#Action

The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (2018): At Least They Listened…

Posted on by Jack Drees

Oh boy! A new “Sharknado” movie is out! Time to suffer once more– wait, this is the last one? I should hope so… But just in case…

NOW NO REBOOTS, PLEASE! Unless there’s some sort of plan to unleash quality towards the “Sharknado” franchise I AM NOT GOING TO ACCEPT ANY OTHER MOVIES UNDER THE “SHARKNADO” NAME! UNDERSTAND?! This franchise can rot in hell with the live-action “Smurfs,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and as much as it pains me to say it, just about half of the “Star Wars” movies, I’m done with “Sharknado!” I’m done! Man that felt good.

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I still have to review the sixth one, cra–

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“The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time” is directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, the director who also unfortunately helmed the previous five “Sharknado” films. This movie stars Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills, 90210, Godzilla: The Series), Tara Reid (American Pie, The Big Lebowski), and Cassandra Scerbo (Make It Or Break It, Not Another Not Another Movie) and is marketed as the supposedly final “Sharknado” installment ever. This time, Fin and his pals are time-traveling to rid of the damages of nasty Sharknados in the past.

I’ve seen all of the “Sharknado” movies in at least one way, shape, or form. I’m not gonna go into specifics since I’ve already done such a thing in my “Sharknado 5” review and I just don’t want to sound repetitive. Let me just say, I’ve seen all of them, I don’t like any of them. End of story. Here’s the thing about certain good intellectual properties or movie franchises that seems to stand out to me. They all know when to stop. “Back to the Future” stopped at three movies! Director Robert Zemeckis said “over my dead body” on the thought of a reboot. You’ve also got “The Dark Knight” trilogy which had a solid beginning, middle, and end. Back before the “Star Wars” prequels released, the original “Star Wars” trilogy stopped at three movies, all of which have been appreciated by fans and critics (unless you count “The Empire Strikes Back” when it first came out). And no, the holiday special is not in this discussion. Franchises like “Sharknado?” It just keeps on going. Granted compared to some other franchises it does have some benefits. Depending on the situation, you are more likely to watch “Sharknado” for free whereas you have to pay $12 to go see the new “Transformers” movie. The movies are around an hour and a half compared to certain titles like “Fifty Shades of Grey” or “Twilight” which are around a couple hours long. Those are just a couple of perks throughout what can truly be regarded as a s*itfest of an experience.

It honestly baffles me why people watch these movies. The only reason why *I* watch these movies is to give you guys a review. And as much as I suffer during the movie, I do look forward to the review. This has the worst that a cheesy bad movie has to offer. It says it’s big in quantity but it lacks quality! Stupid cameos! Moments that make me lose IQ points! I don’t understand why, other than the fact that they get high ratings on Syfy, that the “Sharknado” movies have to keep on happening. As the movie begins, and we start to get reintroduced to characters along the way, I just remind myself of how much I don’t care about anyone in the franchise. Granted, I will admit in my “Sharknado 4” review, I mentioned I cared more for the characters in the first movie. But there are some things to consider: I was just getting to know them. It wasn’t known to me that Ian Ziering would practically be god in these movies. Not to mention, since it was the first movie, I didn’t have to complain that I’m seeing these f*cking hooligans again.

One thing I want to talk about before moving onto the characters is something I cannot even believe I haven’t brought up in any of my reviews yet. Throughout the movie, I couldn’t help but think to myself that the color grading is some of the worst ever put on screen. When I watch “Sharknado,” I do expect a natural disaster, and granted, natural disasters are depressing, therefore meaning maybe a depressing color grade might work. However, “Sharknado,” a movie where Ian Ziering jumps into a shark with a chainsaw and escapes with no problem whatsoever, a movie where many intellectual properties are butchered by insanely forced references, a movie that needs to have some stupid promotion for Xfinity or The Today Show, does not associate with that type of grading! This movie, if it truly tries and cleans up its s*itty effects, can be a buttload of fun. I can also say the same if it just changes the color grading. I feel like there are way too many blacks in the images to the point where it feels like I’m watching a World War II period piece or something. This movie’s color grading almost made it feel like I was staring at very dark cigarette smoke with sharks behind it. Just brighten the images a little bit! A little color makes a big difference!

I also really don’t like the direction of this film. I clearly watch more movies than TV. And I’m almost picky when it comes to TV shows, partially because I don’t review them. But this movie at times reminds me of two very similar shows that are incredibly popular that I don’t watch. Specifically, “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation.” I don’t watch either of those shows because the way they’re shot is almost headache inducing. The whole style of footage containing actions suddenly interrupted by an interview is almost distracting to me. Not to mention, the camera is constantly shaking whenever something is being shot unless we’re talking about an interview. It’s just annoying. Some may say it’s immersive, it honestly does the opposite for me. And speaking of shaking the camera, there are some minor shakes I witnessed, most noticeably during an establishing shot of a sharknado! WHAT HAS THIS WORLD COME TO?!

Moving onto characters, let’s talk about God–err I mean Ian Ziering. He’s basically what you’d come to expect at this point. He survives everything. He is the biggest badass on the planet. Essentially if Domenic Torretto had hair and had to deal with sharks all the time, that is Ian Ziering’s character. Oh yeah, right, he has a name, Fin Shepard. WHY AM I STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS?!

Now let’s move onto Tara Reid’s character of April. When it comes to Tara Reid, I didn’t really see much of her work prior to watching the “Sharknado” movies, but I did watch a couple of films after watching “Sharknado 5” that had her in it. In those films, say what you want about her, she was personally serviceable in those roles of hers and did what needed to be done. Here in “Sharknado 6,” it’s like I’m watching an amateur porn star trying to adapt to being in a disaster film. Really hot, but the acting is PUTRID.

One thing that I found interesting about this film however is that with the time travel element in play, we managed to see the adult version of Gil. For those who don’t know who Gil is, he’s a very young kid that April and Fin have. And while I can’t say much of anything positive regarding the characters of this movie, I will say that Gil was a lot less annoying than he was for the past couple of installments. Then again, what do you expect? He’s an adult.

I don’t even know why I’m still writing. My head is honestly about to explode, but just like all of the other “Sharknado” films, “The Last Sharknado” doesn’t shy away from giving you the film industry’s worst examples of how to do special effects. You know how a lot of people look at the shark from Jaws at find it to be very fake-looking? Look, if I was thirteen, THAT F*CKING KILLER SHARK FROM “JAWS” WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE BELIEVABLE THAN THE HUNDREDS OF SHARKS FLYING IN YOUR FACE IN THIS PIECE OF CRAP!

Let’s talk about the ending. I am not a mega-fan of the franchise, and you know what? If I were a mega-fan, then I probably would have appreciated it more. But in all reality, I was just kind of checked out. Then some of the last lines come in and I’m just begging to get on with my life and do something that’s worth my time. The movie, and the franchise, THANKFULLY ends. That’s one of the few, and there a few, positives in the entirety of “The Last Sharknado.” It ends the saga. It’s… over. It’s f*cking over. But I gotta say, I was kind of angry (partially due to my bad mood received from watching this movie) that I had to see a text card come up with the word “Fin.” You’ve already destroyed my brain, you don’t get to do that, movie! Bad movie! BAD movie!

As we get closer to my final verdict, I have to point something out. As I’ve done with “Sharknado 4” and “Sharknado 5,” I was livetweeting to this movie during the premiere on Syfy. Here are some of the tweets I’ve made:

Yes, one is more related to Instagram, but it’s on Twitter, so who really cares? Since I’m a movie reviewing moron, I wonder if some people would think I know way more than I should know about film. And maybe I do. Maybe it’s unimportant that I know that every “Sharknado” film was directed by Anthony C. Ferrante. Why should that even be something worth bringing up in a casual conversation? Let me just say, that name confuses the hell out of me. Because he was observing the livetweet session and those tweets I just put up? HE RETWEETED THEM! So I went to look at his account, and see what other tweets have been posted, and while they are related to “Sharknado,” they all seem to be on the positive side of the spectrum. Does Anthony hate his own creation and side with me? Does he not know what to think of it? I NEED TO KNOW! Anthony Ferrante? If you’re reading this, if you hate your movies, it’s OK, we can talk s*it together!

In the end, I may have been excited to do this review just because I can rage out about a s*itty movie and sometimes that’s rather fun, but this review is not all fun and games. Watching “Sharknado 6” was one of the first things I did once I got home from vacation. And by the way this vacation was comic-con, which involves a lot of walking. It was fun, but it does feel like a workout at times. Instead of coming home to relax and unwind, I decide to review this s*it. But hey, it’s over! So, goodbye “Sharknado,” you won’t be missed! I’m gonna give “The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time” a 1/10! I mean, what else do you expect? I mentioned there are a few positives in the movie, but it doesn’t make all of the infinite negatives go away! This movie had a nice animated intro, had one moment where I chuckled, and most importantly, ended everything. But seriously, WHY WAS NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON IN THIS MOVIE?! And just to stay positive, I will say that this actually was better than “Sharknado 5.” They toned down on Xfinity, and it didn’t have an annoying kid. And best of all, this movie means the series… is over! Thanks for reading this review! Pretty soon you’re gonna get some more posts coming your way. These include movie reviews on “The Hurricane Heist,” “Love, Simon,” and my look back at my time at this year’s Terrificon! Be sure to like this post and follow my blog so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time?” What did you think about it? Or, do you think we’ll ever see another movie, TV show, or video under the “Sharknado” name again in the future? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Mission: Impossible: Fallout (2018): Tom Cruise Is A Madman!

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Your mission, should you choose to accept it, can simply be referred to as “out with the old, in with the new.” After reviewing five “Mission: Impossible” movies starring Tom Cruise, it is time to focus on a new chapter while it is still in theaters. With the same amount of Jackassery as ever, you will find some things that if you read the other Scene Before “Mission: Impossible” reviews, or even the Scene Before reviews that aren’t related to “Mission: Impossible,” they’d be like a trip down memory lane. Whether you choose to read this sitting down, standing up, or if you’re Tom Cruise, running around the world, be sure to observe every detail of the review very carefully. As always, should you or any of your Force be caught or killed, the Movie Reviewing Moron will disavow any of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

“Mission: Impossible: Fallout” is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the director of the previous “Mission: Impossible” film, “Rogue Nation,” and stars Tom Cruise (American Made, Risky Business), Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Bringing Out the Dead), Simon Pegg (Star Trek, Shaun of the Dead), Rebecca Ferguson (Life, The Girl on the Train), Sean Harris (The Borgias, Harry Brown), Angela Bassett (Olympus Has Fallen, American Horror Story), Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye, Patriots Day), and Alec Baldwin (The Boss Baby, The Departed). This film is the sixth installment in the “Mission: Impossible” movie franchise that has been going on since 1996. While the plot of this film may have a familiar feel to it when compared to other installments in the franchise, there is no denying that it totally works. Now that the IMF is stable again, the same can’t be said for the world. The villain from “Rogue Nation,” Solomon Lane, has some remaining members of his terrorist organization, The Syndicate. These remaining members have now formed a new group by the name of The Apostles. Now it is up to Ethan Hunt and his allies to stop havoc from happening after The Apostles gain possession of plutonium. And no, they are not using it to power a DeLorean in order to travel through time, the reason is much more deadly.

Let me just start off this review as a flashback to those who read my stuff regularly and a newsflash to all of the newcomers or some of you viewers who don’t check out my content as much as some other people. Before the release of “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” I made an effort to get through each one of the Tom Cruise “Mission: Impossible” installments. This would also help me in creating my review series for all of these movies before “Fallout” was even able to be witnessed by the public. One thing I noticed is that the franchise always seems to step up their game (personally) from one installment to the next. I thought the first movie was great, the second one, stupid, the third one, alright, the fourth one, pretty good, the fifth one, f*cking fantastic. I started to wonder, how would the sixth one be? I had tremendous faith based on how much I appreciated the trailers, the positive buzz, Christopher McQuarrie being in the director’s chair again, all that sort of jazz. I was beginning to wonder to myself, given how much I enjoyed “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation,” the fifth movie in the franchise, which just so happened to be my absolute favorite, how could this be topped? Is there any possible chance that they could top the awesome opening sequence with the A400 plane? Is there any possible chance they could top all of the crazy s*it that happened in the opera house? Is there any possible chance that they could top the scene where Tom has to deal with a security system underwater? Is there any possible chance that “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” could top “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation?”

Well, it did.

Actually, ya know what? I take that previous statement back. “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” DID NOT top “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation,” it DESTROYED it. I’ve seen a lot of movies over the past few years, many of which I’ve actually reviewed here on Scene Before, and I still find it amazing that after all of the movies I’ve seen, my jaw still drops to this day at new content. This movie literally has everything an action movie should have. Some may say the story is cliche or familiar. And while I’m not gonna say that’s an unfair or invalid criticism, I’d personally say that this familiar story was very well done. In fact, I’d say the “Mission: Impossible” movies are doing what the “Transformers” movies should be doing, because both movies seem to have plots or elements of the story that repeat from movie to movie, but the thing about “Mission: Impossible” is that it is either a little less obvious, or I care more about the characters, or perhaps both. This movie has scenes that feel raw. There is reliance on actual stunts as opposed to a green screen. You have your adrenaline rushes, you have exposition that isn’t really that boring, great characters, not too many jump cuts or quick cuts, and moments you just don’t want to end.

There have been many great action movies throughout the 2010s. Some of these include “John Wick,” “Atomic Blonde,” “Skyfall,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” “Deadpool,” “Baby Driver.” Comparing “Fallout” to all of the other movies I listed, this movie beats every single one of them. A couple movies on this list, they have an action sequence that I deeply remember. In “John Wick” you have the nightclub scene where Wick basically kills everyone to some kick-ass music. You also have “Atomic Blonde” where there is this beautifully shot one-take sequence where the main character of Lorraine is basically taking everyone down on a stairwell. It was magic. A good action movie can contain a memorable sequence. But an amazing action movie can contain a bunch of sequences worth talking about. In “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” you get an awesome bathroom fight where Tom Cruise smashes a guy into a mirror. You get a killer chase in the streets where there’s cars, motorcycles, and it’s just epic. You get a great duel on a mountain near a cliff. You get what might possibly be the best chase scene of the decade, the one where there’s a duel between two helicopters. That scene is LIFE.

Seriously, that helicopter scene alone is worth the price of admission! You thought Tom Cruise hanging on the side of a plane in “Rogue Nation” was thrilling? The thrill levels only rise from there! Tom Cruise learned how to fly a helicopter for this movie! I’m not even going to get too much into the helicopter scene, because I want to savor the flavor for those who have not been exposed to the true work of art I like to call “Mission: Impossible: Fallout.” Although I will say once the scene started, not to mention progressed, I was on the edge of my seat with my jaw dropping. Once the scene ended, I wanted more! It was THAT GOOD. Another advantage I had with the helicopter scene is that it was one of the sequences which gave me a bigger image in IMAX theaters. I went to a local AMC which had an IMAX screen, which in reality, is not the IMAX that I would usually go for, but it’s still a very fun experience. Not to mention, since I’m a Stubs member, it was $5 ticket Tuesday so I got a pretty good deal. Once the scene began, the aspect ratio would go from scope format to covering the entire IMAX screen through a scrolling process. It was just epic! Now, without getting into spoiler territory, one thing that I didn’t complain about but I imagine some people seeing this in IMAX would probably complain about is that there is a scene that actually cuts in between moments of the helicopter chase, and the scene is in the scope aspect ratio, so there’s brief moments where you go from the bigger IMAX exclusive aspect ratio to the scope aspect ratio and back to IMAX once again. If this were “Transformers: The Last Knight,” I’d be complaining a whole lot, because all of the aspect ratio changes in that son of a bitch, just happens to be worse than finding lots of hair on a guestroom bed.

Guys, I think it’s especially clear at this point that Tom Cruise might just be one of the greatest action stars of all time! The guy is in his mid-fifties, he still looks and acts like he’s a lot younger than that, and he just commits to his craft. While I can definitely praise Cruise for his portrayal as Ethan Hunt, making it believable, charming, and an overall delight, most of my praise for Cruise has to do with his stunts. One of the reasons why I consider the “Mission: Impossible” franchise to be some of the better action movies is that this is not done on green screen sets. I actually remember hearing that Tom Cruise broke his ankle, which by the way, there’s a moment where the ankle break is caught in the movie. Not only that, but Cruise, as mentioned, learned how to fly a helicopter. He even trained awhile to do a HALO (high altitude low open) jump. This makes Cruise the first ever person to do a HALO jump on camera. There have been HALO jumps in movies before, there was one earlier this decade in “Godzilla,” but this is basically the first REAL HALO jump. It doesn’t rely as much on stock footage, CGI, green screen, none of those cheap tricks. The tricks here are f*cking expensive! These tricks are expensive enough to make this film have a $178 million budget!

Each movie in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise always seems to have at least one notable newcomer in the mix when it comes to the cast. This time, the most notable newcomer is Henry Cavill. He plays a character named August Walker. I liked a lot of things about this character. Seeing him in action was pretty cool, the chemistry he has with Ethan, not to mention Erica Sloan was definitely charming, and I also kind of dig his mustache.

Wait a minute… Should I say that? Henry Cavill had the same mustache in “Justice League” and I didn’t like that. I don’t want to look like a hypocrite!

Another personal standout character for me is also a standout from the last “Mission: Impossible” as well and that is the character of Benji played by Simon Pegg. To me, Benji just seems like a guy who would make a lovely assistant in life. If you need something done, just get Benji to help and you’re good! If you need moral support, Benji will be your cheerleader! If you need a question answered, Benji will do his best to get the best possible answer to you as soon as he can. There’s something about Benji that just makes me want to hang out with him, maybe grab some lunch. I dunno, Benji just seems like a pretty cool dude even though he may sound like a geek. Then again, I’m a geek so yeah…

One returning character is Alan Hunley, played by Alec Baldwin. At the end of “Rogue Nation” it is revealed that Hunley becomes the secretary of IMF. Here, you actually get to see Hunley in said position. Having seen this movie, I think Baldwin is definitely a good pick for this character. That previous thought probably sounds like something I would say in a review for “Rogue Nation,” but in all seriousness, given his transition from “Rogue Nation” to “Fallout,” Hunley is probably in a very believable position and Alec Baldwin continues to play his character very well. My one disappointment however, and this has nothing really much to do with the movie itself, it doesn’t affect my final verdict at all, but it is a thing that I want to bring up. There is a scene in the movie where CNN, the cable news channel, has a heavy presence. Alec Baldwin happens to play Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live.” There’s not even one point in the script that just MAYBE could have utilized a fake news joke? I do think that there are times in my life where I’d go ahead and say that I’ve had it with politics and hearing about it, but I’d probably admire the use of that sort of joke if it were to have been uttered in the movie.

And of course, we have one of my favorite cast members/characters of the film, Ving Rhames returns once again as Luther. Rhames just knows how to be charming and maintain a presence that doesn’t feel over the top. One of my favorite scenes with his character actually occurs in the start of the movie, when the plot is just beginning to unfold. Without getting into specific details, there’s this one moment where Tom Cruise is just getting pumped with rage and he basically has to take it out on someone. Rhames is trying to avoid this from happening and attempts to calm Cruise down, it’s really engaging.

In the end, there are so many things I can continuously talk about that’s related to “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” until the day I die. From the action to the twists and turns to the cinematography, there’s so much to love about this movie. But one thing that needs to be addressed is that this is pretty much the opposite of what someone like myself would expect out of a movie franchise. Usually you start off good and your future is full of inferiority. While I wouldn’t call each movie a complete step up from the one before it, most of the movies in the franchise are worthy of that label, and “Fallout,” when compared to “Rogue Nation,” to my surprise, is no exception. The first thing I said once I finished watching the movie was a slow but steady “Holy crap.” There was multiple parts where I whispered to myself “Oh my gosh.” There were several moments where my jaw dropped. Every single frame had my attention and I was totally entertained, not to mention appreciative of the genius filmmaking efforts. Towards the end of the movie, I couldn’t breathe. It was one of the best feelings I had in my life, and when I was breathing, that felt equally fulfilling. When it comes to 2018 movies, I can declare that “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” has something in common with “Ready Player One,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?.” Why? That’s because I’m gonna give “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” a 10/10! This might just be my best movie of the year so far. I can’t say for sure, because a part of me is still trying to process what exactly I just saw, but I really couldn’t help but love every minute of my kick-ass experience. One last thing I will mention, Tom Cruise has an EPIC running scene in this movie. Look forward to it! Thanks for reading this review! I’d just like to take a moment to remind my viewers that I’m going to be utilizing a Facebook page specifically dedicated to Scene Before. If you want to like it or follow it, click the link below that way you can take yourself to the page and do your thing. Also, if you guys currently have “Mission: Impossible” fever, feel free to check out my reviews for the other “Mission: Impossible” movies. Be sure to check all of that out and stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Mission: Impossible: Fallout?” What did you think about it? Or, which “Mission: Impossible” movie is your favorite of the bunch? Another question I’ll ask, what is your favorite action movie of the 2010s? I currently don’t have an answer for that as this is still certainly a contender and I am not sure where it should be ranked. But if it is not my favorite, my number one choice would something like “Inception.” Nevertheless, leave your comments below, check out my Facebook page, and be sure to follow me here on Scene Before to stay up to date on my latest reviews, countdowns, thoughts, and more! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

SCENE BEFORE FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/REALSceneBefore/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/mission-impossible-1996-this-movie-review-will-self-destruct-in-five-seconds/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/mission-impossible-ii-2000-impossible-to-enjoy/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/mission-impossible-iii-2006-the-young-and-the-fearless-spoilers/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-2011-your-movie-review-should-you-choose-to-accept-it/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/mission-impossible-rogue-nation-2015-a-revisit-to-my-first-mission-impossible-movie/

Skyscraper: Die Hard Without Christmas (2018) *PLUS RANT ON OBNOXIOUS MOVIEGOERS*

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Before we aim high and go into my “Skyscraper” review, let me just say that this film revolves around a family. This family’s relationship seems to play out in a significant amount of runtime for this film. Speaking of family, a new family is bound to form in California. A couple by the name of Paul and Genevieve at one point thought they’d never see the day the dream of starting a family would ever come true. Not because they didn’t try starting a family due to a lack of motivation or something, but because they endlessly tried and had no success. This is all explained… in “What the IVF?!”

“What the IVF” is a YouTube series starring the recently mentioned couple. These two explain their journey to conception. Every Monday, a new story is told, and usually the story that’s told is never one that’s all that happy. When it comes to the story of the couple’s journey to conception, many unfortunate realities occur throughout. Experience the ride alongside Paul and Genevieve as they face the misfortunes of math, exams, anger, sex, crying, pain, needles, and pain from needles! You can find the latest episodes of “WTIVF?” on the show’s personally dedicated YouTube channel, but if you want to watch one right now, check out the latest episode that goes over the past events of the couple’s IVF journey. I’ve watched it, and trust me guys, it’s a good one, check it out. Speaking of checking things out, be sure to take a gander at the “What the IVF?” YouTube channel, subscribe, ring the bell, click whatever button will make Paul and Genevieve happy! Aside from YouTube, you can also find stuff related to the series on other forms of media, be sure to check all of that out and follow those pages. Also don’t forget to check out the website to “WTIVF?” which is included in the links below. And be sure to tell them that Jack Drees sent ya over!

WTIVF? WEBSITE: http://www.whattheivf.com/

WTIVF? YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILXSidkzWgwrQ5Oa1py78w/featured?disable_polymer=1

WTIVF? TWITTER: https://twitter.com/WTivF

WTIVF? INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/wtivf/

WTIVF? FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/What-The-IVF-288868031634125/

“Skyscraper” is directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (Central Intelligence, Easy A) and stars Dwayne Johnson (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Fast Five), Neve Campbell (House of Cards, Scream), Chin Han (Ghost in the Shell, The Dark Knight), Roland Møller (The Commuter, Atomic Blonde), Noah Taylor (Vanilla Sky, Shine), Byron Han (Altered Carbon, The Big Short), Pablo Schreiber (13 Hours, American Gods), and Hannah Quinlavin (Moon River, The Shanghai Job). This film mostly takes place in or around what this movie’s universe considers the tallest building in the world. Unfortunately, this building eventually gets to a point where it’s on fire, and now it is up to a man by the name of Will Sawyer, a caring father, who also used to be a US military member and FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader, to save his own family, and survive against certain individuals, not to mention, time.

My first exposure to something related to “Skyscraper” came around the time of the Super Bowl. To be more specific, I read a tweet from The Rock calling the film original. Just from that alone, I was intrigued. We’re getting as many sequels, adaptations, and reboots as we are getting news reports of someone we know or happen to like being called out for something terrible. Once I heard about this film’s “originality,” I was intrigued. But then the advertising started, and everybody started comparing it to “Die Hard.”

F*CK.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen “Die Hard” and I enjoyed it. It’s been forever since my experience watching it, but I found pleasure in what was on screen nevertheless.  However, if you’re advertising yourself as an original film, although in this case, an actor from the film is doing the advertising, and a good number of people see this as a “Die Hard” wannabe, that’s not good.

And you know what? One of my biggest problems with the film that doesn’t necessarily have to do with whatever is in the final product is the marketing. Now that people are calling “Skyscraper” 2018’s “Die Hard,” apparently there was a poster inspired by “Die Hard” made for it! Not only that, but there was also a “Towering Inferno” inspired poster. What does this movie want to be? And you know what? This might be an even more important statement: What does The Rock want this movie to be? Months ago, he was saying that this is an original production, and now he’s talking about other films that were basically inspirations for “Skyscraper,” which kind of therefore makes “Skyscraper” feel less original than maybe it once was. I will say though when it comes to tone, as I watched the movie, the tone was rather clear, it was trying to be an edge of your seat popcorn action thriller. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. And in some ways, “Skyscraper” succeeded at doing such a thing, but I wouldn’t say it was enough. Sure, it’s summertime, so big, explosive, expensive movies are to be expected, but overall the story at times is somewhat cliche and the script is predictable. There are some moments I didn’t expect, but if you don’t dive into specific detail, you might as well say the script is predictable.

In fact, some of you might be asking how predictable the script to “Skycraper” actually was. It was SO predictable, that a few audience members had a number of moments where they would say something out loud, and in a split second, that thing would happen. First off, if you’re going to the movies, PLEASE DON’T TALK! IT’S RUDE! I PAID GOOD MONEY FOR THIS! Seriously, these audience members to my left, they just couldn’t stop making noise! Granted, I talk during the movies, but only on occasion, and when I do it, I whisper. These hooligans showed up about thirty to forty minutes after the scheduled showtime, which in terms of seeing the movie, is about fifteen or so minutes through the runtime. I knew something was going to happen when I heard loud laughing from the back of the theater. Then they came into my row, and all of them were sitting to my left. DID “A QUIET PLACE” TEACH ANYTHING TO PEOPLE?! DON’T! TALK! DURING THE MOVIE! Gosh, I hate my life.

In all seriousness, the characters in “Skyscraper” weren’t really all that interesting. Sure, there’s The Rock’s character, but then again, he’s The Rock, everybody likes The Rock. I bought into his relationship with his wife, not to mention his kids. I also bought into him as a guy with a prosthetic leg. Although at the same time, I feel like a lot of people, regardless of whether or not they actually have a prosthetic leg can play this character. Maybe they can’t do it as well as The Rock, but there are times that I can probably imagine another actor in The Rock’s shoes. If you ask me, I still think The Rock is actually a fine choice for this character, but my thought still stands.

I recently mentioned that the script is a bit lackluster for this film, and when it comes to specification on that sort of thing, some of it has to do with poor characterization. If you ask me, I think when it comes to the protagonists, I don’t have too many complaints, especially when you compare that to the antagonistic side. The script spent a lot of time focusing on the main family and treating the tall building as if it was its own character. Seriously! It’s possible that the skyscraper in “Skyscraper” has more character development than the Transformers in the “Transformers” movies! As I watched this film and noticed the antagonistic side of things, I thought I was watching a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because of how cliche or underwhelming or underdeveloped their villains happen to be. I wouldn’t say I thought the main villain was bad at what he was trying to do, but I just probably won’t remember him.

You know how I mentioned the mixed messages I got from the film’s marketing? This film at times did feel like “Die Hard” to me. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never seen “The Towering Inferno” so I can’t say much about it. But there is another film I saw that I didn’t even realize would click into my mind at a certain point. Specifically, “Enter the Dragon.” If you’ve seen “Enter the Dragon,” chances are you’d know that there’s this climactic fight that takes place in this hall of mirrors. There’s a fight in “Skyscraper” that doesn’t seem to be exactly like that, but it’s very similar to it. Much like “Enter the Dragon,” this scene is competently shot and edited. There’s not a moment where I look in a mirror and notice a camera or a cameraman, then again most of this movie is on a green screen so I doubt they had actual mirrors on set. I’ve seen a number of reviews for this movie, and one comment that stuck out to me is that this movie borrows something particular from a lot of other titles, and usually that other title would do that particular thing better than “Skyscraper.” When it comes to this mirror scene, I can’t agree more. Not only was this sort of thing done better in “Enter the Dragon,” I’d say it was done better in “John Wick: Chapter 2!”

I also feel like a big problem in this movie may be because of the guy helming it. “Skyscraper” is written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, and most of his work is in the comedy genre. Granted, there is comedy in “Skyscraper.” There wasn’t much, and not all of it landed for me, but it was there. This is not his first action film however, it’s not even his first film with The Rock either. One of the better movies I’ve watched during 2016 happened to be “Central Intelligence,” an action-comedy starring Kevin Hart and The Rock. I haven’t watched it since seeing it in the theater, but I had a really fun time with it and I certainly wouldn’t mind watching it again. This movie however, not so much. I wouldn’t say “Skyscraper” needed more comedy, if anything that would have killed the movie unless they were going for an R rating. It just needed a different director and better writing.

Another problem I had with “Skyscraper” is that while it was technically written and directed by the same person without cooperation from others, it almost feels like a film that a bunch of stereotypical cigar-smoking studio executives would come up with. I was exposed to a podcast recently where two guys were talking about this movie, and I actually know of these guys from YouTube too, shoutout to Chris Stuckmann and John Flickinger! They thought of “Skyscraper” as a pitch movie. It’s almost like the pitcher gave a list of movies that this can be compared to, and all of those elements can be easily implemented into the final product. And when some people think of The Rock, the phrase “big money” might possibly pop in their heads. After all, he’s a big name in current Hollywood based on the number of projects he takes on, including “Fast & Furious.” I don’t know, this just feels more like a corporate product than a movie. I saw that coming upon seeing more and more advertising, but I just can’t help but point that sort of thing out.

In the end, I wouldn’t say “Skyscraper” stands tall. Sure, the movie may be doing well overseas, but that doesn’t mean I’m seeing something of quality here. The Rock is very charming, I bought into the chemistry between him and his family members, and I do think the building had an interesting design to it. Although when it comes to overall positivity I can give, there’s very little I can give towards this sometimes badly paced, cliche, and predictable thing that some may call a film. But one thing’s for sure, this is not gonna spark any “Christmas movie or not a Christmas movie” debates. I’m going to give “Skyscraper” a 4/10. Thanks for reading this review! Be sure to stay tuned for upcoming content, including my “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” review, and I do have some other films in mind when it comes to future reviews. These films include “Eighth Grade,” “Sorry to Bother You,” or if I have an excuse to do an older film review series like I did with “Mission: Impossible,” I’ll be sure to get that going sometime as well. Stay tuned for more reviews and other great content! I want to know, did you see “Skyscraper?” What did you think about it? Or, what is your favorite movie starring The Rock? Mine is “Fast Five,” let me know yours down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015): A Revisit To My First Mission: Impossible Movie

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Your mission, should you choose to accept it, has been leading up to this point. The movie reviewing community’s biggest Jackass is about to review the last available “Mission: Impossible” movie before the release of the franchise’s upcoming film, “Mission: Impossible: Fallout.” Your mission is to read through the review. You will eventually discover that this movie is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who also directed another film starring this film’s lead actor, Tom Cruise, “Jack Reacher.” McQuarrie, believe it or not, will also be directing “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” making him the first director to do two “Mission: Impossible” movies. As always, should you or any of your Force be caught or killed, the Movie Reviewing Moron will disavow any of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

“Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation” is directed by Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher, Way of the Gun) and stars Tom Cruise (Edge of Tomorrow, Oblivion), Jeremy Renner (The Avengers, The Bourne Legacy), Simon Pegg (Star Trek, Shaun of the Dead), Rebecca Ferguson (The White Queen, Hercules), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Lilo & Stitch), Sean Harris (The Borgias, Prometheus), and Alec Baldwin (The Departed, 30 Rock). This film is about IMF agent Ethan Hunt as he’s back for another round of action, as he cooperates alongside his team to take down an organization known as the Syndicate, an international rogue organization.

Back before this movie came out, I remember seeing the trailer for this film. I knew what “Mission: Impossible” was, but at the time I technically haven’t been exposed to any of its material. Having seen the trailer and hearing that this film is getting a special countdown in IMAX, I felt it was necessary to go ahead and check out this film in the IMAX format while it was still in theaters, which I did.

For all who happen to be judging me, SHUT UP! That is a PERFECTLY JUSTIFIABLE REASON! I didn’t go to use my phone! I didn’t go to fall asleep! I didn’t go to chit chat with those around me! I went for the experience! Speaking of the experience, I had a really fun time, therefore making me really excited to watch this movie again on Blu-ray, especially considering it has been nearly three years since my first watch. And guys, let me just tell you, out of all the “Mission: Impossible” movies I’ve seen thus far, this is definitely my absolute favorite in the franchise!

Over the past number of days, I’ve been thinking to myself, “Mission: Impossible” is just like “Fast & Furious,” the movies just get better as they go on. The main difference however between “Mission: Impossible” and “Fast & Furious” however is that when it comes to overall quality, it feels like that is something that more associated with the “Mission: Impossible” franchise. Both movies have similar feels that will give adrenaline rushes, but “Mission: Impossible” feels a lot like a movie made for smarter audiences. I’m not saying those who go see “Fast & Furious” are stupid, I enjoy those movies, and one of my personal friends from Texas has a huge fascination towards the franchise. But what I am saying is that when it comes to “Mission: Impossible” and “Fast & Furious,” two franchises that if you look at them, have many similarities, I’d say that “Mission: Impossible” comes off as more than just popcorn entertainment. “Fast & Furious” feels ludicrous, maybe that’s because it’s lighthearted and while perhaps there is stuff at stake, you as an audience member might be more focused on chewing on your popcorn. As I watch “Mission: Impossible” however, I’m absolutely curious to know more about it. Maybe because Tom Cruise has built this reputation of being the biggest daredevil action star of his generation, but when I watch these films, they don’t feel like products meant to feed to the throats of the masses (except “Mission: Impossible II”), these feel like movies. I seriously want to know about these characters because I truly deeply care about them, for example, Ethan Hunt! How could I not care about him at this point?

Ethan Hunt is great once again in this movie, I totally bought Tom Cruise as him, and I think I cared about his character here just about as much as I did in the first one. When it comes to his character, I wouldn’t necessarily say that my appreciation towards Cruise not specifically to just Hunt himself, but I rooted for him. The way his mission is set up in this movie is brilliant, awesome, and kind of sets the stage for what’s to come. Without going into detail, the terrorist organization Hunt is supposed up against, the Syndicate, just became a whole lot more threatening in just a short matter of exposition. However, they’re not the only thing standing in Hunt’s way. Again, without going into detail, Hunt is pursued by the CIA in this movie.

Speaking of Tom Cruise and Ethan Hunt, let’s talk about one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve watched in any movie. This scene might be more disturbing than most horror movies! Remember how in the first “Mission: Impossible” Ethan had to go down into this restricted area on a wire? It might be the most famous scene in all of the “Mission: Impossible” movies. As much as I love this scene, I think I have a much softer spot for another scene in “Rogue Nation.” There’s a scene that is conceptually similar to the famous wire scene in the first movie that appears in this one. But the thing about this scene, is that while Hunt is supposed to go into a restricted area for the sake of completing a mission. And as if this task weren’t already heavy enough, it involves constantly being in an area that’s UNDERWATER. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat during this scene! I am just amazed that five movies in, I STILL manage to feel like this is the original production and I’m watching this franchise for the very first time. Then again, maybe not, because I’ve seen Ethan Hunt grow as a character, therefore I care about him a lot more than I would than if I saw him for the first time (depending on the scenario).

I will say that there are definitely action movies out there that rely on entertaining audiences simply on great action, and maybe leaving story as an afterthought. I wouldn’t say that when it comes to “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation.” The story in this movie is pretty solid, I cared about the characters and where this movie happened to be going. But the action scenes in this movie are nothing short of top notch.

You know how I said that the exposition for the Syndicate really set the tone for what’s to come? Well, I was referring to a moment after the opening credits in a record shop. There is one scene that takes place before the opening credits involving a plane, and my gosh, it is one of the best openings to a movie I’ve ever seen. Everything from the cinematography, the music, the writing, it kind of gives you tension as an audience member, I just ate it up! Afterwards, the movie does its opening credits, and while I will give “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” some credit for being the most creative opening of the “Mission: Impossible” movies, I thought this opening might have been better. It’s a lot like the first movie’s opening, but the music is slightly different. While I did praise the first movie’s opening because it had a TV show feel, I may sound like a hypocrite here, but I really don’t care, this one deserves my praise for its movie feel. With five installments that are technically movies and not TV shows, I personally think that’s a fair sentiment to have.

Speaking of scenes with vehicles, let’s take about that scene where Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle! It’s awesome! It’s quite an amazing ride! Seeing Cruise blaze through the streets in this bad boy is nothing short of a treat, and it’s definitely better than that climax in “Mission: Impossible II.”

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One last scene I’m gonna talk about is the action sequence inside the Vienna State Opera. Before this whole scene begins, there is one line uttered by Ethan to Simon Pegg’s character of Benji that I will probably use so many times for the rest of my life.

“You want drama? Go to the opera.”

And drama there was indeed! This is one of the slower-paced scenes in the movie, but it completely worked. The intensity got higher and higher by the second, it was almost as if I didn’t know what was going to happen even though I watched this movie once, and it just reminds me why I think opera might be an underrated art form. In fact, this scene probably wouldn’t have worked if there was a different form of music. If this were a pop concert or jazz band or something, there would be a lot less intensity. The scene might still work and be effective, but it wouldn’t have that oomph that it got here.

In the end, “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation” is DEFINITELY the best the franchise has had to offer in all of its movies. Tom Cruise shines as Ethan Hunt, supporting cast members like Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, and Simon Pegg all do a great job as well. The direction and screenplay was probably what I’d want out of a summer blockbuster such as this, and speaking of that, Christopher McQuarrie, a screenwriter and the director behind this film, has his name on the credits of the next film, “Fallout,” which is set to come out not long after this post’s publication, once again in the director’s chair and as a screenwriter. Given the job he has done on this movie, it makes me extremely faithful in this upcoming installment. I’m going to give “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation” a 9/10. Thanks for reading this review! Be sure to stay tuned for my review of “Mission: Impossible: Fallout.” This completes my series of older Tom Cruise “Mission: Impossible” movie reviews, most of the movies have been good, one although has been a near-death experience. And I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get my “Fallout” review up and ready to go, but I’m making sure I can do it as soon as possible. As for other series’ of older movies I can review, I wanted to do a Jason Statham series since “The Meg” comes out August 10th, but I wanted to do one movie per week, and I’m not quite sure I actually have the time for that, so that’s cancelled. If I do come up with another series of older movie reviews, I’ll make an announcement in a future post, until then, stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, what are your thoughts on “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation?” Or, have you gotten a chance to see “Mission: Impossible: Fallout?” Tell me your thoughts on that! Also, if you want to check out my other “Mission: Impossible” reviews, links to those will be provided below! Check em out, follow me, enjoy your day, all that jazz! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/mission-impossible-1996-this-movie-review-will-self-destruct-in-five-seconds/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/mission-impossible-ii-2000-impossible-to-enjoy/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/mission-impossible-iii-2006-the-young-and-the-fearless-spoilers/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-2011-your-movie-review-should-you-choose-to-accept-it/

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018): A Small Step Into the Ant Hill of Mediocrity

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“Ant-Man and the Wasp” is directed by Peyton Reed (Yes Man, Bring It On) and stars Paul Rudd (Dinner For Schmucks, The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Michael Peña (American Hustle, End of Watch), Walton Goggins (The Shield, The Hateful Eight), Hannah John-Kamen (Ready Player One, Killjoys), with Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns, What Lies Beneath), Laurence Fishburne (John Wick: Chapter 2, The Matrix), and Michael Douglas (Fatal Attraction, Wall Street). After the epic, destructive, game-changing events audiences have witnessed in “Avengers: Infinity War,” we might as well ask ourselves, what is next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe??? The answer… something much smaller. Take that last sentence in whatever way you want. In this newest addition to the series, we once again see Scott Lang, otherwise known as Ant-Man, having to deal with home life on house arrest, not to mention his own daughter. At the same time, he is recruited on a new mission alongside Hope van Dyne, who is also referred to as the Wasp, that requires an uncovering of secrets involving the past.

This movie is the sequel to 2015’s “Ant-Man,” one of my personal favorite movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As much as I might complain that some of the more recent Marvel movies try too hard with comedy to the point where it gets annoying, “Ant-Man” is quite possibly the funniest movie in its universe. Speaking of the MCU, this movie is the twentieth installment in the saga. Just a year ago I said there were fifteen of these since “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” came out. WOW. When it comes to “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” I honestly had low expectations for it. If you asked me where my expectations were in 2017, I would probably told you I’m really looking forward to “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” especially when you consider how much I enjoyed the first movie. And after seeing this movie, I’d say I had fun throughout my experience. Although I wouldn’t say I had enough fun to go see the movie again. While this is not my least favorite movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it certainly isn’t my pick to watch on a Friday night at home.

I kind of had a similar experience during this movie to what I had during my time watching “Uncle Drew.” I had a few laughs here and there, but it wasn’t enough. Granted, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” isn’t really a comedy, but those numerous laughs may have been one of the few highlights of my experience. Now with what I just said, I will state, with an enormous smile on my face, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” is FAR SUPERIOR to “Uncle Drew.” “Uncle Drew” is not even a movie. To call “Uncle Drew” a movie is pretty much the same as calling Pizza Hut a restaurant. I’d even say calling “Uncle Drew” a movie is pretty much the same as calling Pizza Hut a fast-food restaurant! By the way, drink Pepsi! The Movie Reviewing Moron says that Pepsi is good for you and will help you live longer! Therefore, it just makes sense that Pepsi is good for you and will help you live longer! Also, be sure to enjoy that nice, cool, refreshing Pepsi, while reading my review for “Uncle Drew,” the most ambitious Pepsi commercial of all motherf*cking time!

UNCLE DREW REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/07/02/uncle-drew-2018-worst-pepsi-commercial-ever/

In all seriousness, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” qualifies to me as a movie. I never said however that it qualifies as a good movie. There are elements of goodness sprinkled throughout. It has some decent performances for the most part, especially from Michael Douglas. Some of the action is rather creative and fun, although personally it can’t beat the climactic fight during the first “Ant-Man.” The effects in this movie are really good, and you get to see a lot of them, especially when you consider how big of a role the quantum realm plays. All of the positive elements however are unfortunately clashing with another side of negative elements, ultimately leading to what I would consider a relatively average or mediocre experience.

I know that in comic book movies, suspending your disbelief is not only natural, but expected to the tenth degree. There were many moments where I was able to do that. I almost lost it on a building having wheels, but OK, it could be stranger. There is one moment however towards the end involving Ant-Man trying to jump over a vehicle, that almost looked fake as hell that some student who hasn’t even graduated high school could have created it!

I won’t get too much deeper into that, although I do want to talk about the characterization here. For the most part, everyone on the hero side seems to have some sort of dimension to them. There aren’t many complaints I can point out as far as that side is concerned, but when it comes to our villain side, you have multiple plot lines going on including one involving the security that’s supposed to keep Ant-Man inside his house, and another involving the main antagonist of Ghost. When it comes to Ghost, there wasn’t really much to her character (at first), she came off to me more like a bad guy who just wanted to do bad guy things. She didn’t have the depth or charisma that some of the other recent Marvel villains had. And just when I thought we were starting to get an epic streak of fantastic MCU villains (starting with Guardians 2), we’re suddenly back to this bulls*it. I know a good number of people weren’t particularly fond of Yellow Jacket from the first “Ant-Man,” but to me, Ghost made Yellow Jacket look amazing. I will say towards the end of the film, Ghost improves slightly, but for the most part, she was a lackluster villain.

Let’s talk about Ant-Man here. When it comes to his story, he is placed on house arrest. That is because his actions during the events of “Captain America: Civil War” was enough to be considered a crime. This prevents Ant-Man from exploring the outside world, which allows him to spend more time trying to entertain his daughter in creative ways, and master songs in “Guitar Hero.” I gotta say one of the biggest positives I’ll give Paul Rudd when it comes to his interpretation of Ant-Man, and maybe I should give kudos to the writing and directing as well, is how well encapsulated the chemistry between him and his daughter is. I think that is definitely one of the best parts of this entire movie. Seeing the two go through a cardboard maze at the start of the film seemed to capture that needed sense of togetherness. When it comes to Rudd’s overall performance, I thought it was good for the most part, but there is one scene in particular, where he was rather mother-like, which kind of felt out of place.

Alongside Ant-Man, you of course have the Wasp, played by Evangeline Lilly. I think most of the cool stuff you see with her character, maybe except a few lines of dialogue some might find funny, is already revealed in the promotional material, which ultimately diminishes her character in a sense. Although she was fun to watch in certain action scenes and I totally buy Evangeline Lilly as her character. Her chemistry with Ant-Man, while not exactly a shining star in the movie, doesn’t exactly disappoint.

I already talked about the main antagonist and I do consider her to be one of the major flaws of the movie. When it comes to other problems, I’m gonna blame it on the pacing. I am eighteen years old. Once I walked out of the theater, entered my house, and proceeded to my bedroom to start cranking out this review, I imagined myself as if I were a ten year old kid going to see this movie. After all, a lot of ten year kids probably like superheroes, and maybe if I were that ten year old kid, I might walk out of the movie saying I enjoyed myself, but that’s most likely to be due to seeing superheros on moving pictures projected onto a giant screen. Even if I wanted to fall asleep, I’ll still say I had a good time. My brain can’t process what a bad movie is. Heck, I went to see three live-action “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movies in theaters as a kid and enjoyed them. What kind of person was I? Hint, it rhymes with stupid! When breaking down this movie, I couldn’t help but think to myself that maybe all the pieces in there made sense. But maybe it was a tad more convoluted than it should have been. The pacing overall just felt like speed bumps, and I especially say this specifically when it comes to the halfway point. At one moment you’re kinda sorta enjoying yourself… maybe. Then boom! The boredom kicks in.

And honestly, part of me feels like this movie is not going to be stuck in my memory as much as some of the other Marvel movies unless I watch it again. This might actually be the most forgettable Marvel movie I’ve seen since “Thor: The Dark World,” and that is saying something because that movie is S*IT. This film is nowhere near as objectively terrible as “Thor: The Dark World.” Sure, the villain here is pretty bad, but I still think the villain from “The Dark World” is probably the worst in the MCU. Let’s also not forget (no pun intended) how hard this film tried to be funny. When I watched that movie for review purposes, I might have only laughed twice. Here, I laughed a lot more than I did there. In fact, one thing that surprises me about “Ant-Man and the Wasp” is how much funnier I found it to be than “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” And as I think to myself, I believe the reasoning comes down to one word I had going into “Guardians 2” but lacked for “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” Expectations.

If it were the beginning of 2017, I would have watched the first trailer (not the teaser, but the trailer) to “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” multiple times. I was really looking forward to that film, and part of me thought it was actually going to surpass the original movie because it looked HILARIOUS. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t even that fun. I mean, it was trying to be, but I didn’t feel like I was having fun. I was instead feeling like I was going through a two and a half hour long toy commercial for Baby Groot with attempts at humor that seemed to land with most of the audience, but not me. I will have you know, I watched that movie twice, and the second time I laughed more than the first one. Maybe I was in a better mood the second time because I wasn’t sitting towards the end of the front row of a crowded IMAX, but it just didn’t impress me. Also, my original 6/10 score went down to a 5/10. The first “Ant-Man” was a movie that I thought was one of the funnier ones in the MCU, but the thing about the first “Ant-Man” is that it’s not really marketed to be comedic. OK, maybe it technically is, but it’s more focused on delivering action than anything else. It’s not the full scale balls to the wall action-comedy that “Guardians of the Galaxy” is. Both “Ant-Man” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” are pretty hilarious at times, and you do get the light vibe you might find in certain comedies in the marketing for both films. Although for both films, I didn’t exactly come for the comedy, I came for the action and superhero stuff. This might make the comedy somewhat funnier because you as an audience member don’t expect humor all that much. In fact, this may be why I find “Avengers: Infinity War” to be one of the funniest movies in the MCU and possibly the funniest comic book movie ever made. In a movie that is advertised to be super dark and the exact opposite of happy-go-lucky, a part of you might come in and expect some lightheartedness or comedy to take a back seat. No way hosay! When it’s delivered in that movie, it totally blends in with the moment despite having a story that is meant to be dark. Maybe it’s also because I as an audience member have been following the storyline for the MCU for a long time therefore allowing me to care more about everyone in the film, but it’s just an interesting blend of light and dark. Also, sticking to “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and expectations, let me just remind you that those were something which I lacked prior to and during my experience of watching the movie.

Before we get into my verdict there is one thing I want to go over, and that is the end credits. There is a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene. The mid-credits scene is more important if you’re a follower of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its overall story. In fact the post-credit scene is probably so pointless that it only exists for the sake of putting on that “Such and such will return” thing at the end of every Marvel movie, but in case you feel that end credits scenes are a necessity to sit through, this is your notification to stay for them. One more thing, I think personally that the mid-credits scene might be better than the entirety of this movie. I felt more emotion (maybe for the most part) for everyone in that scene than I did during “Ant-Man and the Wasp” itself, so that says something right there.

In the end, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” is not really up to the quality I would expect for a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. It’s not to say that “Ant-Man and the Wasp” is an abomination, but it’s certainly not a movie I would think about for days. I thought it was more fun than “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” but keep in mind, I had high expectations for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” While there are definitely movies that I thought would blow more than “Ant-Man and the Wasp” would this year, I didn’t think this particular film would be all that great. The trailers underwhelmed me, and it just didn’t have the same epic feel that the first movie’s trailers provided at various points. Would I recommend “Ant-Man and the Wasp?” Despite having some fun here and there, I wouldn’t say rush out immediately, but I do recommend the mid-credits scene. That’s just me though. I’m gonna give “Ant-Man and the Wasp” a 6/10. Thanks for reading this review! Pretty soon I’m gonna have my review up for “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation,” I just watched the movie for the second time and I’m gonna be going over my thoughts on it in preparation for the franchise’s new movie coming out on July 27th, “Mission: Impossible: Fallout.” Stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Ant-Man and the Wasp?” What did you think about it? Or, which of the two “Ant-Man” movies do you like better? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Deadpool 2 (2018): X-Men Origins: Peter *SOME FOUL LANGUAGE, SPOILERS IF YOU LIKE MOVIE REFERENCES*

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Before we dive into this “Deadpool 2” review, I should have you know that I am actually writing this review on vacation. You might be asking these two questions:

QUESTION 1: “Jack, why are you taking a vacation? You don’t deserve a vacation! I want more content out of your blog! I’m your overlord! Why aren’t you listening?”
QUESTION 2: “Jack, you’re on vacation, why are you doing this? Just enjoy yourself! Doesn’t blogging get in the way of your relaxation!”

I have a couple answers. To specify, I have one for the first question and another for both questions.

ANSWER 1: My latest piece of content here was published during this exact vacation, so f*ck you.
ANSWER 2: No, blogging is not getting in the way of my vacation, I intended on blogging no matter what people think.

Nevetheless, the powers of my creative juices are flowing and I’m willing to deliver some great content! Speaking of which, you may be asking, where am I vacationing? The answer, Walt Disney World, and I must say, this place has tons of kids. One place that will be getting more kids is the US state of California. A couple by the name of Paul and Genevieve are currently expecting, and to add in another piece to the puzzle, they live in California. their journey to reach this point however, was one through hell. This is all explained… in “What the IVF?!”

“What the IVF?” is a relatively new series on YouTube starring the recently mentioned couple, Paul and Genevieve. This series documents everything up to the duo’s journey to conception, and unfortunately for them, it wasn’t all that pretty. Actually, I take that back, it was pretty. I’d say it’s pretty terrifying! The two encounter unfortunate realities in sex, tests, appointments, and scary things that are smaller and less attractive than the Seattle Space Needle. You can find the latest “WTIVF?” content on the series’s dedicated YouTube channel. One such example is their latest episode, where as the title says, the two try EVERYTHING. I think that’s just amazing, because the two didn’t try bungee jumping. SPOILER ALERT! Be sure to subscribe to the “WTIVF?” YouTube channel, check out their website, and visit their other social media pages! All the links are listed below, so please check them out! Also be sure to tell them that Jack Drees sent ya over!

WTIVF? WEBSITE: http://www.whattheivf.com/

WTIVF? YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILXSidkzWgwrQ5Oa1py78w/featured?disable_polymer=1

WTIVF? TWITTER: https://twitter.com/WTivF

WTIVF? INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/wtivf/

WTIVF? FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/What-The-IVF-288868031634125/

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“Deadpool 2” is directed by David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, John Wick) and stars Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern, The Hitman’s Bodyguard), Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Gotham), Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War, No Country For Old Men), Zazie Beetz (Atlanta, Geostorm), Terry Crews (The Expendables, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), Lewis Tan (Into the Badlands, Iron Fist), TJ Miller (Silicon Valley, The Emoji Movie), and Rob Delaney (Catastrophe, Burning Love). From the asshats of a studio known as Twentieth Century Fox, known for making pieces of trash including “Snatched,” “Fantastic Four” (make your choice on that one), “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” “Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise,” and “Freddy Got Fingered,” comes their latest attempt at not trying to f*ck up the character of Deadpool. The movie “Deadpool 2” is about Wade Wilson, who is trying to form a team of mutants in order to protect a boy from the evil Cable.

This review, at least to me, is rather overdue. “Deadpool 2” was released on the third weekend of May this year. I REALLY wanted to see this a lot earlier than I did, but hey, I finally witnessed what I’ve been missing all this time. Apparently “I Feel Pretty,” a movie dedicated to a completely different audience and one that didn’t even get many great reviews, was a much more important task to take on during “Deadpool 2’s” opening weekend. I didn’t even see “Book Club” around that time, a much more recent release and something more people were talking about at that point. Let me just say, I’m an idiot, but at least I’m smart enough to know that. The point is, part of me regrets not seeing this movie earlier. And I say this regardless of my ultimate thoughts.

“Deadpool 2” is one of my most anticipated movies of the year, BY FAR one of the best marketed movies I’ve ever seen, and I’ve had positive thoughts delivered to me from people I know. Any movie that embraces the fact that they’re from the studio that brought you “27 Dresses” is a movie that you know is going to be good. In stores like Walmart, to promote the new movie, Fox released special slipcovers to some of their older movies, including some in the X-Men universe, where “Deadpool” is photobombing! Not to mention, this is a sequel to one of my favorite movies of 2016. When I did my top 10 list at the end of the year, “Deadpool” made it to my top 5. I loved the humor, the action, Ryan Reynolds’s performance, the overall script, and the fourth wall breaking. I was, naturally, very excited for the sequel as time passed. I mean, why wouldn’t I be? In a day and age where we are saturated with comic book movies and superhero movies, the IP of “Deadpool” in the realm of film delivers a breath of fresh air in ways. I was really looking forward to this movie, and as far as my response to it, I gotta say this was absolutely worth my time. Now I will say, like most sequels, this installment doesn’t surpass the original. However, it does what a sequel should do. It manages to maintain a similar feel to the original film while still effectively continuing the journey of the characters we care about. All the interesting and lovable characters, Wade, Vanessa, Weasel, Blind Al, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Colossus, Dopinder, they’re back, and they have not turned to s*it! They’re all funny, charming, and raw. That last one may be a bit of stretch, but regarding the universe which this movie takes place, everything just felt like it fell into place. You’ve even got some FANTASTIC new characters, a couple who by the way we will eventually get to.

Without revealing enormous details to this movie, “Deadpool 2” is told in such an interesting manner that just makes it more enjoyable than it would be if it were told in other fashions. Deadpool narrates throughout and just makes it a thrilling experience of a film. After some serious thoughts, I gotta declare Ryan Reynolds an official utter god of narration. Congrats, Ryan Reynolds! You have officially joined the ranks with people like Morgan Freeman, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and William Shatner as the official gods of narration. I will say though, Ryan, if you’re reading this post, this will not make everyone forget about “Green Lantern.” This story is told in a somewhat similar way to how the first one was told, but with some differences in the mix. I don’t see it as unoriginal, I think it’s one of the most effective ways a story such as the one “Deadpool 2” provides can be told, so well done!

Speaking of things that are well done, this movie contains a number of references to things you may know from pop culture. If you are trying to go into this movie completely blind and you don’t want to know a SINGLE SOLITARY THING THIS MOVIE REFERENCES, either skip over this list or leave the post. Keep in mind, these are not the exact references, these are just properties that has some sort of reference in the film.

Some references include:

  • Top Gun
  • Say Anything
  • My Little Pony
  • Other Marvel properties
  • Passion of the Christ
  • Bambi
  • The Lion King
  • Saw VII
  • The DC Universe, and Batman
  • John Wick
  • Fox & Friends
  • The Human Centipede
  • The Terminator
  • The Goonies

I like all of these references, and I even gotta say that a number of them were possibly better than some of the references in another movie I watched this year, “Ready Player One,” which is amazing, because some would argue that movie is sort of built around references.

Let’s talk about Wade Wilson. I’ll say, even if the alter ego of “Deadpool” weren’t a thing, I gotta go ahead and say that I would love to hang out with Mr. Wilson himself. And part of it has to do with, much like in the first movie, Ryan Reynolds’s overall performance as the character. If I had to think about the best superhero interpretation of all time, although in this case it’s more of an anti-hero, Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool would certainly be in the conversation. He just takes a character which on paper, is already funny enough, takes it, and applies “awesome cream” to it. Two movies in, Ryan Reynolds has nailed the character to the tenth degree that at this point, I can’t imagine any other actor playing the character of Deadpool. Seriously, watch this movie, or the first one for that matter, and you can’t imagine someone else on screen saying “Is there a motherf*cking tub somewhere?! This f*cked-up unicorn needs a f*cking bath! Seriously! I’ll put this bitchface somewhere! For f*ck’s sake! It needs to be inside of something and I can’t take it to Cher because apparently I now have a restraining order from her! And no, don’t say take the unicorn to Stan Lee! That guy’s a c*ck! He didn’t sign my f*cking comic book!”

Next up, we have Morena Baccarin’s character of Vanessa, and over the past couple of years, this character has truly grown on me. Part of it may be because I’m a straight, white, hormonal teenage boy who doesn’t know all what the world is cracked up to be, but nevertheless. Let me just say that the romance between Vanessa and Wade in these movies, is one of the all time best romances I’ve seen on film. The dialogue between them, the vibe given off from watching them, the overall sense of connection they have, it’s a dramatic symphony on screen. The character of Vanessa, by herself, is great. But put her together with Wade, you’ve got a whole different ballgame.

When it comes to this film’s main antagonist, Cable, I got to say, he’s terrific. He might be just as good, if not better, as Francis, the villain from the first “Deadpool.” He’s played by Josh Brolin, who I think is a spectacular choice to play the role based on his performance, not to mention it brings a very coincidental moment in movie history since Brolin was in another superhero movie based on a Marvel property released a few weeks prior to this one as the main antagonist. If you have to ask me if I had to choose between Cable and Thanos and tell you which villain is better, I’d personally pick Thanos, however when it comes to the character of Cable himself, he does not disappoint. And that’s a good thing because Cable was probably highly anticipated since his name was mentioned at the end of the credits in the first “Deadpool.”

One thing that might come off as different and interesting about “Deadpool 2” is that we find out a couple things about Negasonic Teenage Warhead. First, her character is LGBT. Second, she has an on-screen relationship with someone of her sex. This is the first relationship of this kind in a superhero movie and while it didn’t really have much of an effect on the movie as a whole, it made me think to myself, I haven’t seen everything in a superhero movie, and there will probably be more to see as time goes by. And I will say, having seen this, makes Brianna Hildebrand a solid casting choice for Negasonic Teenage Warhead considering she’s gay in real life.

I’m not gonna talk about all of the X-Force addons, but I really do want to talk about two in particular, and to start this off, let’s talk about Domino. She’s lucky, which as of watching this movie, I’ll say is TOTALLY A SUPERPOWER. Domino is played by Zazie Beatz, and while she is on the FX show “Atlanta” and somewhat known by a number of people for that sort of thing, this movie is probably gonna help her in the future and make her land more roles! Also, after watching this movie, I will say that luck is not only a superpower, but at times, a funny superpower. Be sure to look out for what I mean.

Now, let’s dive into my most anticipated character in the entirety of “Deadpool 2,” a guy by the name of Peter. When I did my review for the final trailer of “Deadpool 2,” here’s a bit of what I said:

“I seriously want some more promotion with this character, I want the merchandisers to shove this character into every store as an action figure! I want Funko to make him a Pop figure! Also make exclusives for him at GameStop! FYE! Walmart! Hot Topic! Target! Walgreen’s! 7-Eleven! San Diego Comic-Con! New York Comic Con! Emerald City Comic Con! Rhode Island Comic Con! Toys R Us even though they’re going out of business! Blockbuster if they come back as a toy shop! RadioShack if they make a comeback and rename themselves as ToyShack and develop a bigger market for remote control cars! Maybe somewhere in Kim Kardashian’s ass! I want Peter to go far and wide as Peter’s eyes can see!”

I apologize to all souls who happen to go by the name of Peter, but a major lesson I was focusing on was “F*ck everyone named Peter (except this one we’re talking about).” Honestly, I was a tad disappointed by Peter. But then again, I had REALLY high expectations for him. I had nothing against Peter, but you barely get Peter in this movie. So I kinda blame the writers on this one. Peter himself was awesome, and also goes to show that people without powers can also be heroes. It just goes to show that it doesn’t always matter who the character is, it doesn’t matter how amazing they are in one way, in this example it’s on paper or a trailer, they can ultimately be a disappointment in another medium. You can take a character as awesome as Batman, and put him in something s*itty like “Batman and Robin,” which kind of can ultimately make that iteration of Batman s*itty as well. I like Peter, and what you see of him here in this film, is nice, but I wanted to see MORE of him.

One thing that’s totally great about not only the first “Deadpool” movie but the property of Deadpool in general is its need if you will to poke fun at random things. This movie manages to poke fun at another superhero movie with an R rating, “Logan.” I will say, I didn’t see “Logan,” so I won’t get into detail about it, but I know some things about it, and what this movie does regarding that movie is nothing short of a treat. The first line in the movie is “F*ck Wolverine.” You know you’re getting something fantastic with that line! I won’t go into detail, but the way they handle the meta humor not just with that, but just about everything else in “Deadpool 2” is marvelous!

Something that honestly kind of shocked me is that the movie, based on the trailers and the way that this movie’s marketing made me think before actually going to see it, is the vibe that was provided at various points, especially towards the end, of the film. This is the second installment of this iteration of “Deadpool,” and usually when I see second installments, I think to myself, if this goes well, there might as well be another sequel. While I would love to see another “Deadpool” movie, I feel like that could potentially come off as forced depending on what happens. This second movie had a very satisfying ending that if “Deadpool 3” were to ever be announced, I would sort of be excited, but another part of me would ask why that’s even a thing. I don’t even know why I’m keeping a comment like that, considering how I read that “Deadpool 3” is already in development. To my utter surprise, I’d actually prefer getting a sequel to “Blade Runner 2049” despite its super satisfying ending because I feel like there is more to be told in the “Blade Runner” universe. I’d even rather see a sequel to “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” because while I didn’t particularly think that movie had the overall quality the first one contained, I can still imagine more in that franchise being told. “Deadpool 2” has an ending that makes you go, “Well, that felt like an ending.” Part of it may be due to other events that occur beforehand, but still, when all events are taken and put together in a timeline, someone like me would think to themselves, I saw what I need to see. I’m not saying I didn’t like what I saw, it’s not like I hate the franchise now and I’m just done with it, I just think the franchise has really reached a point if anything else is told, it would be tacked on or unnecessary.

Although if they do make a third one, I gotta say, something I saw in this second installment, gave me an idea for the third one. Since TJ Miller has been in the news recently for some bad reasons, the crew should either get Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World, A Beautiful Mind) to play his character of Weasel, or if they can’t do that, don’t bring back TJ Miller, but get some random guy, maybe someone who looks like Weasel in ways, and CGI Plummer’s face over. I say this because there was a segment where there happened to be a news feed playing, and on the bottom of the screen, there was a bulletin, and some of the text included something along the lines of “Christopher Plummer turns down role in ‘Deadpool 2.'” Also, if the crew actually got in contact with Christopher Miller, please let the world know! I would love to know if that’s actually true!

In the end, one of the best marketed movies I’ve ever seen is also able to deliver one of my favorite movies of the year. I definitely want to buy “Deadpool 2” once it comes out on 4K, and after seeing this movie, it reminded me of how much I want to go to Rhode Island Comic Con this November because they’re getting a few of the “Deadpool” cast members including Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Stefan Kapičić (Colussus), and Morena Baccarin (Vanessa). This is not even my favorite superhero movie this year, but this goes to show how much better this year’s superhero movies are compared to last year’s superhero movies. I didn’t see “Logan” last year, but I did see “Wonder Woman,” and I know that the DCEU is usually regarded as the inferior story as far as comic book superhero cinematic universes go, but I LOVED that movie. “Deadpool 2” is the third GREAT superhero movie I’ve watched in 2018, the only superhero movie this year that I saw which I didn’t think made it to that sort of mark is “Black Panther,” which is saying something because I thought it was actually pretty good, and I saw it in theaters twice. Fox, if you’re reading this, I gotta say, if you want to make a “Deadpool 3,” go for it, I’ll probably see it, but don’t just do it to force a story down our throats for money. I’m gonna give “Deadpool 2” a 9/10. This is the same rating I gave “Incredibles 2,” another superhero movie that came out this year. And if you ask me, I’d say that “Incredibles 2” was better, but if this were a marketing contest, “Deadpool 2” would blow so many movies out of the water! Not only is it creative, but as I watched the movie, I was thinking to myself, so many of the movie’s funny parts weren’t even shown in the trailers. THIS IS WHAT A MOVIE SHOULD BE.

Thanks for reading this review! Be sure to stay tuned for a post that I keep talking about, and don’t deliver on (because I’m working on it and I’m getting other stuff out first), my upcoming mysterious “2001: A Space Odyssey” post! Please stay tuned for that, and no, you’re not getting a single hint as to what it is! Don’t even think about asking for anything! However, stay tuned for that, and also stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Deadpool 2?” What did you think about it? What would you say is better? “Deadpool” or “Deadpool 2?” Comment down below, please give me your thoughts, I’d love to hear them! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011): Your Movie Review, Should You Choose To Accept It

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read the fourth post brought to you by the ultimate Jackoff of movie reviewers in his Tom Cruise “Mission: Impossible” review series. This fourth review, appropriately, is for the fourth chronological movie in the series, “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol.” If the number four does not give you any sort of satisfaction, click away from this review, and avoid reading the same Jackoff’s review for “Sharknado 4: The Fourth Awakens.” Although if you have a fondness for the numbers 1, 2, and 3, be sure to click the links below to go to the previous installments to this particular review series. You will eventually find that this movie is directed by Brad Bird, and the fact that the Jackoff has worked on this review the same weekend that his latest film, “Incredibles 2,” hits theaters, is purely coincidental. As always, should you or any of your Force be caught or killed, the Movie Reviewing Moron will disavow any of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/mission-impossible-1996-this-movie-review-will-self-destruct-in-five-seconds/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/mission-impossible-ii-2000-impossible-to-enjoy/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/mission-impossible-iii-2006-the-young-and-the-fearless-spoilers/

“Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” is directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Iron Giant) and stars Tom Cruise (Risky Business, Top Gun), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Town), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek), and Paula Patton (Deja Vu, Precious). This film is the fourth installment in the “Mission: Impossible” film franchise. After the Kremlin is bombed, Ethan Hunt is in trouble. So much trouble in fact, that he is charged with bombing it! Not long into this mess, IMF is shut down and Hunt along with his new team have to go rogue.

As of now, I’ve only watched “Ghost Protocol” once and that one time was specifically for this review. Going into it, I was somewhat excited. I love Brad Bird, he has done some of the best animations I’ve ever seen. Not to mention, that moment when Tom Cruise is on the skyscraper was something I was highly anticipating. Also, this movie was partially shot with IMAX cameras. Some of my favorite movies have been shot on that sort of camera and part of me wanted to see how the crew behind “Ghost Protocol” would utilize that sort of technology. Disappointingly however, I didn’t get to see that. Some movies like “The Dark Knight” if you have the Blu-ray would differentiate the aspect ratio to allow you see which scenes were shot in IMAX, this movie didn’t have that. It’s a minor inconvenience but it still somewhat disappoints me. On the bright side, the movie was enjoyable. I wouldn’t call it the best “Mission: Impossible” movie however.

Maybe this is all because I was watching this at home and not in a theater, maybe it’s because I started this movie near the 10PM mark, but there were just small moments that I thought could have been slightly improved in terms of pacing. And that complaint is somewhat sad because this is a fast-paced movie and it should really keep your eyes glued towards the screen. There were definitely moments where my eyes were glued towards the screen, there’s no doubt to be given about that. However, at random times, I didn’t exactly check out, nor did I lose interest, but I kind of wanted the movie to move along.

The rest of the movie although is mostly positive as far as my thoughts are concerned. I think it’s well shot, well lit, the music is awesome! Seriously, Michael Giacchino is back and his work here makes me continue to appreciate him. Giacchino also did the score for “Mission: Impossible III,” and the more I think about it, I think this “Mission: Impossible” score might be better. As far as characterization goes here, I feel that was executed better in other movies. Obviously it’s better than the second one, but not as good as the first one. I will say that on the bright side that this movie was slightly less cringeworthy than particular moments of “Mission: Impossible III.” Although on the dark side of things, what was cringeworthy in “Mission: Impossible III” probably made me care a tad more for Ethan Hunt than I did in “Ghost Protocol.” Another downside is that my favorite recurring character in the franchise aside from Ethan Hunt, Luther Stickell, is barely in this movie at all. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, he’s played by Ving Rhames and has been present in the franchise ever since the first movie. Maybe I like him a lot because he does the voiceovers for the Arby’s commercials, which are some of my favorite commercials on television, but seriously, he adds a lot of charisma to the film. He’s in the movie, but if you look at IMDb, it’ll state that Ving Rhames’s role was “uncredited.”

Seriously though, one of the most enormous admirations I have for this movie, much like all the others in the franchise is Tom Cruise’s performance and overall commitment to his role of playing the character Ethan Hunt. “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” just continues to reveal why I love Tom Cruise. I’m no Scientologist, but with that aside, Cruise is one hell of an actor. He may not have the greatest ability to turn himself into another character, but with this “Mission: Impossible” franchise, Tom Cruise has really gotten to a point with the character of Ethan Hunt where he’s just synonymous with the man behind the mask that makes you appreciate both the character and the actor just a bit more. Not to mention, a number of the stunts you see in the film are real and Cruise is just one actor I continue to associate at this point with what one would call “real stuntwork.”

Speaking of characters, one problem I have here that kind of stands out is that the antagonist of the film is pretty forgettable. It might actually be in the conversation for the worst antagonist as far as “Mission: Impossible” movies go. The antagonist is known as Kurt Hendricks and while the villain wasn’t exactly flimsy or stupid, he was just rather disposable. This is not the villain of the franchise that would invest you more than any other, and if you read my review for another Brad Bird film, specifically “Incredibles 2,” this upcoming comment will sound rather reminiscent. Hendricks is coming after a certain point of the franchise where we got one particular awesome villain. Sure, the one in the first film was fine. The second film? Eh, I don’t want to talk about that crap ever again! The third film however, has a villain that just means BUSINESS. There’s one scene on a plane where Hunt is just trying to talk with him, the antagonist is giving threatening answers, it’s a whole thing. There’s a saying that a movie is as good as its villain, as much as I disagree on that statement, because I ended up giving “Mission: Impossible III” a 6/10 and yet it turned out to have the best villain in the franchise, I would agree in the thought that this movie would ultimately be better had the villain been better.

I feel like there a couple of reasons why I’m not liking this movie as much as I kind of hoped I would have. Starting off with Layman’s terms, and I can’t believe I’m saying this… Brad Bird.

Let me just say that Brad Bird is one of my favorite filmmakers working today, but most of the work I adore from him are in the realm of animation as opposed to live-action. He did my favorite animation, “The Incredibles.” He did a worthy follow-up, “Incredibles 2.” He also did another great Pixar film, “Ratatouille.” Before all of that, he did “Iron Giant.” Not only did he direct all of those films, but he also wrote them. This is Brad Bird’s directorial vision off of somebody else’s script, which is a normal thing in filmmaking nowadays, however, I don’t think that’s Brad Bird’s style. “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” is one of the first times has done something that’s entirely live-action. The only other movie that I can come up with which he’s done that is 2015’s “Tomorrowland,” which to me, is just about as good as this movie. It’s watchable, but I don’t want to go back to it right away. Although interestingly, unlike this film, Brad Bird actually wrote “Tomorrowland.” My advice to Brad Bird is to focus on where his strengths seem to lie. To be specific, animation. Whether it’s “Incredibles 3” (PLEASE START THAT SCRIPT) or something completely new and original, I imagine Brad Bird would make all of our wings fly into the theater.

In the end, I didn’t hate “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” I thought it had some creative ideas behind it, there were definitely stakes, and Brad Bird’s reason to shoot the film in IMAX is spot on. He believes that it would bring back a level of showmanship that theaters are starting to lose given how most movies nowadays are shown in multiplexes, where screens are less grand and everything from the vibe to theater itself is shrunken down. And part of me wishes that I actually went out and saw this in theaters. That would have been tricky though because I was twelve years old at the time this came out and the movie is PG-13. Not only that, but I wouldn’t have watched one other “Mission: Impossible” film prior to this had I gone out and witnessed “Ghost Protocol” in a theater. If I went out and got the theatrical experience that I’m quite sure this movie probably deserved, I would probably have enjoyed it just a little bit more. I feel I like I should watch this movie again at a different time of day where I don’t feel the need to have anything else to worry about, perhaps my opinion will change then. I’m gonna give “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” a 7/10. Once again, a fairly enjoyable movie with some neat qualities behind it, I wouldn’t mind watching it again. Although as of now if I were to watch it again, it would for two reasons. 1. To see if the movie improves over the first watch. 2. I would probably have no distractions surrounding me, allowing myself to further immerse into the movie. As far as watching this movie again goes, only the future can decide such a thing for me.

Thanks for reading this post! If you currently have Brad Bird fever right now, feel free to go to the link at the end of this post and read my “Incredibles 2” review! I feel like I went over a lot that the movie has to offer without exactly giving away spoilers. So if you feel like checking out that review, hit that link below!

Also, this “Mission: Impossible” review series is almost at its closing point. The next entry will be the last review I do in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise prior to the release of “Mission: Impossible: Fallout.” So for the first time ever on Scene Before, I’d like to say, please stay tuned for my review for “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation.” That review will be up sometime in July before the release of “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” which comes out on the 27th. I’ll give you all a warning though regarding my review for “Fallout” if you follow my blog. I don’t know when exactly I’ll be reviewing it. Because on the day it comes out I have to leave early to catch a train for New York City, which is part of a trip that will take several hours. And I also return home that same day. Once I get home, I’m going up to Maine with my family for a couple nights. Trust me, I WANT to see this movie. I know there are some theaters in the area, I’ve done my research. However, based on what the majority intends to do, I’m not quite sure I’ll be able to reach a theater during my stay. I’m not gonna make any guarantees because I’m not exactly sure how this stay is going to go down, but let me just say that for now unless I’m invited to an early screening of “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” if you are expecting an early review of this particular movie, don’t get your hopes up. Nevertheless, be sure to stay tuned for those reviews, which I do want to post on here at some point, and other great content! I want to know, did you see “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol?” What did you think about it? Or, do you think I should watch the movie again to see if my thoughts change? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

INCREDIBLES 2 REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/06/14/incredibles-2-2018-too-late-fourteen-years-too-late/

Incredibles 2 (2018): Too Late. Fourteen Years Too Late.

Posted on by Jack Drees

Before we get any further with talking about one of the most incredible franchises on Earth, let me just state something to you. “The Incredibles” is not necessarily a movie about superheroes. It’s more about a family containing superheroes more than anything else. Part of it is shown throughout the franchise on how hard it is raising Jack-Jack, the youngest of the Parr family. Pretty soon, one couple by the name of Paul and Genevieve will be having a Jack-Jack of their own. It probably won’t have any superpowers, but still. Even so, this is the reality. Not only is this the reality, there was another sense of reality that had to be dealt with, the fact that conceiving their very own Jack-Jack, is a hassle for Paul and Genevieve. This is all explained in “What the IVF?!”

“What the IVF?” is a new series featuring former first season “King of the Nerds” contestant Genevieve and her husband who is one heck of an editor, Paul. The two are trying to have a baby, but sadly, can’t exactly do so as hard as they try. They face unfortunate realities in various areas including sex, math, examinations, and needles of death. You can find the latest “WTIVF?” content on the show’s specifically dedicated YouTube channel (link down below), featuring the latest episodes and some other material to diverge away from the norm. The latest episode in the series is up, and it might be one of the most disturbing and heartbreaking episodes I’ve watched in the series so far. Oh yeah, THE NEEDLES ARE BACK! Be sure to watch this video up above or any other “WTIVF?” content if you choose to do so, and also make sure to subscribe and ring the bell to see more from “What the IVF?.” Also check out their other social media pages, along with their website. One more thing, if you do decide to check them out, tell them that Jack Drees sent ya over!

WTIVF? WEBSITE: http://www.whattheivf.com/

WTIVF? YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILXSidkzWgwrQ5Oa1py78w/featured?disable_polymer=1

WTIVF? TWITTER: https://twitter.com/WTivF

WTIVF? INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/wtivf/

WTIVF? FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/What-The-IVF-288868031634125/

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“Incredibles 2” is directed by Brad Bird (Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Iron Giant) and stars Craig T. Nelson (Coach, Poltergeist), Holly Hunter (The Firm, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice), Sam Vowell (Six Degrees, A.C.O.D), Huck Milner, and Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers, Pulp Fiction). I could go on saying that “Incredibles 2” is the long-awaited sequel to 2004’s “The Incredibles.” Although if I did, I’d be understating how long people have been waiting for this. I’ve basically waited for this sequel my entire life. Now that it’s here, I’m screaming internally. Without any further digressions, this movie takes place right after the end of the original “Incredibles” installment. If you’ve seen that movie, you’d be well aware that it ends with a peaceful day suddenly becoming less peaceful. This is because the Underminer has declared “war on peace and happiness.” The sequel basically continues off from the point when the Underminer happens to be introduced. I guess that 2005 video game (Rise of the Underminer) is not canon at this point. This movie also introduces an all new threat, soon leading to Elastigirl’s recruitment to stop said threat. At the same time, Mr. Incredible is left alone with the kids, taking a full time job as a stay-at-home dad.

People have their favorite movies, and I think that’s great. I wouldn’t say that 2004’s “The Incredibles” is my all time favorite film, however, I would definitely confirm to you that this is my all time favorite animation. And to me, sometimes when I think about “The Incredibles,” it reminds me of how great 2004 was for movies. You have “The Incredibles,” my favorite animated film ever. You have “Spider-Man 2,” my favorite comic-book movie ever. You have “Ray,” one of the best films I’ve watched that’s based on true events. And while I have admittedly not watched the film, “The Passion of the Christ” hit an amazing achievement of then being one of the biggest box office hits with an R rating. I’m not saying 2018 is crap, but still, it’s true. If I were to one day make a conclusive list, “The Incredibles” to me would be in the conversation of possibly receiving a spot in my top 10 favorite films of all time. I first watched that movie, as my memory suggests, when I was seven years old. I still remember the first time I rented it from Blockbuster. Since I was just a kid who enjoyed seeing things on screen, I ultimately enjoyed “The Incredibles” because it was moving images on a screen. Overtime though, I bought it at a store whose name you probably won’t be hearing much anymore, Sears. This was on November 4th, 2007. This to me was one of the most rewatchable films I’ve ever owned as a kid. And I still own it to this day, I mean, based on what I just told you, would you be all that surprised? Now with this sequel coming out, they just put the 4K edition out in stores, and now I want it so bad! Speaking of things I wanted so bad, I REALLY WANTED THIS SEQUEL. If you asked me a few years ago what I thought about Pixar doing a sequel to “Finding Nemo” called “Finding Dory,” I would have responded saying I could probably care less. “Finding Nemo” didn’t really feel like it NEEDED a sequel. “The Incredibles” however, ended with a cliffhanger, plus unlike “Finding Nemo” brought a bigger connection in my life. So you might say I’m biased, and in that case I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that.

So… After fourteen LONG F*CKING YEARS, was this highly anticipated, long-awaited, and much asked for sequel worth the wait? The answer, yes! I’ve said countless times that I’ve always wanted to see an “Incredibles 2,” and I’ve asked that as a fan of the original. The thing to keep in mind however, that’s the fanboy in me talking, or in some cases…

The Buddy in me talking.

“I am your number one fan!” –Buddy/Incrediboy

Now, there’s another version of me, the critic side, that will allow the Movie Reviewing Moron to get his words out. And the Movie Reviewing Moron would just like to say that “Incredibles 2,” while fun, entertaining, well animated, hilarious, and action-packed from start to finish, is not perfect. The Moron will state however, the flaws are somewhat forgivable.

The first flaw almost dives into spoiler territory, and don’t worry, if you want to go into “Incredibles 2” spoiler-free, I’ll remind you that this ENTIRE REVIEW is spoiler-free! This movie is somewhat predictable at times. I’m not gonna say much about it. And I’ll admit, in a number of ways, it’s got some unpredictablity, but there were times where I was just analyzing and predicting in my head what was going to happen in the movie and I turned out to be right! I will say once again, this is somewhat forgivable, and the reason for that is because part of this movie’s audience happens to be children and they don’t usually give a damn about how predictable their content is!

The other flaw I have with this movie is one that I imagine might dwindle upon a couple watches, which I will say, “Incredibles 2” might deserve from me, but towards the beginning of the film, the pacing just felt the SLIGHTEST tad off. It wasn’t terrible, but it’s like going into a hotel room, it’s very nice and clean, the security and locks are up to par, the bathroom’s in decent condition, the shower works, the bed’s very comfortable, the view’s not bad, the lighting functions well, there’s a window providing a nice view, then you suddenly check the bed out a little further and find a hair. Now, that’s JUST ONE HAIR. That’s the only hair you find in your bed for the entire stay. Your experience could DEFINITELY be worse, but that hair though… The pacing to me in this movie is the one hair found in the bed. The predictability factor in this comparison if you care to know, is the below average internet connection. The movie still works, but it’s not as smart as it could be. But in all reality, I didn’t really care, because what we got in this sequel as a whole put one big smile on my face.

“Incredibles 2” is not the best movie I’ve seen all year. It’s not the best sequel I’ve seen this year either. It is however, the second best sequel I’ve seen this year. As a movie, “Incredibles 2” is definitely worthy of the Pixar name and a thrill ride all the way through. As a sequel, it does a fantastic job at picking up where things left off, giving an equal amount of spotlight to each character in the Parr family, and providing a similar feel to the original without exactly feeling like a ripoff. It does that thing some sequels do where they remind you of some events that happen in the original and depending on the scenario, repeat it for the sake of either nostalgia or reminding you of something that happened in the past in the franchise. Whether or not that sort of thing comes off as forced or negative, would probably depend on the viewer and their own personal tastes. It kind of worked for me in this case, partially because the intellectual property of “The Incredibles” is one such intellectual property I adore. But these sorts of things at times were executed with such great humor. And I will say that when it comes to the strong points of “Incredibles 2,” this is up there with the strongest. I think the first “Incredibles” can make a good number of people laugh, and you know what? I’m going to make the argument for now that this movie is funnier. Part of this has to do with one specific character of the Parr family, Jack-Jack.

I mentioned already that I loved the first “Incredibles” installment. However, there is one character from that film that I can’t imagine myself ever saying he was my favorite, and that is Jack-Jack. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing that really makes Jack-Jack unlikable, but perhaps the main reason that I wouldn’t point to Jack-Jack as my favorite character in the first film is because he does not have as much of a presence as some of the other characters. Here, he is much more involved with the story, and a true scene stealer. Jack-Jack is definitely the funniest character in the entire movie! One of the best parts of the film is his relationship with Edna Mode, who is probably one of the best supporting characters I’ve ever known in an animation. There’s also one thing that happens in this movie regarding Jack-Jack that I kind of grew to admire throughout the film. If you have seen the first movie, Jack-Jack uses his newly realized powers for a few moments. I won’t go into detail about it for the sake of avoiding spoilers because not everyone has watched “The Incredibles,” but everyone in the Parr family is observing Jack-Jack in one particular situation, and he is making various transformations. This movie goes ahead and says that the Parr family had no idea that Jack-Jack’s transformations were part of his new powers. It does make sense, upon a brief lookup, nobody in that scene I was talking about was able to actually know or tell Jack-Jack was even using any sort of powers. There was a point in the movie where I was questioning all of this, but now that I have this all cleared up, I can actually appreciate this movie a little bit more than maybe part of me once would have.

Now, here is a line you may know if you have seen “The Incredibles.”

“Settle down, are you kidding? I’m at the top of my game! I’m right up there with the big dogs! Girls, come on. Leave the saving of the world to the men? I don’t think so. I don’t think so.” -Helen Parr/Elastigirl

If you have seen the trailers for this movie, you’d know that Elastigirl is more involved with hero work than Mr. Incredible. Elastigirl was a major character in the previous film, however, you might as well say that Mr. Incredible was the shining star. In this movie, I’d probably say that both characters are kind of the shining star in their own little way, but hero-wise, Elastigirl is the “it” character. Elastigirl is out saving everyone, trying to bring heroes back into the spotlight, and she’s got a new suit along with a new ride. Both are quite slick actually if you ask me! Also, that quote I mentioned above Elastigirl’s image, probably fits her character for the entirety of this movie’s runtime more than at least a good portion of the last movie. You’ll see what I mean if you ever decide to check “Incredibles 2” out.

As mentioned, Mr. Incredible is taking on the role of stay-at-home dad. The movie does explain that he would much rather help bring back supers, but hey, someone’s gotta watch the kids. Some of the best parts of this movie actually involve Bob Parr watching the kids. From trying help Dash with his math, to whatever the hell Jack-Jack is up to, and a family outing at a certain restaurant that is a particular standout moment for the character of Violet, these moments were either funny, charming, or both.

If you can’t tell by now, I’d say that “Incredibles 2,” while I will say, is amazing, it’s not as good as the original movie in the franchise. And part of it has to do with the main antagonist. The fiendish plan of the antagonist is to hypnotize everyone into thinking that superheroes should be kept out of the spotlight. On paper, that’s not a bad idea for a villain in this movie. In terms of execution, I’d say this was definitely solid, I didn’t hate it, it’s definitely better than a lot of villains that Marvel puts out. I will say though, in the movie’s favor, it is kind of hard to live up to the first movie’s villain of Syndrome.

I kind of already talked about her, but I gotta dedicate a separate paragraph to Edna Mode because she f*cking deserves it! Edna is by far one of the movie’s best characters. Part of it has to with the writing, the humor, and Brad Bird’s top-notch voice acting! For two movies now I cannot imagine anyone else playing “E.” The character also shares a side of her in terms of her own personality that I didn’t particularly expect to see from her.

Speaking of characters, this movie introduces a bunch of new heroes, and in all honesty, one small worry I had walking into this film, is that these additional heroes would just make the film feel cluttered and too crowded. Given these folks’s screentime and what exactly they do, my worries were for absolutely nothing! I’d usually say it sucks to be wrong, but in this case, I guess that’s great! This is an apprehension I’m referring to after all, not a final question on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.”

If you guys have read the opening promotion, you’d notice that I said “The Incredibles” is more about a family compared to anything else. Yes, this is a movie with superheroes in it with big explosions, action-packed moments, and tons of humor, but it is also mainly about a family who happen to be involved in all of these situations. You really feel connected to these characters who ultimately just care and look out for each other. This movie truly makes you care for the Parrs not only as heroes who have to save the day, but also as heroes who have to save each other.

I won’t go into a single detail regarding the film’s ending, however I will bring up one thing. After progressing so long through this film, I gotta say, if Pixar were to say that a third “Incredibles” movie were on the rise, I’d probably approve. I actually really want to see an “Incredibles 3.” Partially because I’m a fan, but I also would say that it might be Pixar’s most well made franchise aside from “Toy Story.” Now I will say, if they take fourteen years to make “Incredibles 3,” it better be worth the wait like this movie. In fact, funny enough, before the movie started, there was a short montage of the cast and crew talking in front of the camera saying that this sequel is a long time in the making and worth the wait. Regardless of how much they got paid to say those words, they weren’t lyin’!

In the end, “Incredibles 2” is a terrific sequel, a worthy follow-up to one of my favorite movies of all time, and one of this year’s funniest films. Brad Bird kills it not only as a voice-actor as recently mentioned, but as the writer and the director! The entire voice cast is spectacular, from Craig T. Nelson to Holly Hunter to Samuel L. Jackson to even the new voice for Dash, Huck Milner. the animation is top-notch, Michael Giacchino’s score is epic, and while the wait for this sequel was not as long for some as “Blade Runner 2049,” “Incredibles 2” was definitely worth the wait. I totally buy all the characters and again, if Pixar decides to do another one of these movies, I’d say go for it! I’m gonna give “Incredibles 2” a 9/10! Thanks for reading this review, and speaking of movies directed by Brad Bird, be sure to stay tuned for my review for “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” and also look forward to another movie which has a review coming up on this blog very soon, “Tag.” The embargo lifts the same day this review is up, so therefore if you clicked on this review early and still happen to be reading this, I’ll alert you that you’ll be seeing my detailed thoughts on that movie very soon. Stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Incredibles 2?” What did you think about it? Or, what is a sequel you’ve waited to see all your life or a long period of time that you were excited to witness once it finally came out? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Adrift (2018): Weirdest Non-Linear Movie Ever?

Posted on by Jack Drees

Before we dive into the sea from our sailboats and talk about the total shipwreck that is “Adrift,” allow me to just introduce to two fish in said sea who once found love. Their names are Paul and Genevieve. The two knew each other for a long time, happened to be relaxing one day, and suddenly decided to have a kid. Unfortunately for the couple, they might as well have suffered some massive shark bites along the way, because as they say, “trying to have a baby is freakin’ hard, man!” This is all explained… in “What the IVF?!”

“What the IVF?” is a new series on YouTube revolving around the recently mentioned couple as they attempt to have a baby. They eventually realize that having a baby isn’t the easiest thing in the world, and it is for them, possibly harder than RAISING the child. The couple stick and suffer together in tests, procedures, math, sexual activity, and of course, needles. You can find the latest content from the “WTIVF?” YouTube channel and also be sure to subscribe and ring the bell if you haven’t already. Their latest episode actually drifts away from the normal series because as Paul explains in the beginning, the bathroom inside his and Genevieve’s house is being renovated. Instead, they are showing the first movie Paul and Genevieve made together as they attended film school. Be sure to check that out if that’s your thing! Also, speaking of checking things out, be sure to check out the “WTIVF?” website, along with with the show’s social media profiles, including their recently mentioned YouTube channel, where all of their latest content is uploaded! Also be sure to tell them that Jack Drees sent ya over!

WTIVF? WEBSITE: http://www.whattheivf.com/

WTIVF? YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILXSidkzWgwrQ5Oa1py78w/featured?disable_polymer=1

WTIVF? TWITTER: https://twitter.com/WTivF

WTIVF? INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/wtivf/

WTIVF? FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/What-The-IVF-288868031634125/

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“Adrift” is directed by Baltasar Kormákur (2 Guns, Everest) and stars Shailene Woodley (Divergent, Big Little Lies) alongside Sam Clafin (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Me Before You) and is based on a true story, which has a book on it written by Tami Oldham Ashcraft and Susea McGearhart. This true story is about a couple who meet each other, fall in love, and soon find themselves adrift at sea.

I saw this movie yesterday, and for those of you who are reading this the day this post is up, that means you can tell I saw this on Monday, June 4th, 2018. I had some time on my hands, so I figured I’d catch a 12PM show at one of my local theaters. And you know what? It was a nice theater! It’s an AMC, and as far as my area is concerned (eastern Massachusetts) if you are a movie theater that happens to be under the AMC brand name, there’s a good chance I already like you. I like the AMC cinema chain, but I can’t say I like this movie. In all honestly, this is one of the weirdest movies I’ve watched in recent memory. And no, I don’t mean in a Wes Anderson-esque type of way where the movie is an enjoyable quirk-fest like “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” If the movie were enjoyable, I’d be in a somewhat happier state of mind.

Having heard about this movie, I am well aware this is based on both a true story and a book. Going into the movie, I didn’t have complete familiarity with either two parts to this material, so I was heading into the auditorium rather blind. And for those of you who don’t have the brain capacity or IQ to determine what I mean, I say that in a sense of not knowing anything. My sight was still intact. Although with this movie, at times I kind of wanted to not only be blind in a literal sense. But also deaf. Maybe dead too.

You might be asking based on what I’m uttering to you all, “Is this the worst movie of the year?” No. I won’t give my final verdict yet, but it’s not the worst movie of the year. It’s not even the worst movie of the decade. There are still some things I can truly appreciate about “Adrift” so let’s get some positives out of the way before I lose my sanity.

“Adrift,” to my lack of surprise, has extremely well thought out location choices. Most of the movie takes place at sea, so you can often gaze at the beauty of the blue water shown in the film if that’s your thing. Everything fit a rather exotic/sea-like vibe very well. Too bad the movie wasn’t worth SEAing.

Also, to help you at viewing the movie’s locations, there are cameras to assist in that sort of job. The cinematography in “Adrift” was certainly not bad for the most part. Everything was very well shot, not Oscar-worthy or anything, although in some cases I guess it can come close, but it’s very competent and can certainly make you feel like you’re at sea, getting shipwrecked, or jumping into water.

The biggest positive this movie has however is that Shailene Woodley is f*cking awesome. Her lead performance in this movie is everything that this movie needed if all anyone ever appreciated in Hollywood is acting. There were several scenes where Shailene Woodley would speak, yell, commit to some sort of action, and it would be believable. Her character is Tami Oldham, one of the two people who get shipwrecked in the story, and she is a combination of charming, curious, but also scared. This is especially when consider some of the movie’s scenes and one key trait she has that separates her from other people. Turns out she is a vegetarian, and if you’re at sea and you don’t have anything to eat, you’re kind of out of luck.

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Woodley’s co-star, Sam Clafin, plays Richard Sharp. And while Clafin doesn’t necessarily give the worst performance I’ve seen. There are a couple times in this movie that somewhat stick out to me where it almost seems that he’s unenthusiastic or he’s desperately begging for a paycheck, a break, or an opportunity to leave. To be fair though, I heard that shooting days were not the shortest for this movie, plus most of it is at sea. I don’t know for sure, so don’t take my word on this, but maybe Clafin gets seasick real easy. Although, there were just times where instead of feeling like I was watching a professional actor, I felt more like I was watching an employee at the DMV who never acted once in his life, who just wanted a step up from his job so he can get out of his rathole.

Speaking of things people want to get out of, I wanted to get out of this movie! Part of it had to do with perhaps the biggest problem I’ve faced throughout the movie’s entire runtime. You know how some movies are told in a non-linear fashion? Some of my favorite movies do this because in one way or another, it adds to the overall greatness of the product. Here, they go back and forth between the wreck and whatever sort of happenings occur before the wreck. My question about all of this is: Why the f*ck would you do this s*it?

Unlike a number of movies I’ve seen, movies including “Memento,” “Arrival,” “Deadpool,” these are all told in such a fascinating non-linear way that is so brilliant and in ways, makes the movie more engaging. This however, LITERALLY DOES NOTHING FOR THE MOVIE. There’s another movie that’s somewhat similar to this, Disney’s “The Finest Hours,” which released in 2016. That movie, while not good, was told in a very conventional linear order and made the movie stable. If “Adrift” was done in a linear fashion, the movie would have been better! It would have a slightly higher purpose of even existing!

This is not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but it is quite possibly the biggest mish-mash of a movie I’ve ever seen. Have you seen the YouTube series “Will It Blend?” It’s a viral marketing campaign where a guy attempts to blend unusual things with a Blendtec blender and see how they turn out. I wonder if the writers had a mindset similar to the ideas of that show, but ultimately, this does not blend.

This almost makes this movie feel like there are just a bunch of random scenes put together. In fact, I actually once watched one review online before going to see the movie, by the way, the reviewer was YouTuber Chris Stuckmann. He talked about the non-linear storytelling and when I heard about this, my hopes for this movie dwindled a bit. But I saw it anyway. He makes a point that this makes you care less about the two leads of the film through the way the story is told. I’m not sure how much better this will be had they gone in linear order, but Stuckmann certainly makes a terrific point that I can side with. Let me ask you something about a different disaster movie/love story. Did “Titanic” need to be told in a non-linear perspective? LET THAT SINK IN. I mean, sure, it kind of was told in a non-linear order since it was all a flashback, but for the most part, you are seeing a story from beginning to end. You care about Jack and Rose in “Titanic” because you see them develop their journeys as characters from beginning to end. And you know what? It’s kind of sad that when it comes to the realm of film that I more care about two fictionalized characters in a real-life disaster shown on screen as opposed to two actual characters in a real-life disaster shown on screen. Just… LET THAT SINK IN.

In the end I gotta say that “Adrift” felt like an extended drift to get through, if you catch my drift. This is one of the most disappointingly odd movies I’ve watched in my entire life. I mean, it has some good things about it, but the negatives seriously outweigh the positives this movie has to offer. I wouldn’t say this is Shailene Woodley’s worst work yet, however, this is one of those movies I will not be coming back to, even if I was stranded at sea, had a working portable DVD player, and a DVD copy of the film. I’m going to give “Adrift” a 3/10. Thanks for reading this review! Pretty soon I’m going to have my review up for “Tag” which is in theaters everywhere on Friday, June 15th. I’m going to see it tonight courtesy of Warner Brothers, and I kinda sorta just found out about the movie’s review embargo. While I don’t know the official date quite yet, I won’t be able to review it right after I see it, so there’s a good chance that I won’t be able to give a detailed review until say, sometime next week. I’ll definitely make the review this week, but I’m gonna probably schedule it to be up RIGHT when the embargo lifts.

Also, for those of you who follow or care to know about my personal Twitter (@JackDrees) I made a poll yesterday. I would like to thank the four people who responded to it. I asked you all what I should do for a new post given that that I’ve now seen “2001: A Space Odyssey” in the 70mm format. The top pick was the fourth option, “Combo/other.” So you know what? The majority spoke, and the majority will get what they want!

That’s what I would say if I didn’t know what sarcasm was.

Because out of the two people who said the fourth option was their preference, they both failed at following ONE SIMPLE RULE.

Since character limits are bitches, I stated in the choice “(comment plz),” because I wanted you people to specify what exactly it was that you wanted me to do. Neither of you did. And now for your brutal, deadly, lesson-filled punishment, I’m gonna make the decision myself! It’s my blog, I can do what I want! I have the creative freedom around here! And to add onto the punishment, I will state that I’m not even going to tell what exactly I plan to do! OK… I will say though… I’m kinda still deciding. Something’s coming. It’ll be a surprise. And you’ll find out soon. Be sure to look out for my mysterious “2001: A Space Odyssey” post! Stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Adrift?” What did you think about it? Or what is the worst movie you’ve seen that has some form of non-linear storytelling? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Revenge (2017): Mad Jen

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“Revenge” is written and directed by Coralie Fargeat and stars Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz (Rings, Fuoriclasse), Kevin Janssens (Vermist, Quiz Me Quick), Vincent Colombe (Point Blank, My King), and Guillaume Bouchède (Two Is a Family, Coluche I’histoire d’un mec). This film is about a girl named Jen and she is in a secret relationship with a French millionaire who goes by the name of Richard. When meeting with the millionaire’s pals prior to a hunting trip, Jen is eventually raped and left for dead in a desert.

I first heard about this movie and kind of got a grasp as to what it is all about courtesy of another movie reviewer I follow on a very consistent basis, although he’s not on WordPress and instead he is on YouTube, Chris Stuckmann. He did a review for “Revenge” last month and he had some positive things to say about it. So that made me more interested in checking this movie out. I didn’t check it out right away because I was preoccupied with other movies and making other content for you all to read. Also, I will admit, maybe I was lazy. I had some time to myself, but I felt that I should waste my time doing other things such as going on YouTube, watching newer and older videos. So, you can blame me for not having this review up earlier. That and I was working on another post that literally interrupted my viewing of the film, making me pause it. The only reason why I did it, if you don’t know what I’m talking about is because I got invited to a screening of “Tag,” and this happened to be my first ever time where I accepted an invite to a screening such as this (movie comes out over a week after I see it). Despite all of the clutter, here I am making this review!

To start off my thoughts on this official review, let me just say that when it comes to rating this movie, it’s almost on the difficult side because much like the last movie I reviewed, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” there were a lot of positives and negatives, but both sides of the spectrum kind of stood out like a t-rex going to the mall. Fortunately, this movie is better than “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” and I’d say I had a much more enjoyable experience watching this than I did watching “Solo.” And that really says something because I went to see “Solo” in a giant IMAX on opening night. When it comes to my experience of watching “Revenge,” I stayed away from the theater on this one. Because while it did release in theaters, I couldn’t really see it there because there were no times available. However, on the bright side, the movie released simultaneously on VOD services. I personally chose to watch the movie on Amazon because I had a gift card that I could use for this sort of circumstance. Over the couple of sittings I’ve had to watch this, I felt somewhat entertained, I really think some great ideas were executed very well, and there are a few complaints that I have.

To start off my complaints, this movie in terms of pacing, when it started, was very effective. I was rather engaged in terms of what was happening. It wasn’t too fast, not too slow, it felt just right. However, once we get further down the road, it doesn’t exactly crash and burn, but it doesn’t really stick the landing either. There are a couple times where the movie just slows down just a tad and while it’s not quite a disaster, it’s a setback compared to what was shown in the movie prior to it.

My next complaint is that while you might have a number of these movies out right now, this is just one of those movies that you can’t take too seriously. My problem is that my brain is very logic-oriented, so at times I was unable to handle or process some of what I saw on screen. Once the movie progressed and I saw more of what happened, my thought process sort of changed. But seriously, if you don’t take a lot of things with a grain of salt, you’re in for the exact opposite of a thrill ride. And I know I just mentioned this has to do with logic and taking things with a grain of salt in the same paragraph, bear in mind that this has nothing to do with jokes. As far as I recall, there’s not really that much in terms of offensive jokes or language. There is foul language, but not really that many words that a select number of individuals would find offensive.

And speaking of things that you might find offensive, this movie is not exactly the cleanest in terms of overall content. As mentioned, there is a rape scene, which is kind of what causes the movie’s main events. The movie has a ton of blood, so much in fact that according to the movie’s trivia page on IMDb, the prop team would often run out of fake blood. One of the biggest standouts for me in the movie is one point where there is blood dripping on the ground, and an ant is trying to avoid it. The sound effects in that scene are awesome. There are a couple scenes I’ll mention, where objects stick in bodies, and it’s almost like these people are getting killed. One scene especially just about a half an hour in, but these people, as you would know if you watch the movie, are completely OK. Kinda crazy if you ask me.

One other small complaint I have is during the rape scene, one character in particular, Dimitri walks in during the action, and the rape comes to a stop. Stan, the raper, is basically warning Dimitri that he’s busy and Dimitri can only come closer if “he wants some.” When Dimitri walks in, he’s having a snack, and things kind of get awkward in the room, mainly for Dimitri. He takes a bite of his snack before walking out, and while doing that, we get this extreme close-up of Dimitri taking a bite, accompanied by slo-mo and wacky sound effects. Now I recently mentioned that there’s a scene where blood is falling on the ground and an ant is trying to avoid it. In that scene, the sound effects are very exaggerated. And with those exaggerated sound effects, they kind of enhance the scene and make it more hypnotizing. However with this part of the movie, I found it to be kind of cringeworthy. Maybe it was supposed to make the atmosphere feel uneasy, but in the end, it just felt odd.

Let’s talk about the main character of this film, Jen. She starts in this film in one way, and as you see the film progress throughout its runtime, you’d notice she makes a massive transition. Once you first see her, she’s this “babe.” It’s like I was looking at a Bond girl or one of the chicks from the Michael Bay “Transformers” movies if they decided to party more. The first instance of seeing her in this movie, she’s got shades on, she’s licking a lollipop, it’s like she’s going to a Hollywood premiere at the El Capitan Theatre for an hour and thirty minute porno. She’s at first displayed like a party girl who always spends her nights at the club. As we get half an hour into the runtime, we notice she becomes a bit more warrior-like and also less sexy. She all of sudden turns into Furiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road.” The transition doesn’t feel like I couldn’t suspend my disbelief to a high enough level, which is good considering some other recently mentioned complaints I have regarding the movie itself.

The film also revolves around three men. One of which is Richard, the French millionaire. The other two are Stan and Dimitri, who are both friends with Richard. Stan is the one who rapes Jen, and Dimitri, while not technically useless, has the lowest form of purpose of even being in the picture. Could the picture do without him? Maybe, but personally, if the picture didn’t have him, it probably wouldn’t be as interesting as it is now. These men start out somewhat normal but as you see the picture progress, you grow to hate them. And I don’t mean that in a too terrible way. The film kind of wants you to hate them, and in that way, I’d say that the movie did a good job of making these characters interesting to watch while simultaneously unlikable.

In the end, I wouldn’t say “Revenge” is the best film of 2018, in fact some might say it’s a 2017 film because it was shown at 2017 festivals. However, the film does have its own strengths. I think the casting’s really good, especially for Jen. Some of the cinematography and sound effects really shine. There’s a duel during the climax that is probably one of, if not the most engaging part of the film. If you do want to check out “Revenge,” I will say though, do so with caution, because this film goes for whatever dark thought or image your mind would have trouble processing. I’m going to give “Revenge” a 7/10. Thanks for reading this review! This Tuesday, I’m heading to one of my local theaters to see an early screening of “Tag,” so stay tuned for that review coming soon! Also I just saw “2001: A Space Odyssey” in 70mm earlier today during the afternoon, which by the way, might be the one way I’ll ever watch it again after today. If you have read a couple of my recent posts, I stated the idea of me doing a review for “2001: A Space Odyssey” IF I WENT to see it in 70mm, or in the case of my most recent post, just doing a review because I WENT to see the film in 70mm. Having seen the film now, I will say that before I actually went to see it, I started my review, but since I walked out of the auditorium, I reflected on what an epic, crowd-pleasing, one of a kind experience I had. I’m almost conflicted if I want to talk about the experience, do a review, combine those two things, give my thoughts and interpretation. I literally don’t know what I should do!

So… Let me just say… Before I open the pod bay doors, I will say that FOR NOW, something might be coming. Unless something “2001” related is coming in my next post, which I don’t think will be the case, I can’t say for sure, you might hear an update from me on something in that sort of realm. Stay tuned for whatever comes, and also be sure to stick around on the Internet to see more of my latest and greatest content! So I want to know, did you watch “Revenge?” What did you think about it? Or, what is the one movie that will make you want to close your eyes or look away more than any other? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!