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In: 2017, Hot Take, Uncategorized

Hot Take: For this Star Wars fan, the GOAT of Star Wars films.

WARNING: Expect lots of spoilers here. This is likely to be the longest review I’ve ever written on this site. You’ve been warned.

“Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.” The words have Kylo Ren have stuck with me throughout my multiple viewings of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the 8th installment of the Star Wars saga. (That’s not counting Rogue One: A Star Wars Story which dropped last year.) It was one of those “F you!” moments which are littered throughout the superbly written and directed Rian Johnson entry. I remember watching The Force Awakens for the 3rd time and thinking about how much I loved the movie but realizing how inferior it was because it was such a blatant rip-off of Star Wars: A New Hope, the introduction which launched the phenomenon in 1977. My expectations for The Last Jedi were more of the same and the trailer did nothing to squelch those expectations. If anything, it stoked those flames of nostalgia. I wouldn’t have hated it but I’m so ecstatic it played out in a completely different direction. Yes, I loved Star Wars: The Last Jedi. More than Return of the Jedi, Empire Strikes Back and A New Hope, my 1a, 1b and 1c prior to this glorious turn in a completely unexpected direction from where we thought this story was going. Plenty of people hated it. The Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes currently sits at 51% and dropping. Let’s be fair, though. This is the same audience who had to be issued a disclaimer at AMC Theaters regarding one of the most spectacular scenes later in the movie because there was no sound… Really?Read More →

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Hot Take: An entertaining superhero popcorn flick that slips into silliness too often to be great but provides plenty of entertainment to be good.

The beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe seemingly can do no wrong in the eyes of many. Before ripping Thor: Ragnarok, I have to be transparent. I was highly entertained by the latest MCU superhero movie. That being said, why did it have to yuck it up so much? It’s really hard to take Thor: Ragnarok seriously. At times, it feels like a send up of the genre. It’s a growing trend with these MCU films. Each film doesn’t care to raise the bar when it comes to action but there’s an obsession with one-upmanship when it comes to the jokes. This latest one, the third Thor film from the MCU, offers a heavy dose of humor and delivers more comedy than action and tries to make Chris Hemsworth and friends more of a comedy troupe than a superhero group. So, why is this so bad? Well, it’s not but it is hard to take the movie seriously. You might be asking, “Why would you want to take a superhero film seriously?” First, Logan. Second, Thor: Ragnarok occasionally borderlines on parody as Hemsworth hams it up (especially with Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk as the pair almost resemble Abbott & Costello at times), Jeff Goldblum goes full Goldblum and Cate Blanchett does one of the best Zod impressions I’ve seen. Even with the criticism, it’s hard to resist the charisma of Thor: Ragnarok and if you’re not entertained by it, I’m really not sure why you were sitting in the theater in the first place.Read More →

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Hot Take: Nice biopic/courtroom drama combo with excellent performances from Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad and a solid cast of supporting characters. If this weren’t a true story, you could see this becoming a recurring character. Heck, even though it is a true story, based on Thurgood Marshall’s life, it probably could.

In his 84 years on this Earth, Thurgood Marshall led a life that has enough milestones to fill up a catalog of films. The footnote chosen for Marshall, the biopic/courtroom drama featuring Chadwick Boseman as the titular character, is not as much of a landmark milestone as many of Marshall’s other achievements but the tale of a then NAACP lawyer (the only NAACP lawyer) traveling the country to fight injustice toward African Americans by defending them in cases where they were innocent makes for great cinematic drama. It also puts the spotlight on a great man who helped shape Civil Rights and our legal system over the last 70 years. Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take, Uncategorized

Hot Take: Could have easily called it “White Privilege Problems.” It’s hard to care about a self-involved dick who can’t seem to grasp reality. Why is Ben Stiller so good at playing a self-involved asshole?

I’ve felt like the main character in Brad’s Status before. It lasts for about 10 minutes and then I tell myself to snap out of it. Snapping out of it is never the case in Brad’s Status, however. Instead, it’s basically a film starring Ben Stiller as an unaware jerk who can’t seem to grasp that an upper middle class life is good enough when a few people he went to school had more success. The level of self-pity Brad has makes it nearly impossible for you to really care about his “plight” which ends up becoming monotonous as Brad drones on to anyone who will listen about his problems, including us, the audience, thanks to a dry, listless narration from Stiller in the main role.Read More →

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In: 2015, 2016, Hot Take, Lists, Uncategorized, Weigh In

We’re a few hours away from the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees. Now would be as good of a time as any to weigh in on who I think will be nominated for this year’s awards. And, for fun, who I’d nominate if my vote was the only one that counted:

Best Picture

My Nominations

  • Room
  • The Hateful Eight
  • The Revenant
  • The Martian
  • The Big Short
  • Ex Machina
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Spotlight
  • Sicario
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Who Will Earn the Nominations (From most to least likely):Read More →