Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! Today is February 14th, 2017, which means it is Valentine’s Day. If you clicked on this post thinking I have a review for the movie called “Valentine’s Day” released 7 years ago, that’s not what this post is going to be. Instead, I’m going to talk about the holiday of Valentine’s Day itself. Many people view this day as a day of love, a day in which friends, families, and couples can share their love for one another in a much more expressive fashion than any other day of the year. The whole concept behind this day is something I can understand, but it doesn’t mean I agree with it.

Let me just say right now, I’m not saying I disagree with the idea of Valentine’s Day because I’m a hateful person, I love lots of people in my life. I love my family, I love my friends, I don’t have a girlfriend or anything along those lines but if I did have one I’d more than likely love her. The reason why I disagree is nothing to do with hate, it does however, have to do with love. I bet a lot of people in life ask what love truly is. People might ask it when they’re confused, people might ask it when they are learning words as kids, and I’m even willing to bet to this day that people still listen to Haddaway asking it all the time. “What is love? / Baby don’t hurt me / Don’t hurt me no more.” My answer to that question is this: Love is something you feel inside you. You sense it whenever you are with someone, with something, at someplace, someway, and/or somehow. If you have love in any sort of way, like for example if you have a girlfriend, you should show it to her in someway as often as you can. This to me, makes the whole concept of Valentine’s Day irrelevant and at this point, just an excuse for certain businesses to make money. Look at all the restaurants that are fully booked, look at the hotels that are rented for a short period of time, look at the pharmacies and grocery stores, you can likely see lots of people buying chocolates there. Why? Because of Valentine’s Day! This sort of thing works around holidays like Christmas, but I’d say it’s dumb around Valentine’s Day. To further support my point, allow me to introduce you to Jeremy Jahns.

If you have been following this blog for awhile, you may have seen me put in a quote from him before. It was on my post titled “Cinema Seating: Does it Matter?,” Now, I’m gonna credit one of his videos, I’m not saying you have to watch it, but it has to do with what I’m gonna say. This video is on Jeremy’s view of Valentine’s Day, and after watching it, it didn’t really get me thinking, but it kind of did awhile after and it’s still on my mind today. I wouldn’t say it BRAINWASHED me despite how often I watch this guy’s videos, but it’s something I constantly have in mind. If you want to watch the video, it’s down below, it’s an informative video and I consider it to be enjoyable.

Jeremy says in this video that the 24 hours that make up Valentine’s Day is .273% of the year, which is less than 1%. By that logic, it would take over 3.663 days just to get that precise 1%. I could probably get a package delivered to me in 3.663 days for crying out loud! This video mainly focuses on relationships and Valentine’s Day, and I do consider it to be important. I remember back in 8th grade, my science teacher referred to this as “International Breakup Day,” I can’t exactly recall if I have seen this video, but if I have, chances are I may have been thinking about this a little bit. Now, I’m going to do a much more complex equation.

When it comes to Valentine’s Day, I’m willing to bet that most people would consider their partner to be their Valentine, and that is something I’m about to focus on. Let’s say you just met in December, you are now in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. All of sudden, it’s a new year, the day is January 1st, this year won’t be a leap year so there are 365 days. You also recently turned 24, just to get a good mindset here. Let’s say that you go on a date every two weeks with your partner. There are 52 weeks in a year, and you go on a date with your partner every two weeks, that is half of the weeks in a year, which is equal to 26 weeks. Now let’s factor in something else, doing something after the date with your partner. Let’s say that you rent a hotel, you go to your partner’s home and stay awhile, or you and your partner go to your place and stay awhile. You might not do this every single time, and I’m no expert in the art of dating but if you want my opinion, DON’T do this every single time, I’m pretty sure every single one of you would agree. You can probably add that in as a second date, because you and your partner can arrive somewhere, chat for a bit, and depending on the situation, sleep together. This can extend into the next day and if this is done every single date, you two could have spent what could possibly be two dates in one. Therefore, you hit 52 dates, equal to the number of weeks in a year. You two could be seeing each other, at the most, 52 days per year, and at the least, 26 days per year. Granted there are certain amounts of time put into each date but this still stands.

Another thing I want to talk about related to couples and Valentine’s Day is the importance of the day itself. I’d say there’s way more than there should be. Valentine’s Day, like any other day, is 24 hours. How many hours are there in a year?  If it’s a typical 365 day year, there are 8,760 hours. If it’s a less than typical 366 day Leap Year, just add 24 and you get 8,784 hours. The 24 hours that is Valentine’s Day is viewed as the holy grail of love. Members of couples, depending on who they are, are expected to put in as much love to each other as they can into this one day. Whether it be by purchasing flowers, chocolates, cards, tickets to a romantic movie, or whatever other s*it you buy in an attempt to impress the other member of the couple. Maybe sometimes you don’t buy things, maybe you do something you don’t traditionally do that you think or know your partner may as well want you to do. Sometimes people create stuff, it saves money that goes to Hallmark on friggin Valentine’s Day cards! Members of couples also expect to always go somewhere or do something romantic for each other. Maybe they go to a fancy restaurant, maybe they kiss each other more than usual, maybe they go see a romantic movie at the theater. By the way, this is a bit of a digression, if any girls are thinking about taking their boyfriend to go see “Fifty Shades Darker” this year, don’t. Odds are that a good number of those guys will like you less or dump you. I haven’t seen it, but I’m just saying because I’m willing to bet that would happen. Also, to the guys that had to suffer through “Twilight” (glad to say I’m not one of them), I’m sorry. The point is, you don’t have to do all of this s*it on Valentine’s Day, or as I prefer to call it, February 14th. Not only does it sometimes shrink the amount of money you have by a significant amount, but it also may even give people the mindset that if you don’t put in a certain amount of love into one little day of the year, you’re a moron.

I don’t want to turn this into a rant, but I have to say something. Girls, let’s say you are dating me, and we actually started dating sometime around May. We are just about to hit the 1 year anniversary mark, we have plans to go to a fancy restaurant. If you cancel at the last minute, I’d understand. I have NO IDEA how many people are like this, and based on knowledge I have when I say that probably less than a significant amount of people are like this. You call and tell me you can’t go, you say it is because the season finale of your favorite show is on, I’d be fine with you staying home. I wouldn’t break up with you, granted I’d be disappointed, but we have many more opportunities to see each other. I’m not saying you should be this way, I’m just saying that I’m this way. Granted, if I were dating, this is something I’d likely not call about, but I’m just giving a sense of my personality to you. With that in mind, that can probably show how little I consider Valentine’s Day to be important compared to so many other people.

All in all, while Valentine’s Day may sound interesting in some ways, it is completely overrated in others. After all, it’s not the greatest holiday for me, considering I’m single (Granted I’m only 17, but still, I’m single). Although when I see Valentine’s Day, I don’t only see a day that doesn’t really cater to me since I’m single, but I also see a holiday that is a cash-in for so many businesses and tries to make you give all your love to someone that could really be receiving that love like literally ANY OTHER DAY. You may call Christmas a big cash-in in some ways, but it is a religious holiday and it involves something that people rarely do, which is exchanging gifts, and less rarely, spending time with family and friends. A lot of people love other people, so why make a holiday on something that can be done any point in time? I don’t know, but to me it’s kinda dumb. Is it worth celebrating? Maybe, but not if it’s the big thing it has come to be. I hope you enjoyed this post and I want to know, what are your thoughts on Valentine’s Day? Do you agree with me? Do you disagree with me? Leave a comment! As far as upcoming reviews go, you can probably tell I WON’T be seeing “Fifty Shades Darker,” and it’s not just because I’m a guy, it’s also because the lack of quality many people see in it. That and I think my mother would question why I would even watch the movie. I do however intend to see “John Wick: Chapter 2,” hopefully I can get a review for that soon and hopefully you all can stay tuned for it, along with more reviews coming up aside from that one. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“The LEGO Batman Movie” is directed by Chris McKay and stars Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, and Zach Galifianakis. This movie takes place in the same universe as 2014’s “The LEGO Movie” but this is essentially a movie revolving around the character of Batman. In this movie, Batman is challenged to fight the crime coming towards Gotham City, facing his “greatest enemy,” The Joker, while at the same time, adapt to having an adopted son, or Robin.

When I saw “The LEGO Movie” back in 2014, I thought it was one of the best animations I ever witnessed. With that being said, that, along with other things, factored into this movie being one of my most anticipated films of the year, did I get what I want out of this movie? You betcha. This movie just proves how timeless Batman is. Sure, Batman may have had some bumps along the way, just look at “Batman & Robin” released back in 1997, but I love how this movie, much like 2014’s “The LEGO Movie,” focuses less on being a commercial for LEGO and more of an actual movie. This movie, to me, more than anything, is a kid friendly Batman movie. Is it too child-friendly? I’m not saying it is, but I’m saying that with animation factor, the humor, and the family dynamic, this movie is good for kids while also being incredibly entertaining for adults.

For characters, let’s start off with the most important character, Batman/Bruce Wayne. In this movie, Will Arnett plays the caped Crusader and for a movie like this, I cannot imagine anyone else playing this Batman, maybe Adam West, but I can’t imagine anyone else doing it. Will Arnett’s Batman very much reminds me of an interpretation of Batman I saw during a Nostalgia Critic episode. If you don’t know who the Nostalgia Critic is, the Nostalgia Critic, or Doug Walker, does extended reviews for movies that many people consider to be bad, along with movies that are new releases. One of his reviews was for “Man of Steel” and he does an intro song with Superman talking about himself and Batman comes in saying how similar he is to Superman and that he is essentially more awesome, like, in an egotistic way. It really works for the character and if you watch the movie and observe the first act, that makes Batman look like someone who always has the spotlight, and in certain instances, he comes off as someone who may as well even steal the spotlight from others. While this may make him come off as mean, it works so well for the character and makes him so likable. I don’t see any sort of possibility of gullible children being influenced by his behavior, especially with the family dynamic that helps move the story along.

Michael Cera is in this movie and he plays Robin/Dick Grayson. In the beginning of the movie, Michael Cera’s interpretation of Robin seems to make Robin look extremely enthusiastic. I thought it worked for his character and I was able to buy into the chemistry between him and Batman. And yes, he’s still occasionally treated like the less experienced sidekick you may already be familiar with.

Rosario Dawson plays Barbara Gordon in this movie, in the trailer of the film, she actually said that she wanted to “team up with Batman.” If you watch the movie, Barbara’s role is actually much more complicated. She does utter the recently mentioned quote at a point, but before that utterance even happens, there’s something else that adds to the movie in terms of complexity. I won’t go into detail, but it made the movie more interesting as it progressed over a period of time.

One of my favorite parts of the movie, besides Batman of course, is the Joker, played by Zach Galifianakis. What I love about this Joker is the insanely funny “relationship” between him and Batman. If you have ever picked up a Batman comic-book, played a Batman video game, or seen a Batman movie, there is a possibility that you know who The Joker is. Batman is fighting The Joker at the beginning of the film and The Joker says to Batman to fear his greatest enemy. If you know who The Joker is, you’d probably guess by now that The Joker is likely to be Batman’s greatest enemy. Turns out that Batman doesn’t consider The Joker to be his greatest enemy and after a moment, The Joker sheds a tear down his face. All in all, this kind of makes fun of their relationship, how many instances they fought each other, and this leads to this ongoing gag between them in which The Joker says Batman “needs” The Joker to keep him satisfied, if that’s not genius, I don’t know what is.

There are so many things I liked about this movie as a whole, I’m gonna attempt to keep this simple and not go too deep. You know how in last year’s hit R rated comic book movie, “Deadpool” the opening titles was likely to be one of the best parts of the movie? In this movie, it doesn’t exactly do what “Deadpool” did, but it did its own thing with Batman narrating over the studio titles of the film (Warner Bros, DC Comics, etc). It literally set the tone for the film and it got everybody revved up, including me.

Also, this movie is HILARIOUS. This movie proves that “The LEGO Movie” was not a fluke. Everyone behind this film KNOWS what they’re doing and they obviously have the writing, story, and actions in the films they make down to a science. The whole first act, just may be a good example to show certain screenwriters how to make movies funny, mostly animations and parodies.

One thing that this movie does much like “The LEGO Movie” is utilize references and bring in characters from other movies to move the story along. Some kids might not understand some of these references, but some of them they might pick up along the way. For example, Voldemort is in this film, so the kids might pick up on that if they’re Potterheads. Other references come from “Lord of the Rings,” “The Matrix,” “King Kong,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and even more! Essentially, the writers of the movie thought it would be a good idea to put in as many Warner Bros. related characters as possible so there would be so many references across the board. Believe it or not, it doesn’t feel overbloated. It actually works so well in the climax, which kind of reminded me of a lot of other recent big budget films like “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “The Avengers” because there always has to be something crucial in the movie pointing towards the sky for some reason. It’s not a BIG complaint, but it’s getting kind of repetitive. Despite that, I’d actually say it worked in this film, because it was actually done in a very unique way. Speaking of minor complaints, I mentioned recently that Voldemort is in this movie, but there’s one thing about that which happens to bother me. And that is that the guy who played Voldemort in the “Harry Potter” films managed to play Alfred in this film, and yet he couldn’t play Voldemort. I’m not sure many people are gonna care, but it would have been fascinating. I personally don’t mind just to clarify.

Speaking of references, this movie even makes fun of DC itself. One of my favorite parts of the movie is one moment when Batman is talking with Alfred and says Batman seems to be acting odder than usual. At one point Alfred says Batman has gone through identical phases in his past, specifically, it shows Batman going backwards in time through movies and TV shows he did, which I thought was hysterical. Also, there’s a point where they make fun of the Suicide Squad. Batman said it is a really dumb idea to get a bunch of criminals together to fight crime, which had the whole theater cracking up.

In the end, I’m really glad I saw “The LEGO Batman Movie.” Let me just say, if you don’t like animations, I still think you’ll like this film. If you don’t like Batman, I still think you’ll like this film. Also, I never thought I’d say this, but this may be the first phenomenal DC Comics movie of the 2010s. Sure, “The Dark Knight Rises” was pretty cool, but it wasn’t THAT great, and you probably already know how the rest of them are if you follow popular opinion. Also, I’m not counting the first LEGO movie as a DC film mainly because it features Batman and doesn’t star him. This movie has flaws, but these flaws, put together, are the size of an ant, with that being said, “The LEGO Batman Movie” is still good enough for me to give it my highest score, a 10/10! I honestly don’t know which movie I like better, this or the first LEGO movie, we’ll have to see if I can come up with a verdict in the future, until then, I can’t wait for this movie to come out on Blu-Ray and I hope to be adding this into my collection. Speaking of movies, I have intentions to see “John Wick: Chapter 2,” it is out right now, I have no clue yet on what day I’ll go see it, but it is on my radar. Maybe next weekend I’ll go see it, I don’t know, we’ll have to see what happens. Stay tuned for more reviews. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“Hidden Figures” is directed by Theodore Melfi, who also directed the 2014 film “St. Vincent,” stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae, and is based on a book written by Margot Lee Shetterly which is based on a true story of three African American women working at NASA who had a vital role in the early years of the US space program.

Just a fun fact, until I saw the trailer of this movie, I had no idea who these three women were, and after I saw it up until the point of going to see this film, I did no research on them. I also didn’t even know about the book this movie is based on, I still have never read it to this day. Without further ado, let’s move onto some characters.

The first character which will be brought up is Taraji P. Henson’s character of Katherine G. Johnson. I thought Henson’s performance as this character was very well done and it is the best out of every character in the movie. The establishment of this character at the very beginning of the film couldn’t have been done better. When the film starts it shows Katherine as a young child counting numbers and seeing which ones are prime and it is basically a montage of how gifted this child is. It’s a nice introduction to an interesting character. As far as resemblance goes towards the actual person, it’s pretty close. The glasses are a little different and the same goes with the hairstyle. Halfway through the film, I thought Henson gave a moment that could be shown during award shows. I’m not saying that she gave an Oscar worthy performance, but I am saying she did a spectacular job with the movie.

Octavia Spencer is in this movie as well and she plays Dorothy Vaughn. Watching her in this movie reminded me of watching Viola Davis’s character in “How to Get Away with Murder,” and I will admit that may be a terrible comparison, because I only watched part of the first episode, but it doesn’t change the fact that thought came to my mind at one point. Out of three main African American female characters in this movie, I felt like she was the most bossy, and I mean that in a compelling way, not a bad way. She also gave a feeling at the very beginning that made me realize how sophisticated and smart she was. When she was fixing the broken car in the beginning that vibe kicked in, it was like I was looking at a master at anything and everything if you will, I don’t know if anyone else got that feeling but I did somewhat.

The last main character is played by Janelle Monae and she plays Mary Jackson. I have to say out of all the women here she was certainly the prettiest, not that it means anything. With that aside, her story about attempting to get into these classes meant for all whites was extremely compelling throughout the film. It also just made me think, the amount of schooling that goes into a job like this, it must take up a good portion of your life just to get even one position at NASA. Fun fact, I actually know someone who works at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. According to their LinkedIn profile, the person I’m referring to has gone through “18 years of dreaming and dedication,” that’s literally how long it takes for someone to become an adult! My friend’s dream became a reality when I was 15 going on 16, so all of this dreaming and dedication began before I was even born! By the way, if you are curious, this person’s name is Kayla LaFrance, she’s a good friend of mine, and to stay on topic, she enjoyed “Hidden Figures.”

Now that we have the main characters out of the way, let’s move onto some other characters that intrigued me, starting with Jim Parsons’s character of Paul Stafford. This is not the first time Jim Parsons has played someone that’s related to the sciences, you may know him as Sheldon Cooper on “The Big Bang Theory.” Just to be clear here, Paul Stafford was not a real person working at NASA, instead, he was essentially a stereotype put in this movie meant to represent white engineers who worked at NASA at the time which this movie took place. When you first see him in this movie, you may think of him as a random engineer going about his day at NASA, but one thing I noticed as the movie progressed, his character became more moronic. Granted, there was one scene where Paul thought he was following the rules, and I won’t completely reveal what the scene is, but it was like watching a spoiled brat when he reacted to the outcome at the end of the scene. Now that I am out of the theater and writing this, I’m realizing something about this character that I didn’t realize while watching this movie. I just recently mentioned Jim Parsons plays Sheldon Cooper on “The Big Bang Theory,” in that show, he plays a theoretical physicist and he has a “Master’s degree and 2 PHds.” There is another character on the show, Howard Wolowitz, and he’s an engineer with a Master’s degree as his highest degree. There are multiple times which he is mocked by characters on the show because of this, including Sheldon himself. I find it hilarious because now, the guy who plays Sheldon is now playing the position on the show Sheldon was constantly making fun of.

*Also, little note on the image above, Kevin Costner is in this movie, but I wouldn’t say he’s worth discussing at the moment.*

Kirsten Dunst is also in this movie and she plays the character of Vivian Mitchell, much like Jim Parsons’s character, Dunst’s is also fictional. The views of this character are meant to represent the views of some white women during the 1960s and I’d say those views were delivered quite well. She acted like she didn’t talk a s*it about much of anything for a good portion of the movie and that really added a bit to her character. If you take the boss from “Office Space,” make him a woman, and made him act wicked serious, you’d probably get this character. She also reminds me of a teacher I currently have if they were a woman, not to an exact scale, but there are pieces of the puzzle that connect to bring similarities between the two people.

Last but not least, I’m not gonna get too deep into it, but this movie also has a love story attached to it. Quite a few movies, including ones based on true events have love stories in them as a subplot, sometimes it doesn’t work (I’m looking DIRECTLY AT YOU “The Final Hours”) but here, I’d say it worked. Why? It was compelling, it felt realistic, and I cared enough about the characters.

Also, let’s talk about the backbone of the story, these three women were computers, or mathematicians. Now, I knew that a computer is essentially a slang term for a mathematician that doesn’t really get used much nowadays for this association, I learned that in a vintage episode of Jeopardy in 6th grade and I still remember it. But with that aside, watching these computers, it’s just awesome that people did what they did back in the day. Nowadays, you have computer machines and calculators doing lots of work for you, but it is really interesting to see these three mathematicians doing their jobs. I can kind of connect with these folks per se because I actually do a ton of mathematics in my head, and I much prefer doing it that way. I think calculators and showing your work are kinda overrated in some circumstances. I don’t know about you but that’s how I feel.

Last but not least, before giving my verdict on the film, I’m gonna go over one of the parts of the film that is more intriguing the longer I think about it. At one point about 15-30 mins into the movie, Katherine wonders where the colored restroom is, it turns out that there isn’t any colored restroom by her in sight. When she asked Ruth (played by Kimberly Quinn) where the bathroom was, Ruth wasn’t able to answer her question. It took a bit for Katherine to find one until she finally discovered a colored restroom in the West Campus hall. Later in the movie, it is eventually blurted out that Katherine travels half a mile just to get to this restroom. This just highlights the racial issues of the 60s. While we are living in a time which segregation and certain racial issues may be becoming more common than it has been in some recent years, this is important to keep in mind and it kind of makes the movie feel like it is really necessary to have come out at a time like this.

In the end, while I had no idea behind the backbone of “Hidden Figures,” I’m definitely glad I saw it. I enjoy movies that have to do with space, and while this movie had more of a focus of the characters who weren’t going into space, it most definitely worked for the movie and it made it all the more interesting. This movie may inspire people to work in scientific fields, no matter what gender or race they may be. I’m going to give “Hidden Figures” an 8/10. I almost gave this movie a 7, I’m having a really hard time deciding whether I should give this a 7 or 8, but I feel like this movie will be remembered by quite a few people. Maybe once I see it again I might like it more the second time than I did the first, I don’t know, but now I’m feeling optimistic so I’m going with an 8. This movie was not only intriguing, but it was also true, the fact that it is true doesn’t really bump my rating any higher, but it’s just fascinating to know that this movie is true, granted there are elements of fiction in here, but I’d say they were necessary as far as storytelling goes. Stay tuned for reviews coming soon because tomorrow I’m going to see “The LEGO Batman Movie,” it just came out on Friday and I can’t wait to see this and get a review for it out to you all. This is probably one of my most anticipated films of the year and I hope it is as good as everyone says. Stay tuned for that review and stay tuned for other reviews coming up as well. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! Today I’m reviewing “The LEGO Movie.” Why am I doing this? Next Friday, February 10th to be exact, “The LEGO Batman Movie” will be out, so I figured I’d review this movie in the same universe as that upcoming movie, so I guess it kind of makes sense, right? Anyway, let’s start the review.

“The LEGO Movie” is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who also directed “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and stars Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, and Will Arnett. This movie is about a nobody named Emmett that is believed to be “the special,” which essentially makes him the most interesting person in the universe. Once one of the movie’s characters, Wildstyle, find this out from Emmett slipping this out by accident per se, he is then brought on a quest to save the universe from potential doom.

Let’s start off with the characters, starting with the main character of Emmett. Essentially, Emmett is shown at the beginning of the film trying to blend in with everyone, in one scene, it’s noticeable because he says loves “this” or “that” in front of his co-workers whenever they mention something they are going to do or something they like. I think this character was brought to life extremely well by Chris Pratt courtesy of stellar voice acting and excellent writing. By the way, the writing in this movie is one of the movie’s superior qualities and its something I’m constantly gonna bring up.

Next up is Wildstyle, she meets with Emmett at the start of the film and out of all the characters in the entire flick, I would say she wasn’t really my favorite. Well, guess what? That doesn’t say much because much like Emmett, this character was brought to life and well written. Although I do think if she wasn’t interacting with Emmett during the early chase scene in the film, that part wouldn’t be as fun and interesting as it was in the final product.

Morgan Freeman is also in this film and plays a blind wizard named Vitruvius. Once again, another well acted performance and another well written character. During the quest, this guy is essentially Emmett’s mentor. It’s not really surprising after all, a lot of movies have one for a younger character, and I will say in this movie it does work. I also will bring this up, Vitrivius also reminds me of a slightly more talkative and blind version of Gandalf. I wouldn’t say that’s a BAD thing because it works for his character, although it is a little cliche. Also not to mention Gandalf actually is in this movie, if you have not seen the movie look out for it.

Will Ferrell plays the villain in this movie, President Business, also known as Lord Business. His motivation is to glue everyone to the ground permanently so they will stop “messing with his stuff.” Are you really surprised to hear me say this is another lively and well written character? Because this guy is. Also, I’m gonna bring up one scene where he meets up with a character that goes by the name Good Cop/Bad Cop (Two characters in one essentially), he dresses up in this mega gigantic armor looking suit and makes a dramatic entrance into his office. Throughout the scene you can see this guy walking and it looks as if he is about to step on you! Also, when Will Ferrell says “Don’t be so serious.” It’s almost rather funny and scary at the same time.

There are so many funny characters in this movie, whether they be main characters or supporting characters, who’s the funniest out of all them in my opinion? That spot, goes to Batman, played by Will Arnett. Batman has some of the movie’s absolute funniest lines, Will Arnett gives a really great performance (I mean, what two things are you expecting me to say about any character in this movie?), and I’d say this character stole the show. There’s also an original song that was made for this character that plays for a few seconds during the movie, but if you watch the end credits, you can hear the whole thing there. During the credits, once you hear the words “Yes, this is real music!” The song has started, just an alert for those of you who are possibly curious to find the song.

Before we go onto anything else, I’m gonna bring up one more character, and it’s one that I already mentioned, and that character is Good Cop/Bad Cop. I really liked this character, or should I say, these characters for phenomenal voicework and excellent writing (If you’re sick of me saying this you are free to exit the review). These characters are played by the same actor, Liam Neeson, and when Liam plays Good Cop, he talks in a whimsical high pitch voice, when he’s Bad Cop, he sounds much like the badass you’d recognize from “Taken.” This character’s original and there’s one scene in the movie I won’t spoil, but it’s hilarious because Liam’s characters switch between their personalities at a pretty constant rate and based on the situation at hand, it adds to the hilarity.

I mentioned before that the voice acting in this movie is spectacular, but I’m not gonna talk about that, I just think it’s awesome. What I really want to get at is the story and writing. I love this writing for so many reasons. First off, the writers make this movie insanely funny for both kids and adults. To add to the humor, there so many references in this movie. You have Dracula, you have so many DC characters put into the film, you’ve got a mock version of Middle Earth called Middle Zealand, also you have Gandalf as well. You also have Michelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Dumbledore from Harry Potter, Star Wars characters, Abe Lincoln, 2002 NBA all stars, and more. There’s some moments where some of the writing involves poking fun at some characters in one way or another, it’s hilarious! The jokes in this movie feel like they are going at a mile a minute and that completely works for this film! The movie essentially feels like it had “The Simpsons” style humor with much different characters and animation styles.

One of the biggest positives I can state from this movie is that while this is a movie that revolves around the product of LEGO, it never feels like a commercial for it. Sure, it may technically be one, stating which characters are already available in LEGO form, and perhaps even stating what can be built in terms of sets. In a world that has a video game based movie known as “Hitman: Agent 47” which feels more like a commercial for Audi, this is great. The fact that this movie is like this, only makes me build my hype more for “The LEGO Batman Movie.”

“The LEGO Movie” is in my opinion, one of the best animations ever made. It’s one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, and while I have mentioned before it has incredible writing and voice acting, it most certainly doesn’t degrade the other awesome qualities this movie contains. I’m gonna give “The LEGO Movie” a 10/10. If you have not seen this movie, please see it once, you won’t regret it. Even if you don’t like animations, I think you will enjoy this movie. Anyways, I am soon planning to see “The LEGO Batman Movie” once it comes out in cinemas next week, and if you want to see some of my latest posts, I’ll post one down below, specifically my most recent one, which is my top 10 best “Family Guy” episodes. I’m debating on whether or not I should do a worst list but we’ll see the future holds. Also, one reminder about that post, it does happen to contain spoilers for certain episodes. Stay tuned for more reviews and posts. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

TOP 10 BEST “FAMILY GUY” EPISODES: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/top-10-family-guy-episodes-spoilers/

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here, I know what you’re thinking, “What the heck is happening? This is TV, not movies! Is the apocalypse coming? I’m scared! Ahhhh!” Don’t worry, my movie reviews aren’t going away anytime soon, I just need time to watch movies. Although today I wanted to discuss my top 10 “Family Guy” episodes. “Family Guy” is one of my favorite shows of all time and it’s easy to see why, Seth MacFarlane brings a lot of innovation towards the definition of humor and how people view it today. Call it whatever you want, offensive, not your type of humor, or a ripoff of “The Simpsons,” but in the end, I don’t care, I still love this show and it’s one my favorites still on the air today. Also, just a warning, I’m not saying you should like these episodes, these are the episodes I personally like the most, if you disagree with me, might as well make your own list, different strokes for different folks ya know. So without further ado, let’s get counting down with my top 10 “Family Guy” episodes.

10: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side

One thing that “Family Guy” is well known for is its parodies on “Star Wars.” The show has done the entire original trilogy as a matter of fact, however they announced they aren’t going to do a spoof on “The Force Awakens,” which also likely means they won’t do one on any other “Star Wars” films they haven’t covered yet, but still, I’ll be fine with the way things are. Anyway, my bottom spot on the list goes to “Something, Something, Something, Dark Side.” “Something, Something, Something, Dark Side” makes fun of the “Star Wars” film “The Empire Strikes Back.” To me, some of the episode’s highlights include when Darth Vader (portrayed by Stewie) slams a mailbox with a bat labeled “NIMOY” (like “Star Trek’s” Leonard Nimoy), the moment when an AT-AT falls and acts like it has a stubbed toe (also a reference to an earlier “Family Guy” episode) and when Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker (portrayed by Chris) make fun of the twist that shocked everyone back in 1980. I’m just scratching the surface, but watching this episode is nearly as fun as watching the movie.

9: Stewie Kills Lois/Lois Kills Stewie

I’m giving this spot to two episodes because they feel like one episode split into two parts. While I will say that I do feel that “Lois Kills Stewie” is technically a better episode than “Stewie Kills Lois,” I should give “Stewie Kills Lois” credit where it’s due. “Family Guy” has built up since its first season that Stewie was an evil genius that always wanted to kill his mother and now in this episode, you can clearly see him trying. Also, in that episode, the clip when Lois and Peter are on the cruise ship and Peter repeatedly shouts “Bye!” on the ship is pure comedy gold. I think “Lois Kills Stewie” is a better episode storywise, it’s just about as funny as the previous one as well. Not to mention, that final duel between Lois and Stewie is epic to the tenth degree!

8: Wasted Talent

Up next is one of the first “Family Guy” episodes I saw, and that is “Wasted Talent.” This episode essentially is partially a spoof on “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and partially Lois trying to get a good student to play the piano in order to win a competition. The second part to me is the one I don’t really care as much about, but the “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” spoof is superb. When it comes to spoofing Willy Wonka, “Family Guy” did it’s own version of the Golden Tickets, only they had their version come out of beer, and with that in mind, the winners got to attend a tour of a brewery instead of a chocolate factory, and they even did musical numbers mocking the Oompa-Loompa song and “Pure Imagination.” By the way, remember the stubbed toe thing from “Something, Something, Something, Dark Side?” That came out of this episode.

7: The Fat Guy Strangler

Up next is “The Fat Guy Strangler.” I love this episode for so many reasons, but let’s start with the plot. First off, Lois’s brother, Patrick (played by Robert Downey Jr.), came out of an insane asylum and starts living with the Griffins, that’s pretty interesting so far, so what else can top it? Peter starts a club for fat guys. In terms of execution with that plot, it was very well done! Also, when you blend the two plots together, you get one really cool package. Plus, this episode has one of my favorite moments in “Family Guy” history, specifically, the moment when Peter goes to a checkup and FINDS OUT he’s fat. He states “OK, this is news to me.” The exchanges in dialogue before this whole thing happens is just gutbusting to say the least. Here’s some of the dialogue I’m talking about:

LOIS: So, Doctor, is Peter healthy?

DR. HARTMAN: My goodness, you’ll be dead within a month.

*Peter and Lois gasp*

DR. HARTMAN: Oh Haggard the Horrible, if you keep up that life of pillaging and dead turkey legs you’ll be dead within a month. Alright, onto you.

PETER: So whaddya think, pretty healthy huh?

DR. HARTMAN: Well let’s take a look at your physical results.

Dr. Hartman opens folder, then screams

Peter and Lois get scared for a moment

DR. HARTMAN: There’s a spider in here! Alright, here we go. Mr. Griffin you’re gonna expire in a month.

*Peter and Lois gasp*

DR. HARTMAN: (Holds up Peter’s driver’s license) This is your driver’s license, isn’t it? Now I’m afraid you’re going to die.

*Peter and Lois gasp*

DR. HARTMAN: When you watch these Dean Martin celebrity roasts!

If you think this isn’t funny, I need to sit down with you and talk.

6: Petarded

#6 is Petarded, this is all about Peter discovering that he is mentally retarded. In case you have never seen an episode of “Family Guy,” there’s something about Peter that makes him an idiot, although based on how he’s portrayed throughout the show, he’s pretty much a lovable idiot, and I think this episode shows that. How does Peter discover he’s retarded? Well, after playing Trivial Pursuit with his family, and NEARLY screwing up on a children’s version question, he’s dared to take a test that smart people are meant to take and ace, and the results came in saying he’s retarded. This leads on to a very interesting and FUNNY episode. The story leads to Peter having to abandon his wife and kids, and go to court. There, we meet “The Ghost who Never Lies.” (If you see the episode you know what I’m talking about). If you have never seen this episode, give it a watch!

5: PTV

#5 is PTV. Say what you want about censorship, say what you want about swearing, say what you want about nudity, say what you want about blocking out certain content because children are watching, but if there’s one thing you can all agree on, it’s that this episode is awesome. The plot of this episode is that there is a wardrobe malfunction during the Emmys. This got lots of attention in the news and suddenly the town of Quahog, RI starts censoring everything in sight that may appear to be naughty on screen. For example, for “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” the title slide for it says “The **** Van **** Show.” That’s cleverness at its finest! In response to this, Peter starts his own channel called PTV which was made with the intention to expose people to shows while showing them all the nudity, guns, violence, etc. Lois starts getting upset about this and calls the FCC, which actually unleashes one of the best songs ever done on the show. While Peter’s channel happens to get taken away, he says that the FCC can’t stop people from being who they are. Well, they can. Turns out they start CENSORING REAL LIFE! When Peter comes out of the shower, his balls are covered with a bar, whenever someone starts swearing one of the FCC guys blows an airhorn to censor it, when Lois and Peter try to have sex, they have to follow a guideline saying that they can’t touch, moan, or even move! When it comes to comedy and knowing the topic its focusing on, this episode is phenomenal!

4: Blue Harvest

That’s right, I think “Blue Harvest” is better than “Something, Something, Something, Dark Side!” “Blue Harvest” makes fun of the original “Star Wars” film, and out of all the “Star Wars” spoofs “Family Guy” has done, I’d say this is the best one. Much like the other spoofs, this is essentially an abridged shot for shot redo of the movie it’s based on, and it’s funny as hell! There’s so many moments to go over from this episode: Peter as Han Solo, Stewie as Darth Vader, Herbert as Obi-Wan, Peter mocking the music as it happens (which is probably much funnier if you seen “Star Wars”), and the couch gag. Holy crap… the couch gag. One of the funniest THINGS I’ve ever seen. It basically just runs on through the second half of the episode, and it starts off by making fun of moving couches or furniture through a door! It doesn’t degrade from there! This is one of the funniest spoofs I’ve ever seen and this is about as good as the original “Star Wars” film.

3: The Simpsons Guy

Coming in at #3 we have “The Simpsons Guy.” This episode is essentially a crossover between “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons.” What happens throughout is that Peter starts off the episode by publishing a comic strip in a newspaper. The locals started raving, but the raving soon turned into hate. Peter eventually made an addition to the series that was considered by a good number of people to be sexist. As a result, everyone starts to try destroying the Griffins’ home. Then they leave to somewhere, anywhere, then they suddenly end up in Springfield. They eventually run into Homer Simpson, who brings them to his home and introduces them to the Simpson family. From here on out, the episode does a really good job on showing relationships between the characters which increasingly get more hilarious the more I think about them (specifically between Bart and Stewie). The connection between Bart and Stewie I’ve witnessed throughout the episode was one of the funniest things I’ve witnessed during the entire series. You know something? That’s not even the best part, the two shows use their signature lines they’ve built during the series to their advantage. EXAMPLE: “Eat my shorts,” “What the deuce?” Also, I love the metaphor the episode provides to put the icing on the cake on how similar these two shows really are. Peter introduces the Pawtucket Patriot Ale to Homer, and he drinks it, he says “This beer tastes exactly like Duff, it’s just a lousy ripoff!” Peter responds by saying “Hey whoa whoa whoa! It’s not a ripoff of Duff! It may have been INSPIRED by Duff, but I… I like to think it goes in a different direction.” Turns out that Moe reveals that Pawtucket Pat was knocking off Duff, Moe ripped the sticker that had the Pawtucket Pat logo and it revealed the Duff logo. The two are in court, and the case for this is being judged by Fred Flintstone, who is in favor of Duff. By the way, we haven’t even gotten to my favorite part of the episode, the two are talking to each other and Homer feels bad for keeping Peter out of his job (he worked for Pawtucket Pat) and he tries to apologize. Peter replies by saying “You know, when I first met you, I thought to myself, hey! I love this guy! This is the funniest guy I’ve ever met, I’m gonna quote this guy to all my friends, I love his town, I love his family. But now, I think I speak for all of us when I say, I am over the Simpsons.” What happens from here? They fight. And I mean FIGHT. If you have ever seen one of the episodes where Peter fights a giant chicken, this fight is the Simpsons crossover equivalent to that. This fight is everything it needs to be and more. It mocks the two characters and shows, it DESTROYS the town of Springfield, it places the characters in various scenarios and settings, and it even goes nuclear. The two characters fall into nuclear waste and gain radioactive powers to fight against each other, it’s AWESOME and if you are a fan of either of these shows, seeing these two clash will bring joy to you for ten minutes. If you thought the fight between Batman and Superman from “Batman v. Superman” was cool, which I didn’t, this fight, is a million times as cool.

2: I Dream of Jesus

Coming in at #2 we have the last half-hour episode I’ll put on this list, “I Dream of Jesus.” Some of you may also refer to this as the “Surfin Bird” episode. This episode starts off in a 50’s style diner, and “Surfin Bird” by The Trashmen starts playing on the jukebox. Peter says it his “favorite song of all time.” Then, Peter starts dancing to the song, which is just funny and charming. Although it turns out that since this song was not from the 50’s, a guy who does business around the diner says that he wants to get rid of the record for the song, but Peter says he wants it. So he takes it home with him, he starts getting attached to the song and it annoys his wife when she’s trying to sleep. Then, we go to a scene where Peter is with Brian and Stewie. In what could possibly be one of the show’s top funniest moments and even the funniest moment of the episode, Peter begins to build up playing Surfin Bird and dancing to it, now Brian and Stewie are annoyed. Unlike Lois, Brian and Stewie plan to do something about this, so they plan to take the record while Peter’s asleep. Peter never finds out what happened, but he decides to go find another copy. In one of the record stores, he meets Jesus Christ. This show has done LOTS of stuff involving Jesus, but I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this. Peter doesn’t get the record, but he asks Jesus if he wants to come to his place for dinner, Jesus says he’s willing to do that and what happens from here is making fun of the Bible (referring to it as a storybook), and Jesus performing miracles. Later on, Jesus gets revealed to the public, he gets an interview on Jay Leno, becomes famous, goes on the MTV Movie Awards with the Pussycat Dolls, and more. This episode alone, would just be funny with the “Surfin Bird” side of the story, but adding the Jesus plot in there also adds to the humor. The real question here is, what could top this great episode?

1: And Then There Were Fewer

Ladies and gentlemen, my #1 “Family Guy” episode is “And Then There Were Fewer!” There are so many reasons why I love this episode, so where should I start? Let’s begin with the plot. Just about every memorable character on the show is invited to a large house called “Rocky Point Manor,” and when they arrive, they have no idea what they are in for. Who’s hosting this? James Woods. If you have seen other “Family Guy” episodes with James Woods, he starts off by becoming close friends with Peter, then in another he steals Peter’s identity to get revenge from being trapped in a crate by Peter to get Woods out of his sight, and in another he ruins Brian’s TV pilot. This episode is still funny if you haven’t seen any of those episodes, but the humor adds up slightly more if you have been exposed to those previous episodes. In this particular episode, Woods reveals that he married a girl named Priscilla (voiced by Ashley Tisdale), and that he recently became a born-again Christian because of her. Since he was a man of God at this point, he decided it would be right if he invited every single person he wronged to make amends. What happens here? You know what? I’m not even gonna specify, because spoiling this particular episode, while hard, isn’t worth it. So I’m just gonna talk about the things I love about this episode without spoiling a thing. First off, the tone. I know “Family Guy” is famous for it’s humor and it’s a part that just about every fan is looking to view in each and every episode, and this episode, while being very funny, tries to be serious, and it ABSOLUTELY works. This is a murder mystery, a freaking murder mystery, and instead of trying to be funny, it comes off like an intense Hollywood film. Second, and I think this is somewhat overlooked, but the music in this entire episode shouldn’t be tampered with. If “Family Guy” had an entire album dedicated to every piece of music from this episode, I’d buy it when it first comes out. Also, you know how some 3D movies are distracting and some are immersive? Well, this is the first “Family Guy” episode to air in HD, and it tries to show that off, and how is it? Well, it’s immersive! Wait, there’s more! When it comes to comedy, some of my favorite moments from the show come from this episode, such as the “Hollywood” sign gag. I also won’t go without mentioning the introduction, which is just BEAUTIFUL. The music and animation in that 2 minute intro go together like a burger and fries. The sad part though is that the episode cuts out the intro if you’re watching it on TV, you can only see it on streaming services and on DVD. To hit the point where it needs to be hit, I can’t think of one scenario when I cared more for any of the show’s characters than I did in this one episode, and that’s AMAZING. I could go on forever about this episode, but I’d be wasting precious time.

“Family Guy” is in my opinion, one of the best shows ever made, Seth MacFarlane is a comedic genius and he deserves every bit of attention he gets. What is your favorite “Family Guy” episode? Do you agree with my list? Do you have a list of your own? Leave a comment! In terms of upcoming movie reviews, I’m hoping to see “The LEGO Batman Movie” and “John Wick 2.” I don’t think I’m gonna be seeing anything this upcoming weekend but I might go see “La La Land” for a second time. Stay tuned for upcoming reviews and more posts! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Hey everyone, Jack Drees here with another update! One of the biggest pieces of news I heard earlier this week, which probably made me partially forget that Donald Trump’s in the White House which is also a big piece of news, is that Star Wars Episode VIII has a new title, what is that title? That title is “The Last Jedi!”

One of the bigger questions that has been going around the Internet lately is the meaning of the title. If you are a hardcore Star Wars fan like me, you probably already know what a Jedi is. If not, well then hello my name is Jack and I love Star Wars, PLEASE WATCH IT. A Jedi is someone who has magical (or scientific according to the prequels which I don’t accept) powers and can use something called the force. The force can be useful when fighting, moving objects around, etc. It’s almost like a religion if you will. They often carry around lightsabers too, which are awesome. Now that we have that covered, let’s get to the real question, what does this mean? Well, when it comes to the word Jedi, it has been shown that the plural of Jedi is the same word as the singular version, so it is quite possible that this movie focuses on the last group of Jedi. The Jedi are very interesting group, they’ve already had a huge downfall in between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope,” and based on “The Force Awakens,” Rey may have been one of the only Jedi in existence in that film’s setting. Also, one thing to consider when it comes to this, is the character of Luke Skywalker.

Luke Skywalker may be arguably the most well known movie protagonist of all time. Anyone who grew up with Star Wars would know who he is. Also if you saw “The Force Awakens” you’d know Skywalker’s in the movie at the very end for a second and then we go to a cliffhanger. Without a doubt, I bet one of the first scenes in the next film will contain Rey and Luke in the same scene. With that being said, I’d bet Skywalker would probably get more screen time than he did in Episode VII. With THAT being said, the screen time he’ll probably get, based on my sad predictions, will probably contain his death. Luke Skywalker may die and Rey will become the last Jedi.

Also, let’s keep another thing in mind if you have seen “The Force Awakens” it states that Luke Skywalker is the last Jedi in the opening crawl. Not to mention, Supreme Leader Snoke says that the map that everyone was searching for will soon be delivered to the Resistance, leading them to “the last Jedi.” Then in the next sentence, he states “If Skywalker returns, the new Jedi will rise.” He’s referring to Luke as the last jedi, and even though she hasn’t truly discovered her power yet, he’s probably referring to Rey as the new Jedi.

Or, if there are more undiscovered Jedi that will be in the next movie, it is quite possible that the next movie will have a dark vibe and kill all of those Jedi off, either leaving just Rey, Luke and Rey, or a small amount of Jedi including Rey (possibly along with Luke) as the last Jedi. I doubt that this will happen, but it’s something I thought I’d get out of my mind.

Speaking of dark vibes, let’s take a look at the font. If you notice the “Star Wars” logo you may notice it is in red font. You know what other Star Wars movie had red font in one of its posters? “Revenge of the Sith!” You know how dark that movie was? It was the first “Star Wars” to get an MPAA rating higher than PG and it includes people getting slaughtered left and right, along with Anakin Skywalker KILLING CHILDREN. The red font may be a key symbol of darkness to come.

Let’s keep another thing in mind too, this is the second movie in a trilogy. “The Empire Strikes Back” has been rather well known for being somewhat dark, like when Luke’s hand gets cut off, or when Han gets taken by Boba Fett, or when the movie ends on a cliffhanger. Also, if you remember “Attack of the Clones,” Anakin also gets his hands cut off in that movie, maybe Rey might get a hand cut off in this movie in some dark way.

I don’t know the real meaning of this title, however it doesn’t mean that there can’t be assumptions, if anyone knows the true meaning let me know, and if you have a theory on what this title means, please leave a comment! I just hope that Luke doesn’t die in this film, it might scar me a bit. It might make the movie better, but at the same time, I don’t want it to happen. So if you like this post and you want to see more, stay tuned for my future content and reviews, also check out everything I’ve done in the past as well. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Alright folks, 2017 is here! I already reviewed a few movies this year (Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, and Sing), however, it is time for me to do my first review of a movie released in this current year, so without further ado, let’s begin talking about “xXx: Return of Xander Cage!”

“xXx: Return of Xander Cage” is directed by DJ Caruso (Eagle Eye), and is the third installment in the “xXx” series. This film stars people such as Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Deepika Padukone, Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), Ruby Rose, and Toni Collette. Now let’s move onto–

*Random stalker pops through my door*

RANDOM STALKER: Excuse me, Jack?

ME: Yeah?

RANDOM STALKER: I can’t help but overhear you with my supersonic hearing, aren’t you forgetting somebody important in the cast?

ME: No. I think I have everybody.

RANDOM STALKER: I beg to differ.

ME: What? Really? I think I have everyone.

RANDOM STALKER: No you don’t.

ME: Oh, come on now, who could I be forgetting?

RANDOM STALKER: Samuel L. Jackson.

ME: He doesn’t star in the movie!

RANDOM STALKER: But his role is important, you must recognize what his character does for the movie.

ME: Doesn’t change the fact he didn’t star in it! It’s my review, I’m the reviewer, I’m the editor, let me do what I want!

RANDOM STALKER: Just put him with the stars.

ME: I won’t.

RANDOM STALKER: Just do it.

ME: *Sigh* *Digs into pocket*

RANDOM STALKER: What are you doing? You gonna shoot me?

ME: *Takes out wallet, grabs a $1 bill* Here’s a dollar, now get out, I’m busy.

RANDOM STALKER: I don’t want your money.

ME: I have an idea. I’ll do what you want, but I’m gonna do it my way.

RANDOM STALKER: Alright, any way you can put the fellow in would be great.

 

OK guys, let me start over. This film stars people such as Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Nina Dobrev, Ruby Rose, Toni Collette, and FEATURES Samuel L. Jackson.

RANDOM STALKER: Hey! That’s not enough! His role is pretty big to the–

ME: I freakin gave you what you wanted, now get the hell out!

*RANDOM STALKER LEAVES SPEEDWALKING*

Where were we? Oh, that’s right, story. This movie, if you cannot already tell by the title, is Xander Cage’s return to action. The character was believed by the people to be dead in the second installment of the series, “xXx: State of the Union,” therefore Ice Cube came in as the new main character during that movie. So when Xander comes back in this film, he is set on a mission with Xiang (played by Donnie Yen) to this recover this film’s biggest key weapon, Pandora’s Box, which is a weapon can be used to control satellites. Throughout we get a film that will probably encourage some of you to turn off your brain with mindless action and a few brief moments with women in bikinis.

Vin Diesel comes back in this movie as Xander Cage, and after seeing the first “xXx” along with the second one with Ice Cube, I’d say Vin Diesel does a better job as his particular main character. Would I say that Vin Diesel does as good as he did in the first film? No. I still remember the opening action sequence with him in that film and it was pretty kickass. Everything he does and says in this movie, some of it I might remember for a bit, but I wouldn’t say I’d remember a good portion of it. Speaking of what he says in this movie, this character also delivered tons of one liners in this film, and unfortunately only a select few were funny.

One of my favorite parts of the film is Donnie Yen. He plays a character named Xiang, and he had some of the best action scenes in the movie. If you don’t know who Donnie Yen is, he was in a few other films, and he was also in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” as Chirrut Îmwe. In that film, he was probably the most badass character out of everyone (aside from Darth Vader). After seeing this film, I want so much more of this guy. I mean, let’s just say that if he was in something like “Sharknado,” a very s*itty direct to TV film, even if that movie’s s*it, I’d say Donnie would be the best part of that s*it. Can you imagine Donnie doing his own thing? Taking out sharks one by one like a champ? That’d be awesome!

Deepika Padukone is also in this film and she plays a character named Serena, I liked this character, I think in terms of action she wasn’t as good as the other characters, however, if I had to state big positive from this character, it would be this. There’s one scene where Xander interacts with Serena that was interesting to watch. The dialogue had a sensual vibe to it, but at the same time it was somewhat intimidating. Also, she’s hot, so yeah, she’s got that going for her.

The next character I’m going to talk about is a very mixed bag for me. Nina Dobrev plays a character in this movie named Becky Clearidge and her role to the movie helped move the story along, there’s however one moment in the movie which her character does something that makes her look like Jar Jar Binks. Remember when the idiotic and clumsy Jar Jar Binks accidentally set a weapon off during the climax of “The Phantom Menace” which happen to kill a bunch of a battle droids? Well, Dobrev’s character actually does something similar to that in this film’s climax! Just for a second while her character was somewhat corny, but still had the potential of being a badass, her badassary just degraded when her Jar Jar moment happened. Let me just get this to you in a way you might understand, let’s take three characters. Jar Jar Binks from the “Star Wars” franchise, Amy Farrah Fowler from “The Big Bang Theory,” and a hyped up version of Selene from the “Underworld” series. If you take these three characters, and combine them into one individual personality in this movie, you get Becky Clearidge.

Let’s also talk about Ruby Rose’s character. She plays a lesbian in this film and her name is Adele Wolff. I will say her character looks pretty badass with a sniper rifle and I’d say her character isn’t too bad. However there is one thing that I remember well from this movie from her and it’s not a good thing. It’s not a terrible thing, just a less than OK thing. There’s one scene in this film where she blurts out a lesbian joke, makes a bit of sense considering she was, based on some of the lines given throughout the film, in fact a lesbian, and the joke really fell flat. Maybe it’s because it was shown to me a lot in the advertising, but still, it kind of irked me. Perhaps if I didn’t see the advertisements so much before the movie came out I would’ve had a bigger laugh, and this is also considering the fact that I almost had a forced laugh come out of me during this scene.

I mentioned before, this movie FEATURES Samuel L. Jackson, it doesn’t star him. If you remember from the previous installments, he plays Augustus Gibbons. Sure, Gibbons is a rather important character in the franchise, but he doesn’t add much of anything at all to the movie. There’s one thing in the beginning that is extremely important to the plot, but let me just say that he’s not in the movie long. However, there is one joke in the beginning, it’s not necessarily spoken by any specific character and it is kinda funny. Samuel L. Jackson is sitting with one guy in a cafe, he’s talking with the guy, and there’s a text introducing the guy, and it said he thought he was being recruited into “The Avengers.” In my opinion, it’s funny because if you follow the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’d already know Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury in its franchise.

If you want to know a bit more about this text, I seriously wonder how this came about. If you have seen “Suicide Squad,” which has been out since last August, there are several title slides which have been used to introduce the characters in the film. I’d also say that they were used rather effectively (for the most part) in that movie. In this film, I’d say the same, but this doesn’t change one thing, I wonder if someone behind this film’s production saw “Suicide Squad,” and after seeing that, they thought it would be a good idea at the very last minute to copy paste the whole text slide shabang just for the sake of having them and for humor. So I wouldn’t be shocked if this was just a last minute addon.

In the end, for a movie released in January, this isn’t too bad. Judging from the trailers, it certainly looks better than “The Bye Bye Man,” and certainly a lot more fun. I wouldn’t say this installment is absolutely necessary in the realm of cinema, but it was still enjoyable. There were bits of cool action, some interesting characters, not to digress but I now have a crush on Deepika Padukone, and a good portion of the negatives in this movie doesn’t really degrade the final product too much. I’m gonna give “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” an enjoyable 5/10. This movie knows what it is, a mindless action film, is it the best of the best? Of course not, I’ve seen better, but if this were on TV I’d give it a watch. Oh, and by the way, it’s better than “State of the Union,” which in my opinion, was pretty bad. As far as upcoming films go, there’s not much coming out next week which I’m gonna go out and seek right away. However, there are some upcoming films that I’m really excited for, such films include “The LEGO Batman Movie” and “John Wick 2.” Also, I’m not sure what your thoughts are on reality TV, but if you want to know something, there’s only a few shows in that genre to me, that happen to be watchable. One of those shows actually happens to be my favorite show of all time, that show is “King of the Nerds.” As of 5 days ago, the show is now 4 years old. I did a post describing the show’s history, its run on TBS from 2013-2015, its cancellation, and how this show had a deep impact on me not only as a nerd, but as a person. The link for that will be down below, please go check it out it is worth your time, and stay tuned for more reviews. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

KING OF THE NERDS: 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY POST: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2017/01/18/king-of-the-nerds-4-year-anniversary-post/

“Sing” is the newest animation from Illumination Studios, the creators behind “Despicable Me” and “The Secret Life of Pets.” In this movie, a mouse named Buster Moon, played by Matthew McConaughey, is the owner of the Moon Theatre. This theater has been around for quite some time, but it has not been all that successful in terms of the performances and venues that are done there. So in an attempt to receive a rise in attendance and success, Moon decides to do a singing competition, and throughout we get a movie about a bunch of animals who are aspiring to become the next big singer and win $100,000.

While I watched the movie, one of the things that stood out to me is how many key characters there were in this movie. Now in my opinion, I ask you, what other movie seemed to have too many key characters to make it so convoluted and disastrous? That movie my friends, is “Mother’s Day.” If you have seen my top 10 worst movies of 2016, that movie was actually on there. Why? Well I kind of just explained it to you so that’s kind of an odd question to answer right now. There are other reasons too but that’s just one of them. Did the high amount of characters in “Sing” bog down the movie? I wouldn’t say it did. Based on the personalities of all these characters, I was able to get into all of them and understand the way they feel without getting bored.

In terms of describing these characters, let’s start off by talking about the movie’s main character, Buster Moon. I think Matthew McConaughey is a fine actor. As far as I know, my father says otherwise, but that’s his opinion. How is he in this movie? Well, I enjoyed his character, and the voice that Matthew provides in this movie, which is really just a slightly more hyper and fast version of himself, worked for his character. I was able to understand his character in this movie and I thought one line in this movie, is something kids should pay attention to and keep in their minds. “When you hit rock bottom, there’s only place to go, and that’s up!”

Let’s describe two more characters: Rosita (played by Reese Witherspoon, center) and Gunter (played by Nick Kroll, left), I decided to dedicate this section both characters at the same time because they’re both pigs and they do a lot of stuff together in the movie. First I’m gonna talk about Rosita. She’s a stay at home mom with 25 kids. Her husband (played by Nick Offerman) is at work all day and she basically stays home and takes care of the kids, gets them ready for school, etc. I really enjoyed her character, and if any stay at home mothers go see this movie with their children, I have a feeling that this character will resonate with them. Rosita is also in an act with Gunter in the competition and Gunter, according to this movie’s universe, is rather eccentric. Also, one thing I enjoyed about Gunter is that he gives one of the funniest lines in the movie. There’s this one scene where Rosita and Gunter rehearse in front of Buster and Miss Crawly (played by Garth Jennings) and Rosita falls to the ground. After that, Buster asks if Rosita is OK, and instead of having Rosita respond, Gunter, standing next to her, jumps in and responds by saying “Oh yes, I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”

One other character that stood out to me was Johnny the gorilla (played by Taron Egerton). I thought his character was well written and the most interesting thing about this character is his unsteady relationship with his father, Eddie (played by John C. Reilly). It somewhat made me think what it would be like if some family had a tradition or business, and then their offspring decides they don’t want to follow that particular path and they choose to follow a different path instead.

One of my favorite actresses working today is Scarlett Johansson. I love her as Black Widow, she’s a fine looking actress, and based on work she did for “The Spongebob Squarepants Movie” which came out in 2004 and this year’s “The Jungle Book,” I’d say she knows how to do a good voiceover as well. She played a character in this movie named Ash and I was surprised how well Johansson could sing. She played a moody teen in the film and it certainly worked for her character.

 

Tori Kelly is also in this movie and her character was an elephant named Meena. Her character in this movie comes off very shy and she also had stage fright. Her family heard her sing in this movie and they loved it, when she found out about the contest, she had to go in. As the film progresses, her character constantly becomes more interesting. Granted, the route of her character came off rather predictable but it doesn’t mean it was bad.

Last but not least when it comes to characters, I’m gonna talk about the character I was looking forward to most walking into this movie. That is Seth MacFarlane’s character, Mike. In case you never knew, Seth MacFarlane is one of my all time favorite celebrities. I love “Family Guy,” even in the later seasons which everyone says is not as good as the earlier ones. I also enjoy watching “American Dad,” and I like his movies. I don’t care what ANY OF YOU think of “A Million Ways to Die in the West” and “Ted 2,” I enjoyed those films! In this movie, MacFarlane plays an egotistical mouse that seems to put everybody down and doesn’t seem to make anyone feel better. In a sense, it’s almost like he’s the villain in this film, but he really isn’t. There’s no technical antagonist in this film, but out of everyone in the movie, he was probably the most vicious character.

I want to talk about 2016 and animations. While 2016 itself probably hit everyone in some negative way, we can probably all agree when it comes to animated movies, it made the year slightly better because there were so many good ones. Granted that doesn’t mean there weren’t any that were absolute s*it. In fact, “Ice Age: Collision Course” made my top 10 worst list of 2016. Also, while I didn’t see all of “Norm of the North,” I’ve seen enough of the movie to know it’s just awful (based on a video from YouTube user Bobby Burns). Although when comes to the good animations I saw this year, FOUR animations made my top 10 best list of 2016. Is this good enough to change that list? No, although it doesn’t mean the movie wasn’t enjoyable. Speaking of my top 10 best list, this is not official, but I might make a change to it and put “La La Land” on a lower spot on the list, but that’s undecided at the moment. Just figured I’d let you all know.

“Sing” is a very good animation. It manages to take so many characters and somehow make each and every one enjoyable. Also, these characters are played extremely well by a undeniably well chosen cast. Not to mention, when it comes to catering to children and adults, there is a fine line between the two demographics so the overall film works for everyone. I’m gonna give “Sing” a 7/10. I’m glad I got to see this movie, and I certainly hope 2017 can also give us some animations that just as good as the ones that were given to us in 2016. I have so much faith in the upcoming “The LEGO Batman Movie” so hopefully that can be a good start for the genre. Speaking of upcoming movies, I hope to see “xXx: Return of Xander Cage,” which comes out in just a few days. I still need to see the second “xXx” movie before that, but hopefully I can find time to see that film and see the new one which comes out Friday. Stay tuned for more reviews and I’m glad the 2016 animations are even great at the end of that particular year. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“La La Land” is directed by Damien Chazelle, and it is a musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as two people who are living in Los Angeles. Ryan Gosling’s character is aspiring to become a jazz musician and Emma Stone’s character is aspiring to become an actress. Throughout the film these two meet, develop a relationship, and give several musical numbers.

This film, as mentioned recently, is directed by Damien Chazelle, who also directed one of my favorite movies of 2014 and of all time, that movie, is “Whiplash.” Is this movie as good as that one? I will be honest, no. However, it does not change the fact that this movie was spectacular. Let’s start at the beginning, with the opening scene on the highway.

 

Prior to going into this movie, one of the scenes I was well aware of is the opening highway scene. Before the Golden Globes which aired not too long ago, they did an opening which was essentially their own version of that scene. This scene was done in one continuous shot, and this continued right up a point after the movie’s title came up. Regardless of what you think of “La La Land” as a film, you have to admit if you’ve seen the movie, this opening scene just from a technical aspect, is stellar.

Moving onto the actors, I want to talk about Ryan Gosling’s character of Sebastian. As an actor in this movie, I’d say Ryan Gosling did a great job with his role. His character was well written and well performed. I was able to buy why this guy had a deep passion for the jazz genre and I loved his character for it. It very much reminds me of myself and how I act when it comes to thinking about or experiencing things like movies, elevators, or game shows. There’s one scene where he and Emma Stone were in a restaurant, he played a good dreamer role and it shows in that scene.

You wanna know something? I personally think Emma Stone did a better job in this movie than Ryan Gosling in this movie! Emma Stone plays the lead character in this movie who goes by the name of Mia. After witnessing the performance Stone gave as this character, I will go as far to say that as far as lead actresses go, this is one of the best performances of all the movies which came out in 2016, and I’d say it is up there with Hailee Steinfeld’s performance in “The Edge of Seventeen” as far as 2016 performances go. I was able to relate to her character as much as I related to Ryan Gosling’s and I was able to buy into their relationship.

As far as all the numbers go in the movie, each one kept me moving as the movie went along. None of them were cringeworthy, and I really enjoyed all of them. If I actually had the chance right now to go buy the soundtrack I’d take that chance. My favorite of all the numbers was probably either the opening number, which is called “Another Day of Sun,” or one that’s called “The Fools Who Dream.”

A couple things I want to bring up is just some aspects of the movie that really resonated with me. One, this is kind of a love letter to Hollywood. This movie takes place in Los Angeles and it seems to deliver such respect to the city and what it stands for. Speaking of respect, this movie also seems to bring such respect to dreamers. I don’t know if you know this, but I hope one day I can get a screenplay of mine turned into a Hollywood film. This movie somewhat inspired me and the two lead characters of the film reminded me of myself as a dreamer.

In the end, I was glad I saw “La La Land,” I think it is a must see if you love musicals, movies that take risks, or if you just like good movies with terrific work put into them. I will say, “Whiplash” was personally a better film, which by the way, if you haven’t seen that movie, check it out, it’s worth your time. Although I really enjoyed “La La Land” and I’d love to see it again. I’m gonna give “La La Land” a 9/10. Just want to let everyone know that I have another review coming up soon. Tomorrow I’m gonna go see “Sing”, the newest animation from Illumination Studios, the creators of “Despicable Me” and “The Secret Life of Pets.” Stay tuned for that review and other reviews coming up as well. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“Manchester by the Sea” is directed by Kenneth Lonergan and stars Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone) as an uncle who has to take care of his teenage nephew after the death of his uncle.

I saw this movie on Sunday, January 8th, and I’m glad I did. My gladness is mainly due to how the Golden Globes were on that day and this was nominated in several categories. Before going into the film I heard that this movie was loved by critics, so I thought I was going to get one of the best movie experiences out of a movie which came out in 2016. For example, this movie has a 96/100 on Metacritic right now, a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, and even regular moviegoers are raving too with an 8.5/10 on IMDb. Did I get what I saw coming out of this movie? Not really. Does that mean the movie sucked? I wouldn’t say that.

Let’s just jump into this right here and now, with Casey Affleck, and Affleck’s performance in this movie may be one of the best of 2016 if not the best! My grandparents actually happened to see this film before me and my grandfather didn’t really care much for it, I think he liked it, but I don’t really think he cared. However my grandmother happened to love the film as far as the acting goes. She told me that when it comes to the acting, it was like watching real people. After seeing the film, I totally see where my grandmother is coming from. The timing, the voice levels, the posture, everything happened to be superb from Affleck’s character. Great job! I’m not saying everyone else did a bad job with their performances, but Casey really stood out to me.

One other thing that really stood out to me about the movie was Lesley Barber’s score. There was so many periods in the movie where there happened to be no music whatsoever, but whenever there’s a scene with music playing, it matches the scene perfectly. One example that really stood out to me was one scene where Affleck character is visiting a therapist and he’s having flashbacks, like when he saw someone’s house on fire and he knew the people who live there.

However, these positives don’t mean the movie’s flawless. One of the biggest flaws of the movie in my personal opinion was the balance between comedy and tragedy. I heard that this movie was supposed to be rather sad, and it is, but the thing about that is that it is just not enough sadness. You want to know something? I actually found myself laughing harder than I cried. Granted I don’t really cry during movies, I am just moved with my brain and maybe I’ll hold my tears in. But nevertheless, when it comes to a movie like this, there probably should have been a little less laughable moments and a little more sadness. Not to get off topic, but one thing I absolutely hated when seeing this movie, was during one scene, Casey Affleck’s character was getting somewhat emotional considering he was looking at his uncle’s dead body, and what was so bad about it? At one moment I was thinking to myself that this was unfortunate, then someone’s phone goes off for the whole theater to hear! TURN YOUR PHONE OFF! Why am I mentioning this? Maybe this could somewhat affect my final verdict of the film, so I felt the need to get it out there.

Anyway, there are more issues I have, well, technically, this is a positive and negative at the same time and lets start with the positive. This movie is very well shot. There are some immersive highway scenes, and there were a couple of scenes showcasing an ocean, along with a boat that really made me feel like I was there. However, there’s one scene in the beginning of the movie that felt somewhat clunky, and that’s because it had a very unnecessary jumpcut. If you don’t know what a jumpcut is, it is essentially when a shot is showing something, and in the next shot, it is showing the exact same thing from the same angle but either closer or farther than before. I’ve seen shots like this work before, for example, on “Conan” they did a comedy bit called “Arbitrary Judgment Lineup” back in 2015, which is essentially a bit where ten contestants are eliminated one by one and it doesn’t really matter what they do, it’s mainly just out of chance, and there was a jumpcut that made the bit somewhat funnier.

HOST: “Ruth, you’re out.”

RUTH: “Why am I out?

HOST: “Well now it’s because you’re asking too many questions. GET OUT!”

The jumpcut in that bit occurs after the end of the first sentence in the last line provided, so it does work in my opinion, but it just doesn’t work for me in this movie.

Also, I will say that some of the characters are rather forgettable. Some of the only characters I remember at the top of my head right now are Casey Affleck, Casey Affleck’s nephew, Casey Affleck’s ex-wife and family, and Casey Affleck’s nephew’s girlfriends. Yes, he’s dating two people in this film. I will say however that Casey Affleck really nailed his performance in the film so me forgetting a lot of the characters is somewhat forgivable.

“Manchester by the Sea” is a good movie, but it is not a great movie. In my opinion this may be the most overhyped movie of 2016, I can see why some people might really love this movie, but I didn’t get everything I wanted out of the experience I had while watching this in the theater. I’m going to give “Manchester by the Sea” a 7/10. Also, congrats to Casey Affleck winning the Golden Globe for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama”, I wanted him to win and he definitely earned his victory. I also won’t go without mentioning a hearty congratulations to everyone who won an award at the Golden Globes, and also to everyone who got nominated. I know how hard it is to make a movie but you guys made it through all of your projects and that says a lot. Also, as far as upcoming reviews go, I’m probably going to see “La La Land” over the next weekend, which according to the Golden Globes either happens to be the best movie of all time, or a biased choice over and over again. Why do I say that? During the Golden Globes, “La La Land” won 7 out of 7 of its nominations, which means “La La Land” broke the record for the most Golden Globe wins. Is it that good? We’ll have to find out soon, but that is if I actually see the movie, I never know what could happen to my schedule. Anyway, stay tuned for more reviews. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!