Hey everyone, Jack Drees here. I don’t have any kids, but if I had kids and happened to live in California, I think I just found a new place I would never ever want to take them. I love going to the cinema, to me, it’s a home away from home. Now, a Mexican cinema chain is making a so called innovation. This chain is known as Cinepolis, and their idea towards innovating is opening theaters that contain jungle gyms. Here’s my response to that. Are you f*cking kidding me?!

 

I thought excessively renovating theaters to put in reclined seating was absurd, this puts the word “absurd” in a whole new dimension I never even imagined. Apparently, there are locations set to open in southern California, and there are actually locations of this kind open in Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. From that, I can only imagine there are days when parents from these countries have huge headaches because of places like this. When the locations in southern California opens, southern Californian parents will probably feel the same way.

You know how in a lot of movie theaters they have those warnings before the show begins to shut off your phones and be quiet? This actually may encourage talking throughout a movie. Granted, kids aren’t the quietest folks in the world, and sometimes their behavior in a movie theater can show that. But just imagine kids going “WEEEEE!” down a slide while a movie is playing, that would actually be worse. For what I can imagine, only kids movies would play in here. So anything PG-13 or higher won’t be playing in an auditorium like this. You know what I would imagine as well? With the jungle gym inside, the kids are going to be around there for a portion of the feature presentation and parents who probably dislike films such as animations will have to put up with whatever’s on screen without the kid by their side. Also, this goes for kids as well, but I think parents will be more annoyed by this, with all the noise kids will be making in the jungle gym, it’s quite possible it will be a lot harder to hear the movie. If the sound system is excellent, that’s something I’d appreciate at any age, but if not, I’d just roll my eyes and probably just want to leave.

One common bane of every parent’s existence from what I heard, happens to be Chuck E Cheese. I have been there multiple times as a kid. If you don’t know, they are a popular spot for children’s events or birthday parties, they have an arcade, and they also have a jungle gym. I haven’t been in years, especially when you consider the fact that I’m 17. As far as complaints go there, I heard the food is terrible, and there’s not really much for a parent to appreciate about the place. For what I remember, the only times I recall having any food there is during birthday parties, I don’t remember their food being the worst thing I’ve ever eaten. Then again, every single time I have been was when I was at a single digit age and when it comes to food like pizza, I didn’t really think much about quality. Let me just say, this movie theater/jungle gym idea, at least to me, IS WORSE.

A lot of people enjoy going to the cinema. Granted there are lots of people who would rather stay home and rent a movie On Demand, but still, there are people who still go to the cinema. There are also a lot of people who find amusement in going to arcades. Chuck E Cheese is partially an arcade, and even if I went in as an adult, I’d have fun in that sort of way. Sure, it might be awkward, but still fun. With that being said, the problem I have with the jungle gym movie theater idea is that the movie will be playing in a room with a jungle gym inside. If there were, I don’t know, say a jungle gym in the lobby that kids could play around, I’d accept that. That idea would cause less of a disturbance, give kids something to do before a movie starts if they arrive at the theater early, and make the cinematic experience quite possibly less awkward for parents.

Also, let’s take the price in mind. I first heard about this entire jungle gym movie theater thing in an article from LAist. It mentions that the price will be $3 more than a standard movie ticket. So while children may be happy, adults are paying $3 extra per ticket just to enter hell for a couple of hours. Even if you are one of those people who hates 3D, you’d probably rather pay a few extra bucks to see a 3D film than this because at least something like that would focus on the film itself. This is just Chuck E Cheese in a movie theater. By the way, I mentioned an article at the beginning, if you want to look at it, I have the link right here.

http://laist.com/2017/03/07/cinepolis.php#photo-1

Just…Wow. When it comes to movie theater innovations I find ridiculous, I thought the overuse of recliners was bad enough. The jungle gym movie theater may just take the recliners, and put them in a junkyard with a slide, merry go round, beanbags, and unmovable pogo sticks. I don’t believe what I’m seeing here. Well, at least I don’t live in California so that takes some worries off my chest. First off, today is March 8th, or as some people may call it, International Women’s Day, so happy International Women’s Day to all the women out there! Second, for upcoming reviews, I currently have nothing planned this upcoming weekend. If I were to see something, it would either be “Kong: Skull Island,” “Fist Fight,” or “Moonlight.” I’m also thinking of seeing “Get Out” after all of the positive reception I’ve collected about it, but that shall probably remain a mystery for now since horror movies aren’t my go to genre. I don’t mind watching them, they just aren’t my first choice, not to mention, I don’t think they are the first choice of certain folks I know either. Nevertheless, if I post a review over the next weekend, please stay tuned. Also, stay tuned for posts that aren’t reviews. (Sigh) Please just tell me this jungle gym s*it isn’t gonna spread far. Anyway, Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here. A couple days ago, it was Zack Snyder’s birthday, if you don’t know him, he directed movies like “300,” “Dawn of the Dead,” and “Sucker Punch.” He’s also responsible for directing some of the DC Extended Universe films. The films in the franchise which he directed include “Man of Steel,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and the upcoming “Justice League” film which is supposed to come out in November. He’s also directing a “Justice League” sequel but there’s not an official release date on that film yet. The film I’m going to bring up today isn’t one he’s directing, but it is also one he’s producing, and that film, is “Aquaman.” I will be completely honest with you, when it comes to comic books, I don’t read them, I just follow the films, so if I insert anything that a comic book fan might know about Aquaman that a normal person usually wouldn’t, that’s likely to be based off of brief research. The greatest knowledge I have when it comes to Aquaman, is a brief clip of him from “Batman v Superman,” playing “Injustice: Gods Among Us,” quite possibly Comic-Con, “The Big Bang Theory,” and random places with that sort of information on the Internet and TV. I mean, I know his superpower…

In this post I’m going to bring up something Zack Snyder posted on his Twitter. He posted a few seconds of footage of “Aquaman” on there. The tweet stated “Working on my birthday 🎉.” After seeing that, some thoughts are on my mind 1: It’s nice to show people that more matters to you on your birthday than gifts or going out to dinner. And 2: Does Zack Snyder think nobody will care about or remember about his birthday? That’s not the point really, but still, it’s some stuff I thought about. If you want to watch the Aquaman footage, it’s down below, enjoy.

As far as this footage goes, I must say I’m impressed with it from a visual standpoint, in a way, it almost reminds me of “The Legend of Tarzan,” which came out last year, if it were underwater. I was bored throughout a good portion of that film, but I thought the visuals were tremendous throughout. Although just to get this out, “Aquaman” doesn’t come out until October 5th, 2018. The movie could look a lot different in the final product as opposed to how it looks now. Also, this video was shot on a camera looking at a screen, and maybe if you viewed it in real life, maybe the footage would look even better. After all, you still need to color grade, and if possible, add music to suit the scene depending on when this happens.

As far as Aquaman goes in the footage, I’d say, just from this short clip, I approve of Jason Momoa playing Aquaman. He looks like he has the qualities of a superhero. He’s fit, and while he may not look like the Aquaman you’d typically think of when it comes to the comic books, I still like the costume, or at least the part of it I can see, I bet his top will be covered for some time in the movie so I can glance at the rest of the costume. My only problem with Aquaman, is his hairstyle. When I look at Aquaman and notice his long hair, it almost reminds me of one of the dwarves from the “Lord of the Rings” franchise. I’m not joking! Regardless of whether or not you have seen one “Lord of the Rings” film (the books don’t matter in this case), specifically the ones in the Hobbit trilogy, I have two images of posters shown below. On the left, is Aquaman, on the right, is Thorin, as he is shown in a poster for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” Just look at them.

I mean literally, what the hell is this?! I apparently just entered the Twilight Zone! Oh, and by the way, despite having black hair in the video and the left poster, Aquaman from what I heard will be blonde in this movie.

There’s one more character in the video that I’ve yet to talk about. Aquaman is going up to him and he stops in front of him, based on some research, I was able to determine the guy would be a villain in the film, Orm/Ocean Master. In this movie, Ocean Master is being played by Patrick Wilson, who was in some fairly recent horror films including “The Conjuring” and “Insidious.” I can’t really say much else except that I hope Wilson does well in the film. From what I see, it looks like the movie interpretation of Ocean Master is faithful to the comic books just by the way it looks, but as far as everything else goes, that will be determined in the future.

I hope “Aquaman” is a good movie, because right now, the DCEU really needs something to boost itself. I enjoyed “Man of Steel,” “Batman v Superman” somehow gets better every time I watch it and it made me find my celebrity crush, “Suicide Squad” was fun the first time, but it got SO MUCH WORSE the second time, probably not top 10 of the year worse, but it’s just plain bad as of now. I mean, I have a lot of faith in the upcoming “Wonder Woman” film and I think it’s gonna be sick, but we’ll have to see. From the footage I saw, it looks pretty good, but we’ll have to see what happens in the future when it comes to this movie. Also, I feel I should remind all of you once again that I have a petition to get “King of the Nerds” back on the air. If you want to sign it, I have the link down below, go right ahead. Just a little announcement that just came up to me recently, apparently as of yesterday, I have been on Scene Before for 1 year now. I don’t know if I’m gonna do something for that, but we’ll see. Be sure to stay tuned for my future posts and reviews! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

KING OF THE NERDS SEASON 4 PICKUP PETITION: https://www.change.org/p/game-show-network-have-a-network-pick-up-king-of-the-nerds-for-season-4

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! Thought I was done talking about the Academy Awards? You thought wrong! There’s another thing I want to bring up, and that is “Suicide Squad’s” win. “Suicide Squad” is probably one of the most controversial movies of the past year. After many folks happened to be disappointed with “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” it didn’t stop their excitement for “Suicide Squad,” which was supposed to come out in summer 2016. Then the movie came out, the opinions were across the board for this film. A lot of comic book nerds really hated it, critics trashed it (according to Rotten Tomatoes), then there’s that group of people who happened to really like it (also according to Rotten Tomatoes). When I first saw the film, I liked it, in my review, I gave it a 7/10. However, when watching the film on Blu-Ray, I felt like I was watching a selection of cool segments, but mostly uninspired s*it. So yeah, the score is now a bit lower than how it was after my first watch. Would I watch it again in the future? Quite possibly, but probably only for certain parts. I feel like I’m jumping on a bandwagon for saying this, but the fact that this very film is now an Oscar winner, is just hilarious.

This film won in the category of “Best Makeup and Hairstyling.” I’ll be honest, out of all the Oscars this film could possibly win, this would have been one of the most believable ones. In fact, compared to its competitors, I’m totally fine with this film winning, I have not seen “A Man Called Ove,” but after a brief look at some images from the film, I can’t say I’m thrilled with it. I saw its other competitor, “Star Trek: Beyond,” and as far as eligibility for this category goes, I’d say this movie is a reasonable nomination. One character really stood out to me, Jaylah played by Sofia Boutella to be specific. However, “Suicide Squad” was the film I actually felt was the most deserving of the three films. I was amazed with what they have done with a few characters. These characters include Harley Quinn, The Joker, and Enchantress. Everything looked glossy and colorful when it came to The Joker and Harley Quinn and Enchantress certainly looked intimidating. Even if I didn’t care much for a certain characters, I was able to admire how they looked.

Also, let me just remind you. As if calling “Suicide Squad” an Oscar winner isn’t weird enough, get a load of this. There isn’t a single Marvel Cinematic Universe movie that has won an Oscar. There have been multiple comic book based films that won Oscars in the past, including ones from Marvel like “Spider-Man 2” and “Men in Black.” Although, not one modern day Marvel Cinematic Universe film such as “Iron Man,” “The Avengers,” or “Guardians of the Galaxy” won an Oscar, EVER. They have been nominated, but not a single one was a winner. However, a modern day DC Comics film, one that was disliked by so many people, actually happened to win an Oscar. It’s just astounding to me.

All of this does raise a few questions. The first question being, is this a sure sign that DC actually has a chance of making great movies in the future? Well, nothing’s absolutely certain when it comes to that matter, and I’m ABSOLUTELY EXCITED for “Wonder Woman” coming out in June, and I also have faith in “Justice League” coming out in November, so we’ll see what happens with those films along with other DC films. Also, will Marvel Studios ever win an Academy Award? From research, most of the MCU films are nominated for best visual effects. Although its chances of winning, personally, probably aren’t gonna be the best. And I say that because a good portion of the MCU films look very similar in terms of visuals. Just watch a few Marvel Studios films and you’ll see what I mean. Last question I have in mind, is this. Will DC ever surpass Marvel in terms of quality? I honestly doubt that. Marvel has a formula with their films, and in some ways, this is completely unofficial, because in my view, this only applies to one DC film, but it almost seems as if DC is trying to borrow a lot of what Marvel has and put it into their films. This is evident when it comes to “Suicide Squad.” When you take the soundtrack, some of the visuals, and the whole team formation jazz, in some ways, it almost feels like at times that I’m watching a carbon copy of “Guardians of the Galaxy.” With films like “Man of Steel” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” I felt like I was watching something new. I really enjoyed my experience of watching “Man of Steel,” and while I wouldn’t consider “Batman v Superman” a great movie, I can’t say it’s a horrible movie either.

I can’t say I’m entirely disappointed with this film winning the award it won, because out of all the choices, it looked like “Suicide Squad” put in the most effort when it came into this category and it definitely paid off. What are your thoughts on “Suicide Squad” getting an Oscar? Is this category appropriate for the film? Or I want to know this, what did you think of “Suicide Squad,” yeah, I’m actually somewhat curious, so leave a comment if interested! Be sure to stay tuned for more of my epic posts and reviews coming soon! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here, and the 89th Academy Awards are officially over. Right I’m going to talk about some of the highlights of the show, whether or not my expectations were fulfilled, the political jabs, and THAT ENDING. If you have seen the show, chances are you automatically know what I’m referring to.

Starting off with the highlights we are gonna talk about the Walmart receipt films. In case you don’t know what I’m referring to. A group of people were asked to direct 3 films using a list of items shown on one Walmart receipt. One film was directed by Marc Forster, another film was directed by Antoine Fuqua, and there was another film by Seth Rogen along with Evan Goldberg. My personal favorite out of those films was the one from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. I am able to appreciate the other two, but I admire the third film for the number of set pieces it’s able to shove in a matter of moments without feeling bloated, along with the fact that it is able to do something that made me admire Tape Face from season 11 of “America’s Got Talent,” which is make something out of literally nothing. There’s no real big story or backbone, but the randomness which is executed feels like it’s masterfully done and it doesn’t feel crazy. In a way, it feels stupid, but in a way it’s also the work of a genius. And no, I don’t mean that like “Impractical Jokers” stupid, it’s actually kind of complex to explain.

One of the other highlights I will bring up has to do with “La La Land,” and I saw that movie in the theater and it was terrific. When I reviewed the movie, I gave it a 9/10. Going into the Oscars, “La La Land” had 14 nominations. After receiving huge praise from critics, also a high amount from average moviegoers as well, I was expecting a HUGE sweep. Did we get a sweep? Yes. But it wasn’t as big as I was expecting. I was expecting Hollywood to just go on loving itself, but no, the love wasn’t as tremendous as I thought it would be. Just to let you know, the record for the most wins at the Oscars for a film is 11 wins, while “La La Land” didn’t get 11 wins, it got 6, which is still pretty decent. So this kind of makes me think that Hollywood doesn’t love itself as much as I thought. I mean, I wouldn’t mind “La La Land” getting more than 6 awards but it would still leave that thought in my mind.

Going into the Oscars, one of the categories I was looking forward to was “Best Animated Feature Film,” I mentioned in my most recent post which has to do with the Oscars that I was desperately hoping that “Kubo and the Two Strings” would win this category. I also mentioned that my prediction for the winner was Disney’s “Zootopia,” which would have been my second choice. “Zootopia” did take the award in that category, which I do approve of, “Zootopia” was definitely the funniest of the animations I watched in 2016, it’s very well animated, and it’s almost a spoof of real life. However, I really do hope “Laika,” the animation studio behind Kubo does get more recognition in the future. I have seen two of their films so far and I really loved both of them. I saw “Coraline,” which was released back in 2009. Beautifully crafted and animated, well written, it had wonderful music, and it was very engaging. “Kubo and the Two Strings” actually managed to be better, like as in, MIND-BLOWINGLY better. I cannot wait to see what Laika does next!

Also, let’s get talking about one of my favorite movies of the past year, “Arrival!” “Kubo and the Strings” was my favorite movie nominated for anything at the Oscars, but of the ones nominated for “Best Picture,” Arrival was my favorite. “Arrival” actually happened to win one award, and that award is “Best Achievement in Sound Editing.” I was honestly expecting “Sully” to win in that category, but the fact that “Arrival” won anything satisfied me and me almost jump for joy. After all, as one who has seen the film, I will say that the film has a nice variation in terms of sound effects, the sound effects are timed well and happen to match with what is going on, and the sound effects themselves sound cool.

I’m now gonna talk about the categories of “Best Actor” and “Best Actress.” I actually got my predictions right for both categories, and I cannot be happier with the picks for these categories. Starting off with the fellow who happened to win “Best Actor,” Casey Affleck, there is NO OTHER CHOICE. As extremely disappointed as I was with “Manchester by the Sea” in general, I was amazed everyone’s ability to act throughout the film to the point where I thought it was some of the best acting I ever seen. Say what you want about Casey Affleck when it comes to that whole sexual harassment scandal, but the dude can act, and the same goes with just about everyone else in the movie. Even Michelle Williams, for the few minutes she’s around, was exceptional. Everything in the movie, despite being much more humorous and witty as opposed to sad, felt realistic and that’s one of the movie’s biggest positives, which I’m really glad to say.

Now, let’s move onto the “Best Actress,” Emma Stone. Emma Stone has proven that she’s a talented actress, and her work in “La La Land” just shows that significantly. In terms of lead actress performances, Stone is up there with Hailee Steinfeld in “Edge of Seventeen” as my favorite lead actress performances of 2016, and Emma Stone deserved her Oscar. Granted, part of it probably had to do with how well written the character was, but regardless of writing, Stone transformed this character, into a person. It absolutely shows during the near end of the film, which overall just made me go “Wow.” So, I would not only like to thank Damien Chazelle, who wrote the movie for coming up with such an inspiring and well written character, but I want to give thanks to Emma Stone for making the character so lifelike and fluid. It’s just, I don’t know, magic. Yeah, that’s the word, I’m gonna go with magic.

Now, let’s political. Sorry guys, I have to. Heading into Oscar night, a lot of people were expecting a bunch of jokes about Trump, specifically ones created with the intention to destroy him. I will admit there were a few, and as one who didn’t really like just about anyone running for president during the 2016 US election, I will personally admit that there were some jokes that had me cracking. I will say, most of the jokes came from host Jimmy Kimmel so not too many of the celebrities were exposing their political views, which is something I could personally consider a positive. There was even one that I thought was absolutely brilliant and had lots of attendees laughing and it had me busting my guts as well. Jimmy Kimmel went on his phone, there was a screen showing what he was doing on the phone, Kimmel went to Twitter and he tweeted the following:

“Hey @realDonaldTrump u up?”

Then a second later, he tweeted once more, saying this:

“@realDonaldTrump #Merylsayshi”

If you have you have seen or heard about Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes, chances are you will understand this tweet. By the way, there were less political jokes than I was expecting, so I consider that a nice plus.

Now, let’s talk about the ending that shocked everyone! Remember when Steve Harvey made a huge mistake at the 2016 Miss Universe show? Get a load of this! The Oscars are just about to come to an end, the “Best Picture” nominees were just announced, and the winner was announced. That award went to “La La Land,” which when I heard it, did not come off as a huge shock to me, I thought the film deserved it, but at the last second, it turns out that isn’t the real winner. Warren Beatty had the wrong card! The REAL winner was “Moonlight,” another movie which I wouldn’t have been surprised with taking the “Best Picture” spot. I gotta say, I don’t blame Warren for this, he didn’t have the card. Comparing it to the Miss Universe incident, Steve Harvey had the right card, but he read it wrong. Warren Beatty at the Oscars had the wrong card, but he read it right. I thought this was completely scripted, like, Jimmy Kimmel came up with this going into the show, and that was a joke. At another point, I thought there would be a tie between the two movies. Just wow. If I have anything else to say about it, I’m noticing a funny connection between this year’s Academy Awards and last year’s Academy Awards. The winners for “Best Picture” both have the word light in them. This year’s winner is “Moonlight” and last year’s winner is “Spotlight.” Just thought I’d shine some “light” on that. Also, I’d like to give kudos to the folks of “La La Land” for being good sports when they found out about the mistake. In fact I heard Emma Stone talking after the Oscars finished and the after party started. She stated “Moonlight” was one of the greatest movies of all time, so I can tell Emma was able to respect the movie’s victory. After all, I bet she’s pretty satisfied considering she won “Best Actress.”

Well that’s it for my thoughts on the 89th Academy Awards, and I just want to know, did you watch the Academy Awards? What did you think about it? Did you get any of your hopes or predictions met? What were your favorite moments from the show? Leave a comment! Right now, considering the fact that “Moonlight” won “Best Picture,” I want to go see it. Will I see it? That will be determined in the future, but it’s something I’m keeping in mind right now. Also as far as other movies go, I might want to see “Fist Fight.” If I do manage to see either of those movies, be sure to stay tuned for those reviews, along with other reviews aside from those, plus other random posts I might be in the mood to create. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! It’s that time of year, the Academy Awards show is upon us. Regardless of whether or not you watch them, you’d probably agree with me when I say that the Academy Awards happens to be the biggest award show in film. Despite the fact that I am a hardcore movie watcher and will make my best efforts watch any movie in my path no matter how good or bad, it is one of the few award shows I watch. Granted I know many other shows, but I either don’t get much advertising for them, I don’t have much awareness toward them, or I might even simply not care about them. Right now I just want to talk about the upcoming Academy Awards show on the 26th of February. By the way, when this first gets posted, the show is scheduled to start in LESS THAN 24 hours, so if you came in on this post by 8PM on the east coast or 5PM on the west coast, you have arrived before the show begins. Anyway, for this post, I’m gonna talk about my hopes for the upcoming show and also some of my predictions. I’m not gonna say all my predictions, but a select few.

To start this off, I’m gonna talk about something that is probably on the minds of many people living in the US. How political is this going to get? With the whole “liberal Hollywood” thing, several people have been somewhat mad because they feel they are having political information shoved down their throats, especially info that is anti-conservative or anti-Trump. To support my point, I’m gonna refer to the buildup to the Golden Globes this year. On Twitter, I saw a bunch of users saying that they are intending to boycott the Golden Globes because it will have jokes on Trump. At one point, #BoycottGoldenGlobes was trending on Twitter and it was on that trending list for a good portion of the day. Was there any sign of anti-Trump moments? Yes, but the way I see it, at least for the moments I recall, it was more about being informative and raising awareness of somewhat recent events as opposed to destroying him. If people like Meryl Streep planned to destroy Donald Trump, she’d probably be taking comedy lessons from Stephen Colbert. As far as future anti-Trump events go, if there are any, make sure that they are few and far between. There are a select group of people that do find this entertaining whereas others would much prefer gouging their eyes out. In all reality, I’d prefer that there would be no political correlation here, but we’ll see what happens. Do I like Trump? No. Do I need to hear jokes about him everywhere I go? No. By the way, for the record, I didn’t like too many 2016 US presidential candidates, especially the ones that survived to the very end. I digress.

Now, I bet some of you are so annoyed of hearing about politics everywhere that you’re probably just raging while I’m talking about it like when you hear it from someone else, so let’s go onto something movie related. Let’s get going with my first prediction. My first prediction is in the category of “Best Animation.” My prediction for this category is “Zootopia,” which fun fact, made my #9 spot on my top 10 best movies of 2016. Speaking of fun facts, that was only my 3rd favorite animation of that year, it is right behind “Kung Fu Panda 3” and “Kubo and the Two Strings” in terms of movies in the animation category. Despite how “Zootopia” is my prediction for this category, my desired pick for it would be “Kubo and the Two Strings.” That movie actually made my #2 spot on my top 10 best movies of 2016 for its beautiful stop motion animation, masterful sound editing, lovable story which just so happens to honor storytellers themselves, and a brilliantly chosen cast. Seriously, it’s near impossible that could you go wrong with folks like Charlize Theron (Hancock, Mad Max: Fury Road), Matthew McConaughey, and “oh myyyyy!” George Takei! Getting back to “Zootopia,” the reason why I made this my official prediction as the winner of the “Best Animation” category is based on a number of factors. This isn’t the case anymore, but during the movie’s opening weekend, it had a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised this film for not only having an entertaining story for kids and adults alike, but for also bringing up modern day social issues, which I actually found pretty entertaining as it is relevant.

Another one of my biggest wishes for the Oscars has to do with Casey Affleck. If you don’t follow recent films, chances are you aren’t familiar with “Manchester by the Sea.” I was honestly quite disappointed with the film because it was advertised as a tearjerker, but I found myself letting out laughs more than shedding tears, but the film still had a rather decent verdict from me (7/10) because several factors held the film from sinking in the sea (Get it?). The biggest example I can give towards an avoidance of total disaster, is Casey Affleck’s performance as the character of Lee Chandler. The timing when Affleck speaks was just squeaky clean and his body movements made it feel like I was watching a real person. The nominees for “Best Actor” all seem to be good choices (even though I haven’t seen every movie listed), but in the end, I’m rooting for Affleck.

Next up, we’re gonna talk about “Best Picture.” Considering how this may be an extremely popular and revered category, I’m gonna list the nominees right here. “Arrival,” “Fences,” “La La Land,” “Hidden Figures,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Lion,” and “Hell or High Water.” Now, I have not seen all of these movies. Of the ones I have seen, they are “Arrival,” “La La Land,” “Hidden Figures,” and “Manchester by the Sea.”

Out of all the movies on that particular list I’ve seen, my personal favorite is “Arrival,” which was my #4 spot on my top 10 best films of 2016. I love the movie because it just shows how essential communication and language are. The more I think about it, it makes me glad that I have the option to learn foreign languages. For the record, I’m taking Latin in school right now, it’s a very difficult subject in my opinion, but even if I was taking another language I’d still be thinking the same thing. There are aliens in this film, but this is not an alien invasion movie. Sure, aliens come down to Earth, but it’s nothing like a summer blockbuster, it has a very calm vibe as it keeps a slow and steady pace and focuses on the human characters trying to figure out whatever it is the aliens are saying and thinking, and trying to teach them their own language. Not only is this movie unique when it comes to movies featuring aliens, but it’s also important, engaging, and it’s also well shot at certain points. I’d be totally happy with this film winning “Best Picture,” however I would also be happy with another film winning. Before we get into the second film I’m rooting for, I will remind you, this is my prediction as the winner.

The film I’m referring to as my second choice, to be specific, is “La La Land.” As of now, “La La Land” is on my #10 spot on my top 10 best films of 2016. By the way, if you have seen that post, my original #10 spot was “Sausage Party,” but I’ve yet to see “La La Land” so I couldn’t judge the film yet. There are many reasons why I think this will win. This film is doing relatively well during its run in theaters, the trailers are showing it off by exposing its high ratings, by the way, it has high ratings, it’s an ode to dreamers, it’s an ode to Hollywood, it’s an ode to older films and musicals, the opening to the film was done in one continuous shot, and look at what happened at the Golden Globes. This film won SEVEN Golden Globes, which makes it the winningest film in Golden Globe history. If this film doesn’t win best picture, I predict it’ll probably rack up a bunch of other wins at the Oscars. I will say however, part of me thinks it somewhat has to do with Hollywood loving itself. Granted, “La La Land,” to me, is a work of art, but I bet some folks who work for Hollywood, or happen to live in Hollywood, or even happen to just follow the works of Hollywood like myself, could possibly have some sort of bias towards this movie. And if some people do, I can’t entirely blame them, because I will state that when it comes to “Arrival,” a small part of me feels like I have a bias towards it because I’m a sci-fi lover and the movie kind of reminds me of one of my all time favorite films, “Interstellar.” The two movies are similar in terms of pace, vibe, and the two films even happen to make you think. Also, I bet some of you might ask, why do I think “La La Land” is a work of art? I don’t want to digress too much, so I’ll give quite a few reasons, but I won’t go into a long explanation. 1: The opening scene. 2: Emma Stone’s performance. 3: Emma Stone’s character. 4: Ryan Gosling’s character. 5: It salutes old Hollywood while still feeling fresh. 6: Terrific score and numbers. 7: The movie is a gift to dreamers (including me from what I picked up). 8: The chemistry between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s characters feels incredibly real. 9: Essentially says that you can make a dream a reality, but you might lose something along the way. 10: The ending.

When it comes to this year’s Academy Awards show, I’m pretty excited. I like Jimmy Kimmel and I’m glad to see him as the host, however that choice could probably be a little biased considering he has a talk show on ABC. Then again, Jimmy Fallon hosted the Golden Globes this year and he’s got a talk show on NBC, so I guess this is a trend this year. If you have a talk show on the same network an award show is on, you get to host that award show. As long as they don’t dive too far into politics, and just focus on the movies, the Oscars overall will be fine. Also, I want to know, are you watching the Oscars this year? Do you care? Are you rooting for certain movies? Do you have any predictions? Leave a comment! Also, stay tuned for my upcoming posts and movie reviews! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here. If you haven’t been living under a rock throughout February, you’d probably already know that Super Bowl 51 recently took place. It was a big game indeed, you’ve got the Patriots, with a quarterback that everybody hates, but at the same time a lot of people love, going for his fifth Super Bowl win, and you’ve got the Falcons, trying to finally bring at least a single Super Bowl trophy back to Atlanta. After this Super Bowl, I happen to know many people who have considered this to be the greatest Super Bowl of all time, and quite possibly the greatest comeback in sports history. Also, it may bring some relief to Tom Brady (left), who despite winning Super Bowl 49 2 years ago, thanks to a surprise interception by Malcom Butler (right) which made him New England’s hero of the night, has had a tough ride getting to this Super Bowl. He was accused of using balls that weren’t properly inflated during a game, which if you want to know my thoughts on that, I believe the balls were inflated properly, and no, I’m not just saying that because I’m a fan of the Patriots. Brady also had to spend over a year going to court until finally in 2016 he received a 4 game suspension during the previous regular season. So seeing the Patriots win the Super Bowl not only made Brady and his team happy, but it also was successful revenge against Roger Goodell (commissioner of NFL). If you don’t know who Roger Goodell is, the reaction that certain Patriots fans would give when they hear his name is probably the same reaction John Oliver would give when hearing Sepp Blatter’s (former president of FIFA) name. With all that being said, Malcom Butler may as well be considered by many to be Super Bowl 49’s sneak attacker, and Tom Brady may as well be considered by many to be Super Bowl 51’s winningest winner, I am trying to come up with a good analogy, it’s really hard, forgive me. What’s next for these two? These two are gonna have movies made about them.

In case you ever cared to know, I live in New England, and I honestly don’t give a flying crap on a cracker about football. However, if there’s one team I’d force myself to root for, that team would be the New England Patriots.

If you want to call me a loser, do it all you want, I don’t care. You don’t have to like the Patriots. I just recently mentioned I don’t like football so it’s not like I’m the type of guy who goes to Buffalo Wild Wings every Sunday with his friends to watch the game, so I’m not gonna start a brawl against you. If it makes you feel better in any way, I’m wondering if these movies should even exist in the first place, and I’m willing to bet you’re wondering the same.

I mean, to me, these are interesting stories, and I bet in due time, these will be remembered and revered by a number of generations to come. But do they really need to be brought to the big screen this instant? I don’t think so. If you don’t follow football, a lot of people view the New England Patriots as the football equivalent to the New York Yankees. They just keep on winning and people hate them for it. I will say, if there were one movie that I think would relate to audiences more, it would be the Malcolm Butler movie. The problem I have with this Tom Brady movie idea is that Tom Brady at this point, is like Superman. He leads a powerful team with an iron fist with a big ego. Sure, he is a nice person from what I can imagine, but he’s incredibly well known, and not to mention super rich. If you have ever seen the movie “Cinderella Man,” the reason why that underdog story works, at least to me, is that it took place during the Great Depression. This gave me time to sympathize towards main character of the film and his family too. If you take the wealthy Tom Brady, along with his wife who also happens to make a ton of money, the story itself doesn’t really become as relatable. Malcolm Butler however, is not as rich or as well known when it comes to football. The thing although that makes me think his movie’s a dumb idea is the whole Deflategate controversy. The news about it was starting around the time of Super Bowl 49 and that probably brought in some more people who viewed the Patriots as the Empire from “Star Wars.” I will say that the idea of a Tom Brady is although worse.

I mentioned recently, Super Bowl 51 is argued amongst many people to be the greatest comeback in sports history. However to many other people, it is quite possibly considered to be a very big f*ck you. The Atlanta Falcons has never won a championship, so imagine how they must be feeling right now. A lot of people who watched the Super Bowl rooted for the underdog and quite possibly felt disappointed by the Falcons getting beaten. In fact, I might even consider this to be just like the 2016 US presidential election. A majority of people was hoping Hillary Clinton would win (look at the popular vote) while the electoral college wanted Donald Trump. I’m not gonna give my thoughts on the election, but I’ll say this, to make this even more like the 2016 election, I saw multiple tweets after the Super Bowl saying stuff like “Atlanta won the popular vote.” It just goes to show you, that despite the Patriots, along with Tom Brady himself, happening to achieve something so tremendous and rare, they still get lots of hate from hardcore football followers. I’m not saying the idea of this movie should be terminated entirely, but I am saying that this movie isn’t a good idea right now, and the idea of a Malcolm Butler film isn’t that much better. Maybe the idea could be revisited years from now, lets say if the Patriots hate stops, or when the Falcons finally win a championship, I don’t know. Only time will tell.

I do want to know however, what are your thoughts on a Malcolm Butler or Tom Brady movie related to the past two Patriots related Super Bowls? Leave a comment! Also, if you are interested, be sure to check out my review for “John Wick: Chapter 2,” I’ll have a link to the review posted for you to check out if you want to read it, and be sure to stay tuned for more reviews. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2” REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/john-wick-chapter-2-two-times-the-wickedness/

“John Wick: Chapter 2” is directed by Chad Stahelski and it is the return of Keanu Reeves’s kickass character whom we were introduced to back in 2014. In this sequel to the highly appreciated action movie, “John Wick,” John must return to the criminal underworld in order to repay a debt. Throughout, it is discovered that a bounty was put on Wick. Therefore giving us another fast paced (for the most part) action thrill ride.

Before this movie came out, I was somewhat concerned for a couple reasons. One, this movie was supposed to come out in February and if you follow movies and release dates on a regular basis, you’d probably know that February is the paper shredder for movies. Seriously, just imagine a script going into a paper shredder just for how truly awful it really is. Also, I was kind of worried that this would have the “Taken” effect. What I mean is that the first “Taken” film, at least to me, was pure awesomeness. You’ve got tons of cool action, relatable characters, and that AMAZING line Liam Neeson gives. “I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what you want.” Then “Taken 2” comes out, it was nothing like the first one. Is it a complete abomination? Not really, but it’s close to that! By the way, if you’re wondering about the third Taken film, I’d say it’s better than the second one, but I think it was probably only made to complete a trilogy. Would I say we needed this John Wick sequel? I wouldn’t say we didn’t, but I wouldn’t say we did either. I would have been fine either way. Nevertheless, “John Wick: Chapter 2” was a fun experience.

For characters, you can already tell we’re kicking this segment off by talking about John Wick. John Wick is played by Keanu Reeves, and say what you want about the guy as an actor, but in this movie, here are my honest thoughts, and this can count for the previous John Wick film as well, Keanu didn’t do bad with his performance. One thing I can wholeheartedly appreciate from Keanu in this movie is how he is in action. As of right now, Keanu is up there with folks like Donnie Yen, Gal Gadot, Scarlett Johansson, and Liam Neeson as one of my favorite actors when it comes to action. I can also appreciate the pristine editing, but that appreciation can also go towards Keanu himself, because I saw him in a video off set once, he really commits to his craft and that video can support that. Like seriously, there’s not that much quick cutting or shaky cam in this movie. Everything feels fluid and natural, at times it’s like you’re playing a third person shooter. I’m gonna get back to the action a little later, but to keep a long ramble short, Keanu’s a badass.

The main antagonist of the film is played by Riccardo Scamarcio, and I must say that he did a fine job. I’m not sure if I’ll remember his character all that much, but I’d say he did alright as far as acting goes. There’s not really much else I believe is worth saying about him other than he was fine in terms of action and I can’t complain about him much.

I’m not gonna get too much into depth about the characters because I want to talk about the action sequences. I’ll get to those in a second, but I’ll get two more characters under my belt. One character I want to start off with that intrigued me was Ruby Rose’s character of Ares. I loved Rose’s performance in this movie because it was all done in sign language. I don’t know, something about it makes her come off as slightly more badass. Plus you add in the wacky subtitles and you’ve got quite a show. I mentioned Ruby Rose was pretty cool in “xXx: Return of Xander Cage,” I personally liked her better in this film.

Last but not least, let’s talk about Laurence Fishburne. If you haven’t seen “The Matrix,” by the way, if you haven’t seen “The Matrix,” you may want to rethink your life choices, Fishburne is in that movie, and so is Keanu Reeves. With that being said, I was pretty excited to see what would happen with the two of them reuniting in this movie. I wouldn’t say Fishburne’s role was entirely forced, but after seeing the role he was in, it almost felt like this reunion was somewhat forced. Not completely forced, but somewhat forced if you get my drift. Am I absolutely disappointed? Not really, but in one way or another, it was like the original cast members returning to the “Ghostbusters” reboot, although NOWHERE near as embarrassing. I am happy to see the two reunite, it’s like if sometime in the future, Daisy Ridley got her own action film and John Boyega came in to play a minor character, it would be cool for those who saw the newer “Star Wars” films. I liked Laurence’s role in the film, and I’d say that I ‘d rather have him in the film as opposed to not having in the film, but it wasn’t absolutely necessary.

Now, let’s get to what I really want to talk about, the action. When it comes to the “John Wick” films, we have gotten some of the greatest action scenes I’ve ever witnessed! Remember that nightclub scene in the first film? Well, there aren’t any of those in this film, but we do get another scene with blaring techno music. It reminded me of the first movie and it had me banging my head a little and tapping my foot as well. I’m not gonna reveal much about what I’m gonna say, but there’s one thing that John Wick does in this movie that made me ask a question to myself. Which movie did this better? This movie or “The Dark Knight?” Want a hint on what I’m talking about? It has to do an object mentioned in the last movie, and also mentioned in this movie. That’s pretty much all I’ll say as far as that goes.

Another thing I want to bring up is a couple problems I have with the film, because this film is not perfect. There is one character in this movie that is talking with John Wick, she cuts herself in both her arms. After that she gets in a hot tub which is in the room, then dies shortly afterwards. What is my problem? She is CLEARLY dead, and yet John wastes a bullet on her. You’d think with all that blood coming out of her along with her head tilting to her shoulder she’d be dead in an instant, but John still had to shoot a bullet. Also, this is very minor, but at the beginning of the film, I felt like I wasn’t getting enough action. Sure, there was a huge action sequence at the start of the film, but it felt like the movie dipped too soon. Granted it does pick up the pace a little later, but still, it bothered me while watching the movie. I might forgive this in due time, but for now, this complaint still stands.

Last but not least, let’s talk about one of my favorite segments of the movie, the hall of mirrors action sequence. There’s like a few minutes of action taking place in a museum and there’s a hall of mirrors, and NOT ONCE did I see a camera, tripod, or light. THAT IS AWESOME. I actually read in a review on Business Insider that this essentially pays homage to “Enter the Dragon,” which I have not seen. Even if I did see it, this sequence would have possibly still been mind blowing to me.

“John Wick: Chapter 2” is not only an excellent action film, but a terrific sequel, and a stellar February film! Is it better than the original? I cannot decide, they are pretty close in terms of likability at this point. Although I will say, if I had to choose one film over the other to watch if I were alone on a Friday night with nothing else to do, I’d rather watch the first one. Nevertheless, “John Wick: Chapter 2” definitely deserves your money and it also doesn’t do something which “Taken 2” managed to do, which is suck. I’m gonna give “John Wick: Chapter 2” an 8/10. I can’t saw much for upcoming reviews, but it’s quite possible that sometime soon that I’m gonna go see “Fist Fight.” I’m not sure if that’ll happen, but we’ll see what the future holds. By the way, I’m not sure if I’ll see “Logan” because, don’t kill me for saying this, but I never seen a single “X-Men” film. If I were to go see “Logan,” I’d go buy the X-Men films immediately and do a marathon before it comes out. Also, I want to thank everyone who signed my “King of the Nerds” season 4 pickup petition so far. The petition has now been out for a week and it already has 31 supporters, so thanks for the support! If you want to sign the petition, or just check it out for shiggles, I’ll have the link down below. Thanks a lot guys for signing, and thanks for reading this review, stay tuned for more coming soon. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

KING OF THE NERDS SEASON 4 PICKUP PETITION: https://www.change.org/p/game-show-network-have-a-network-pick-up-king-of-the-nerds-for-season-4?source_location=minibar

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here. Today, I’m gonna tackle something I discovered like a week ago, but I completely neglected writing about until now. In case you didn’t know, I have watched all the “Divergent” films that are already out. I enjoyed the first two, but I can’t say the same for 2016’s “Allegiant.” Also, in case you weren’t aware, the franchise’s final movie installment, “Ascendent” will be coming soon, not to theaters, but to TV, which kinda disappoints me. After that, they are starting a TV series. As much as I like the franchise from a movie standpoint, I don’t think I’ll have any interest in watching the TV show. I will watch the final movie and probably put up a review of it, however, I may have less interest in it now, because the movie just lost one of their key actors. Not just any key actor, but the STARRING ROLE. That’s right, Shailene Woodley is not going to be in “Ascendent!” Not only that, but she won’t be in the TV show after the movie comes out! Personally, I’m not gonna go into the TV show right now, but I do want to focus on the film.

I first found out about this information last week on the People’s Choice website, and based on other research, I can tell this is true! On IMDb, I looked at Shailene Woodley’s list of roles she’s played, it didn’t have “Ascendant” on the list. I even searched the movie itself, she’s not on that list! I mean, WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN? I think it is SUPER RARE for an actor that had a prominent role, nonetheless the STARRING role to drop out of a relatively successful franchise at a moment like the one we are at with it now. I mean, Hugh Jackman is not going to be Wolverine anymore, but for what I know, they’re continuing the story in an effective manner giving him a good end. The only other times I can VASTLY remember something like this happening, is when Will Smith didn’t show up in “Independence Day: Resurgence” and when Terrence Howard didn’t show up in “Iron Man 2.” Although, looking back at those two examples, I can’t complain too much about them. “Independence Day: Resurgence” came out 20 years after the first one, so it was kinda late, and Terrence Howard wasn’t the starring role in the first “Iron Man” film. Sure, it was a big role, but it wasn’t as big as Robert Downey Jr’s role. This is something that is this decade’s equivalent to Val Kilmer not returning for Joel Schumacher’s “Batman & Robin,” although then again Val Kilmer dodged a bullet on that one because that movie wasn’t really that good. Also, I can’t really blame him all that much because I read that he didn’t get along with Schumacher and he was committed to another film at the time.

Going back to the post on People’s Choice I read, according to Woodley, she told Vanity Fair that she would not be participating in any future installments the franchise may be making. And as far as Woodley goes from an acting ability, I will say that she does a fine job as the character of Tris Prior. If I had one complaint with her character whatsoever it would be the hairstyle changes that are done in like every single film, it just feels so choppy. In the first film, Tris has long hair for part of the film and another part has her in a ponytail, in the second film, Tris has a pixie cut, and in the previous film, her hair is in between those two. On the bright side that somewhat makes it easier to tell which installment you’re watching. Since Woodley won’t be coming back for future Divergent installments, that means she won’t be on the TV show. If anything, I’m willing to bet part of that is because Woodley is already doing a series on HBO called “Big Little Lies.” Even if that’s not partially a reason towards Woodley’s lack of motive, I don’t even see how you would do a TV series from what I’m analyzing. Just so you know, I never read the books, but I know what happens at the end, and I know what happens to Tris, but not anyone else in the series, now for the sake of avoiding getting people angry, I won’t spit out any spoilers. Also, people reading this, if you read the books and know what happens at the end, don’t put it in the comments. You have been warned. So I will say in reality, I can understand not showing up for the TV series for a number of factors and reasons, but not showing up in “Ascendant” is somewhat troubling for the franchise.

I remember reading somewhere that Shailene had no motive to do a TV series, in fact, as I’m writing this post, it turns out, this has been outspoken by Shailene since last year! Several of the series’ prior (Get it? Prior?)  actors and actresses are returning to play their roles. For example, Miles Teller and Octavia Spencer are returning from what I see on IMDb. However, there are some, including Shailene that are not interested. Want to know something else? It looks like Theo James, the guy who plays Four in the Divergent films, another big role, won’t be returning either. So we lost TWO of the biggest cast members, with one of them being the main character… I don’t know what to say at this point.

Well, if I had to say a couple things, it would be this. I’m sorry Shailene Woodley feels the way she does, and the same goes with Theo James. Also, on an unrelated note, did this last film really have to be the second part of the “Allegiant” book? You guys are really testing us with the whole splitting book climaxes into two parts thing. But overall, this leaves me dumbfounded to a huge degree, and it makes me wonder if we’ll even have a film to begin with. I still hope this movie can be good, especially compared to “Allegiant” because that ended up with a 2/10 from me last year and it happened to be my #6 spot on my top 10 worst films of 2016. I didn’t review it, but that’s my official verdict on the movie. Now, I want to ask you, if you could recast Tris and Four for the upcoming “Ascendant” film, who would you choose for those roles? And if you want to add in reasons, go ahead! I wouldn’t be able to answer that, but I’m curious to know your answers. As I said in my last post, I have the upcoming week off from school, so I’ll have more chances to post content here. Last but not least, if you are interested in “King of the Nerds,” be sure to sign a petition I made to get the show back on the air. Stay tuned for more reviews and posts, and be sure to look at and sign the petition if you are interested (link down below). Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

KING OF THE NERDS SEASON 4 PICKUP PETITION: https://www.change.org/p/game-show-network-have-a-network-pick-up-king-of-the-nerds-for-season-4

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here, and Star Wars fans, I have some news for you today. Weeks ago it was revealed that Star Wars Episode VIII will be called “The Last Jedi.” I actually did a post on it a couple days after the announcement, and I had a question which was asked by so many followers of the franchise discovering this, that question being, what does this mean? I mentioned in that post that Jedi can be singular or plural, and based on lines from 2015’s “The Force Awakens” and several theories I had in mind, I had no idea whether they were referring to Jedi as a singular or a plural. Ladies and gentlemen, I have the answer. But before I go on any further, if you want to read the post I was just talking about, I have the link right here. I will admit I feel like I rushed on it but I still feel like what I said is somewhat effective. Oh, and just a reminder, if you haven’t seen “The Force Awakens” yet, I’d think twice before clicking the link, because there are some details that may count as spoilers.

https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2017/01/25/star-wars-episode-viii-has-a-new-title-spoilers-for-star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens/

As I was saying, I have new evidence on what “The Last Jedi” truly means, and with that being said, I would like to thank IGN (International Gaming Network) for helping me on this. They didn’t contact me, I just found an article from them while I was on Twitter earlier today. It turns out that that the German poster for Episode VIII refers to this movie as “Die Letzten Jedi.” Based on that title, I can now confirm that “The Last Jedi” is in fact, plural. How do I know? I have a quote from the article suggesting some key information. “In German, the words for “The Last” help denote whether the “Jedi” is being used as a singular or plural. As pointed out by IGN Germany, the newly revealed German title – “Die Letzten Jedi” – uses the plural version, meaning it references multiple Jedi (if it was a single Jedi, it would be “Der Letzte Jedi”).”

While this does clear up wonders I had in the past, new wonders are coming into my mind as we speak. Even though I now know that it’s not referring to one specific person as “The Last Jedi,” which clears up my Luke and Rey theories I had before, this does bring up the wonder of how many Jedi will be part of the last Jedi. As we now know, it’s at least two. So if there are only two people as the last Jedi, I’d assume that Luke and Rey are those two people, and that would make a really interesting movie. In the “The Force Awakens” though, Han Solo in that movie gave some exposition that in between “Return of the Jedi” and “The Force Awakens,” Luke was training a new generation of Jedi. Maybe some of the people he trained are still alive, they join forces with Luke and Rey in this next film, and it turns out they’re the last Jedi somehow.

Although this may bring a bit of disappointment to me when it comes to the movie itself. I mentioned based on the title and the red font in the post I stated at the beginning of this, this movie might have a dark vibe to it. Could it still be dark? I don’t know, that’s something I’m gonna have to find out for myself. If the title happened to be singular, it’s quite possible that every other Jedi either would have given up or died in the film, therefore leaving Rey to continue the journey by herself, which would set the stage for the next film. In fact, that would be an awesome ending, it would give you the same feeling that you were given at the end of “The Empire Strikes Back,” granted everyone said they didn’t like the ending back then because they wanted more, but that’s what makes it so interesting. It leaves you hanging and wanting more, and you know you’re gonna get more. Sure, you’ll have to wait a couple years, but more is coming for you. Speaking of darkness, one thing I noticed is that “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Attack of the Clones” both have elements of darkness in those films in one way or another. If “The Last Jedi” doesn’t have any dark elements in there, the dark vibe trend is lost and I wonder if it would affect the movie for me, but I don’t know, we’ll have to see.

So, the mystery is solved on “The Last Jedi” title. By the way, there are currently no trailers for the movie yet, which despite happening to be something I’ve seen people complain about, I’m actually quite fine with it. Just a reminder, even though “The Force Awakens” revealed its first trailer back in November 2014, a year and a month before hitting theaters, last year’s spinoff, “Rogue One,” didn’t release its first trailer until April 2016, and it was actually not long after “The Force Awakens” came out on streaming services, DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital, so I figured it would be an inappropriate time to release the trailer now, since “Rogue One” is still in theaters and not on any form of home video. Once “Rogue One” hits the store shelves and streaming services, then it’s go time on the trailer. Until then, I’d say I’m perfectly OK with the posters we currently have. Also, a little note on upcoming reviews and posts, I have the next week off from school, so it is quite possible you’ll be seeing some stuff from me here. I’m probably gonna see “John Wick 2” over the weekend, and I’m not sure when I’m doing this, or if I’m doing this, but I’m hoping to see “Fist Fight,” which is a new comedy starring Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Tracy Morgan, and Jillian Bell. Also, just an alert, I actually did another new post recently having to do with “King of the Nerds,” and that contains information for a petition I made to get the show back on the air. If you have not seen “King of the Nerds,” it’s a great show, check it out on YouTube or Amazon, you likely won’t be disappointed. If you want the show back, PLEASE sign the petition, I’m hoping networks like Game Show Network and Syfy pay attention to this, EVERY SIGNATURE COUNTS. I’ll have a link to the post on the petition (TOP LINK), and a link to the petition itself (BOTTOM LINK). Be sure to stay tuned for my upcoming posts and reviews. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

KING OF THE NERDS SEASON 4 PETITION POST: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/king-of-the-nerds-season-4-pick-up-petition-every-signature-counts/

THE “ACTUAL” PETITION: https://www.change.org/p/game-show-network-have-a-network-pick-up-king-of-the-nerds-for-season-4

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here. One month ago, I did a post on “King of the Nerds,” my favorite show of all time. I also mentioned in this recent post that the show was canceled by TBS. I mentioned in that post that I have an idea to save the show, which is to go on social media and use #SaveKOTN. I didn’t check everywhere, but I did check on Twitter and I saw NOBODY post it. Well, guess what guys? I’m not done yet. I want you to still use it if you want to, but I also have another idea, which is a petition. By the way, if you want to read that post, the link for is down below.

https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2017/01/18/king-of-the-nerds-4-year-anniversary-post/

These have been done in the past for the show, and they probably worked for season 3, but not for season 4. However, this is where I come in, there is a new petition to save this beloved show and I made it on change.org. Before we get anywhere else with that, I actually shared it with Curtis Armstrong. Based on the statistics, he didn’t sign the petition, which is fine, I wouldn’t force him to do it, after all, I wonder if there’s any rule against it considering he hosts the show, but that’s something to investigate later. Although, when I shared it with him, I asked if he approves of it, he said he does! From that alone, he likely wants this show back as much as I! If you want a link to the petition, it’s down below, please click on it and sign it if you want the show back.

https://www.change.org/p/game-show-network-have-a-network-pick-up-king-of-the-nerds-for-season-4?source_location=minibar

In my petition, this is being directed to two channels, GSN (Game Show Network) and Syfy. I chose those two channels based on my knowledge of certain TV channels in general plus experiences of watching them. I chose GSN mainly because they have done reality shows in the past (Skin Wars), which has also had terrific ratings much like “King of the Nerds,” not to mention they have also revived shows in the past (Minute to Win it, 1 vs. 100, Pyramid, The Newlywed Game). I also picked Syfy as another possibility because the channel itself is nerdy. Part of the game itself has to do with the channel’s name. Nerds watch Syfy all the time! Heck, the first thing to air on the program was “Star Wars!” I’ll openly admit I don’t watch the channel that much, but I’m well aware many nerds do, and it is very popular to this day! If the channel takes the show, it’ll have me stuck to it like glue. I mean, if any other channel takes the show I’ll be that way but still, Syfy, you have a grand opportunity here.

So folks, if you want to sign this because you want the show back, or because you want to see what the hoopla is about, or if you like QUALITY reality shows (something TV lacks nowadays), or heck, even just to please me or even the show’s magnificent fanbase, go ahead, click the link to change.org which was recently posted, check it out, and sign it. I have ATTEMPTED to get this show back as much and as hard as I can, not just because it is my favorite show, despite that being part of why I want it back in the first place, but because of the fond memories I had watching it, interacting with the nerds online, feeling inspired at the end, and if it’s ever possible, to achieve one of my dreams, to at least try out on the show, and if possible, be a contestant. I’m currently 17, so I’m still not old enough to try out, but when I hit the right age bracket, I’m a comin. Before I end this post I want to ask something, are there any other channels I should inform about “King of the Nerds?” Please leave a comment with the channel and I’ll take it into consideration of directing the petition towards them. As far as upcoming reviews go, I’m still hoping to see “John Wick 2” and hopefully I can make that a reality. Stay tuned for more posts and reviews. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!