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Captain Marvel (2019): Not That Marvelous

Posted on March 16, 2019 by Jack Drees

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“Captain Marvel” is directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Sugar, Half Nelson) and stars Brie Larson (Room, The Glass Castle), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Snakes On a Plane), Ben Mendelsohn (Ready Player One, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, Blood Diamond), Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Lincoln), Lashana Lynch (Fast Girls, Brotherhood), Gemma Chan (Mary Queen of Scots, Crazy Rich Asians), Annette Bening (American Beauty, 20th Century Women), Clark Gregg (The New Adventures of Old Christine, 500 Days of Summer), and Jude Law (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Closer). This film is the 21st installment in the cinematic universe. Good luck with your marathons, newcomers! “Captain Marvel” is about a soldier from another world who has memories of her past on Earth. As she is sent down to Earth, or as her planet’s kind calls it, “C-53,” she must combat a foreign force who can disguise themselves into other people and save the universe from further destruction.

OK… Here we go. I went into this movie rather excited. I must point out though, it is not because I am seeing the movie, but because I got to see it in the historic Chinese Theatre. This was kind of a dream of mine and I was waiting to go away to see this movie instead of seeing it on its first two nights just to make the experience special. And it was! When it comes to my familiarity with Captain Marvel, it is admittedly lower compared to other superheroes. But regardless of how familiar audiences and I are with this character, Disney and Marvel had an excellent marketing opportunity on their hands. They have never done a movie with a woman in the lead role before, so after almost eleven years of making MCU films, this is the first time this was being done. Unfortunately, it was not good.

Let me just get some things out of the way. I’m straight, I’m white, and I am a male. I am well aware that my physical and internal qualities that I can’t change, unless I go through surgery, puts me in the position of associating with the most hated type of person on the planet. So… reviewing this movie is hard. But I will say some things that I actually found to be good about the movie. This movie is kind of a crowd-pleaser. Much like a bunch of other MCU films, it had many attempts at humor, some of which totally worked. Some of the action is flashy and the visuals are very colorful. Speaking of that, the deaging done on Samuel L. Jackson is top-notch. And there are tons of callbacks to the 1990s that take up a portion of screentime.

Blockbuster Video, as seen in the trailer, plays a big role in the film. There’s a couple moments where people were laughing because of how 1990s technology worked. There was the use of Dial-up, CD-ROM had its share of screentime, and as I imagine some people expected, pagers were used in the movie.

But as a story, the movie is cliche, which would be fine because “Wonder Woman” was actually cliche and that film was actually pretty kick-ass, but the thing about “Wonder Woman” which made me not care for “Captain Marvel” is the difference in pacing. “Captain Marvel,” in reality, was a somewhat boring movie. Granted, there were parts that were exciting and entertaining, but there was a part of me that didn’t care about what was going on, I didn’t give a crap about the Kree, and after watching the movie, there are perhaps some parts that I feel like I am going to forget about in less than a month.

Let’s talk about Brie Larson in this film. I like Brie Larson as an actress. She’s very talented, she’s won awards, and she is in one of my favorite movies of 2015, “Room.” Also, I just watched “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” a movie featuring said actress, and that was one of the best films I’ve seen in recent memory. Brie Larson has a tendency to sign on to play good roles. Granted, this doesn’t always happen (watch “The Glass Castle”), but she usually has a keen eye for her roles. In fact she joined a movie that I am rather excited for the more I hear about it, “Just Mercy.” Knowing how the world of Hollywood tends to work, or at least having an illusion as to thinking I know how it works, Brie Larson definitely saw potential in a role as her particular character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Based on the legacy of said universe, I could definitely see potential. However, the execution of her performance was… I don’t know how to say this… Very off and on. The elements are all there for a decent Captain Marvel performance at the very least. A lot of the mannerisms done in the movie are all right for said character, and there is some range presented in terms of personality. But I feel like Brie Larson was at times directed to act a certain way that just didn’t work. It felt like watching multiple characters in one to the point where it is almost easy to assume Captain Marvel had multiple personality disorder. The performance just kind of didn’t work for me, which is absolutely disappointing because Brie Larson is practically an A-list actress. She won an Oscar for crying out loud! There are some moments where I found Captain Marvel to have some charisma behind her, some emotions to display, and others where she is just stoic. While there are times where such emotions (or lack thereof) can work for the movie, it is hard to tell exactly if everything flows as properly as I would hope. Speaking of proper flow…

One of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Not only did it make a rather unknown comic book IP become known and loved by millions, but when the first movie came out, it was actually pretty unique as far as comic book movies go. And one way that statement can be supported is through the movie’s soundtrack. Not only is it fun to listen to, but it has practically had an association with the movie in a way that many other soundtracks don’t. While “Captain Marvel,” unlike “Guardians,” doesn’t rely on a soundtrack for music all that much (maybe except for 90s’ references), there is this one moment where a pop song can be heard. I won’t go into much detail, but it is during a fight. If the crew behind this film was trying to capitalize on the success of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” then I can totally see that. But it didn’t f*cking work. In fact, that “Guardians”-esque moment, might just be the most cringeworthy part of the entire movie. And for those of you who know what I am talking about, I don’t know if you will agree with me, but this is just how I feel. In fact, it totally wouldn’t surprise me if some of these songs were put in because of “Guardians of the Galaxy’s” popularity because Nicole Perlman worked on this movie, earning herself a story credit. For the record, she was a writer behind “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

I will give some credit to Samuel L. Jackson however because like usual, he did a fine job as Nick Fury. And I will give even more credit to whoever deaged him. Sticking with the “Guardians of the Galaxy” theme, one of the highlights of the truly disappointing “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” was the deaging CGI done on Kurt Russell. It was nice to see Nick Fury not only have hair, but believable looking hair. Jackson’s performance as Fury was definitely worth buying for how such a character would behave in the 1990s. However, without going into spoilers, there is something that happens in this film that references something in the future, and it takes place during the end of the film (no, not during the credits, around the climax). It is absolutely crucial to Fury’s character. The way that this film manages to go about it, managed to get a big laugh from the audience, but I thought this GIF would sum up my thoughts on this whole situation.

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Now imagine a part of my brain saying that for an eternity, and you have my thoughts on this moment towards the end of the climax.

And I gotta say, I feel like I am in a weird place as I review this movie. I am a straight white male. I have nothing against women having their own superhero. What I am against however is when people think take the idea of gender equality and twist it to make one gender look better than the other, and I will say, despite “Captain Marvel’s” numerous flaws, not to mention its overall lack of memorability, one of its strengths is that it made a woman look good as a role model, while not exactly putting guys down. If you have ever seen me talk about the 2016 “Ghostbusters,” chances are you know my thoughts on that movie, and none of them are good. One thing I absolutely hated about the 2016 “Ghostbusters” movie is that it went out of its way to display moments that practically make just about every man in the movie look like idiots. There’s a secretary played by Chris Hemsworth who literally makes Patrick Star look like a genius. They ruin the reputation of Bill Murray. And there’s a scene where the ladies shoot a giant ghost in the nuts. There are no moments where I feel like if I had a place in the “Captain Marvel” movie’s universe where I’d have an IQ below 40. Thanks, “Captain Marvel!”

I don’t really have too much more to say in terms of my own originally gathered thoughts, but I will point out that when it comes to “Captain Marvel,” I feel like this movie manages to disappoint me in more ways than I would imagine. While the villain in this film could definitely be worse, I feel like we are going back to phase 1 and even phase 2 MCU, because the villain here was just not memorable. And speaking of villains I don’t really find to be all that great, Ronan the Accuser apparently had a few moments in this film! Like… OK… More “Guardians of the Galaxy” stuff, whoppity do! I have no idea why you even needed much of Ronan’s presence in the movie, but somehow he’s here! Then again, his appearance, much like the film’s main antagonist, could definitely be worse.

Also, another thing to consider about “Captain Marvel” is that this is the 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now that we have gotten to this point, it is getting harder to impress me because a viewer, it almost feels like I’ve seen everything. Granted, there are some unseen things in “Captain Marvel.” This is the first female-led film in the franchise, this is the first film to take place mainly in the 1990s, and it is also the first film where we get to see a cat play a significant role.

By the way, if anyone wants to know my thoughts on Goose the Cat, I thought he was funny, but I don’t think I liked him as much as other people. Although I imagine this character is going to inspire some people to create some funky, psychedelic t-shirts, which if that is the case, I can’t wait.

However, going back to my main point, I have been a follower of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years. And with following, comes knowledge, and having a competent knowledge of the MCU, to MAYBE hold my own in a related trivia competition, makes me realize that a lot has happened over the years. There are times when material might just seem like something we’ve seen in the past, but with a different name attached. “Captain Marvel,” the more I think about it, just seems like a newer, inferior version of “Thor” with elements of “Captain America: The First Avenger” intact. You have this god-like being who is trying to find their identity or place in the universe, and part of it takes place in space, while another portion is set on Earth. Plus, it is another fish out of water story.

Also, before we get into the verdict section, I will point out a statement from MCU executive Kevin Feige.

“Captain Marvel, she is as powerful a character as we’ve ever put in a movie. Her powers are off the charts, and when she’s introduced, she will be by far the strongest character we’ve ever had.”

Having now seen “Captain Marvel,” I am definitely not going to deny that Captain Marvel is powerful as hell. However, as far as her character being the most powerful of all, that is still up for debate. At least from my point of view. And speaking of which, there is a climactic moment towards the movie that was probably played for comic relief, but it also made a certain moment feel rushed and kind of cheap. More powerful does not always mean more exciting. And I say this whole “power” thing is up for debate for one reason and one reason only.

Can Captain Marvel do this? I’ll wait… I’ve got years of my life left, which give tons of time to provide an answer.

In the end, I hate to say it, but “Captain Marvel is one of the worst movies of the MCU. Granted, that statement might not say all too much as very few have actually gotten a low score from me. I go to the movies for memorable experiences, and many of the MCU’s installments have provided said experiences. I basically put my money on the table for “Captain Marvel,” because again, I went to the Chinese Theatre, which is MILES from where I live, and I literally mean MILES, because I am from Massachusetts. The Chinese Theatre is states away! I had a good time, and I would love to come back. After all… There is a “Star Wars” movie coming out soon… But the whole experience would have been perfect if I went to see a better movie, and “Captain Marvel” was just not that great. I am happy for women who are getting a hero they want to look up to, but I am not judging “Captain Marvel” completely as a feminist piece, I am judging it as a film. As a film, “Captain Marvel” is visually appealing, which is not surprising at this point for a comic book movie. It is pacing-wise, perhaps the worst of the twenty-one films presented in this series. And I felt that I wouldn’t pop this in my Blu-ray player right away if I had the chance. There is a mid-credits scene worth staying for, and there is another scene that happens towards the end. It is honestly unneeded, but if you like your end credits scenes, there’s your update. I’m going to give “Captain Marvel” a 4/10. I honestly don’t know if this grade is going to stay where it is. Because I honestly didn’t like this movie, but part of me had glimmers of enjoyment. And part of me also wonders if I am being generous because this movie stars a woman. I didn’t find myself to be angry throughout the film, so maybe this is technically a 4/10 for me. Only time will tell if this grade manages to stay where it is. And I gotta point out something regarding this “Captain Marvel,” DC did this type of film better! How often do I get to say that? Maybe they screwed up on “Suicide Squad,” the effects on “Justice League,” and keeping a singular vision alive, but they managed to do a female-led film better than Marvel, and that is an accomplishment for DC if I have ever seen one. “Wonder Woman” over “Captain Marvel” for sure, if you ask me! Thanks for reading this review! I actually wanted to make an announcement regarding April, while most of the month is uncertain in terms of content (although an “Avengers: Endgame” review is a undoubted guarantee), I do have a confirmation for you all. For those you who follow the director Terry Gilliam, you may be familiar that he worked on films such as “Brazil” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Recently however talk has been going around regarding his new film, “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” For those who have ever heard of this film, you may be aware that production for it actually took decades to complete. Why? Total and utter disaster, that’s why! Anyway, here in the US, it is playing in several theaters for one night. Courtesy of Fathom Events, I have scored a ticket to one of these shows on April 10th! Next month, expect a review from “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” and if it takes forever to complete… Who knows? It could be just like the movie and go through several failures regarding production! Be sure to follow Scene Before with your WordPress account or email to catch that review and more great content! I want to know, did you see “Captain Marvel?” What did you think about it? Or, have you been to the Chinese Theatre? What did you see? What was your experience like? I personally enjoyed it, minus the movie. But I want to hear about your experience! Let me know about it in the comments section! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Avengers: Endgame (2019) Official Trailer 1: You Happy, Marvel Fans? Here’s Your Stinkin’ Trailer! SPOILERS FOR INFINITY WAR

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! This has been an interesting week to be a Marvel fan. Not only did we get a “Captain Marvel” trailer just a few days ago, but today we also got our first look at “Avengers 4,” now titled, “Avengers: Endgame.” To be completely honest, I would have been fine not having an official title to “Avengers 4,” and I would have felt the same way about a trailer. Sure, a trailer would be nice, but I want to know as little as possible going into this seemingly epic thrill ride. I would have been fine with maybe a TV spot or two, but I could have done without trailers. I will say though, without giving anything away, I’d say the guys behind the trailer did a pretty good job of hiding all the key details. We get some things we’d come to expect, while not having too much shoved in our faces. Then again, there’s also that part of me that’s thinking… Where’s the juice? This, to me, is ultimately a middle of the road trailer. It does a good job at providing “necessary” material, but there is literally nothing that will set a huge spark get me in the theater. Then again, I am definitely gonna be in the theater to see this opening night anyway, so why should I care? Anywho, on with the trailer.

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We start off by getting a glimpse of Tony Stark being a crazy person. He is now talking to an inanimate object, making him according to my diagnosis, insane. In all seriousness though, Stark is actually sending a message to Pepper, his longtime partner, notifying her that he is adrift in space and everything is starting to become bleak. He’s already run out of food and water, and he is soon going to run out of oxygen. One standout quote from here is “part of the journey is the end.” It’s clear as crystal that Stark is thinking that his last moments are right in his face. He thinks he might not survive long enough to see him and Pepper get married. He’s worried about his own future. No happy go lucky thoughts seem to be coming from Mr. Stark. He soon finishes the message and to make things seem more unhappy, we get a look at his helmet slowly shutting down. How could things get more dark and depressing?

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Oooo-kay! Forget I asked that. Let’s make this purple instead! Because we get a look at Thanos’s armor from the last movie.

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Speaking of which, we sort of get a look at Thanos himself, which if you’re unfamiliar with Marvel…

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…he takes the word dickweeb as a compliment. Because in reality, he’s Marvel’s biggest douchebag stuck inside Adolf Hitler’s asshole. This glimpse of Thanos walking in the fields is pretty much all we see of him. I should also note that his gauntlet, which was part of the fatal snap in “Infinity War,” is now damaged.

Throughout the rest of the trailer we get a look at the rest of our heroes. You have Steve Rogers/Captain America, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow who again, for some reason, has blonde hair, Thor, and Nebula. Also, let’s get a look at this quote from Black Widow.

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“Thanos did exactly what he said what he was gonna do. He wiped out 50% of all living creatures.”

HEY! SPOILERS! YOU JUST RUINED EVERYBODY’S LIVES!

This is where the trailer gets a tad more uplifting. While everyone in these scenes, for the most part, are down or sad, they are trying to talk about how they are going to kill Thanos. They realize they lost the battle, they lost friends, but the war is not over yet. Believe it or not, I was watching a new episode of “The Big Bang Theory” which aired on December 6th. It was a crossover between that show and “Young Sheldon.” We get a look at a high school football game, and a part of that episode showed a “halftime speech” that is supposed to get everybody motivated. The rest of this trailer reminds me of that cliche yet effective motivational speech that a coach would give to his team as an effort to push them all the way to victory. Granted, there is no screaming, no yelling, none of that, in fact, it doesn’t even come as close to being as great as the one given in “Braveheart.” That’s not a sports movie, but if you have seen that movie, you’d understand my point.

Also, we get a look at someone who was not in the last movie.

The mystery person is…

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Eh… whatever. It’s Hawkeye. I’ll be honest, if I had to pick one fellow in the MCU that I really don’t care about, it’s Hawkeye. Just how I feel. I’m looking forward to seeing what he would do in this movie, but from past experience, Hawkeye is just not my favorite character in this universe. I like Jeremy Renner, he’s a good actor, but still.

We soon get to a defining exchange…

NATASHA: This is gonna work, Steve.

STEVE: I know it is, cause I don’t know what I’m gonna do if it doesn’t.

HOLY S*IT.

NOW we know how high the stakes are at this point. Seriously though, that quote is amazing. I can imagine a lot of soldiers who fight in war probably have that thought on the back of their mind. If they don’t succeed, what point is there to life?

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Then we get the logo, and I love how it’s purple, which basically reminds me of how crucial Thanos’ story could be in this movie. The buildup in the music here has some serious chills behind it.

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Then we cut to the only lighthearted moment in the entire trailer. We see Scott Lang/Ant-Man asking to be let in. Steve and Natasha are observing said message with the following dialogue:

STEVE: Is this an old message?

NATASHA: It’s the front door.

Honestly, I’m stoked to see Ant-Man in this movie, and hopefully he can redeem himself after the mediocre waste of time, “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” After all, he has been in a teamup Marvel film before, “Captain America: Civil War,” and he was a standout in that movie to me. Hopefully he will have one or two scenes that can rival his moments in that movie.

Again, I gotta be real, this is not the best trailer I have ever seen. It’s a good trailer, and it highlights what I need to know going into the movie, but I really have nothing much to say except, ah, here’s what I need. There’s no key details that strike as bright as the sun to me, but there are a couple moments that I thought were decent. Overall, I’m looking forward to “Avengers 4,” looking at the Wikipedia page for 2019 in film, it’s one of the films I’m looking forward to. I don’t think it’s my most anticipated film of the year. It’s a competitor, but I’m also looking forward to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “You Are My Friend,” “John Wick 3,” “The LEGO Movie 2,” “Toy Story 4,” and “Shazam.”

When it comes to predictions, I think a couple stand out in my mind, especially one that suggests Captain America dying. Think about it, back in October, Chris Evans went on his Twitter saying he’s thankful for playing Captain America:

Officially wrapped on Avengers 4. It was an emotional day to say the least. Playing this role over the last 8 years has been an honor. To everyone in front of the camera, behind the camera, and in the audience, thank you for the memories! Eternally grateful.

— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) October 4, 2018

This tweet can have multiple meanings behind it. Maybe Chris Evans realized how big this movie was going to be. Maybe he realized something about his character’s arch. OR, his character his dead, and he realized that this is the last time the audience will ever see his interpretation of said character, and he wanted to show his appreciation to the audience because of that. The directors of “Avengers: Endgame,” Anthony and Joe Russo, suggested recently that Evans is not done. I honestly think that is a stunt to make people happy. I honestly think he’s dead in this movie. In fact, maybe he sacrifices himself for the greater good. Maybe Iron Man or Thor would do the same, but based on how things seem to be playing out at this point, Cap is the most likely to do such a thing.

Although I gotta be real, Iron Man is a close contender to self-sacrifice. What if the fight between him and Thanos on Titan was a foreshadow towards a moment in the future where Tony has to sacrifice himself? Not to mention, if we are getting another “Spider-Man” movie a couple months after this fourth “Avengers” installment, Iron Man dying would play a huge role into Peter Parker’s story. It’ll affect him emotionally at one point or another during the film. In fact, this film, like the last “Avengers” movie, is pretty much a culmination. This culmination all started with Iron Man. Why not have it end with Iron Man?

Also, if we want to talk about death related to story, let’s talk about Thor. In “Avengers: Infinity War,” we start out with Thor and we end with Thor. In the beginning we see a few people, including Thor and Thanos. Thor sees the people he knows die in front of him. At the end, we see that emotionally charged scene where Scarlet Witch is trying to kill Vision for the greater good. Simultaneously, she is trying to defend herself from Thanos. She succeeds at killing Vision, also removing the powers of the stone on his head. But Thanos uses the time stone to get Vision’s stone while it is still working. He wins. Or does he?

BECAUSE THOR IS HERE TO SEND CHILLS DOWN EVERYBODY’S SPINE!

Despite nearly annihilating Thanos, Thor fails once Thanos snaps his fingers. Half of the universe goes away. Sure, Thor was still alive after that moment, but had he aimed for Thanos’ head as opposed to his chest, this would have made a positive mark on Thor’s arch for the film. What if “Avengers: Endgame” ends with a one-on-one duel between Thor and Thanos? This whole combined “Avengers” culmination leads up to where it began. Holy crap.

Plus, when it comes to Thor and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his part of the spectrum seems to be the one that seems to associate with death all the time. You have Thor’s mother, his father, his brother (multiple times), Heimdall, and maybe even his hammer. Thor is not the god of thunder, he’s the god of mourning. Let’s have Thor die and complete the cycle!

Enough with the predictions, I think I have said all I needed to get out of my pie hole. I can’t wait for “Avengers: Endgame,” it looks like it will be a good time. And I can already tell that everyone will be “undusted,” but if Gamora, Vision, Loki, and Heimdall all come back, screw yourselves! I came to see an epic, I don’t want to be insulted! If there is one complaint I have with Marvel, it’s fake deaths!

STOP IT!

Thanks for reading this post! Right now it is December, so that means that I too, am in the endgame. I’m already gathering some nomination ideas for my first annual awards show, which is supposed to be up sometime early next year. I just saw “Red Sparrow” on 4K Blu-ray the other day, I MIGHT review it, I MIGHT NOT review it, my decision isn’t final yet. I’m also looking for a movie to review this weekend, I might go see “Widows,” but I’m not quite sure yet. Be sure to follow Scene Before either with a WordPress account or email so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see the new “Avengers: Endgame” trailer? What did you think about it? Or, what are your “Avengers: Endgame” predictions? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018): The Emoji Movie For Intellectuals

Posted on December 1, 2018 by Jack Drees

“Ralph Breaks the Internet” is directed by Phil Johnston (Zootopia, The Brothers Grimsby) and Rich Moore (The Simpsons, Futurama) and stars John C. Reilly (Guardians of the Galaxy, Kong: Skull Island), Sarah Silverman (A Million Ways to Die in the West, Bob’s Burgers), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman, Keeping Up with the Joneses), Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Jack McBrayer (30 Rock, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Jane Lynch (Hollywood Game Night, Glee), Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Raiders of the Lost Ark), and Ed O’Neill (Modern Family, Finding Dory). This movie is the sequel to Disney’s 2012 animated hit “Wreck-It Ralph.” On this second go around, in a situation which involves saving Vanellope’s game, “Sugar Rush,” Ralph and Vanellope decide to go on an adventure to the Internet. Throughout the journey we experience some mishaps, attempts at humor, and unfortunately, product placement. But you know, it could be worse, it could be “The Emoji Movie.” We’ll get to that eventually.

Going into “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” I didn’t have truly high expectations from the marketing. As a matter of fact, part of me thought the marketing just plain sucked. The first teaser trailer left me feeling icky. Then again it might really be due to how much I can’t stand the Flo Rida song “Good Feeling.” But who knows? Maybe the next trailer could have kicked total ass, but let me just say that it really did the opposite. Instead, the trailer made me hand my own ass right over to it. To me, once I saw the “Oh My Disney” portion of the trailer, it just really felt like a massive commercial for all the Disney properties. Disney! Disney propaganda! Bring the kids! Go to Disney World! Buy all of our stuff at the Disney store! Pretty soon, after we finish dismantling Fox, we’re gonna buy Lionsgate so that way we can own “The Hunger Games” and have Jennifer Lawrence be stuck as Katniss Everdeen til the day she dies! Oh yeah, we’re gonna reboot “Twilight” too even though everyone knows it’s a complete and total waste of time. But hey! Teen girls! Get em’ in the theater! Money! Money! Money! Money! Money! The last trailer however ended up giving me what I wanted. While the trailer is not like anything I’ve seen for say, “Ready Player One,” it definitely provided what could have been some solid ingredients for a proper “Wreck-It Ralph” installment.

Walking out of the movie, I gotta say, I’m shocked. This movie’s actually pretty great! There’s only one other movie this year that I’ve reacted similarly to, and that’s “Blockers.” It’s a movie with a less than stellar marketing campaign, a movie that a part of me thought was going to suck, and just something had I not been reviewing movies, I’d be more hesitant towards when it comes to spending my money at the cinema. It just so turns out that “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is a solid sequel, continuing the journeys of the characters many viewers knew and loved since the first installment, delivering a story that is just about as enjoyable as its predecessor. And in reality, it is a better version of “The Emoji Movie.”

For those of you who have watched “The Emoji Movie” or know what it is, you’d be aware that it takes place inside a cell phone, where all of the Emojis live. They live in a town called Textopolis and their life is basically being processed and sent through texts. Here in “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” we start off in the same little arcade people know from the first movie, where all of the video game characters live in harmony. As viewers probably know, their daily lives involve being the very characters they were designed to be. Ralph is the continuous building wrecker, Felix is the neverending building fixer, Vanellope is the nonstop racer, and Pac-Man… eats dots. Because that’s what yellow circles do apparently. Then boom! A little bit of chaos goes down, Vanellope’s game, “Sugar Rush,” has to be unplugged because the wheel breaks down. However, Ralph is Vanellope’s best friend, and we all know, best friends are supposed to be there for each other. So Ralph decides it would be a good idea to take a journey alongside Vanellope into the Internet to save her game. The world of the Internet in this movie almost reminds me of the space resort in Wall-E, everything just feels so sleek and it’s all very populated. It’s like a city that receives no pollution. You know, unless you look hard enough. The chemistry between Ralph and Vanellope truly shines in “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” and you can definitely tell they are best friends. This movie even tries to show the power of friendship and how unbreakable of a bond one can have with another person and I’d say the execution of that message is incredibly well done.

Moving away from our leads, let’s talk about one standout new character named Shank. She’s voiced by Gal Gadot and happens to be a street racer in a popular computer game. There’s this one game Ralph and Vanellope come across by the name of “Slaughter Race,” that’s where they meet this character. Seeing her and the gang who she happens to know turned out to be a bigger highlight in this film. Also, when they first meet her, there’s actually a very entertaining chase scene. Look out for it.

Speaking of new, let’s talk about something very old. Disney. I mentioned earlier that one of the trailers to “Ralph Breaks the Internet” was off-putting to me because it has an overload of Disney references. It just felt like a cheap way of pointing out how amazing Disney is. In reality, I think Disney’s kind of overrated. Sure, they own a lot of things I like, but there’s going to be a point where they ruin everything I love. They already partially ruined “Star Wars” for me so there is that. This all starts out somewhat commercialized, but some of it is well executed, and partially realisitc. There is a point where we cut to someone in a comic con panel-like setting. And they ask this question that is the stereotypical version of a deep question that a comic book nerd would ask. That’s all the detail I’ll give related to that, because there’s something else that’s pretty cool in relation to what I just said, but that was a definite highlight.

Another highlight when it comes to this is the scene where we see all the Disney princesses together. I thought at first that this was going to be completely cringeworthy. It was actually brilliant. You know how certain shows on Fox actually make fun of their own network and others associated with it?

THE SIMPSONS
FOX NEWS HOST: “Welcome to Fox News– your voice for evil.” (The Simpsons)

AMERICAN DAD!
ROGER: “Sure, we don’t report the news, we make it. Accuracy is so time-consuming. Fiction is the new fact.”

FAMILY GUY
LOIS: Where’d you hear that?
CHRIS: Fox News.
LOIS: Then it’s a lie. Everything Fox News says is a lie.
CHRIS: But this one’s true mom, you saw it with your own eyes and then you reported it.
LOIS: Even true things, once said on Fox News, become lies.

FUTURAMA
TOUR GUIDE LADY: “To your right, you’ll see 30th Century Fox studios. Fox uses those search lights to blind pilots, then film the resulting plane crashes.”
*SEARCHLIGHT SPOTS PLANE, EVENTUALLY ALLOWING IT TO CRASH
BENDER: *snaps photo* Neat!

Yeah, this is basically the Disney princess scene in a nutshell. Or should I say part of it, because that’s the part that’s going for humor. The other part is a bit more serious and plays a part in Vanellope’s overall arch in the movie. I don’t want to get too much into it, but this movie manages to poke fun at the princesses for their constant need to sing, their desire for men as if the concept of lusting after a guy is their only path in life, and they even throw a little jab at Pixar. If you have ever seen the movie “Brave” you’d know that the main character is Merida (Kelly MacDonald). All of the other princesses have a voice that pretty much anyone (at least any English-speaking individual in the US) can understand. But “Brave” takes place in Scotland and I remember awhile back I was talking to my grandmother or someone else and they said that Scottish people are difficult to understand. This is what I imagine would be a perfect stereotype from perhaps my grandmother’s vision towards the Scottish. OK, whatever, maybe Merida actually said something in Gaelic (according to IMDb), but still, it’s hard to comprehend regardless of whatever standard we are talking about. As a joke, one of the princesses reminds us as an audience, “she’s from the other studio.”

I said we’ll get to the product placement, so you know what? Let’s go nuts. It’s not as blatant or annoying as “The Emoji Movie,” but it’s still a thing. There’s a whole segment that takes place in eBay which is actually very entertaining. In fact, I won’t go into complete detail, but if there is one company, aside from Disney, that this movie is a feature-length commercial for, it’s eBay. There’s a whole segment where we see Ralph and Vanellope bidding against a user in the real world, but they don’t know how eBay works. They think the objective is to bid high numbers and leave it at that. They don’t understand that in reality, you have to bid high, but you also have to be cautious of how high you go and occasionally ask yourself, “how high is too high?”. There’s also this one character called The Eboy, who to mt surprise was played by Sean Giambrone. For those of you who don’t know him, he’s the lead kid in ABC’s “The Goldbergs,” one of my favorite sitcoms on TV right now. Essentially, without spoiling the movie, it is a big fat commercial for eBay. Thankfully, it’s done brilliantly, and not many other brands are coming in to make me have a headache. There are some notable instances here and there from companies such as Amazon, Google, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.

One surprise, considering YouTube, is the fact that it is not even in this movie. Think about it, Google, which owns YouTube, is getting a slice of the promotional cake, but YouTube is getting nothing but an attempt at humor. There is however a part of the movie that involves a fake video sharing site called Buzzztube. It is run by a girl named Yesss, played by Taraji P. Henson. The segment where we go through this happens to parody YouTube by saying things like “trends don’t last,” and “if you want to be popular, repeat whatever is popular.” Hey, Disney, that sounds familiar! To me, that’s one of those things that’s simply funny because it is true.

I don’t want to talk about too much more, because if I do, I’ll spoil some stuff that should be kept as secret. But there’s one thing about this movie that kind of surprised me. There are TWO end credit scenes. I guess having a random appearance from Marvel’s characters can technically make you qualify as a “Marvel movie.” Coincidentally, Stan Lee has a cameo in this film. RIP by the way.

In the end, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” was a pretty fun time. It has its flaws, but they are extremely minor and don’t leave the positives in the dust. And, by the way, I’m a guy, I like adrenaline rush type of movies like “Point Break” or “Baby Driver,” but I will admit, there was a point or two in this film, where I almost felt like tearing up. I won’t get specific, but it’s true. Is this film BETTER than the original? I honestly don’t know. I said in the beginning that this is a solid sequel to a lovely original film, but to be honest, I have not watched the original “Wreck-It Ralph” from start to finish since 2013 so I don’t even know if I can give a completely valid opinion at this point. However, much like the first movie at this point, I’m going to give “Ralph Breaks the Internet” an 8/10. Thanks for reading this review! I just want to remind everyone that it is December, and my head is spinning. I have tons of plans for the month after this and 2019 as a whole. But before we get to that, since I have my countdowns for my best and worst films of the year coming up, there will be some movies I will be watching which have been released this year that might not end up being reviewed. Who knows? Maybe that’s a lie. But I’ve done this for the past couple of years so it is kind of my tradition now. Plus, December’s a big month for me in terms of reviewing blockbusters and Oscar-bait titles. I need to focus on those, because, ya know, priorities. Be sure to follow Scene Before using your email or WordPress account that way you can stay tuned for more great content that unfortunately, breaks the internet less than an irrelevant woman’s sex tape. I want to know, did you see “Ralph Breaks the Internet?” What did you think about it? Or, what is your preferred choice between the “Wreck-It Ralph” movies? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Is Toy Story 4’s Teaser Symbolizing Death?

Posted on November 22, 2018 by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! Not too long ago, we’ve gotten a recent teaser trailer for Pixar’s “Toy Story 4.” Leading up to where are at this point, I was a bit skeptical of even having “Toy Story 4” be a thing in the first place. As a matter of fact, for those of you haven’t seen “Toy Story 3,” without giving spoilers away, let’s just say the ending of that movie is like having the world’s greatest pizza, but it can only be made once. If it is ever to be made again, then it is perhaps inevitable that society will be cursed for eternity. It leaves me, as an audience member, with a sense of satisfaction and no particular need to see what’s next. But somehow, we’re getting a new chapter. I was confused on why this would be. I DID NOT think this would live up to any of the previous “Toy Story” installments, but the more I hear about it, the more I think it could live up to, or POSSIBLY surpass all three of them. It’s normal for a movie’s crew member to promote whatever he or she happens to be working on. If they say something negative about their movie, chances are there will be consequences for the crew member in terms of where they stand job-wise, or maybe the audience won’t rush out to see it. But based on some recent comments from actors Tim Allen (Last Man Standing, Home Improvement) and Tom Hanks (The Green Mile, Cast Away), I had a feeling that I should take whatever hate I had for this movie out the window, and open my eyes for whatever shall be laid upon me. Both actors have called the movie emotional and there is a scene in particular that is hard to get through. I almost want to watch “Toy Story 3” and see the difference between that and this movie when it comes out!

Nevertheless, I saw this recent teaser, and I feel like there is something I’m seeing here that needs to pointed out. All these toys might f*ckin’ die.

I know, this is a kids movie, but my mind is literally going into such a direction. Maybe I’m a little twisted and weird, but hear me out.

If you watch this teaser, maybe you’ll agree with me in saying that it’s almost something made for the druggie market. I can seriously imagine myself being convinced that I just smoked some weed before seeing all of the toys moving across the screen the way they do. I also want to talk about the way they are moving, and that is them going to their right as they are holding onto each other’s hands. Just so you know, we see each toy more than once, so unless there is some sort of advanced technology that can keep the toys infinitely moving in a straight line, this seems purely impractical.

Although, maybe they are not in a straight line, and without us noticing, they are moving in a circle. And at the serious risk of sounding like a so-called “conspiracy theorist,” it is quite possible, they are partaking in the children’s nursery rhyme “Ring Around the Rosie.” For those who have once dived deep into the lore of “Ring Around the Rosie,” there is no one true origin behind it, but there are theories of its overall relation to plague and death. According to an article up on Snopes, scholars saw similarities from the lyrics to the nursery rhyme and the Black Death, which killed millions of Europeans during medieval times. These scholars thought “ring around the rosie” was a way of pointing out red marks that can be found in plague. Just to point out, I’m American, so we’re doing the American version of Ring Around the Rosie. When you have a song with four lines and the second to last line includes the words “Ashes! Ashes!,” how do you not compare that to an illness or dying? And, much like in a traditional go-round of Ring Around the Rosie, everyone falls down. In the teaser, all the toys manage to fall (sort of), but not in the way that everyone should be. For one thing, the characters are all floating, which does sort of fit, because we are looking at a background of a sky with clouds. Also, there’s a newcomer to the “Toy Story” universe, a spork who is referred to as “Forky.” His comment, “I don’t belong here!,” plus his departure from handholding causes Woody to get distracted, and cause a cataclysmic mess while everyone defies gravity. By the way, this comment, not to mention his next comment, “I’m not a toy!,” leads me to thinking he might be the antagonist of the film, if not having a small link to the film’s overall antagonist. And possibly, have a hand in killing toys.

Another thing outside of the trailer that could be leading to some unexpected deaths is a recent trend I’ve noticed when it comes to Pixar’s films. Since 2015, every film released by Pixar, with the exception of “Cars 3,” has gotten a PG rating. While PG may not be high on the rating spectrum, it is a minor jump compared to what “Toy Story” has seen for ratings in the past. The only other films to have gotten such a rating in regards to Pixar are “The Incredibles” (2004) and “Brave” (2012). Who knows? For all I know, “Toy Story 4” will be exclusively adult and earn a PG-13 rating. After all, the first showings are probably going to have nineties kids. Nobody’s stopping them from getting in the theater. I’m not saying that’s going to happen. If anything, it’s not, but what if it did?

I also want to bring up this poster right here. Is this Woody saying goodbye to the audience? Is this a sign that Woody will die? Here’s Woody with a hand on his hat. Is he about to walk into the depths? Never to be seen again? The one thing that will make me slightly kept from thinking that all the major toys die is that Buzz Lightyear can be seen in a poster with the same background, and he actually looks like he’s fine. He looks like his usual self, prepared for battle. That is unless he’s going against some swarm so enormous he cannot handle himself, in which case he actually happens to be totally f*cked.

Will all the major toys die in “Toy Story 4?” Based on how family-oriented films seem to work, that seems very unlikely, but this is certainly an idea I’m keeping in my back pocket. In fact, even if they do die, it probably wouldn’t be in a dark way. It could be emotional, but in a way that wouldn’t make people want to cover their eyes. But Pixar is part of the Disney family and Disney probably wants Pixar to make a “Toy Story 5” to add more stuff in their theme parks, so there is that. However, when I watched the “Toy Story 4” teaser, I couldn’t help but point out something that could be crucial to the movie as a whole.

Thanks for reading this post! I just want to wish everyone in the United States a happy Thanksgiving! Please feel free to avoid discussing politics, eat too much food, and slam the door on whatever in-law is probably going to kill you. Also, we have December coming up and I will have you all know that I have not done a countdown in a long time. It’s not that I’m not interested, but they’re not always easy to make. That is unless I happen to be processing everything on a conveyor belt like Watch Mojo. However, the year is almost coming to an end and I will be soon counting down my top 10 BEST and WORST movies of 2018. I still got plenty more movies to watch and review before the year’s end to the point where I might not even be able to cover all of them on here. I might be getting some movies on Black Friday, I’ll probably review a very small amount should I get to watching them, but at the very least, they’ll be added to my collection. Maybe I’ll do a Black Friday collection update, I might not, but we’ll see. Be sure to follow Scene Before either with an email or WordPress account so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you watch the “Toy Story 4” teaser? What did you think about it? Or, what do you think will be the ending to “Toy Story 4?” Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Oscars Best Popular Film Category CONFIRMED To Be Implemented To Boost Ratings

Posted on November 18, 2018 by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! I usually don’t talk much about TV, but today is one of those once in a blue moon occasions where I have to bring it up. Although this one is especially appropriate because it heavily involves movies, celebrating movies, and perhaps the future of how film itself is viewed. In August, The Academy came up with some ideas to spice up the upcoming Oscars ceremonies. Two of them were ideas I thought would have little to no effect on how the show is run (earlier airdate, commitment to three hour telecast). I still question them to this day, but at the same time, they are nowhere near as questionable as the one we are going to talk about today. As you may or may not know, one recent idea that has come out of at least a single brain of The Academy is the introduction of a category based on “Popular Film.”

What does that mean? Well, the answer isn’t exactly 100% clear. But in all likelihood it has to do with films that have a huge fan followings prior to or after its release. Box office may be a huge determining factor so the Marvel movies are one true example of the films that can get nominated. And one thing about this that seems very obvious, it might be an excuse to say that a certain movie that wasn’t “good enough” can get nominated, or even win an Academy Award. Let’s take “Black Panther” for example. It’s a superhero movie, based on a comic book, with a diverse cast, it made more money than most of the movies released in 2018. Critics loved it, and so did fans. Keep in mind, there is not one single film released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has ever won an Academy Award. There have been several nominations over the years, but not one movie was ever victorious. So one of these movies finally wins, and it happens to be “Black Panther.” Well, what does it win? Best Visual Effects? Best Sound Mixing? Best Cinematography? No! Nothing of excellence! Best Popular Picture!

ME: But that truly doesn’t measure how good a movie is!

THE ACADEMY: But it’s popular!

ME: Doesn’t make a difference!

THE ACADEMY: But they won!

ME: How do you think the Chicago Cubs would feel or be measured if they won “Most Popular Team” in 2016 instead of the World Series?

THE ACADEMY: But “Black Panther’s” a great superhero movie!

ME: Listen to me, measure FILM AS A WHOLE, or die!

This Best Popular Film category is literally going against all that the Oscars is about! It basically takes the idea of excellence, and literally meshes it into something along the lines of the Teen Choice Awards or the MTV Movie Awards! I’m bringing this up today mainly because there was a recent piece written by Vanity Fair that I feel needs to be talked about. Let’s take a look at this first statement from a suggestion.

“The best-popular-film category might not be presented at next year’s Oscars, but the Academy is still keeping the idea in its back pocket.”

Is that another way to say you’re keeping it alongside your ass? Because while you may not be doing such a thing intentionally, this sure as hell feels like such a thing is happening. That’s not the statement we’re going to dive into supreme detail about however, because we haven’t even taken a look at the next statement.

“Bailey also confirmed that the award was designed as a direct response to the ceremony’s disappointing ratings, which have fallen steadily over the last few years. Drawing viewers in by catering to mainstream hits “seemed like a good idea” to the board at the time, he said, but the pushback against the proposed new category was strong enough that the Academy ultimately announced that it would no longer introduce the prize at the 2019 ceremony. However, that is “not to say that the idea is dead,” he added. “Even after a stake was driven through its heart, there’s still interest.””

With that in mind, let me just remind you that I was one of the people who sat down for the most recent Oscars ceremony, which received the lowest ratings out of any of its telecasts. Some choose to blame the long runtime, while others will speak towards the political talk, and a certain orange individual will point out the following:

Lowest rated Oscars in HISTORY. Problem is, we don’t have Stars anymore – except your President (just kidding, of course)!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2018

All opinions aside, the Oscars had its lowest ratings this year with 26.5 million viewers tuning in, which does not include people watching through digital or mobile platforms. Slight digression here, but this is just one of the event programs airing this year which has just hit a new low. The Emmys and Country Music Awards have both suffered to the point where they too have received the lowest ratings of all their telecasts. The Super Bowl just received its lowest ratings since 2009. The MTV VMAs also had their lowest rated show this year, which believe it or not, means they went two years in a row having their lowest rated show. This is a problem for sure, and I’m willing to bet part of it has to do with politics, a lack of attention span, and maybe the fact that streaming doesn’t always get tracked in ratings (although Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV are slight exceptions).

But speaking of ratings, I cannot see into the future, but I don’t see how this popular award is going to help! The fact that you guys are even still thinking about it NOW is baffling to me. I remember it was said that this award was going to be “postponed” from the next ceremony, but now that conversations about it have resurfaced, I feel the need to add in my two cents about it. The fact that the Oscars is considering doing this is just sad. It’s sad because I’m a movie fan, and as a movie fan, I watch the Oscars not because I’m saluting movies that make lots of money, but because I’m saluting movies in terms of brilliance and the very idea of film as a whole. In fact, this category, Best Popular Film, is an insult to moneymaking films. I said it once before, this reminds me of the Best Animated Feature category. It’s a category for movies that MIGHT NOT BE GOOD ENOUGH for Best Picture or other categories, but hey! We have more nominations to gloss over! Maybe there’s an argument to be made that the Oscars is already somewhat of a popularity contest because you have a group of people voting on movies that they’ve experienced in the past and everything on the nomination list is from their perspective. My response, try making your own award show, where you are the control center of all operations, and avoid putting your opinion into one thing related to it.

With that in mind, let’s move onto another part of the article.

“Bailey pointed out that there is Oscar precedent for handing out two different sorts of best-picture awards. At the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, the best-picture category was split into two sections, with one recognizing the best-box-office hit (“Wings”), and the other the best artistic production (“Sunrise”).”

You understand the meaning of “worst for first,” right? This somewhat reminds me of what the Golden Globes tends to do every year, because for their awards, they seem to split the awards by genre. For certain awards in both movies and TV, we see the label towards the end, “Comedy or Musical” or “Drama.” While that may make the awards somewhat less prestigious, it still works better than the Academy’s popular film idea because at least it has nothing to do with how much money a film makes, or the amount of people who follow it simply because it is either trendy or in the moment. I’ll be honest, while to some people this might be a stretch, should “Avengers: Infinity War” be nominated for Best Picture, I’d be very happy for it. We are getting towards the end of the year, I don’t know how long such a thought will stay in my mind, but still. If it were nominated for Best Popular Picture, it would be an insult to the movie. Hey, movie! You’ve got a fan following! Ignore the critics! The fans love you! Here’s your kiddie table!

And speaking of fans, let’s take one word in the first quote and talk about it in depth. Catering.

Catering is fine when you’re having a special event such as a party or a wedding. Other than that, catering sucks! The fact that the Oscars might ignore their previous ways and CATER to mainstream audiences is just abysmal! You know who does that? The MTV Movie Awards! Most of the awards are for films that mainstream audiences know! That’s not always a bad thing, but what if there’s a year that all the mainstream audiences watch whatever happens to be disposable garbage? To the mainstream audiences, watching films is entertaining, not a job. Not only that, but some of the movies you’ll find are ones that critics are not even giving deep attention towards! When you have Kristen Stewart winning THREE awards for her performance in the “Twilight” franchise, that is a not a positive sign.

Now this is the part where things get a whole lot worse:

“Bailey also tipped off some of the Academy’s ongoing conversations about the future of the organization and the televised Oscar ceremony, noting that Disney, which owns ABC, is trying to “expand the awards to millennials,” in order to help the telecast thrive through ABC’s 2028 contract.”

I KNEW IT! DISNEY WAS BEHIND THIS ALL ALONG! HOLY F*CKING MICKEY MOUSE I WAS RIGHT!

OK, well, maybe not entirely. I’m not sure if Disney has a hand in the Best Popular Film category or not, it’s hard to say. But the fact that the Oscars is going from the most prestigious award show in movie history to a yearly event that solely depends on ratings means that it is basically going through a humongous downfall. This is an issue that is worse than the politics! This is an issue that is worse than the long hours that I’ll honestly sit through but others can’t take! This is an issue that relates heavily to one of the biggest complaints associated with sports for younger athletes, especially some in the millennial generation. The participation trophy. What’s going on here is that the Best Popular Film award is the kiddie table award that says a movie wins something but in reality, wins nothing. They get the award equivalent of a sticker. Yay! You voted in the election! Chances are you just killed us all! But hey, here’s a sticker for your valuable efforts!

I got to ask a serious question though, how exactly is the Oscars going to target millennials? What are they, going to advertise the show with glossy backgrounds and everyone has Snapchat dog filters on their heads? Are they going to go nostalgic and celebrate the movies the nineties’ kids used to watch? Maybe put all of the older Oscars telecasts on Netflix or the new Disney streaming service? But if you are only trying to force voters to vote for movies that mostly millennials watch, then the Academy has crossed the line. I could go into catering, but I’ve already done enough of that, haven’t I?

I may have calmed down about this a couple of months ago, especially when you consider that it was announced that this award was postponed. But to me this is something the movie nerd community is likely to talk about. It’s like the comic book nerd community trying so hard to talk about the latest updates on the supposed “Gambit” movie that should be happening sometime soon. Maybe never, I don’t know. I thought the reason the Oscars was going to implement this was to boost ratings, and boosting ratings is not a bad idea considering what their audience consisted of this year, but this is not the way to do such a thing. The Oscars, is about prestige. It’s about celebrating the best in film. Let’s keep it that way.

Thanks for reading this post! If you are interested in more of my content be sure to check out my review for this year’s Rhode Island Comic Con! I went for the fourth year in a row and there are so many reasons to love it! Please check out my post! I will say I have no scheduled reviews for this weekend (that could change though), but there is a movie I did see on Monday called “Second Act.” I’m not going into detail about it whatsoever, my lips are sealed, it doesn’t even come out until December 21st. I don’t know when the review embargo lifts, but I can guarantee you’ll see my review when the Rotten Tomatoes ratings are revealed. There’s already verdicts on Facebook, but let’s face it, it’s Facebook. Who really cares at this point? Be sure to follow Scene Before with your email or WordPress account so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you read the Vanity Fair article or hear about this whole fiasco somewhere else? Or, since we are taking shots at the Oscars, what do you think is the worst thing about the Academy or the Oscars? Let me know down below, and speaking of down below, if you want to read the Vanity Fair article I’m talking about, click the link at the end of the post! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

VANITY FAIR ARTICLE: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/11/best-popular-oscar-ratings-john-bailey

RHODE ISLAND COMIC CON 2018 REVIEW/HAUL https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/11/11/rhode-island-comic-con-2018-review-haul/

The Academy Postpones BEST POPULAR FILM: Thank Heavens!

Posted on September 8, 2018 by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! Last month I talked about perhaps the all-time dumbest idea that has ever come about in the history of the Academy Awards, that idea being the introduction of an all new award that celebrates POPULAR FILM. Like, why? As if the idea was bad enough, part of me wondered why it was even introduced in the first place. Yes, the Academy Awards had its least watched show ever this year, and they are trying to find ways to get its ratings higher next year and years down the road. But part of me wondered if ABC, the channel that airs the Oscars, stepped in and said, PRAISE US! And I don’t mean that literally, because ABC doesn’t make movies set to release in theaters. What I mean is that ABC is owned by Disney, the creator of the animated film “Dumbo,” which is just an understatement for how ridiculous this popular film award idea truly is. Disney has had a pretty successful year so far, releasing three films this that have surpassed $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, and one of those films actually reached the $2 billion mark (“Avengers: Infinity War”). And it’s not just money that talks here, it’s also the critics and moviegoers. “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War” happened to be two of the best reviewed comic book movies in recent memory. It’s possible that Disney wants an Oscar, just to say they’ve won an Oscar. “Black Panther,” which is getting tons of phrase left and right, seems to be a big contender, and certainly would also have that title attached to it if this category were to exist, but if you nominate “Black Panther,” or if that movie WINS the Oscar for “Best Popular Film,” I just see it as an insult. It makes the Oscars look like a popularity contest, and it somewhat diminishes the value of the movie itself. Maybe “Black Panther” ended up not taking Best Picture, but hey! It’s popular!

Gimmie a f*cking break.

Luckily, after about a month of a storm that is almost on the disaster level of a sharknado, The Academy answered the prayers of many in the movie community by saying that the award WILL NOT be presented in the 2019 Oscars telecast.

*APPLAUSE FROM SELF*

Now let me just say, from what I’ve read, I wouldn’t say this concept of an award is gone for good, because I’m hearing from various sources like The Wrap and Indie Wire that it’s been delayed, but still, IT’S NOT GONNA BE A THING! For those of you who have read my post that I completed last month about this, I must say, I had a wish to pick the host of the 2020 Oscars if this award idea was still going to be executed, and as much as I wanted either Mark Hamill, Conan O’Brien, or Howie Mandel to host the Oscars, the eradication (sort of) that this popular award idea has received is certainly something I’ll take.

And it’s not just me who has been raging about this whole Oscar popular award fiasco, people in the industry such as Steven Spielberg (Ready Player One, Schindler’s List), Laura Dern (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Big Little Lies), were highly against this idea. Not just them, but movie bloggers, vloggers, websites everywhere just so happened to be calling this a s*itshow! Another notable celebrity included Rob Lowe (Parks and Recreation, St. Elmo’s Fire), who tweeted saying that this idea was the worst thing the Oscars has done since he was supposed to come on the show and sing onstage with Snow White, which did happen by the way, as I was writing this, I watched a video of what exactly went down (below). It says it’s just over eleven minutes, which is a total lie, allow me to declare, IT NEVER ENDS! And if you were to ask me which Oscars idea was the worst, having seen this Snow White bulls*it, it’s close, but this popular award frenzy would CERTAINLY be my answer.

Let me once again state, this award is DOWN, not OUT. I gotta ask though, WHY THE F*CK IS THAT THE CASE?! Before I get too selfish here, I ought to calm down and realize that sometimes a little experimentation can’t do all that much harm. Because if you have been following this site and read that other post I did about this, you may remember I went over a couple of other new ideas the Academy has come up with. These include a commitment to making the show a three hour telecast, and setting an earlier airdate for the 92nd Oscars. And while I do have minor concerns related to both the first and second idea, my concern level isn’t as enormous as it is for the main topic. While I’m relieved that we’re not getting this award, it almost makes me think in a couple different ways. Does the Oscars have an idea related to this award that maybe the general public and reporters are absolutely missing? Because the way I see this idea is that it’s just an excuse to make the Oscars a popularity contest for a moment. F*ck craftsmanship! F*ck hard work! F*ck not putting how much money something makes into a situation like this!

To me, Best Popular Film, is basically the same thing as Best Animated Feature, only dumber. It’s an exclusive category for films that MIGHT not be good enough for Best Picture, or other prestigious categories, but hey, at least they’re nominated. If a film like “Thor: Ragnarok” won this award at the most recent Academy Awards, it’s just gonna be that one kid at the small table, stuck with his juice box and grilled cheese sandwich, whereas the grown-ups like “The Shape of Water,” “Dunkirk,” and “Call Me by Your Name” all get to enjoy the liquor at the bar while simultaneously chowing down on some fresh steak.

One highlight from all of this is some of the words spoken by Dawn Hudson, the CEO of The Academy.

“There has been a wide range of reactions to the introduction of a new award, and we recognize the need for further discussion with our members.”

Wide range? OK, I’ve talked to a number of people I know about this, but I’m pretty sure only ONE of them thought it was a good idea. In fact, if I remember correctly, this person could have changed their mind! But for the most part, the reactions all over have been “F*ck this idea!” So this, “wide range” that apparently is on your mind right now, forget about it, f*ck it!

And let me just say one thing, should the Academy decide to bring this award back to life, they should pay attention to my statement. Just because something is popular, it doesn’t make it good or Oscar-worthy. “Twilight” is popular, doesn’t make it good or Oscar-worthy. “Fifty Shades of Grey” is popular, doesn’t make it good or Oscar-worthy. “Mission: Impossible II” was the highest worldwide grossing movie of 2000, but was it good or Oscar-worthy? No. And you could make a case saying by stating fantastic popular films to come out in the years the other, inferior popular films came out. “Twilight” came out in 2008, but so did “The Dark Knight.” It was nominated for eight Oscars and ended up taking home two. “Fifty Shades of Grey” came out in 2015, but so did “Mad Max: Fury Road.” It was nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture, and ended up taking home six. And yes, “Fifty Shades of Grey” was nominated for an Oscar, but it’s for Best Original Song,” so who cares? “Mission: Impossible II” came out in 2000, but so did “Gladiator.” It was nominated for twelve Oscars, and ended up taking home five, including Best Picture. I’ll just remind everyone that there is a place for popular films, but it’s not the Oscars, you know, unless it was masterfully created and executed. If someone were to create a show that celebrated everything that people know or follow, then OK, at least it’s honest. “Black Panther” will probably end up taking home a ton of awards, it’ll be a close race between that and “Infinity War” for Best Picture. But if you are creating a show that’s meant to celebrate the best of the best, don’t bring popularity into it.

And going back to Best Animated Feature, let’s consider that for a second. What if we find ourselves in a year which there are no good animated films? Some of the animations we’re getting next year include “Toy Story 4,” “Wonder Park,” “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” “UglyDolls,” “The Addams Family,” “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” “Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie,” and “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.” Based on the trailer for that last movie I mentioned, I’d say we’re gonna have at least one good animated feature next year, but what if in future years, all of the animated features suck? So, what if the future popular movies are simply phenomenons? They just make money, and therefore they are popular. It would take a kiddy table award and just shrink it into a baby table. So, Academy, listen to me, if you don’t want me getting closer to choosing a future Oscars host again, ERASE THE IDEA COMPLETELY. YOU GET IT?!

If you want to find out more of my thoughts on this whole fiasco, I have a link to my other post that I did on this, be sure to check it out, back when life was harder and I wasn’t jumping for joy. This award may not be dead, but the progress of a full disappearance may be near completion. Let’s just hope it goes away as soon as possible.

Academy Awards Adds Popularity Contest?! *AN UNACCEPTANCE SPEECH*

Thanks for reading this post! I also want to invite you to check out some of my recent movie reviews. Be sure to click the links down below if you’re interested! Be sure to follow Scene Before with your email or WordPress account so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, what are your thoughts on the Best Popular Film Oscar being postponed? Or, do you think they should have kept it? Is there any reason why? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

“KIN” (2018) REVIEW

“EIGHTH GRADE” (2018) REVIEW

“GRINGO” (2018) REVIEW

Eighth Grade (2018): YouTube Channel of a Wimpy Kid

Posted on August 25, 2018 by Jack Drees

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“Eighth Grade” is directed by Bo Burnham and stars Elsie Fisher (McFarland, USA, Despicable Me), Josh Hamilton (Kicking & Screaming, Alive), and Emily Robinson in a movie where a girl by the name of Kayla Day is going through her wreck of a year in eighth grade. With her struggles of her introverted personality, struggles with other students in school, and struggles of simply trying to survive her last week, things aren’t looking too good for Kayla.

“Eighth Grade” happened to be one of my most anticipated movies of the year going into it. Not only did I LOVE the trailer and think this was going to be a fun yet maybe somewhat disturbing time, but the critical reception, while it didn’t really shock me, revealed excellence. There was a point where this movie had 100% on Rotten Tomatoes! As of right now it has a 98% with just a few of the many reviews on the site being rotten. Also, I’ll be honest, school sucks. It doesn’t matter what grade you’re in. If you were me, you’d realize that just about not one single school year was all that perfect. Elementary school was mostly just me being stupid, middle school was just confusing and perhaps full of me being judgmental and in all honestly, a tad more mature than other people in certain ways. In high school, something had to go wrong every single year, most unfortunately my senior year. Sure, it was a fun year, but with all of the ridiculous changes and unexpected happenings I had, it just didn’t flow the way I would have preferred. Let me just say though, if there is one year I hated in middle school–

*thinks*

…You know what? That’s tough to say, sixth grade was awesome, all the others were unlikable for the most part, but eighth grade certainly didn’t go the way I would have hoped. When it comes to this movie, I think it does a great job at capturing not only how awkward eighth grade can be, but also how different people with different personalities handle said year both in and out of school.

When it comes to Kayla Day and how magnificent of a job the writing happened to be for her character, that’s probably where this movie shines most. Just about every single moment she was on screen was either me thinking to myself, this movie accurately depicts someone of her generation, or I’m so scared for her that I want to s*it myself. Her character is very quiet in school to the point where she wins the superlative “Most quiet” in school, while at home she is a YouTuber who barely gets any views on a channel that really has content that matters. It’s not exactly complicated, but it probably has more of a purpose than whatever clickbait video PewDiePie has coming out of his ass. I doubt many people in my generation sign off using the word “gucci,” I’m sorry for not being “lit af” enough to truly know whether or not that’s the truth, although they do talk about it a lot.

When it comes to the chemistry between Kayla and her dad, Mark, that’s another place where this movie tends to excel. Mark seems to be very calm, but might not have the best connection with her daughter, partially because she tends to be on her phone all the time, including at the dinner table. Every scene with them together is either a feast of great writing or just plain near-emotional.

You may have read my previous review, which I did for “Gringo,” where I basically said the main character is one of the most down-on-their-luck I’ve seen in recent history, the same can be said for “Eighth Grade.” Not only does everyone, not essentially hate Kayla, but happen to be kind of against her, but a key difference between this movie and “Gringo” is that I don’t hate everyone enough to not care about Kayla. You aren’t really invested in the main character of “Gringo,” at least I wasn’t. Kayla just felt relatable and like she would be someone you’d encounter on the street. Some of the mannerisms that I should probably give total props to Bo Burnham for is her overusing the word “like” in one of the earliest videos she makes during the film. She’s kind of shy, quiet, and for what I can assume, wants the best for people but just doesn’t let her thoughts out except when she’s online.

If there are movies that this reminds me of in a way in terms of the vibe, it’s probably a combination of “Whiplash” and a stereotypical piece of work done by John Hughes. The writing for this coming of age story is nothing short of perfection. And while Kayla doesn’t really have a rivalry with a teacher, she certainly has a rivalry with her school. In fact, connecting this even more to “Whiplash,” there are so many scenes where I could I imagine watching them in the future with the need to bite my nails. You know how you get to certain scenes in “Whiplash” where the main character is with the teacher and it’s just intense because you don’t want the main character to f*ck up. That’s what certain situations in this movie are like, while this may be considered a comedy or a drama, it’s as haunting as a horror movie. It not only shows how scary school is, but how scary life outside of school can be.

I will say though, one thing I find interesting about this movie’s puberty instruction video is how “current” it is. Watch the movie and you’ll see what I mean, but there’s this female instructor talking to the camera saying that exploring everyone’s changing bodies is “gonna be lit.” I already found my classes’s health videos when I had to take those classes cringeworthy enough just because they felt basic or poorly made, and it honestly makes me kind of jealous that the class in this movie would get a video like that.

And you know what? This does bring up one question though, as much as I ADORE this movie and think it is a masterfully made film, what exactly was the writer and director going for? This movie was written and directed by Bo Burnham, and I am willing to bet he was going for a realistic depiction of how stressful eighth grade can be, and this is a bit nitpicky, some of these fictional elements brought into this realistic movie, while extremely effective, take a bit of the realism away. It doesn’t take too much away from this fantastic movie, but my complaint stands.

In the end, “Eighth Grade” delivered pretty much what I wanted out of it. The movie had moments that just haunted me. It reminded me, as an individual, of how much I can relate to Kayla, and most of all, the screenplay just made me bend over repeatedly. I know it’s only August, but I think “Eighth Grade” has a tremendous shot at winning “Best Original Screenplay” at the Academy Awards. A24 once again proves that they are one of the best studios working today, Elsie Fisher is going to move on to do great things in life, and despite the minor, and I do mean minor flaws, that this movie has, I think Bo Burnham not only did a spectacular job with “Eighth Grade,” but I’d love to see what he’d do in the future in terms of writing and directing. I’m going to give “Eighth Grade” a 9/10. And I gotta say, competition is heating up for best movie of the year so far! This movie IS a 9/10, but I feel like it could either change to a 10 in the meantime, kind of like “Blade Runner 2049” did for me, but I feel like with the fantastic screenplay, the possible replay value, and the relatability factor, this has a significant chance of being, maybe not my favorite movie of the year, but somewhere very close to that when we get to the year’s end. Thanks for reading this review! Pretty soon I’m gonna have some reviews up for “Love, Simon” and “Game Night,” be sure follow me here on Scene Before and stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Eighth Grade?” What did you think about it? Or, what are some of your memories of eighth grade? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks! Gucci!

Family Guy Live-Action Hybrid Movie Reportedly in the Works… TWO REASONS WHY I’M MAD!

Posted on August 16, 2018 by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! As some of you may or may not know, one reason why I continue to work on this blog to this very day is for my own joy of writing. And I’ll have some of you know that one day, I would love to work for the film industry. As of today, my hopes to do such a thing has dwindled to a point where I’ve entered an abyss of darkness. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to work in the film industry, but it doesn’t change the fact that something has gone on in the film industry that is getting me so fed up that it’s making me almost steer away from even considering said industry to relate to my future career.

And yes, there are tons of things about the film industry that can totally be a reason for me wanting to steer away. There’s tons of sexual harassment scandals that almost makes it hard to be a straight white male in Hollywood. I’m not saying I sexually harassed others or approve of sexual harassment, but what if we get to the point where you just get called out for being a straight white male? All of the fan communities for movies like “Star Wars” are becoming more and more toxic by the day. Depending on your housing situation, you’ve also got to deal with California itself. I mean, my gosh! How are people surviving there? But we’re not gonna talk about any of those topics today. Today, it’s time for me to get personal, because a story just came out last week that kind of got on my nerves.

One of my all time favorite TV shows is “Family Guy.” Sure, the series is nowhere near as good as it used to be, but the early seasons of the show are a thing of beauty. And admittedly, I’ll say I enjoy some of the later episodes as well. Seth MacFarlane is a genius that breaks barriers and can easily make me laugh. Some of his other work such as “American Dad!” and “The Orville” are also worth a look if you ask me. “Family Guy,” for those who don’t know, is currently owned by Fox, and they also own a couple shows that have a similar feel to “Family Guy.” These shows include “The Simpsons” and “Bob’s Burgers.” Recent reports came out related to all three shows, and there are two of these reports which I can approve of.

Development of a second “Simpsons” movie
Development of a “Bob’s Burgers” movie
Development of a live-action/animated “Family Guy” movie

Those first two topics? They’re irrelevant, forget em’, they’re safe from my rant. That last one however, I’m taking it down with force! Just… Why? In all of the years, that I’ve been asking for a “Family Guy” movie, THIS is the idea we get? When the word live-action comes into play for something that’s rather well-known for being animated, that’s usually not a good sign. It has enormous potential for “Transformers,” but everyone making some of those movies tend to puke on their audience in the process. But let’s look at it this way, there are many live-action adaptations of animated pieces of work out there. Some admittedly have worked like 2016’s “The Jungle Book,” while others continuously remain in a pit of terror like “Ghost in the Shell.” If experience has taught anything to a number of active moviegoers, it’s that animation doesn’t always translate to live-action.

When it comes to Fox and the development of the movie, that’s an interesting situation as well. If you have been living under a rock, Disney could potentially own an enormous portion of Fox’s assets. The Mouse House bid on all of said assets for a grand total of $71.3 billion, with studio approval happening on July 27th of this year. As of now, the ownership isn’t a done deal, because there are still some ropes to jump through with the government, but if this deal goes through, it’s potential that Disney could step in and change this movie. What will they do with it? I don’t know, but I just hope they don’t make it too kid friendly! But nevertheless, this could lead to studio interference and maybe take a movie that I’m already not anticipating, and somehow make it worse.

Although the more I think about it, something like this is potential to work, maybe. Live-action is something that I don’t know if it will work, but if it’s done right like if somehow the Griffins become realistic and can’t find a way to return to their normal selves, that could be interesting. Maybe it’ll be something similar to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” And I think some people liked another piece of work from Fox, “Son of Zorn,” which had an animated character in our world. But that was canceled so what do I know? But other than that, the whole concept just sounds crazy. It almost reminds me of another cartoon that tried to make a movie like this. You guys remember “The Spongebob Movie?”

No, not the one from the 2000s!

In 2015, they released another movie featuring “Spongebob Squarepants” known by the name “Sponge Out of Water.” Down below is an image taken from that movie.

Now, don’t get me wrong, would I personally say this looks TERRIBLE? I wouldn’t say it does. But in reality, it’s just a gimmick. I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t say too much, but blending the live-action and animation together just feels like a cheap trick. Not to mention, based on how this movie was marketed supposedly, it feels like it was made to show off 3D.

Knowing Seth MacFarlane and what he would probably do, I doubt he would use 3D gimmicks up the wazoo. I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie were in 3D, but I don’t think MacFarlane would intentionally go out of his way just to make 3D a big part of the movie. I don’t know, maybe unless he wanted to make fun of “Avatar” he wouldn’t do such a thing.

If you are excited for a “Family Guy” movie, good for you, and I sure as hell wish I was. But aside from this live-action bullcrap, there is one more thing that literally f*cks me in the ass–err I mean shoots me in the face–err I mean kicks me in the nuts–err I mean stabs me in the back–err I mean casts me into a fire–err I mean grinds my gears.

I’m not gonna show this for certain reasons having to do with value, idea stealing, and the fact that I would like to present it to particular people and hide it from others. I HAVE A SCRIPT FOR MY OWN “FAMILY GUY” MOVIE. When it comes to making this script, I actually started it two years ago, and it is a fully animated movie. I find it to be a combination of a big blockbuster and drama with a ton of comedy sprinkled in the mix. I finished the climax recently and I am rather proud of what I created. There are definitely revisions to be made to the script overtime and I’m still looking over it as days go by. In fact, I wrote it on a Word document, and it’s not even formatted like a traditional script! But it did come out to over a hundred and twenty pages!

I gotta ask, is my movie better than whatever Fox or Seth MacFarlane has in mind? I may be biased, but yes! Then again, this is judging both movies on paper. We have yet to see either of our ideas to come to fruition. And when either of our ideas come to life, we can only properly judge our creations at that point. You may be asking though, what’s the plot? I said I don’t want to talk too much about my ideas, but I’ll spit some words out here. The plot of “The Family Guy Movie” is that Quahog is invaded by an alien race. It turns out that the race not only captures humans, but it is their only food source as well. This turns into a dark drama, eventually met with a lighter tone of the Griffins, Swansons, and Quagmire’s dad coming together to gain superpowers, and rescue those they need to rescue. Oh, did I mention there’s a point where the world is at stake?

“I don’t want to do ‘The Griffins must save the world.” -Seth MacFarlane

You don’t want to? Well guess what? It’s my script, so I’LL do that. Besides, that’s not even the main portion of the movie. The main portion of the movie is saving certain characters whose names shall not be mentioned for the sake of avoiding spoilers. And if you guys are asking if this is REAL, I can assure you it is. Now I’m not sending out any links to it, taking no screenshots of it, I’m not doing such a thing. I’m one of the few people at the time of writing this who knows about it. If you want, I can actually share some of the lines I’ve written in the script. I’ll try to be as spoiler free as possible. I’m not going to right now because I want to still hide my script details. But if enough people comment, I’ll happily share what I’ve written. I don’t know if I’ll update this post and do it here, or do something separate or what, something will likely happen. But let me just say, if this “Family Guy” movie doesn’t go according to plan, I’m gonna feel bad for those who are making it, but I’m also going to continuously remind Fox and Seth MacFarlane that they could have possibly gone with the script written by a teenager! And for once, maybe someone like me won’t be mocked for making such a thing happen.

Thanks for putting up with my rant about my dreams getting crushed. I don’t know what the absolute future of the talked about “Family Guy” movie will be. There’s a part of me saying I hope it’s successful and there’s another part of me saying, just go with my script, trust me. I’ve worked on it for two years. I’m sorry to say but I have no review coming this weekend (as far as I know, maybe I’ll see something from home) but I do have a post coming soon that is going to be a review of my time at this year’s Terrificon. For those of you who are unaware of this event, it’s a three day convention taking place at one of Connecticut’s casinos, Mohegan Sun. I will be attending all three days and it will feature guests including Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Oldboy), Khary Payton (The Walking Dead, Teen Titans Go!), the guys from AMC’s “Comic Book Men,” and much more! I will be going over any potential autographs, photo ops, what the atmosphere was like, and it might be a tad different than last year considering they’ve got a new space in a recently constructed expo center so that will be a lot of fun. If you are considering coming to Terrificon, I’d say it’s worth your time, it’s not the best convention I’ve been to personally but crowd-wise, it’s paradise! I doubt there will be long lines for autographs! Be sure to stay tuned for that and more great content! Also be sure to follow me either via email or a WordPress account! I want to know, what are your thoughts on a “Family Guy” movie that blends live-action and animation? Or, are you excited for a “Bob’s Burgers” movie or another “Simpsons” movie? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Academy Awards Adds Popularity Contest?! AN UNACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! If you are new here to Scene Before, you might not be aware that I’ve done a few posts related to the Academy Awards. Honestly, the Academy Awards might just be the biggest night of the year for movies. You know, that one night where lots of people turn the channel to ABC and see what movie they never heard of gets Best Picture? As far as my history of documenting somewhat related content, I’ve done my personal predictions and hopes for the 89th and 90th ceremonies, I’ve done recaps, and there’s even a movie review for “Moonlight” which I did after the Academy Awards that was making fun of the “La La Land” and “Moonlight” incident during the Best Picture reveal.

Today however marks something AMAZING. It’s a true feat in movie history. It’s where the Academy Awards and summer come together! The Academy Awards, which has telecasts that air during the winter, just as spring is suddenly approaching, honoring mostly movies that come out during the fall, usually has little to no association with summer movies. And no, we are not going to be talking about summer movies or movies that come out close to the summer season that have potential of being nominated or winning an Academy Award this year, but if you want my thoughts on those, I do think “Hereditary” could have a chance so far at taking “Best Actress.” “Incredibles 2” so far has probably the best shot at winning “Best Animated Feature.” “Eighth Grade” could have some potential at maybe “Best Original Screenplay,” but I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen it yet. And “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” could possibly win “Best Documentary Feature.” The Oscars is more than half-a-year away, so is all of what I said bound to happen? Probably not, but who knows?

With those thoughts out of the way, let’s get into the main topic of discussion. The Academy Awards to me is the night where the best movies of the year, not to mention their producers and their crew, duke it out to see who is that year’s king of movies. These results however are not objective, because there are more award shows for movies than just the Oscars and chances are you’ll have different nominations, different winners, etc. Although seeing the best movie, and even if it is not my favorite movie take its award for an outstanding achievement is very pleasing. This year, seeing Roger Deakins win “Best Cinematography” for my #2 movie of 2017, “Blade Runner 2049,” was one of the greatest award handouts I’ve seen on the show. In that very moment, I turned into a little girl with a new Barbie doll collection she got for her birthday. It just makes me all giddy to see someone getting recognized for their talent. The idea of the Academy Awards honoring the BEST movies? Well, what else can I say except… it might have just been destroyed.

According to an article I’ve read from The Hollywood Reporter, a recent message was sent from the Academy to its members. It stated three changes that are supposed to take effect.

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER ARTICLE: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/academy-plans-three-hour-oscars-telecast-adds-popular-film-category-1133138

#1: Three hour telecast

When I go see a movie and it is three hours long, I personally don’t care. I’m one of those people who can say that if a movie is three hours, fine. If it is two hours, fine. Heck, I’ll sit down for four if I need to. I don’t care as long as it is a quality product. However, one of the bigger complaints that some people have about the Oscars that is similar to some movies is that it is a bit too long. In 2002, the Academy Awards which aired that year just so happened to go on for over four hours. With an attempt to make a three hour runtime, that could make a people feel a bit more sane. It was also mentioned that certain categories would be presented during commercial breaks and presented later after being edited for broadcast. I can’t say entirely how I feel about certain categories not getting equal recognition as others, but my final verdict on this might as well come once I see this idea come to fruition.

#2: Earlier airdate for 92nd Oscars

Now keep in mind, this has nothing to do with the next Academy Awards, it instead has to do with the one after it. The next one is going to be the 91st edition. The Oscars usually tends to air its shows around the end of February. Although this year was a special exception because of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Not only would the two events have aired too close to each other, but it would mean heavy competition between networks ABC and NBC. Funny enough, the most recent Academy Awards have been the least-watched yet of all the shows which have currently been presented. But then again, this year’s Olympic games was also the least-watched on record so whaddya know? As for the date which we will be seeing the 92nd Oscars, that’s going to be February 9th, 2020, the second Sunday of that month, one week after the Super Bowl. Honestly, I don’t think that’s going to make much of a positive difference in terms of viewership, in fact, I honestly think viewership will be worsened because of this. I’m not gonna pretend that the Academy Awards is directed towards the same exact audience as the Super Bowl, but having these two big events within a week from each other could potentially affect the ratings of maybe both programs. I don’t know, I’m just speculating.

#3: New award for popular film

Last but not least, we have our main topic for this post and this is something that pisses me off to no end. The Oscars, as mentioned, to me, honors the best in film. They’ve apparently just decided, “f*ck that.” Because their new category that they’re coming out with is honoring “popular film.” This doesn’t honor showmanship. This doesn’t honor talent. It just takes a show that is completely about showing the best of the best and turns it into a popularity contest!

I mean, my f*cking gosh! This is unbelievable! Can you imagine this existing the previous decade? Imagine what would happen if there happened to be a category like this for the Oscars honoring 2008’s year in film? You’d have a couple recognizable titles like “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E,” both of which have impressed critics and audiences alike. Then… You have “Twilight.” That movie received no Academy Award nominations that year, so looking back, if it had the popularity nomination, that would have meant it had a nomination, but not a nomination related to skill or talent! Phenomenons, fads, and trends may be cool and well received by followers, but that doesn’t make them technically a standout in a certain craftsman-esque perspective, it only makes something popular.

Why is the Academy doing this? If I had to guess, it’s probably just to bring in more viewers. After the least-watched telecast of their show, some snobs smoking cigars in a room covered in white paint probably had a chat. They needed to figure out how to make the Oscars popular again. Then one guy says that they need to interject popularception if you will! If you honor things because of their popularity and how many people have checked something out, that’s only going to make the Oscars, well, popular! It ruins everything that the Oscars was built off of! In fact, this is probably one of the biggest participation trophies I’ve seen from this show. The Golden Globes, even though I’ve watched them for a few years, I’m not gonna deny how they handle their categories like participation awards, because they do separate awards for separate genres. At least those kinds of awards still honor talent! What’s next? “Best Actor with names ending in “obert Downey Jr.?”

Now there is no word on whether or not this is to be implemented for the 91st Oscars or if this category is going to be introduced during the 92nd Oscars. No matter what these people plan to do, I just hope it’s introduced during NO OSCARS. Speaking of things we have no word on, the letter goes on suggesting that more details about this are to come as time goes on. But based on what I can assume about this, I can only imagine what this suggests is that this award will be judged on a couple of merits. For one thing, the box office return has to be enormous. The other thing is that a lot of people have to be currently talking about a certain film, watching it, or have discussed lots related to a film in the past depending on when said film released.

If this is to take effect during the 91st Academy Awards, here are my predictions for the nominees, and these predictions are bound to change by the time the Academy Awards comes around. Right now it’s August and the show is months away. Not to mention, not all of the movies on this list are even released to the public yet, so who knows how those movies will turn out? Nevertheless, here are the nominees.

Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Incredibles 2
Mission: Impossible: Fallout
Mary Poppins Returns

I’ve seen four of the five movies on this list. I actually happened to give all of them positive reviews. “Incredibles 2” to me happened to be a worthy sequel to one of my one of my favorite films of all time. “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” turned out to not only be one of the year’s best films, but one of the best films I’ve seen in the action genre. “Avengers: Infinity War” delivered everything a comic book movie needed to deliver and even just a little bit more. I like all of these films. The other one on this list I saw was “Black Panther” which I liked, but I think it might be the most overrated movie of the year. And despite that, I do see it having potential of having a worthy Oscar nomination. The visual effects for the most part are very well done, Chadwick Boseman gave a decent performance, and some of the cinematography done by Rachel Morrison (Mudbound, Dope) is definitely worth praising. If “Black Panther” were to win an award like “Best Cinematography,” I’d definitely give my own applause and respect to the movie and those who worked on it. “Black Panther” winning an award such as “Best Popular Picture,” just makes it look like it belongs in a kiddie table.

Let’s imagine us going back to 2017, and seeing what movies would have ended up in a category called “Best Popular Film.” These would probably be the nominees.

Wonder Woman
Logan
Baby Driver
Coco
Dunkirk

And you know what? If “Wonder Woman” won, then great, it gets an award. If “Dunkirk” won, awesome, it gets an award. But it’s almost like a pity award! This wouldn’t be true for most of these movies, so I’m gonna use “Wonder Woman” for this example. “Wonder Woman” was a fantastic movie. But it wasn’t nominated for any Oscars. So the Academy voters go ahead, as they view this popular category, and think of not the movies they saw that year, but the KNOWN movies they saw that year. And guess what? “Wonder Woman” gets all the winning votes? That means it will forever been known as that “one popular film.” It’s almost shameful if you ask me. In fact, one of those movies I mentioned, “Coco,” received a nomination in another kiddie table category, “Best Animated Feature,” but we’re not gonna sidetrack ourselves into that.

Also, part of me wonders if the Academy was actually the group of people behind this move, or it happened to be the channel which the Oscars airs, ABC. Why? ABC is owned by Disney. And while I must some of my favorite films were actually made by Disney, they’re not the studio I think of when it comes to “Academy-worthy” content. Is Disney/ABC doing this in order to give their films more attention? Think about it. For years I’ve been noticing, Disney has many films that come out and make bunches of money. Why do you think I make fun of them all the time? That’s LITERALLY what Disney is about right now! If you think “Solo” didn’t prove that already, wait until you see what happens when they come out with “Porgs: A Star Wars Story.” It’ll be animated, it’ll be rated G, and John Williams will be executing his softest score yet! Tell me that they aren’t about making money when my mother paid over $20, might have been $22, for a room service cheeseburger at Disney World! Disney, is THE company I think of when it comes to making movies with bigger budgets, almost like they don’t even know what an independent style film is. And big budget films are very popular with most audiences. Films like “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” Both of those movies have already come out this year, made over a billion dollars worldwide, and are owned by Disney. Mickey Mouse could be coming in out of nowhere, strangling the golden head of the Oscar trophy, and won’t let go of it until he gets exactly what he wants. What does Mickey want? Mickey wants “Black Panther” to be recognized! Well, OK, recognized for what? Cinematography? Acting? Directing? Editing? No! POPULARITY! Disney, I know I make fun of you all the time, but in reality, YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS. I’m not saying this is what’s happening, but if ABC or Disney is doing this, it almost makes the Fox and Disney merger look like fun! Granted, it hasn’t officially happened, but no more bidding is allowed, so good to luck to sanity!

RIP: Good “Deadpool” movies
RIP: Good “Kingsman” movies
RIP: Any content that is good and crosses the line

This literally wrecks the Oscars. You think that the political talk is the worst thing about the Oscars? No! Sometimes it’s actually quite funny! I don’t care who is being made fun of as long as the joke is executed well. Heck, you can make fun of my favorite politician of all time, and maybe you’ll get a laugh out of me because this is an attempt at humor. This popular awards thing? It just sucks. And months from now, it’ll suck for about three hours long and hard! There’s no reason for this award to exist, it’s almost a sin to have the award even be a thing. It ruins movies, it ruins the Oscars, it ruins the idea of being “gifted.” It’s like Oprah all of a sudden showed up and ended giving everybody a trophy! And you know what? I may sound like a crybaby over this fiasco, but I’m certainly not the only one who is upset over this. Participation trophies may work for younger athletes, as much as I may question them being handed out. But this is the big leagues. These aren’t students. If this rule is still in place for a bit of time after my post is released, I need a wish granted.

If this rule is still in place after the voting process begins for the next Academy Awards, I should be able, …I should be able… to pick the host for maybe not the 91st Academy Awards, because that host will probably have already been picked, but I should pick the host for the 92nd Academy Awards! As of now, I’m going to go with either Conan O’Brien, Seth MacFarlane, Patrick Stewart, Alex Trebek, Howie Mandel, Dwayne Johnson, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, or Mark Hamill!

You get what I’m sayin’ Academy? I OFFICIALLY DECLARE THIS, MY UNACCEPTANCE SPEECH! You either listen to my demands, or we’re gonna be talking about an upcoming Academy Awards show whose host will be chosen by someone who can’t legally consume alcohol in their own country yet! Caphice?! Thanks for reading this post! This upcoming weekend we’ve got a few new releases in theaters. Some include “The Meg,” “Slender Man,” and “BlacKkKlansman.” Out of all these, I’m probably most likely to check out “The Meg,” however there is another movie that has been out for almost a month that I’m still dying to check out, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet, and that movie is “Eighth Grade.” Stay tuned for whatever review I happen to post soon, and also stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, what do you think about the popular Oscar category? Or, what are your thoughts on the other changes that have been announced? Let me know, and you will get a trophy for participating in the comment section! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

James Gunn FIRED From Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?! Who Should Replace Him?

Posted on July 21, 2018 by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! I’ve got some very big movie news I want to go over very quickly here. When it comes to recent movies, a lot of people seem to think that Marvel has been killing it lately. With installments added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe such as “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Black Panther,” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” audiences have had something new from Marvel to rave about every few months. But something in particular could affect the future movies, mainly ones containing the “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

If you have watched “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” you may or may not be aware that a guy by the name of James Gunn wrote and directed both of those films. Some may say that “Guardians of the Galaxy” may be what it is as a movie because of James Gunn, so therefore a lot of people praise him. I can personally agree, it almost seems that he knows the style of the film and that really pops off the screen right into my eyes whenever I watch both installments. I may not have enjoyed the second installment, but the first one is definitely one of the better Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

Given the schedule of the MCU and success of both “Guardians of the Galaxy” installments, it just seems natural that the filmmaker suggested he was set to tackle a third installment in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise. He seems to have made progress on a script, recent talks between him and “Star Wars” god Mark Hamill got fans wondering if he would be taking on a role in the upcoming film, everything seemed to be going according to plan. That is… until July 20th, 2018.

It has now become apparent that James Gunn has made some controversial jokes on his Twitter account. Some of these older tweets were reported by Fox News, which to me is false advertising, because there are rarely any foxes on Fox News. You think CNN is fake news? At least their name is accurate! They’re a cable news channel! Fox News may call itself what it wants, but the day they get a bunch of foxes running around the studio would be the day that they’d win the Internet! Anyway, Fox News reported some of these tweets, eventually earning Disney’s attention. Once Disney’s attention had been earned, they severed their business relationship with James Gunn.

Now we are in a bit of a sticky situation here, because there are two sides to this very story that I can personally get. Some of you may be expecting me to say, THAT JAMES GUNN IS A F*CKING CREEP! HE DESERVES NOTHING! And trust me, now that this has been brought to my attention, I’m on your side. If this means that James Gunn is actually a pedophile (which I highly doubt), then wow! As much as I appreciate dark humor, I can personally understand why some people would be offended or upset by this. If these tweets were maybe put in a movie script for a dark comedy then maybe I’d appreciate this just a little more, but this is real life, where there are consequences for actions such as this. But there’s also another hand that really makes me wonder what the future for “Guardians of the Galaxy” will truly be. Gunn has basically made the franchise his own and he seems to have a particular sense of style that can not only be closely associated with himself, but the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise. Having seen this, I seriously wonder if this situation has a bigger impact on moviegoers than say Mel Gibson’s controversy. Granted I was only ten years old when he made that rude remark towards his girlfriend. I think this may be bigger because I imagine some kids may look up to James Gunn or really appreciate the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise, and it’s part of a big and relevant cinematic universe that gets brought up in conversation somewhere every single day now. Then again, let me just say, kids probably look up to James Gunn. They may not know who he is, but maybe without even knowing it, they look up to him. It wouldn’t be pretty for a kid to find out that their idol has been making rape jokes.

Plus, this has a bigger impact on me than a recent Disney affiliated firing that occurred. Some of you may know, FOR SOME REASON, they brought back “Roseanne,” with the forever lazy tagline “Same cast. New episodes.” Just a couple of months after the show started its revival season on ABC, the show’s star, Roseanne Barr, goes on Twitter and spits out a bunch of mumbo jumbo towards a senior advisor to former US President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett. This tweet ended up being controversial, and ABC therefore canceled “Roseanne,” which is something I’ve been asking them to do with “The Bachelor” for a very long time but apparently they won’t listen! Nevertheless, “Roseanne” was pulled off of ABC’s schedule, and any content related to it has been removed from the ABC website. The thing about “Roseanne’s” cancellation however is that I was never a fan of “Roseanne” to begin with. One of the first thoughts I had about “Roseanne” coming back to ABC was “Why?” Granted, once I saw the ratings for the premiere episode, I could kind of see the point, but still, why? “Guardians of the Galaxy” isn’t anywhere near my favorite movie of all time. I thought it was one of the better movies to have come out in 2014, I gave it a 9/10 when I reviewed it, and I thought it was a very fun time. Judging by that, you might as well say I find “Guardians of the Galaxy” a lot more amusing than “Roseanne.” Heck! I found “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” a lot more amusing than “Roseanne” and that says something!

I wouldn’t say Disney’s wrong for what they did, but at the same time, I imagine it could be a sacrifice in quality towards “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” But, I will say, Disney, if you’re reading this, I will give a list of directors I think are qualified to helm “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” and for some of them, I’ll go into a bit of detail behind why I chose them.

Kay Cannon (Blockers, Pitch Perfect)
Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation)
Anthony & Joe Russo (Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Hunt for the Wilderpeople)
Brad Brad (The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol)

Starting my discussion portion of these directors, we have Kay Cannon. I’ve been exposed to some of this girl’s work. I saw “Pitch Perfect,” which personally I hated, I wasn’t really that fond of it for the attempts at humor coming off as typical Hollywood studio comedy jokes that you’ve seen before, and it just didn’t feel like anything I’d write home about. Although, that movie is probably not made for me, I’m definitely not in the target audience. There is one thing however that made me go from HATING Kay Cannon to LOVING Kay Cannon, and that is “Blockers!” Based on the trailers, “Blockers” looks like your typical studio comedy, although in this case it’s really trying to be the next “American Pie,” but I ended up loving it after seeing it in the theater because of how relatable it came off not only to me, but from what I imagine, a number of parents who have teenagers. And most of all, it was funny! Another thing to consider about “Blockers” is that Kay Cannon had to tie together all of these characters, all of their storylines, and give them all their own individual beginning, middle, and end. Cannon didn’t write the screenplay for the movie, but given the amount of characters that may be aruged as being the “main character” of the movie, she did a spectacular job with what was given to her. Given the size of the character list in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” she’s probably gonna have to deal with just as many storylines while simultaneously having to make sure all of the humor in the movie works. Plus, “Blockers” is Cannon’s only directing credit. Since that movie came out, I wanted to see more work from her, and this is a good opportunity.

Next up is Alex Garland. Thus far he has directed two films, “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation.” While both don’t really have as big of a budget as “Guardians of the Galaxy,” they have been well received by critics. I personally thought both weren’t at the tippity top of my movie ratings scale, but VERY HIGHLY ENJOYABLE. Just a few weeks ago, I went back and watched “Ex Machina” for the fourth time, it’s that good. I’ve seen “Annihilation” twice, and while I don’t think it’s the best movie ever, I thought it was conceptually and visually beautiful. I will say though, according to IMDb, Garland’s directorial debut, “Ex Machina,” has an estimated budget of $15 million, and his next film he directed, “Annihilation,” has an estimated budget of $40 million. If he takes on “Guardians 3,” you might as well consider those past two films stepping stones towards the big guns. Plus, both films, kind of like “Guardians,” are in the sci-fi genre, so if Garland does well with “Guardians 3,” he would have three well received sci-fi films.

Up next, we have Anthony and Joe Russo. While these two may be known to some as the creators of the situational comedies “Community” and “Arrested Development,” fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe know them as co-directors of three films in the series that have been currently released, and another that’s set for a release next year. To me, the Russo brothers have directed the two best MCU films to date, “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Captain America: Civil War.” Both films, kind of like “Blockers,” involved a ton of characters that could potentially clutter the film. Personally, the way both of them turned out were phenomenal to me. Plus, let me say again, these guys have already directed four MCU films, one of which hasn’t been released yet. In fact, two of them have the Guardians in it! So not only do they have experience with superhero movies, comic book movies, Marvel movies, films with a ton of characters, but also characters from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise! From what I know, none of the actors from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise seem to have any major gripes with either director, so maybe that will allow the experience of making “Guardians 3” to be somewhat of a breeze.

Another director who has already helmed a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Taika Waititi, as much as I personally found “Thor: Ragnarok” enjoyable, I wasn’t afraid to criticize it. Can any of you guess what my main complaint with “Thor: Ragnarok” is?

Anyone?

Hello, anybody home? Think McFly, think!

The main problem I had with “Thor: Ragnarok” is that it’s too much like “Guardians of the Galaxy!” As much as audiences found the attempts at humor in “Thor: Ragnarok” to be hysterical, I was just sitting down thinking, this is not “Thor.” It’s just a weird change of pace towards his character and it’s kind of ridiculous. And maybe it’s not because of Taika Waititi. After all, he didn’t even have a writing credit on the film. In fact, what I think should be done is if the director “Guardians 3,” whoever it may be, doesn’t want to write the film, Marvel should try getting the trio that wrote “Thor: Ragnarok,” otherwise known as Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost to work on the script. This could be especially useful towards Alex Garland, because he doesn’t put much humor into his movies. Then again this is the same guy who had a writing credit on DMC: Devil May Cry, a video game with this exchange:

MUNDUS: I am Mundus.

DANTE: You’re an asshole!

Given the script of “Thor: Ragnarok,” Waititi’s direction must have worked well enough lead to this “Guardians of the Galaxy” wannabe, and if they really wanted to take “Thor: Ragnarok” and make it a “Guardians of the Galaxy” film, someone could have just told them, “Hey! Want to make ‘Guardians 3?'” Well, that movie is happening now, so now is this crew’s chance to take it on!

The last director suggestion I have listed here is Brad Bird. When it comes to animation, Brad Bird is probably my favorite director of all time. He’s done both “Incredibles” installments, “Ratatouille,” and “The Iron Giant.” If you ask me, if Brad Bird happened to work on the screenplay of the film, that would be great too, because I feel that Bird’s best films are ones that not only he directs, but also writes. As much as I liked “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” that’s a film he directed, but didn’t write. One of my other comments towards Brad Bird that may sound odd, is that I feel he does better with animated movies than live action movies. While I will consider “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” and “Tomorrowland” solid movies, they’re not anywhere near masterpieces. Some of you may be questioning why I am saying this because “Guardians of the Galaxy” is live action. You’re right there, but another thing to consider is how much green screen that film has. It’s all on computerized backgrounds! Plus, Brad Bird seems to have a good relationship with Disney, having done multiple films with them, which is something that James Gunn apparently doesn’t have anymore.

Now before I close this off, I want to share a true story with all of you. James Gunn is not exactly my favorite director, however I do find him to be one of the bigger standouts when it comes to the directors who have done recent film work. But James Gunn, despite how I feel about him, was apparently worthy enough, to have earned something that I think you all as an audience might want me to change. Just over a month ago, I graduated high school, and around that time, I got my yearbook. In the process of making the yearbook, I was encouraged to put something in as a senior quote. So after some searching on the Internet, I found what I thought was the perfect quote. Taken directly from IMDb, this is the quote I used in my yearbook:

“I have a very strong imagination and have since I was a little kid. That is where a lot of my world comes from. It’s like I’m off somewhere else. And I can have a problem in life because of that, because I’m always off in some other world thinking about something else. It’s constant.”

Guess what? JAMES GUNN SAID THAT!

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Is it too late to change my senior quote? Apparently a lot of people have reported recently that this man is kind of a creep! #GuardiansoftheGalaxy #Fired #JamesGunn

A post shared by Jack Drees (@realscenebefore) on Jul 20, 2018 at 1:08pm PDT

I made a post on my Instagram with photo proof that James Gunn is the speaker of my quote in my high school yearbook! If anyone that’s affiliated with the making of the yearbook is reading this, I gotta ask… Is it too late to change my senior quote now that everyone is calling this guy a creep? Jostens, if you’re reading this, let me know! I mean, it’s only been a month since I graduated high school, I haven’t even started college, and I already have an excuse to change my senior quote!

Guys, thanks for reading this post that goes over a life-altering moment I never thought I’d have to face. James Gunn is a creep apparently, who knew? I love the first “Guardians of the Galaxy,” I’ll miss James Gunn’s unique and somewhat quirky style, and while I heard that Disney never confirmed Gunn was going to direct “Guardians 3” in the first place, it would have been easily predictable for him to do such a thing. With that being said, I hope an official director is announced soon, maybe one of my suggested candidates. As for upcoming content, tomorrow I’m going to see “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again,” stay tuned for that review once it comes time to show it off, and also stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, what do you think about this whole James Gunn situation? Also, if you were to find a director or writer for “Guardians 3,” what would your pick be? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

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