Scene Before

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!

Hey everyone, I just did my top 10 BEST movies of 2016 and now it is time to get negative, that’s right, it is time for the top 10 WORST movies of 2016. And before we get into this, I have not seen every movie that has come out this year, I mentioned before I wanted to see “Equity”, I mentioned it more than once, well guess what? Never saw it. I actually found it for $22.99 at Best Buy the other day but I didn’t think it was worth it. Maybe someday I’ll get it when the price goes down or worst case scenario I can just rent it on Amazon Video. Also, I’m not saying you should hate these movies, these are just the 10 films that I hate which came out this year, so different strokes for different folks. Oh, and one more thing, I am only doing movies released in theaters, so “Sharknado 4: The Fourth Awakens” is off the list. Anyways, let’s get started with counting down my top 10 WORST movies of 2016.

#10: Money Monster

Coming in at #10 is “Money Monster”, in this movie George Clooney and Julia Roberts are doing a financial TV show and some guy starts invading the studio, therefore setting up a thriller. Sounds intriguing doesn’t it? Trust me it’s not. George Clooney sounds like he’s playing himself in this movie and it very much reminds me of when he played Batman, which was not that great. I mean, the film is edited well and the directing is OK, but the little things in this film are just so jarring and this is a ride I started to forget about once I left the theater.

#9: Gods of Egypt

#9 is “Gods of Egypt”. Out of all the movies on the list, this actually may have been the most entertaining of the bunch, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s terrible. First off, the casting is incredibly misleading and controversial. What do I mean? This film is called “Gods of Egypt”, but there is not one Egyptian actor in this movie. Second, the movie itself is hilariously bad, overacted to the ninth degree, and bloated with CGI. If you do happen to think that you should check this out one day, invite some friends over to your place, roast the movie Mystery Science Theater style. I can imagine it would be that sort of movie. Although I will admit some of the CGI kind of looked cool. If this film weren’t at least watchable this would be higher on the list.

#8: Independence Day: Resurgence

Coming in at #8 is “Independence Day: Resurgence”. I enjoyed “Independence Day”. Although I can’t say the same for this sequel. First off, this sequel took 20 years to make so it felt kind of unnecessary, and the characters aren’t really that likable. Will Smith is not even in this movie so that says something. The humor that was even put in this movie didn’t work. The movie even ends on a cliffhanger, setting up a sequel that sounds promising, but kind of leaves me wondering if it will just be a cash grab. The only good things in the movie are the flying sequences and the effects, that’s about it.

#7: The Finest Hours

Here we have one of the first movies I’ve seen this year, and that’s “The Finest Hours”. This film is based on the true story of a coast guard rescue mission in Cape Cod during the year of 1952, despite how this mission is still remembered to this day, it doesn’t change the fact that Disney made a horrible movie out of it. There was a romance that felt very unnecessary, and if it actually did have SO MUCH to do with the actual story, then I guess I can bump this a little lower, but this movie is boring at times, and there’s one sequence with unnecessary singing that baffles and annoys me to this day. I mean of course, what else do you expect from Disney? Once again, if that actually happened, I’d want to know, but this is too much of a fantasy in my book.

#6: The Divergent Series: Allegiant

I enjoyed the previous “Divergent” installments, but it doesn’t mean this one was good. That’s right, #6 is “Allegiant”. I never read the books, but for what I know, this is the last book split into two parts, which is one of the worst cliches in the film industry, but that’s probably the least of my problems. This is just a mess with bloated CGI, taking the characters that were at least tolerable from the previous installments and just ignores what made them interesting. I love Miles Teller, he’s proven himself to be a great actor, but in this movie, his character is horribly annoying, and he’s probably one of the worst characters I’ve seen this year. Also, just to prove to you how bad this movie is, the next movie in the franchise is going to be a straight to TV movie.

#5: The Girl on the Train

Coming at #5 we have one of the most forgettable films this year, which is “The Girl on the Train”. This movie had an interesting concept, along with a good performance by Emily Blunt, but this movie as a whole, was boring. I don’t even remember this movie, and based on how much I felt appalled leaving the theater after this mess, I’m glad I don’t remember it. This movie is probably good if you want something to fall asleep to. Let’s say that it is around 2AM and you can’t sleep, just turn on this movie, I guarantee you’ll get tired watching this.

#4: The Fifth Wave

 

I never watched “Twilight” and I also never watched “Fifty Shades of Grey”, but based on my knowledge of those films and my experience of watching “The Fifth Wave”, I probably say I’ve seen them now. Chloe Grace Moretz plays one of the weakest heroes I’ve seen this year, and the romance is not only extremely forced, but I do not buy it at all! Oh, there is one scene I witnessed in this abomination and the lighting in that scene is probably some of the worst I’ve ever seen in a movie. For what I remember, there was like fighting involved and I couldn’t even see what was happening so it really irked me. I wasn’t a fan of the movie’s trailer and TV ads, but I thought there would be something likable that I would get out of the movie. Well guess what? There was nothing! I’m just glad I got to see this free on Starz On Demand that way I didn’t have to pay for a couple hours of pain and suffering.

#3: Ice Age: Collision Course

I mentioned in my top 10 best movies of 2016 that if there is one genre of movies that was phenomenal this year, it had to be animations. Although that doesn’t mean there were some inferior ones, and “Ice Age: Collision Course” is just plain awful. I love the “Ice Age” films, but did we really need a fifth installment? No we didn’t! The animation in this movie isn’t too bad, but everything else in this movie is completely unbearable. The jokes were s*itty, the concept was wasted, the characters were degraded to such a low level that it makes me angry. This film may as well have been the result of some people at Blue Sky getting drunk and thinking this would be a grand idea, then suddenly we get this atrocity that just screams the words “cash grab”. Don’t let your kids watch this film, they will end up slightly dumber from watching this. Go show em the first “Ice Age”, or even the second one, I actually like the second one better.

#2: Mother’s Day

I didn’t want to see this movie, but I put up with it anyhow, and boy was I right about my lack of anticipation. “Mother’s Day” is just a pile of garbage. This film is about three generations coming together leading up to Mother’s Day. Throughout we get this junk that isn’t funny, has tons of product placement, no likable characters, and lots of cringe. Oh, the cringe, I don’t even recall exactly what made me cringe most in the movie but I dredged through this film for my mom. Oh and did I mention the bad product placement? There’s this one scene where two characters are in front of a vending machine, it made me want to repeatedly punch a wall for fun. This film does not make Mother’s Day special. This is basically a commercial for so many things, but most noticeably the Home Shopping Network. This movie sucked, don’t watch it and save your money.

#1: Ghostbusters

At #1, we have a film that made so angry, even before it came out, and I thought I would be relieved when seeing the film itself because I thought it couldn’t get any worse than the trailer, but I was wrong, that film is “Ghostbusters”. How does movie exist?! I can’t even began to comprehend how unneeded this piece of crap is! I know that this movie is meant to empower women, and I know that the idea is if you don’t like this movie because there’s women you’re labeled as a sexist pig. Let me just say, the idea of replacing the original Ghostbusters with women is lazy and unoriginal in my book. It’s like the idea of whitewashing: Lazy, unoriginal, and makes characters feel less authentic. Not only that, but the writing for this movie is some of the worst of all time! It’s not funny, it’s stuff we’ve seen before, it’s jarring, and it makes no sense! Oh, and I’m not even done, basically around the movie’s release, a good portion of the cast were delivering a message saying that if you dislike this movie you are a sexist. You know something? This movie may be sexist! While this movie tries to empower women, it basically tries to destroy the male gender in every way, shape, and form possible! Especially during the final boss fight, don’t even get me started on that… Also this movie features cameos from the original Ghostbusters, with the exception of Harold Ramis who already passed away. They are all terrible. This movie got ONE chuckle out me and that’s literally it! Also, if this leads to someone thinking a remake for “Back to the Future” is a good idea, I ought to write an essay about why it isn’t, and I will track down that person and literally hand them the essay! You know what? I’m still not done! The lore is basically ignored throughout the film. Stay Puft was ruined, Slimer was near-tolerable until a female Slimer came in, and the idea of how the Ghostbusters logo came to be is cringeworthy the more I think about it. Oh, and one thing I won’t go without mentioning, is the references. There are multiple references to movies and they are also ruined. F*CK THIS MOVIE! That’s it, I’m done! I don’t have to talk about it again. I feel like Frodo when Gollum vanished in the volcano during “Return of the King”.

Well 2016 is over, and this may have been one of the worst years of all time, if not the worst. Although let’s look forward to a great 2017 and hope that it will work out well for everyone. I can’t wait to see what 2017 brings when it comes to movies and I hope they’re all good. If you want to take a look at my top 10 BEST movies of 2016, I’ll have a link down below, go check it out, and stay tuned for my reviews in 2017 and Happy New Year everyone! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Top 10 BEST Movies of 2016: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2017/01/01/top-10-best-movies-of-2016/

Hey everyone, it’s time to count down my top 10 BEST movies of 2016, and before we begin I want to spit some things out. I have not seen every single movie released in the year of 2016. For example, I wanted to catch “Office Christmas Party” by the end of the year, but I couldn’t, however I do have plans to see it Monday. Although do you really think just from the advertising alone that the movie would be top 10 best list material? I don’t think so. Also, this is a subjective list, so these top 10 picks are MY opinion, not your opinion, nor are they opinions of other people besides you except for me. I am not saying that these are movies that you should like, these are movies that I just personally liked. Everyone should have their own opinion and it is what makes us unique. So let’s start off with the top 10 best movies of 2016 with number 10!

#10: “Sausage Party”

If you have watched a good portion of 2016’s movies you’d probably agree that the animations KILLED IT this year! This entry to the list proves that wholeheartedly. I went to see this movie twice in the theater, and I enjoyed it both times. “Sausage Party” takes a idea that is NEVER used in the film industry and makes a movie out of it that is definitely worth seeing. What exactly is that concept? Making a raunchy, disgusting, R rated animation. That’s right, it’s rated R, think twice before letting your children watch this.

#9: “Zootopia”

Next up is “Zootopia”, an animation you CAN let your kid watch. I have to say that when it comes to recent Disney animations they’re pretty good (except Frozen). Out of all the ones I’ve seen recently, it’s probably the funniest. Why? It’s basically spoofing real life. This movie is about a bunch of animals gathering together living in a single city and a bunny who wants to become a cop. Throughout we get a hilarious ride that is relatable, charming, with likable characters and beautiful animation.

#8: “Kung Fu Panda 3”

Coming at #8, we have YET ANOTHER ANIMATION, this genre is a goldmine this year. Specifically this spot goes to “Kung Fu Panda 3”. Fun fact, this movie was actually released in January and usually when it comes to movies, January, along with February are usually the most disliked months for new releases. This movie is a huge exception in my book. In fact, I heard that it was supposed to release in December of 2015, but it was moved to January so it didn’t have to compete with “The Force Awakens”. All irrelevance aside, “Kung Fu Panda 3” in my opinion, may be the worst of the trilogy, but it doesn’t change the fact that this has gorgeous animation, masterfully crafted fight sequences, a compelling story, and a well chosen cast. I don’t own the Blu-Ray for this film, but when I do, I’ll be one happy man.

#7: “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”

You probably saw this coming, “Rogue One” is my #7 spot! This is not my favorite “Star Wars” film, it has problems indeed, but the high amount of positives outweigh the low amount of negatives in this movie. It made the original “Star Wars” a better movie, it had possibly the coolest space battles in the entire saga, and it had what could be one of the greatest endings to a movie I’ve ever seen. If you’ve seen this movie, you’d probably agree with me on this ending. If you are a “Star Wars” fan and you haven’t seen this movie, go see it now, it’s worth your money.

#6: “Patriots Day”

Coming in at #6, is “Patriots Day”. Peter Berg directed two films this year, this movie and “Deepwater Horizon”. I enjoyed “Deepwater Horizon” very much to the point where it almost earned a spot on the list, but this film was just better. This movie captured the events of the 2013 Boston Marathon investigation very well and being someone who happened to live near Boston at the time, and still living near Boston today, this film hit me. Also, I have to say, Mark Wahlberg deserves an Oscar nomination for this film in the category of “Best Actor”, I would love to see that.

#5: “Deadpool”

Coming in at #5 is “Deadpool”. After leaving this movie both times I saw it in the theater, I couldn’t help but quote it so many times. In fact, I enjoyed the movie so much that I actually took the chance to meet Brianna Hildebrand at Comic-Con, the girl who plays Negasonic Teenage Warhead in this film. There is so many quotable lines from this movie, and it is probably the R-rated comic-book movie everyone was dying to see. Also, I will say that the opening credits to this movie, are some best I’ve seen in all of movie history. I think Screen Junkies said it best, this film is like a “really expensive longer episode of “Family Guy””.

#4: “Arrival”

At #4 we have the movie I reviewed most recently, and that’s “Arrival”. Sometimes if you explain this movie to someone, it might sound like something they already heard or seen before, but trust me, it’s not. The story of this film is told in such an excellent fashion, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner deserve Oscar nominations in my opinion for their performances in this movie and I believe the movie itself deserves a nomination for “Best Picture” because it is that good. This movie shows how important language is to making someone think in certain ways, I loved seeing everyone interact with the aliens, and it had me thinking the whole way. I can’t wait to see this movie again, and I highly recommend you give this a watch!

#3: “The Jungle Book”

From the director of “Iron Man” we have the live action remake of “The Jungle Book”. When I first saw the movie I loved it, then I bought the Blu-Ray and watched it again, it was great the second time. The biggest standout for me in this movie is the visual effects. Every piece of CGI in this film was crafted so beautifully that I would go as far as to say it is probably the best CGI I’ve ever seen in a movie. All the animals and environments looked incredibly real and stunning. Also, Bill Murray is in this movie, and if you see this movie, you’ll probably avoid yourself from remembering him at the end of the year for having a terrible cameo in the “Ghostbusters” remake. Not to mention, for a child actor, Neel Sethi does a pretty good child performance in this film and I wonder he’ll be in anything else notable in the future.

#2: “Kubo and the Two Strings”

All right guys, it’s time to go back to animations and this my favorite animation of the year, “Kubo and the Two Strings”! I loved this movie from beginning to end and the concept of this movie was extremely unique (for the most part) and very well executed. I loved all the characters in this movie. It was charming, it was funny, it was animated well, and I hope this movie wins “Best Animation” at the Oscars. I heard this movie didn’t do the best job at the box office and that’s rather unfortunate because this is one of those films I would force you to watch before you die. This film was made by Laika who also made “Coraline” which was released in 2009, and I love that movie, but this movie was a masterpiece compared to that.

#1: “Captain America: Civil War”

It’s that time, to reveal my favorite film of the year, and that film is “Captain America: Civil War”! I went to see this film on premiere night and just from the trailers alone I had REALLY HIGH expectations for this movie and damn were those expectations met! This film had a really epic superhero throwdown. Spider-Man was introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was funny, Tom Holland did a phenomenal job with him, I can’t wait to see how he does in “Spider-Man: Homecoming”. Although personally I do think the best superhero role this year belonged to Wonder Woman in “Batman v. Superman”. This film also shows that when it comes to superhero films, the Russo Brothers know how to direct one. They did awesome with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” in my opinion, but with this movie, they did a different kind of awesome. Everything was moving at such a fast pace throughout, the camera was in the right places at the right times, and the action scenes were amazingly well executed. In my opinion, this is the best film the MCU has done so far, it is one of the best comic-book movies ever made, and it is my favorite movie of 2016.

Anyways, later on I’m gonna have my top 10 WORST movies of 2016 posted. Yep, throughout 2016 I must admit I have seen some crap alright, and I’m going to show you that crap soon, at least I get to take that crap one more time and literally annihilate it for the good of mankind. Stay tuned for that and more reviews, Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“Arrival” is directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker in a movie where 12 aliens touch down to Earth in several locations and this film mainly focuses on the US’s efforts with the one that landed in their territory to try to communicate with them, learn their language, understand them, etc.

Right off the bat, let’s talk about Amy Adams in this movie. She plays the main character of Louise and this is one of the best performances I’ve seen all year. All of her acting feels very natural and I felt like I was watching a real person in a unique situation. I wouldn’t be surprised if Adams snabs an Oscar nomination. Do I think she’ll win? I’m not sure, but I do think she’ll at least earn herself a nomination.

Jeremy Renner plays a character named Ian and he is also great in this movie. His chemistry with Louise works incredibly well and if he gets an Oscar nomination for Best Actor I probably wouldn’t be shocked. Whenever he is in the movie he is working with Amy Adams to interpret the aliens’ language and for what this character gives I thought it was superb.

Forest Whitaker was also in this movie, and no, not the Forest Whitaker you’ve seen in “Rogue One” if you already saw it, “Save the rebellion, save the dream!” This actually sounds like a normal guy and his role isn’t as big when it comes to this interpretation scenario, but for what I remember most about this character, he’s pretty big when the characters are inside the shelter. Would I say his performance is Oscar material as well? No. It’s good, but it’s not Oscar material.

In case you want to know, going into “Arrival”, I thought this movie was going to be a lot like 2014’s “Interstellar”. When I saw the ads for this film, they reminded me of the ads I saw for “Interstellar” back in 2014. First off, I was able to tell this was a sci-fi film, the color pallette of both films looked rather similar, and the transitions from clip to clip gave me the feeling I did when I watched ads for “Interstellar” or even the actual trailers or movies for it. Just a reminder, “Interstellar” is my favorite movie of 2014 and one of my favorite movies of all time, so you can probably tell I was excited to see this film. You want to know something? The “Interstellar” vibe doesn’t stop there! The movie, from a storytelling perspective, reminded me of a good portion of “Interstellar.”

In “Interstellar”, there were some scenes where Matthew McConaghey’s character, Cooper is having flashbacks to a certain important moment of his life. Specifically, when he told Murph, his daughter, that he was going to leave Earth in order to find another planet. That flashback played a key role in that movie and it goes on to a point which I won’t spoil because if you see the movie, you’re really going to end up impressed and understand why I didn’t ruin this for you. In “Arrival”, the movie cuts away from the present much more often, not like this summer’s “Suicide Squad”, but it does so quite a bit. This is specific towards Amy Adams’s character, Louise and it plays a bit of a key role into the film much like “Interstellar’s” cutaways. I won’t say much more about them because I feel if I blurt anything out about it you possibly might not have the same impact I got out of this but it kind of made a movie that was already good, better.

I’m gonna tell you a story, I suck at learning foreign languages. I suck so much that I decided to take Latin as a language. People tell me it is a hard language, and oh were they right, but I heard it basically will help you understand a good number of other languages without exactly learning them. When I was watching this film, and as I was watching everyone interpret what the aliens were saying, I felt confused, yet amazed at the same time. I mean, I understood what the aliens were saying throughout the film, in fact there was even a point where English subtitles were put in, but it amazes me how much work went into learning this language. Also you want to know something? You know how some people watch films, watch TV shows, or read books with foreign languages in them and they were made specifically for that particular film, TV show, or book? You know how some people might want to learn the fictional language that was spoken in that material? Languages such as Elvish from “Lord of the Rings” or Klingon from “Star Trek”? If someone working behind this movie made a dictionary or some sort of program online that would allow me to learn this language, I’d scour for it until I find it.

On that subject, I can’t help but say that the overall concept of this movie in itself is brilliant. You have probably seen movies where we have tried to communicate with alien life forms, but I think that a film like this tries to take it to a whole different level. Why? One thing I notice is that when it comes to movies with aliens in it, they usually are just meant to invade. People try to communicate, but the main concept is to make sure everyone survives. Sure, that element is in this movie too, but the movie focuses so much on trying to communicate with alien, teaching it English, learning the language of the aliens and what they want that a concept like making sure everyone will turn out fine and dandy isn’t the biggest focal point of the film. When you add it all up, it just goes to show how important language is to society and despite how poor I am at taking foreign languages, I felt like I was invested in learning a foreign language and using my brain throughout the entire movie.

In the end, “Arrival” was excellent and it lived up to the hype I heard all about. I definitely see this movie winning numerous awards in the near future and after watching it once, I want to see it again, because I feel like I have questions about the movie and they can be answered in future viewings considering how much I used my brain in this movie. I’m going to give “Arrival” a 10/10. I loved this movie from start to finish, I don’t remember any flaws from it and I can’t wait to see it again. Just a reminder, pretty soon I’m going to be doing my top best and worst movies of 2016, so stay tuned for that and more reviews, I’m gonna have lots of fun making those lists and I can’t wait to show it to you guys. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“Patriots Day” is directed by Peter Berg (The Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon) and stars Mark Wahlberg (Ted, Shooter), Kevin Bacon (Apollo 13, Footloose), John Goodman (Monsters Inc., The Big Lebowski), JK Simmons (Whiplash, Spider-Man), and Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye, Gone Baby Gone). This movie is based on the true events of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, and it mainly revolves around Mark Wahlberg’s character of Tommy Saunders. The movie starts off by showing the marathon itself, along with the bombing incident that took place, followed by the quest to find the bombers.

Earlier this year I saw “Deepwater Horizon”, a film based on true events also starring Mark Wahlberg, which is also directed by Peter Berg. That film came out in September, I reviewed it, I stated that I really enjoyed the film. I have not seen “The Lone Survivor”, however I heard positive things about it. This film however, is a gem compared to “Deepwater Horizon”.

Depending on how well you know me, I may sound biased because I actually happen to live in the Boston area so in a way this event kind of affected me, but I am not solely judging this on how this film is on something that affected me, I am judging it primarily as a movie. I mean, sure, the film made me feel emotions, but regardless of where I live, whether it be Boston, New York, out of this country, or perhaps on a planet like Mars, I’d probably feel said emotions no matter what because if you hear me out, you’d probably realize how excellent this movie is.

As mentioned before, Mark Wahlberg plays the main character in this film named Tommy Saunders. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the background behind this event, Saunders is actually not involved with the real-life event whatsoever. This is actually a fictional character made specifically for this movie, but in the end, I’m fine with it, it added some weight to the overall experience and story and I thought Wahlberg portrayed him well. There’s even a moment that I’d call Oscar-worthy that came out of this character, which is kind of cool because there’s an Oscar-worthy moment that came out of Wahlberg’s character in “Deepwater Horizon”, so Wahlberg has been showing serious skills lately in my book.
As far as all the other characters go it’s kind of hard to explain them all one at a time, because as far as this movie goes, I kind of have a thought about this movie that I share with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, characterization doesn’t matter as much in this movie. What really matters in this movie, is the impact. After all, this film is based on true events, and for what I will say based on all of these characters played by John Goodman, JK Simmons, Michelle Monaghan, etc, I feel that some of these characters are more necessary to talk about than others.

One highlight for me in this movie was JK Simmons’s character Sergeant Jeffery Pugliese. As you may or may not know already, I love JK Simmons, if you ever asked me who my favorite actor is right now, I’d say JK Simmons. And he does a fine job in this movie. There’s this pretty cool shootout scene with JK Simmons in it and he was probably one of the best parts of the whole thing.

Speaking of that scene, that does lead to something I want to bring up and I believe this is cliche in several based on true story films and this has to do with the Watertown shootout scene in general. In the scene that was primarily a shootout, there were plenty of explosions going on all around. Granted it wasn’t like a Michael Bay extravaganza kind of like in “Pearl Harbor” but it doesn’t change the fact that this movie kind of did the Hollywood thing where they’d take something that was serious and try to make it incredibly epic. Am I against what they did in this movie? Not really, I think it works, but I think each person will have a different opinion on this.

Another one of my favorite parts of the movie is Dun Meng’s primary side of the story. To be clear, Meng was being carjacked by the bombers while everyone was searching for them. I thought Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon Valley) did a splendid job with this role and I could feel his pain even though it wasn’t as much pain as the when the bombs went off during the marathon. It just goes to show even little things go a long way. This is especially true when he was trying to flee from the bombers by going into a gas station mini-mart.

 

 

 

 

Another thing I really loved is how much archive footage this movie used. I have no idea if to some people that the amount of archive footage these folks used would make them look lazy but I thought it would have been the right thing to do. It just goes to show how everyone came together in a time of crisis and I am not just referring to Boston or Massachusetts but the country of the US and perhaps even the rest of the world. I can’t remember but I think some of the news broadcasts shown throughout the movie may have been in either Chinese or Japanese or some other language I can’t interpret at the top of my head without pulling out my hair.

In the end,”Patriots Day” was phenomenal. If this hasn’t come to your area yet, hopefully it does soon so you can see it. But if it has, go see it now because it is worth your time and money. If I had to choose between watching this and “Deepwater Horizon” I’d choose “Patriots Day”, and with that being said, I’m going to give “Patriots Day” a 10/10. This movie hit me where I live and wouldn’t mind seeing it again. Once again, I’ll restate to all of you that I live in the Boston area, so this movie is kind of a big deal for me. There are a few flaws in the movie but they are so minor that they are forgettable and may come off as nitpicky in the long run. Not too long from now I’m gonna have my top best and worst movies of 2016, but before that I’m gonna have a review up for”Arrival” so stay tuned for that and reviews coming up later on. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“Passengers” is a film directed by Morten Tyldum, which stars Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, and is primarily about these two folks who are on a 120 year flight to another planet that is similar to Earth. They wake up from their slumber earlier than anyone else, there is nobody on the ship other than themselves which they can talk to, and this movie covers what these two do along the way along with how they interact with one another.

When I was going into this film, I was thinking I was going to watch some sort of science fiction thriller, and maybe a romance in between as well. While this is a science fiction thriller this movie has such a huge focus on its romance plot. Is that a bad thing? I wouldn’t say so considering it is executed well. Anyway, lets move onto the characters.

Chris Pratt is the movie’s lead actor and he plays a character named Jim Preston. At the beginning of the movie, I was surprisingly interested in everything he did, because the beginning of the movie was mainly just exposition and while that is a case here, it was done in a way that made Chris Pratt somewhat down to Earth, and it even gave me some chuckles. Yes, the movie has humor, not much, but it has some. At what I believe is somewhere around the 20 minute mark of the movie’s runtime, Pratt does an action that I won’t reveal to avoid spoilers, and I almost thought he was moronic for doing it, but after analyzing, I understood why he did it, if you saw the movie you’d probably know what I’m referring to.

Jennifer Lawrence plays the character of Aurora Lane. I kinda like the name Aurora, sounds somewhat sensual. I digress, but still a nice name. This isn’t in the trailer, but I probably won’t be spoiling much. In the movie, Aurora is a journalist, and the fact that she is a journalist kind of made her character ten times as interesting as I thought she would be. When she is talking to Jim and mentions her occupation she says that she wants to go on this 120 year flight to Homestead II (the destination planet the which the movie’s ship is cruising to), analyze what’s there, and come back to Earth in order to write all about it. That right there is an interesting character, and one of the better character motivations I’ve seen this year.

As a romance, this movie is pretty solid, and I’d say it did its job. The romance overall is kind of like James Cameron’s “Titanic”, and this is especially true towards the end of the movie because that’s when some of the heavy stuff happens. If there are any problems with it however, there are quite a few cliches that you may have seen before once it starts off but that’s a minor issue in my book.

One character in the movie that I’ve yet to talk about is the android bartender known as Arthur, played by Michael Sheen. The characters of Aurora and Jim spend a good amount of time in the ship’s bar throughout the movie so this character has plenty of screen time. It was kind of charming to see him on screen, if I had any complaints about him however, it’s just a minor one, but give him some funny lines and make him some sort of comic relief character. Although it’s a robot so I would probably think twice on that one. Also the sound that was going off whenever this android moved was music to my ears, so good job there!

One thing I want to talk about is the ending, I’m not gonna spoil anything, but I’m still trying to process it. There’s a part of me that’s like, “Huh, that’s kinda neat.” Although there’s another part of me that’s like, “Hmm, I don’t buy it.” While the ending itself was somewhat satisfying, and I can imagine myself not liking the movie ending the way I thought it was going to end as the ending was happening, there was a part of me that thought it would be more logical if the movie ended the way I thought it was going to end, for now, this is going to lower my score for the film, but this could change. You never know.

In the end, “Passengers” had an interesting romance, likable characters, great CGI, but based on everything I saw, I wouldn’t by this movie once it comes out on Blu-Ray. In fact, I can only imagine myself watching this again if I found it free on Amazon video, or if it happened to come on TNT or TBS or some network like that. I’m going to give “Passengers” a 5/10. Keep in mind, this IS a positive score. It’s a watchable 5, I might bump it up to a 6 in a bit but who knows? Just a couple announcements, I already saw “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, in fact I actually saw it on premiere night, so if you want to read my review of it, click the link below this paragraph. Also, this Thursday I’m going to see “Patriots Day”, the movie which is based on the true events behind the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing so stay tuned for my review of that film coming soon and stay tuned for more reviews coming soon. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY” REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-a-movie-built-on-hope/

If you have not been living under a rock for the past few years, you probably already know what an emoji is. It’s those things on a smartphone that can show emotions on (mostly) yellow faces. There’s also food, signs, and random objects included with this as well. At some point, I heard they were making an Emoji movie. I saw some picture art for the movie and while I thought the idea was completely absurd, I was willing to give some props because what I saw in the picture did appear to look pleasing to my eyes. Then… I saw the trailer.

When I saw this abomination Sony Pictures Animation calls a trailer, my cringe levels raised to infinity. Do you remember that piece of crap “Ghostbusters” trailer that came out in March? This is probably just as bad, if not worse. The trailer at hand here is only a teaser so maybe I’m a little hard on it because I haven’t seen much, but if you watch this trailer, you may even agree with me when I say that even for a teaser, this looks deplorable.

This trailer starts off by showing a Meh Emoji standing in front of a white background. Half the trailer is spent with this fellow talking in a depressed tone saying things like “Hello, as you can see I’m an Emoji, a “Meh” to be exact.” What else does he do in front of this white background? Well, he stands there, basically promoting the movie just by saying “It’s my pleasure to announce our first movie. Yay. It’s almost too thrilling for words. So bring the family, doesn’t have to be your family.” And that’s literally it! Although if you watch the end, he is not in the trailer anymore and there is a cupcake saying that he cannot work in the conditions he’s in and if he does, he’ll melt, and he just goes on saying this: “This is a load of–” and suddenly the poop Emoji you may be familiar with comes in saying “Oh, no, go ahead, finish that sentence.” While I do admit, I did get a minor chuckle out of that, that really wasn’t enough to sell me after the other portion of the trailer which in my opinion, is one of the laziest teasers I’ve ever seen!

Earlier this year I’ve had an encounter with a teaser for the Warner Bros Animation Group film “Storks.” That teaser also had a character talking to the audience for a minute, but the difference between this and that, is that Storks was funny in its delivery as a teaser. This however was just lazy. Speaking of laziness, this brings a huge question, does the world need an Emoji movie?

My answer to that, hell no! This, in my view is Hollywood running out of ideas. Are there worse possible ideas for movies than this? Sure, but you have to admit this is pretty stupid. First off, this is literally based off something you use on your phone. And I’m not talking about a game like “Angry Birds”, which, by the way, was actually a movie made by the same company making this movie. Second, I have not seen anything creative or coherent to make me think I’m going to like this movie. Everything I have seen is either unoriginal or bland. The music in the teaser doesn’t even sound like this movie is trying. Sure, you can argue that they put in the song “Express Yourself” because that’s a purpose of Emojis, but the overall tune the song provides factors into the trailer’s overall laziness.

How can this movie be good? I wouldn’t be able to give a phenomenal answer to that, but I can scratch the surface a bit. This movie can take place in someone’s smartphone, and maybe the smartphone can affect the story of these Emoji characters. If it is just going to be a movie about Emojis, dealing with drama among one another, then I say this movie could be good, but it’s much more likely that it’ll be crap.

This movie just goes to show you that Hollywood is more than likely running out of ideas, that they are just taking anything no matter how classy or unoriginal it may seem. I hope this movie’s good, but to me, it’s gonna have to take a miracle to hit a home run with this idea. Maybe the actual trailer will be better, maybe I’m rambling over nothing, maybe I am judging this movie too soon. We’ll see what the future brings us. Also, coming soon I have more reviews planned for this week, I am going to see “Passengers” tomorrow at 1:30 so I should have a review up pretty soon on that movie, and I’m also going to be seeing “Patriots Day”. After that I might do one more review which will probably be for “Office Christmas Party” but I’m not sure yet. However, I mentioned before I have two lists coming soon, which are my top best and worst movies of the year. Look forward to those and stay tuned for more reviews. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!