Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Spoiler-Free) Review

Hot off the heels of Disney effectively taking over the film industry, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has released and continues the story of Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren, and the true her of the Star Wars saga, R2-D2. Within 24 hours of its worldwide release the Internet is already divided on it and after giving it a day to stir, marinate, and finish cooking in my mind, I'm ready to talk about it and not give anything away.

This...will be difficult.

Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry Review

Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry is the second film in the Fairy Tail franchise, following Fairy Tail: Phoenix Priestess. “Dragon Cry” once again features Fairy Tail’s Strongest Team taking on an enemy on a separate country, and one that threatens the balance of the world as they hunt the mystical Dragon Cry, a staff capable of destroying whole countries. The film premiered this year both in Japan and over here in the United States, with special thanks to Funimation for bringing it overseas in a pretty quick turnaround from the Japanese release. How’s it hold up compared to the rest of the series, though?

Blade (1998) Review

I think it's incredible how common, how household, so many super-hero names have become. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor; they're all some of the most popular characters in the world right now thanks to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These characters, once so obscure, now make billions of dollars annually from various sources. Obviously, they were brought out of obscurity thanks to the contributions of their creators. The Punisher is an obscure character that's only being brought into the light thanks to good writing on Daredevil, not the catastrophic films from the 2000s. Deadpool is one of the most popular characters in the world right now, but I'd be hardpressed to say how popular he was outside of a comic book store pre-2010. And what if I told you that one of the most obscure comic book characters in the world is the very reason that we have such celebrated movies today? People attribute X-Men and Spider-Man to being the modern superhero movie...but even they must acknowledge that it is Blade that helped push the genre to what it is today.

Power Rangers Review

In the last few years, I think I've been pretty good about setting a proper expectation and gauging how excited I should be for a movie. Take, for example, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I expected it to be about on par with Man of Steel and for the most part I was right. This year, though, my expectations are all over the place. I don't know what Spider-Man: Homecoming or Wonder Woman are going to be like. Power Rangers was a movie that I had no idea what it could be. Could it try to be just like the show and take a silly approach to an even sillier concept? Would it go for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/ Transformers route of trying to make this grim and gritty and for adults? What would it do right or what would it do wrong? 

Justice League Dark Review

The latest of the DC Animated films has finally been released and it's probably the strangest of them all in terms of premise. It's placement in the continuity of the universe is also a bit head-tilting, but that's not the real concern here. No, this movie instead focuses on the Justice League Dark, a group of magic-based heroes and anti-heroes that eventually coalesce into a "team" to ward off dark magical foes. Why's it so strange? Well who would've thought this movie would actually be the best of the recent animated films?

Blog Update #8: MAGIC YEAH

Well the school year for most students is just around the corner (be it a week or a month...or a few months if you're into that kind of thing, can't blame you) and we're back to the old grind here. The schedule is going to be tight and, as always, subject to change, but this time I feel like I'm bringing more observation to the table than regular reviews. There are a lot of major events happening in the entertainment world in the coming world, so, may as well talk about them. 

Fate/Stay Night: unlimited blades works (Film) Review

(originally posted to moviepilot.com/seanovan13)

Let's discuss a scenario here. You've got material from a Visual Novel that requires hours of gameplay. These characters are extremely popular, so you want to give them all their fair share of screen time. Not only that, but they are all incredibly complex. The situation they find themselves in? Even more complex.

They have to explain the Holy Grail War, why these people have been chosen, who their Servants are, why there even are Servants, establish allegiances, create a believable romance, have characters go through development, and stage the big, ultimate battle.

In eighty-ninety minutes.

So, Fate/Stay Night unlimited blade works is a 2010 film based off of the hit Fate/Stay Night visual novel, taking from it's "unlimited blade works" alternate route that focuses primarily on Rin, but also Shirou and Archer's relationship. It's out in English as well, that version coming out in 2012.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

I'm not exactly sure how to begin this review. This film takes a while to mull over, and I don't think that a second viewing of it would help me out in that regard, anyway. No spoilers here, I won't be that mean if you do want to see the movie. And, yes, believe it or not there are spoilers even after that second trailer that showed us Doomsday. And if you haven't seen that trailer?

Whoops.

"Return of the Jedi" Review

Full SPOILERS for film...but if you haven't seen it then what are you waiting for?

Ah, it's nearly here. That great, big, massive event that we've been waiting for all year long. We've been hyped for it for long and now it's finally upon us. That's right. 

Christmas is next week, guys! 

Oh, wait, what? Wait...

STAR WARS IS THIS FRIDAY?!?!?!

Welp. Alright then. We better put our "Star Wars" pants on and talk some mad stuff about the galaxy far, far away. 

"Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'" Review

The latest of the "Dragon Ball" films finally sees its national DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital release today, and as such, I'm finally able to watch it and review it. I've been looking forward to this movie for quite a while. As a fan of Dragon Ball Z, why wouldn't I be? It's the return of Frieza, one of the best villains of the series and one of the most recurring ones. You can never put a good villain down, I suppose. 

The premise of the movie, much like any "Dragon Ball" film, is fairly simple: Frieza's been resurrected and he's headed to Earth to seek revenge on Goku and Future Trunks. Obviously, Future Trunks is no longer around since he returned to the future several years prior, so Frieza settles for Goku. And so the war for the Earth is to be waged. 

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" Review (Spoiler-Free)

I think I'll keep this quick because there is a lot I want to talk about but much of it is a spoiler, so, expect some pretty brief thoughts.

Okay, great, so, how's the movie? It's really good. It's a great sequel to its predecessor and you can really tell that in terms of writing and cinematography that this movie was a step-up from where it needed to be. I think that much of the enjoyment people are going to get from this film also depends on how much they've been following it. If you read all the interviews, watch all the clips, and analyze every frame of the movie, then yeah, you're obviously going to be disappointed because you were criticizing things that hadn't yet happened (don't worry, I'm aware that I did this, too, I'm a hypocrite for saying this but at least I acknowledged it).

The Maze Runner (film) Review

SPOILERS FOR MOVIE AND BOOK

I think this movie adaptation just proves that no book is safe from the cogs of what is "working" in Hollywood. Or that no movie is safe from cliches when its source material deviates so far from them.

I'll preface this review with this statement: had I never read The Maze Runner novel, I would have thought this merely an "okay" movie. It was, you know, decent, and I'll get into the nitty-gritty in a moment. But having read it, it's two sequels and prequel, I am disgusted at what this film has done. Not only did it ruin the shock value of several moments from it's direct sequel, but very well could have destroyed the ending of its final book and even devalued the entire prequel, making it essentially useless.

Guardians of the Galaxy Review

What some have called the new "Avengers" and this generation's "Star Wars" comes the tenth installment into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (so basically it exists along with all the other big Marvel movies), Guardians of the Galaxy. Taking place on Earth for a total of one scene, this movie has barely anything to do with the other Marvel films but at the same time proves to be one of its boldest and strongest installments to date.

X-Men: Days of Future Past Review

The X-Men cinematic universe is one that is jumbled up more than a ball of rubber bands. There are continuity errors, character errors, and things that are just downright confusing following the events of X3 and definitely including Origins.

But that's where Bryan Singer comes in! He reins in the X-Men series of movies back to a continuity that makes sense, if you don't want to question every little detail, does away with the aforementioned two movies as far as continuity goes, and provides us with a solid future for the franchise to continue.

All within two hours and eleven minutes. Welcome to X-Men: Days of Future Past!

"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" Review--Spoilers!!

If you have not seen the latest Marvel Studios film Captain America: The Winter Soldier then do not read this review, because there will be spoilers because honestly if I did not have spoilers, then I would just be randomly rambling on about how good of a movie this is.

There is my spoiler warning. Let us begin