Yup. You heard that right. 2017 is off to a tremendous start! January, February, and March typically combine for movies’ worst quarter of the year. I’ve been reviewing movies since 2010, and each year has confirmed this belief. I didn’t anticipate 2017 feeling differently, but it is slowly happening. First, there was the surprising Split, which I wasn’t a fan of, but one that did fantastic with audiences and critics. Then there was Logan, one of my five favorite Marvel movies ever at the time of this writing. Sprinkle in the surprise hit Get Out, the quality reboot Kong: Skull Island, and the live-action smash success Beauty and the Beast. You already have five movies that won’t necessarily be up for awards at the end of the year but will be remembered as success stories for 2017.
James Mangold’s (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line) Logan is about to set the standard for the next wave of superhero movies: the death of a significant character. In an age of film (particularly superhero ones) where we’ve seen sequels, prequels, and reboots, we have yet to see the story’s beginning, middle, and definite conclusion. We’ve seen plenty of superhero movies that COULD be a conclusion story, but we’ve all learned that we think the end isn’t the end unless we see that character killed off. And even then, we don’t know. When there is the potential for hundreds of millions of dollars to be made, who are we to believe that the end is the end? Often, the end is determined by a crappy movie in a series that doesn’t resonate with audiences or critics. Sometimes, that movie can be a concluding story, but often it is not. But (spoiler, but not really) based on what happens at the end of the film, I don’t expect to see him back. I probably will in another fashion, but that can be an argument for a different day. Until then, I’ll continue to sing the praises of Logan. At the time of this review, I have it as one of the top five Marvel movies ever.
Passengers is one of those movies that interest you, and it would be better served if you looked at the audience score rather than the critics’ scores. A 30% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes would suggest skipping this one. However, a 70% audience score suggests something more. This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Plus, I try to see everything. But even I was skeptical when I saw how it was getting panned by so many different critics. Even my most respected site (Roger Ebert) only gave the movie 1.5 stars. But I talked to a couple of other people who go to the movies a lot, and they said, despite some holes, that they recommended it. The only thing I knew about Passengers going in (I never saw a trailer) was that it starred Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook, Joy) and that they were lost in space. And while I suppose there were holes in this movie, they didn’t deter my enjoyment of it. The parts that I found more troublesome than anything else were the personal emotions and the relationship between the two leads, and I didn’t even have a problem with that. Continue reading Passengers (2016)→
If you make a big-budget disaster movie, it might as well be based on a true story. I’m over the huge blockbuster disaster movies like The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon, Independence Day, The Core, Volcano, Into the Storm, Armageddon (which I really like), San Andreas(which I also kind of liked), Dante’s Peak…the list goes on and on. The point of these movies, and so many others, is to make a big buck. Forget about the plausibility; most of these movies are utterly ridiculous. The hero(es) always overcomes the most extreme circumstances and, often, ends up saving the world. Now, while the 2010 disaster caused the worst offshore oil spill in United States history and made British Petroleum (BP) the most villainous company on the face of the planet at the time, the story of Deepwater Horizon does take some liberties along the way. While the unfortunate events on that night of April 10th certainly did happen, the events on that rig felt very much like James Cameron’s Titanic after the ship hit the iceberg.
Captain America: Civil War is perhaps the greatest superhero movie that Christopher Nolan has not directed. My two favorite superhero movies (The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises) belong to him. As of this post, my third favorite is a toss-up between Batman Begins, Iron Man, and Captain America: Civil War. Others (such as The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, etc.) are up there, but there is clearly a distinction between the top 3 or 4 and all of the others. I hope superhero movies continue to improve, but unfortunately, we get 3 to 4 bad ones for every good one. So when we get a film like Captain America: Civil War, it’s important to take pause, see it, praise it, and encourage more movies like it because we know that poor movies will continue to be made because all of them seem to gross over $100 million easily. And the reason they do is our fault. We continue to see these terrible movies. But that is a different story for a different day.
Wow! Life > Alien!
James Mangold’s (
Passengers is one of those movies that interest you, and it would be better served if you looked at the audience score rather than the critics’ scores. A 30% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes would suggest skipping this one. However, a 70% audience score suggests something more. This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Plus, I try to see everything. But even I was skeptical when I saw how it was getting panned by so many different critics. Even my most respected site (
If you make a big-budget disaster movie, it might as well be based on a true story. I’m over the huge blockbuster disaster movies like The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon, Independence Day, The Core, Volcano, Into the Storm, Armageddon (which I really like), 
Captain America: Civil War is perhaps the greatest superhero movie that Christopher Nolan has not directed. My two favorite superhero movies (The Dark Knight and