Trailers! Trailers! Trailers! #1

Here's the thing. I finish my write-up on the new Justice League trailer, post it and then get on with my life. Now, there's a whole bunch of trailers that've been released. So,

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

Honestly. my thoughts on this trailer are almost the exact same as my thoughts on the last trailer: this movie contains the best Spider-Man costume made for a movie. Michael Keaton's probably going to kill as the bad guy, and the high school setting feels like a nice change of pace. With that said, there is some new stuff here worthy of discussion. First, Peter losing the suit and having to use what's essentially a DIY version of it is an interesting plot development and I'm curious to see where it goes in the actual movie. Second, that plane fight looks pretty intense. Color me excited!

A GHOST STORY

From the get-go, two things stick out to me. One, the aspect ratio. In case anyone's wondering, yes, I've heard the whole film is shot like this and that it serves a purpose to the film's broader themes. Two, yes, that is Casey Affleck dressed as a stereotypical "white sheet with holes for eyes" look of a ghost in a non-comedic context. The idea of building a serious drama around a ghost that looks like this is a tough sell; that having been said, keep in mind the people behind this. For starters, A24 has proven that letting people fulfill their creative vision has more often that not worked out for the better with films like Swiss Army Man, Under the Skin and countless others. Besides, David Lowery is a serious player in the indie scene; aside from that, he's proven to be the only filmmaker to do a live-action Disney remake that was a genuinely great movie (seriously, if you haven't seen Pete's Dragon yet, go watch it). This one's already been screened at Sundance a few months ago and the buzz has nothing but positive. So, definitely keep this one on your radar.

IT

I'll be frank for a moment. This trailer was kind of a disappointment. Granted, some would say that holding out any hope for a film that's already given the world this gem of a meme would be extremely foolish.

From the looks of it (no pun intended), this looks like a subpar version of a James Wan movie. Despite this version of Pennywise actually having a pretty creepy design, none of what's shown of him here actually looks scary. In some respects, it (again, no pun intended) looks about as silly as Tim Curry's work in the first time they tried to adapt this book. The stuff with the kids looks pretty interesting, though. Overall, I'm hoping for the best on this one, folks; but, if it sucks, I won't be surprised that Warner Bros. decided to dump this one in September.

So, those are my thoughts on some recent trailers. Agree? Disagree? Talk amongst yourselves in the comments below. Anywho, I'm off to do something that doesn't have to do with movie trailers.

Brett Ratner Isn't Wrong About Rotten Tomatoes

Okay, I know I'm late to the party on this; but, I have to talk about this. So, what's the story? Recently, infamous Hollywood punching bag Brett Ratner made a statement about how he thinks Rotten Tomatoes has ruined movies (if you want the full statement, click here).  Since then, the Internet film community has dogpiled on Ratner with either hasty defenses of their chosen occupation or hackneyed jokes about how he's never made a good movie in his life. First off, if you actually read what he said, he never brought up his own movies or their scores on the aggregate site.

Let me clarify something right off the bat. I don't like Brett Ratner. I don't particularly care for his movies much and he's never struck me as a particularly interesting figure in the industry. That having been said, I don't think what he's saying here should be outright dismissed; but, I don't think Rotten Tomatoes should receive the entirety of the blame. After all, you don't blame a tool for someone's misuse of it. While I do think the idea of chopping a film's quality down to a simple number is perplexing to say the least, I do think sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic do have a purpose. The problem is people rarely (if ever) seem to use it for that purpose. Instead of seeing a Rotten Tomatoes score as "here's what the critics are saying, now draw your own conclusions", whether or not a film is Fresh or Rotten is now the be-all, end-all in regards to a movie's quality. The point is Rotten Tomatoes is partially responsible for forcing objectivity into something that's designed to be viewed subjectively; in Layman's terms, with the advent of aggregate sites, opinions are now regarded as facts.

Ratner isn't entirely correct in his words. I'll agree that Rotten Tomatoes has depressingly skewered how people view movies; yet, I doubt that they affect the actual movie industry. If negative reviews actually mattered in the grand scheme of things, then the Michael Bay Transformers movies wouldn't be making gobs of money hand-over-fist. Plus, you wouldn't here the words "I never trust the critics. They're too snobby." or anything of that ilk come out of the mouths of countless everyday people.

Rotten Tomatoes may not be killing the movie industry; but, it has undoubtedly ruined the realm of film criticism. Gone is the nuance and in its place we got nothing but meaningless numbers.

Dillon's Take #1

Hello everyone! I'd like to say right here, right now that Matinee Everyday is not just going to be just my voice. Occasionally, I'll do a post for a guest critic. This time around, it'll be a few reviews from my good friend, Dillon Humphrey. Consider these to be reviews from the perspective of the average moviegoer..

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY

Can't tell if I'm just being generous or if I really am thinking that these films I'm watching are as good as I say they are..
Anyway, this movie was borderline brilliant. A work of beautiful art  in the Star Wars universe. It wasn't cheesy, it wasn't cringey, and most importantly it was an original.
This was no plot duplicate like The Force Awakens was of A New Hope, the CGI was terrific, and so many cameos, even just simple ones, from the original films that drove me absolutely crazy with joy.
Also, a big score for me was the lack of romance in this film. There was little to none, and while there were some moments where I thought it was going to happen, it never did, and that's fine by me.
Characters were well developed, not to mention completely hardcore and awesome, and nearly succeeded at making me cry when they all died. And yes, literally everyone DIES. Anyone that had a major purpose in the movie, that is.. But I won't say why or how. You'll just have to watch to find out.
So yeah, spectacular film. Disney really outdid themselves with this work, and so I give it a 10/10. Well done Disney!

POWER RANGERS

I loved Power Rangers as a kid. I could not get enough of it. So imagine my joy when I hear that a Power Rangers movie is being released in 2017. I was stoked to see it, but when I actually saw it I was mind blown! It was a nice shift from the more kid-friendly Power Rangers to a now more mature (not entirely mature, but more so) version of some of my favorite heroes of all time.
I loved seeing the zords come to life and then to see the megazord end the fight. I just wish I could have seen the actual transformation of the megazord, but the feeling of seeing it is all the same. Also, the Power Rangers were able to train too easily. I don't know how much time they were training for, but when I used to take fighting classes, I did not progress that quickly at all. Call me what you will, I didn't much care for that.
Saban's Power Rangers was still an amazing movie, especially for those who have past history with the Power Rangers series!
Also, the cameo in this movie is great. Try to see if you can find it. ;)

DOCTOR STRANGE

Let me just start off by saying that I will hardly ever rate a movie 10/10. Ever. I always have criticisms about movies, regardless of how good they are.
Doctor Strange is quite a beautiful work of art. When I watched it, I was just mindboggled at everything. It has excellent character development, awesome scenery, terrific acting, beautiful fighting scenes, and a plot so crazy that I never would have guessed it.
What I also loved about this movie was how at every turn it managed to make me ask "wait, WHAT". Many scenes actually had me questioning my own intelligence.
To sum it all up, absolutely terrific movie! I will be suggesting it to everyone that I can because it is just that worth it!
And to anyone that plans to watch it and happens to be reading this review, 3D is a MUST.

And, those are just a few of his pieces. If you'd like to write something for Matinee Everyday, feel free to contact me. In the meantime, cheers!

So, That Justice League Trailer Rocks!

Yeah, this movie's gonna rock! I'll admit that I'm an easy lay for anything tangentially connected to either Marvel or DC; but, even though I have been an adamant apologist for the DCEU, I'll admit it has gotten off to a pretty rocky start. But, with all that having been said, I think 2017 might be the year where Warner Brothers finally gets it act together. After all, consider the following factors for a moment or two: A) they've already had two decent-sized hits with Kong: Skull Island and The Lego Batman Movie  & B) they held a set visit about a year ago for Justice League and otherwise there's been no talk of behind-the-scenes meddling for it or Wonder Woman.

Okay, all that pontificating is all fine and dandy, but what are my thoughts on the actual trailer? I like it. A lot, actually. The action looks like a lot of fun and.. you know what, let me stop right there for a moment and address a criticism that's been quite irksome to me as of late. To all those people complaining about the Batmobile having machine guns in this, I have two things to say: 1) this isn't the first time that Batman's had this sort of arsenal equipped to the Batmobile (go back and watch the 1989 Tim Burton one if you need a refresher) and 2) He's fighting monsters solely intent on destruction and death... what else would you use to fight these things? Toothpicks?!? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Anyway, let's get to the nitty-gritty. The costumes? With the exception of Cyborg (who looks a little too much like a Transformer, but oh well, guess you can't win them all), I dig it. Batman and Wonder Woman look flawless, Aquaman's Atlantean armor looks impressive and I like how rough-around-the-edges Flash's costume is. The two scenes that stood out to me were the bit where Barry Allen and Bruce are talking and when the League is meeting with Commissioner Gordon... also, this bit where Aquaman jumps off the Batmobile straight towards those Parademons...

...love it! Ultimately, I hope this movie is awesome. It certainly looks awesome, I'll say that.

POWER RANGERS Review

Well... that was certainly better than I expected it to be.

Let me clear when I say that this IS a good movie despite some many flaws that, if seen elsewhere, could kill an entire movie. Is the script sharp? Nope. In fact, some of the dialogue is so bad, I'm surprised it made it through any part of the rewrite phase of production (which brings me to a fun fact that the script to this flick has gone through so many hands, that even Max Landis did a few drafts at one point). Speaking of Landis, does it use elements from other better movies in the genre? Oh, without question, yes. Case in point, half of this movie feels like Chronicle and the other half feels like a lighter version of Man of Steel (at least in terms of the visuals). Also, the camerawork does get a bit dodgy at times; it almost feels like constant movement is just thrown in case someone in the audience might be losing interest (short version: feels like the filmmakers are basically dangling keys in the face of its audience). Plus, one of the film's biggest plot points involves a subtle-as-a-jackhammer promotion for Krispy Kreme; that's a move so slimy and gleefully shameless that I couldn't tell if I should be furious or absolutely astonished that the creative team behind this thing had the chutzpah to actually to put this in the actual movie.

Even with all of that negativity, Power Rangers is still compelling and fun enough to succeed as a decent movie in spite of those flaws. While it's not Oscar-worthy by any stretch of the imagination, there is some pretty solid acting in this. Again, not on the level of Laurence Olivier, but good enough to effectively sell the chemistry between the protagonists and that these are actually teenagers with real issues rather than the Wonderbread personas from past incarnations of the franchise. Actually, let me take a moment to talk more about the actual Power Rangers in this movie. Mainly because the fact the movie does take its time to establish likable, interesting enough leads is easily one of the movie's biggest strong points. Aside from the main characters, there's still some positive things I can say about the rest of the cast. Bryan Cranston is always good in pretty much anything. Bill Hader gets a few chuckles as Alpha-5 (even if the character's redesign is so ghastly, I'm shocked wasn't used in one of the Star Wars prequels). Now, let's get to the elephant in the room: Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa. Oh, how do I describe her in this movie? Just picture Charlize Theron in those Huntsman movies combined with the maniacal mannerisms and cackling of a demon from the Evil Dead movies.Whenever she's onscreen, I was instantly jumping for joy. Every frame she inhabits clearly shows that she's having a ball just playing up how deliciously evil the character is.

And how about the action? Well, for what little of it we actually get, it's pretty good. Until about the third act, there's really no action sequences outside of a couple car crashes and some training montages. While it is a tad disappointing to realize how little action there is when all is said and done, the film ultimately survives by learning a lesson from other films in the genre: if the pre-action origin parts are well-paced and entertaining enough, your movie will be fine. Outside of that, the climax is basically an episode of the original TV series pumped to cinematic proportion and I mean that in the most way imaginable.

Bryan Tyler's score is pretty good even if it isn't entirely original (certain musical cues seem to be directly borrowed from Tron: Legacy, Stranger Things and even the composer's previous work from Avengers: Age of Ultron). And, that's probably the best way to sum up this whole thing in a nutshell. Power Rangers feels like a mish-mash of dozens of other things that amounts to something more coherent and enganging than it had any right to be.

POWER RANGERS gets a...
GOOD TIME out of 10

Check it out, especially if you have kids, they'll probably eat this up!

KONG: SKULL ISLAND review

First things first, let me quickly address the main criticism of this movie: the characters aren't interesting enough. Here's my brief rebuttal: IT. IS. A. MONSTER. MOVIE! Who cares? I'll probably go into more detail about why this criticism is nonsense at a later date; but, I thought it'd be wrong if this elephant in the room went ignored. Anyway, on with the show...

Legendary Pictures' "MonsterVerse" has been one of the more interesting factors in a post-Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster world. It's probably the only franchise I can think of that's started out with such a thoroughly average movie like Gareth Edwards' Godzilla and yet I'm still completely stoked to see what happens next. And, with Kong: Skull Island, it appears that my anticipation has now been rightly justified. Functioning mainly as a classier version of old school, B-movie popcorn fare, Kong: Skull Island frequently fires on all cylinders. Does it have its problems? Sure. The mostly witty screenplay does occasionally have a few bad lines and the characters could use a little more depth.

While Skull Island is by no means a straight-up remake of the 1933 original, its story does follow some of the same beats; yet, it doesn't feel too much like previous cinematic incarnations of the titular ape. The characters are undoubtedly archetypal; but, the combined efforts of the cast and the script make sure they aren't completely without personality.

In my humble opinion, almost any shot of this movie could featured on One Perfect Shot. Cinematographer Larry Fong crafts countless instantly iconic shots (some of which you've seen in the trailers), each of which could be hung and framed. In my humble opinion, almost any shot of this movie could featured on One Perfect Shot. Speaking of which, the whole looks absolutely stunning. The crew behind it have claimed to be inspired by Apocalypse Now and that reverence is clearly on display.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts has only made one film prior to this; yet, here, he shows off like a seasoned professional (and I mean that in only the most positive of ways). Every frame exudes a sense of confidence and gleeful audacity so rarely seen in the world of modern popcorn flicks, at least not in the usual manner. Some of this can also be seen in the film's editing (seriously, there's a part where Kong is about to eat a few army guys and it cuts to someone eating a sandwich). Delightful quirks like that pleasantly reminded me of what Peter Jackson in his ambitious 2005 remake.

Aside from the visuals, boy, does this picture sound marvelous. Every roar and every gunshot consumes the theater, enhancing the viewer's immersion. This doesn't even apply to only the sound design. Apart from the undeniable satisfying needle drops, Henry Jackman's score is also quite exceptional. His compositions give the proceedings an extra triumphant boost, a suspenseful cue or whatever the story needs at that time.

Also, while most of the characters are your typical B-movie archetypes, the cast brings the goods. Tom Hiddleston does fine as a pulpy protagonist. Brie Larson brings some really warmth and tenacity to a self-proclaimed "anti-war photographer". Sam Jackson is compelling as this movie's equivalent of Colonel Kurtz. John Goodman is also quite good as an enjoyable crazy government stooge, think a good version of his character from 10 Cloverfield Lane mixed with Carl Denham. Terry Notary also delivers some good mo-cap work as the titular ape. With all of that being said, the real standout in Kong: Skull Island is John C. Reilly. And, to anyone worried that his presence might be this movie's jump-the-shark moment, you can settle down. His character provides some much needed humanity to proceedings as well dishing out some of the film's biggest laughs.

Speaking of which, unlike 2014's adequate version of Godzilla, approaches its monsters with absolutely no pretense; although, its depiction of its creatures being more in common with animals reacting to interlopers rather than malicious beasts was quite refreshing. The clashes between these fantastic creatures are more than worth the price of admission (from Kong starting out by throwing down on a squad of helicopters while Black Sabbath blasts in the background to him struggling against a giant squid and then slurping up its remains like calamari).

All in all, this is undoubtedly one of the finest examples of popcorn flicks in recent years. For this review, I've decided to introduce a new rating to my criteria.

KONG: SKULL ISLAND gets a...
GOOD TIME out of 10

Also, be sure to say through the credits. Without giving anything away, I'll just say that this might be my favorite post-credits scene since Guardians of the Galaxy. Go see it! Have a good time!

LOGAN review

I'll be upfront when I say that I'm not too keen on the X-Men movies. The first two films are boring products of their time. The Last Stand was actually fun, but not a particularly good film. Origins: Wolverine is the absolute nadir of this mediocre franchise. Apocalypse had one good scene and nifty costume design, but nothing else. First Class, The Wolverine and Deadpool were easily the only entries in this series that even remotely approach greatness. I say this to give you a sense of where I'm coming from when approaching Logan. After having seen it and having some time to process it, I can say with confidence that this might be the best X-Men movie yet, partially for a reason that's been the main problem with the entire franchise. To put it simply, Logan succeeds by repeating what's been the dominant flaw of the previous movies: it strips out almost all of the elements that made the X-Men comics so unique in order to focus on a different vision. Now you may be asking why I think it works here and not in the other movies, allow me to elaborate. My problem lies not in a filmmaker using only the bare essentials of a source material and inserting their own distinct hang-ups into the mix; to be honest, I'm completely fine when filmmakers do that after all. After all, its thinking like that that gave us masterworks like the Dark Knight trilogy, Constantine, The Godfather, Jurassic Park, you get the picture. And that doesn't mean that you couldn't do that well for X-Men; it's just that the creative team behind it hasn't. Instead, they threw in a lot of the most dated aspects of that era in mainstream filmmaking. Needlessly slow pacing? Check. Indistinct black rubber costume design? Check. Preposterously overblown need to be seen as serious/mature? You bet that's a check. Point is, the creative vision for this franchise was just boring, pseudo-serious rubbish.

Logan, on the other hand, uses this model to work like a well-oiled machine. It's a comic book flick in only the loosest sense of the term, seamlessly fusing different elements of Westerns, dystopian sci-fi, neo-noir and familial road trip dramas. Much of these influences can be found in John Mathieson's striking cinematography. He manages to fill the 137 minute runtime with plenty of bold, instantly iconic shots, all of which could be hung and framed. There's talk of a black-and-white cut for this and you can easily why that would fit well. Along with the excellent camerawork, Credit should also be given to Marco Beltrami's eclectic score, giving certain scenes a lot more depth.

The performances are just as great as you would expect going in. Hugh Jackman has always been one of the best parts of these movies; but, he brings something a little different to the table this round. Sure, he definitely gets his fair share of awesome moments; yet, there seems to be more to him this time than just the most badass X-Man in existence. For his final stint as the character, Jackman imbues Wolverine with a more complex brand of the seasoned tough-guy routine. Think Clint Eastwood or Phillip Marlowe (specifically Elliot Gould's interpretation) with razor-sharp claws. Patrick Stewart also adds some new layers to Professor X, in ways that are as humorous as they are tragic. Boyd Holbrook makes for a great villain, with a deliciously slimy demeanor and a cool robot hand to boot. Nevertheless, the real standout performance in Logan comes from newcomer Dafne Keen. Her work as Laura (aka X-23) is quite versatile, fluently transitioning from astoundingly fierce to subtly innocent; she's easily one of the best child characters to come out of any recent movie that isn't directed by Shane Black or Michael Dougherty.

With that all out of the way, let's address the elephant in the room: this is undoubtedly an R-rated movie, Blood drenches the frame and F-bombs are dropped frequently; yet, it feels (for lack of a better word) appropriate. It's one of the few quote unquote "mature" superhero movies that actually feels adult, both in ideas and themes as well as in content.

If there's one complaint I do have with the movie, it's that the third act feels slightly incongruous. Thankfully, its not really THAT jarring; but, it does kind of feel like someone stitched together the first two acts of Hell or High Water and the final act of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Still, its a minor complaint and it barely keeps the rest of the film from being absolutely marvelous.



Logan is, without a doubt, a fantastic sendoff to one of the biggest icons of modern cinema. Underneath its downbeat exterior lies a more soulful, moving experience.

LOGAN gets a...
MASTERWORK out of TEN

My Thoughts On That Fancy New Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Poster... and also that new trailer, I guess

The first thing that stood out to me about this poster was just how colorful it is, especially compared to the majority of MCU posters. It gives off a very Flash Gordon/Buckaroo Banzai vibe and I dig it. A lot. And, from the looks of it, the actual movie is bound to be just as visually striking. Speaking of which, let's talk about that trailer...

While I do think this an awesome trailer for what will more likely more than not be a pretty awesome flick, it feels a lot like the last trailer only with a different (admittedly just as great) needle drop and... actually there is a bit more to talk about here. First off, get a look at the size of that gun!

Seriously, that thing is MASSIVE! I cannot wait to see how that beast comes into play. We also got some more of Baby Groot and Ayesha, the film's new antagonist. And, let's get to the thing everyone's talking about: Kurt Russell as Ego the Living Planet.

I'll just be honest and say that he looks exactly how I expected him to look (i.e. not like the giant purple planet with a beard from the comics). That said, I think he does look pretty cool. I mean its essentially Space Kurt Russell, how can that not be cool? And, who knows, maybe there will be a giant Kurt Russell planet in the final product. If James Gunn was mad enough to include Howard the Duck in the first one, anything can happen. So, yeah, this looks great.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 hits theaters May 5th.