Spidey. Werrrp. Wanda friggin destroying vision. Werrrp. Ohk.

Now the cons.

Pacing was a tad weird, kinda slow at the beginning but again, still appreciate the effort for character development. Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch is also very awkward, with motivations weirdly unjustified. And the marketing was weird. It;s not even really a cap movie. Meh.

So, Civil War was great, great and great. It opens phase 3 well and sends ripples which have some really cool effects on the MCU. Fun!
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