Is it worth a Redbox: Dark Places

In our continued series of watching movies that you may have skipped in theaters, we review the movie Dark Places.  Dark Places is based on a novel by Gillian Flynn, who is probably most well known for writing, Gone Girl and the hugely successful movie adaptation that followed.  If you have read any of her books, she writes stories based in the Midwest and there is a twist ending that is usually a huge surprise.

There will be two reviews for Dark Places.  The first for people who read the book.  If you read the book, I would only slightly recommend this movie.  The directors take some broad leaps in story telling and the suspense of the book never translates to the film.  That being said, if you have not read the book, I highly recommend you read the book.

Secondly, Dark Places- the movie is a fine Redbox rental if you have never read the book.  The movie is a mystery about who killed a farm family in Kansas in the 80's. The movie is told in a sequence of flashbacks that happen on the day of the murder and on the present day life of Libby Day, played by Charlize Theron Life has not always been easy for Libby Day since the murders and without any real skills, Libby is broke and needs to make money off her fame and notoriety.  Enter Lyle, played by Nicholas Hoult,  who is a member of a Kill Club- a group of people who love to investigate crimes and murders.  Members of this Kill Club do not believe that Ben Day, Libby's brother who was convicted of the murders, is the actual killer.

Without spoiling too much, the movie is perfect for Redbox if you are struggling to find something to rent. There are enough thrills and intrigue to keep you guessing until the end.  It really is a perfect $1.50 rental.

The Producer

Is it worth a Redbox: The Peanuts Movie

I am actually a huge Peanuts and Charlie Brown fan! I own most of the holiday specials and movies and I read all the small comics that came out when I was a child.

Since Charles Schulz passed away, Peanuts, which is controlled by his kids, never went away.  In fact, they have pimped out the Peanuts gang to sell everything from insurance, to cars, and all sorts of food products.  Things that Schulz would have never authorized when he was alive.

Now that he has been deceased for 10 plus years, they have finally made a Peanuts movie.  Since I heard about this, I was not excited about it.  I just thought it would be another money grab by the family without any of the intelligence and heart that made Peanuts great!  I was not wrong!

If you have ever seen any Peanuts special, you have seen this movie.  They literally break no new ground whatsoever and its really just a retread/homage to the movies and shows that came before it. The main plot is about Charlie Brown's pursuit of the Little Red Head Girl and all the hi-jinx that result from his, often times creepy infatuation.  You get all the standard scenes from the specials-the jokes, the dances- I mean nothing is really fresh or new- including the characters.  Even tho you see multiple new characters, they do not get to speak. They are just background noise and props for the main cast that has existed for 75 years.

So I wonder who were the filmmakers making this movie for?  Its marketed for kids, but all the characters and most of the jokes are made for their parents who watched these shows when they were a kid.  I watched it with my daughter and she kinda- sorta enjoyed it.  But even she recognized the jokes and bits from previous specials.

In summary,  If you were hoping for something new and innovative, this is not it!  You could easily watch all the holiday specials and get the same joy from those and save yourself the $1.50 at Redbox!

The Producer

Superman V Batman Review

I'm fresh out of the movie about 18 hours now.  I took my kids and the Mrs to see Dawn of Justice last night and I've had time to sleep on it and let the movie marinate in my brain to give this review. I do not like to write reviews in the moment.  Often times, I let the hype or hate wash over me and once I see the movie again, my initial reaction is no where close to my Netflix and chill reaction. This will be spoiler free....

Overall, I do not have any real emotion about this movie. I went in with very low expectations and came out not knowing how I feel.  If it was bad, I was going to rip it.  If it was good, I was gonna praise.  Its really neither.   I have been clear that I felt DC was rushing this Justice League idea from the beginning.  Batman V Superman was not planned to be the next sequel- no matter what they tell you.  If they had, they would've alluded to Bruce Wayne, or Wayne Enterprise, Gotham,  or Batman in Man of Steel.  They did not!  MOS is a polarizing movie for fans and DC got scared that if they needed to reboot Superman AGAIN, it was going to continue to damage the brand.  So they brought in their real MVP, Batman to sure up the Superman franchise.  And going in, you need to know that Batman V Superman is a Batman movie.  Batman/Bruce Wayne is the star and drives the movie with Superman riding in the passenger seat or the sidecar in one of those motorcycles.

The movie plot centers around Superman's place in the world... Is he a savior or is he the devil?  Both Lex Luthor and Batman have concluded that he is the devil and are both working on ways to stop/end Superman before he gets out of control.  There is plot about smugglers and who is playing who and who is manipulating who..... Both Lex and Bruce get to go on about their distrust of Superman... And they go on alot!  The movie is very slow for about an hour!  That first hour is actually kinda boring. Sadly, they rehash Batman history (which everyone knows) without any real point of doing it.  There are congressional hearings and dream sequences, and rescue scenes and much of it really did nothing to advance the narrative of the story.  Oh and  there is much angst among our heroes about what to do, how to do it,  and finding their purpose in the world and that takes alot of time.

The plot point that finally gets us to Batman V Superman is super contrived and could've actually been solved easily with a phone call or a conversation. Like for real!  Communication is key to any relationship, folks!  This leads to our battle between the heroes and its an ok fight, but if you saw any of the trailers, you have seen the overwhelming majority of the fight between Batman v Superman.  Along with much of the action with Wonder Woman.  Spoiling nothing, this leads to our fight against Doomsday which is fine enough, but this has been told better on Justice League Unlimited and on Superman: Doomsday.  Seeing it now on the big screen didn't really move me the way it should have, I guess.  This leads to the ending-which if you have ever read comics in the 90's, you could see coming a mile away.

The Good
Ben Affleck does great work at Bruce Wayne and Batman.
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman is by far the best part of the movie. By far! I am more looking forward to her movie than Justice League.
The "cameo" by the Justice league is handled well and the movie did not feel overstuffed at all.

The Bad
The movie is a solid 30 minutes too long.  All the Batman origin stuff could've been cut and there is a C plot with Luthor and a victim from the Battle with Zod that could've been removed totally from the movie.  And enough with the slow mo, Zack Snyder.
I was not a fan of manic Lex Luthor.  Its a bit over the top and it made it hard to view him as a credible threat villain.  Plus, how he was able to resurrect Zod and use the Codex was a stretch beyond imagination.

Overall, the movie was just average for me.  I have no real ill feelings towards it, but I certainly didn't love it.  I really think there is a good movie in there somewhere- kinda like Man of Steel.  There are parts that are really good, parts that are really bad, and parts that are someplace in the middle. Its just that they are all so spaced apart, the movie becomes a jumbled mess of scenes that are strung together, but not connected.

So for me, I will not be seeing it again. I do not think I missed anything or will change my mind after reading other people's review.  In the genre, I think its average- DC specific- if you like MOS, you will probably like this, buts its inferior to Dark Knight to me and maybe slightly better than Dark Knight Rises... slightly.  Overall, just a table setter for their expanded universe.

Deadpool Review

I have to say from the jump that the box office success of Deadpool was a huge surprise to me and the rest of the members of brothascomics.  I had read the projections of a 65 million dollar opening and I thought that was very optimistic for a couple of reasons: 1- The character Deadpool, while beloved by comic fans, is not a very well known comic book property to outsiders. 2-  The actor/star Ryan Reynolds has a shaky box office history with comic book properties( Blade 3, Wolverine: Origins, Green Lantern, RIPD) and a shaky box office record all around.  It seemed like a potential disaster waiting to happen at the box office.

But, I think what I failed to see, and what many others failed to see, is that the character Deadpool and the actor Ryan Reynolds are perfectly matched.  His acting, style, and humor fit the character like a glove or a tight, red spandex suit.  His personality makes the movie work and even when its not working, there is enough good will built up through the movie to make you forget about the bad parts.  He is so intertwined with the part/character, I think, very similar to RDJ with Iron Man and Hugh Jackman with Wolverine,  he may have a hard time finding success in roles where he is not playing Deadpool.

Overall, the movie does not have many bad parts and let downs.  The movie is told in flashback mode and opens essentially on the leaked animated footage that made this movie happen to begin with. Deadpool is looking for Ajax, the man/Dr who turned Wade Wilson into Deadpool with a series of freakish experiments to activate his latent mutant powers after Wade Wilson had contracted incurable cancer.  To give himself a chance to be with the woman he loves( Vanessa), he agrees to the experiments whose final results turn handsome, scoundrel Wade Wilson into hideous looking Wade Wilson.  And now Deadpool is looking to get revenge on the person who turned him into a freak.  Of course the bad guy kidnaps his girl which leads to our culminating fight scene with Deadpool, Colossus, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead versus Ajax, Angel Dust, and a group of goons.

The movie makes all the standard comic tropes in terms of action scenes and battles.  The only real difference being the constant dialogue by the "hero" and his penchant for breaking the 4th wall and addressing the audience and often making references to other comic book properties and actors by name.  Its a risky strategy and it pays off because its done with fun and its not over done. Yes, the jokes are a bit sophomoric at times, but so is the character.  There are some genuine heartfelt moments, but the character is really just playing out on the screen as he does in the comics- and that's a good thing.

Bottom line, I am 3 days from seeing the movie and reading formal and twitter reviews and overall, in my opinion, the movie is good, not great.  People were mad hype for it in the movie theater and some dude was laughing so hard over the faux credits at the beginning I thought he may have been having a seizure.  The movie is fun and it works for THIS character.  There are way too many think pieces out there stating that THIS is what comic fans have been looking for and R rated is the way to go.  And now there is talk that X-Force should/could be R rated.

Just stop! Like for real stop. Let's enjoy this character and this move for what it is.  A fun, romp and spoof of the genre.  Overdoing that or assuming that other, even lesser known characters, will have the same type of success is foolish thinking to say the least.

So well done, Deadpool. You took the world by surprise and raised the bar for superhero movies moving forward.  The ball is in your court Batman V Superman... dont blow it!

The Producer

Is it worth a Redbox: Goosebumps

I'm in my mid-40's( damn that's hard to type) so my familiarity with Goosebumps is a bit strange. When the books were popular, I was way too old to be reading them.  However, I was dating a middle school English teacher for a time in the 90's and the Goosebumps tv show on Fox came on right after Xmen so many mornings I just watched it because I was too lazy to change the channel or nothing else was on. I read maybe 10 books and probably saw 75% of the tv episodes so I had a good idea of what R. L Stine was about.

When I heard they were doing the movie, Goosebumps, I was very meh about it.  One is starred Jack Black and if you have listened to any of our podcasts, you know he is near the top of the list of actors we dont fuck with. Two, I felt that the movie would get Disney-fied- even tho its not a Disney production.  I was thinking a movie like Haunted Mansion.  I was wrong.  So wrong.

Goosebumps: The Movie is very good.  The story and plot are well thought out.  The acting by the two teenage stars is top notch and even Jack Black puts in a decent performance as R. L Stine.  The story follows Zack as he and his mom move from New York City to a small town in Delaware.  Zack's dad died recently and everyone is looking for a fresh start.  The family moves next door to a house with fences all around, yet there is a girl named, Hannah inside the house who takes an interest in Zack and teenage flirting and shenanigans follow.

In looking to rescue Hannah from her crazed dad, Zack breaks into the house and opens up a manuscript written by R. L Stine and once the book is open, the characters of the book come to life. It has a real Jumanji feel to it, but not in a bad way.  The creatures, once released wreck havok all over town and of course attempt to kill our heroes. There is comedy, but some real moments of thrill during all the chase scenes in town.

Hannah's dad is actually R.L Stine and he explains that his books come to life when opened and now, Spanky, the terrifying ventriloquist dummy, is out and he opens all the books and releases all the creatures of the books onto this unsuspecting town.

The movie has thrills and chills for younger viewers and some nice comedy only for the adults. There is a twist at the end naturally, but none of it comes off as hokey or pandering.  The movie is extremely well done.

Is it worth a Redbox?  100% YES! In fact, I will probably add it to my personal DVD collection for my daughter as she now wants to go and read all the books.  Definitely worth your $1.50

The Producer

Is it worth a Redbox: The Perfect Guy

In our continuing series of watching Redbox movies for you and helping you decide "Is it worth a Redbox" we give you this weeks entry: The Perfect Guy.

The movie Stars Sanaa Lathan, Morris Chestnut, and Michael Ealy.  I actually wanted to like this movie.  I am a sucker for Fatal Attraction like movies and I watch more Lifetime movies than most straight men probably should.  The last Fatal Attraction movie with a predominantly Black cast was, Obsessed starring Beyonce and Idris Alba.  Now that movie is Gawd awful.  Bad acting, writing, directing- there is nothing redeeming about that movie.

The Perfect Guy in comparison to Obsessed is great- but that does not make it a great movie.  Sanaa Lathan stars as a career business woman who is engaged to Morris Chestnut, but for some reason, shit dont work out.  They break up and in the phase of "getting out there" she meets Michael Ealy's , character, Carter. They hit it off and the usual dating and mating rituals go according to form.  But suddenly, an incident happens at a gas station where Carter beats the brakes off some dude in a jealous rage and this scares Sanaa and she breaks it off with him.  He does not take no for an answer easily and stalks her and intimidates her until she gets the police involved.  There is the standard Fatal Attraction rip off with a cat instead of a bunny, the killing of a close friend,  but the movie fails to "go there" and actually make this movie intense enough to actually make you believe it.  These Fatal Attraction rip offs have to straddle a line between camp and intense drama and this one leans more towards drama but its not intense.  Not even a little bit. The acting performances aren't bad, but I think in the effort to keep the movie PG, much of the intensity and drama got left on the cutting room floor and the movie becomes tepid.

Of course, she winds up back with Morris Chestnut which sends Carter even more over the edge and not to spoil anything, there is a confrontation between the two.  The movie ends on some Girl Power stuff where Sanaa has to take the law into her own hands to save her own life. Bada Bing, Bada Boom. Movie over!

Kinda long and kinda boring.  This movie does nothing well or poorly.  Its just another movie.  Is it worth a Redbox? I would say NO, but if you are struggling to rent something and its there, you could rent alot worse movies.

The Producer

I'm not calling these Ghostbusters

From the title, people gonna think I'm hating on these New Ghostbusters because they are women and that is so far from the truth.  Women being able to open large, tent pole summer movies is long overdue.  There needs to be more space and time for women and people of color in the medium of film.  With all that being said, I think the women who are starring in this movie, primarily Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig are not funny and are highly overrated.  But they are not the reason I wont be seeing the remake.  The main reason is that source material, Ghostbusters isn't that good.
I know this is blasphemy in the halls of geek and nerdom but my reply back to them and you would be, "Have you attempted to watch Ghostbusters as an adult?"

Ghostbusters came out in 1984.... I remember going to the Salem Mall in my hometown with a bunch of my buddies to go and to see it.  We took the bus out to the mall and even tho now it may not seem like a big deal, going to a PG movie without your parents was a huge deal in 1984.  Once it was over, we  thought Ghostbusters was the funniest shit ever. And it was... because I was 13.  Later, when I saw the movie as an adult, I was kinda like, "Um, this is not really that funny!"  I mean the movie had some top notch( white) comedy talent at the time.  Bill Murray before he was trying to win Oscars, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis.  I mean these dudes were the kings of( white) comedy in the 80's.  From Animal House, CaddyShack, Stripes, Dr. Detroit, Blues Brothers... I mean these dudes made some funny movies. But Ghostbusters ain't one of them.  I watched Ghostbusters the other day because it was on AMC and I was shocked as to how much of the movie I did not remember. I mean you remember the proton packs and Sigounrey Weaver getting possessed and whatnot but  the most memorable things about the movie are Slimer, Stay Puff, and The Ray Parker, Jr song.  The jokes are mad corny and the movie is a mess in terms of editing, and direction. As the movie is progressing, I could physically hear myself breathing because I for damn sure was not laughing.

See I think Blerds my age probably remember more fondly the Real Ghostbusters Cartoon that ran from 1986-1991.  Called the Real Ghostbusters because of a movie rights issue,   This cartoon is funny and even tho it overuses Slimer, the cartoon adventures probably fit more to the subject matter than it did on the big screen.  Plus the cartoon allowed The Ernie Hudson character, Winston to shine- unlike he did in the movie.  Ernie Hudson still pissed about that movie role!

So Ima pass on this remake.  I mean it may be funnier than the original,  but thats not really gonna be that hard- truth be told. And don't even get me started on Ghostbusters 2!

The Producer

Is it worth a Redbox: Ricky and the Flash

My first admission before the review is that in the 1980's, I was a huge Rick Springfield fan.  HUGE! Bigger than any straight, black dude from the hood should've been.  I am not sure why?!  The music was alright, but I am not sure that is what made me such a fan.  Like I wanted to be dude.  If I had been white, I would've walked, talked, and dressed like dude.  I woulda had my hair done like him..... I mean, I was a huge fan.  So when I saw the trailer for this movie a while ago, I was like, " Hey, that's Rick Springfield"! And I made a mental note in my head that I would see this movie just because he was in it.  I mean, I saw Hard to Hold- the movie he starred in the 80's so....

But is Ricki and the Flash worth a Redbox.... sadly, NO. And I mean that sadly part because the movie is depressing as shit.  The trailers played it up as a dramedy but the comedy part is lacking really and I'm not sure if they were trying to make funny moments.  Its a full on drama!  The story goes that Ricki( Meryl Streep) is an aging, wanna be rock star.  In her younger years, she abandoned her family( husband and 3 kids) to pursue her dream of music and left her Indiana home to move to California.  Like most, it did not work out and her kids hate her for leaving and her husband, played by Kevin Kline, has moved onto marry again( the incredible Audra Mcdonald)

But an event with the daughter, played by Streep's real life daughter, Mamie Gummer,  forces Ricki to come home and deal with the mess her child's life is.  Its overwrought with drama as she seeks to reconnect with her children and the husband she left behind.  Streep seems to channeling Chrisie Hynde from the Pretenders as her inspiration.  Rick Springfield plays her lead guitarist/boyfriend who offers her support through all the drama.  There is some cover music played and if you are a fan of Streep, seeing her "rock out" may give you some thrill.  But overall, the movie is bland, the acting is bland, and I am blander from having to watch it and review it for you.

So, no this movie is not worth your $1.50. Its easy to see why this bombed at the box office.  Too much drama for your mama and as much as I like Rick Springfield, even my fan boy caping for him could not make this watchable for me.

Is it worth a Redbox: Amy

With the extra time off at Christmas, @brothascomics has a few movies that we have wanted to see.  This is the first of 3 movies the Producer has seen over the last few days.  Remember, Is it worth a Redbox looks at movies that were not blockbusters to see if they are worthy of your $1.50.

The first entry this week is Amy, the documentary about Amy Winehouse.  In a word, this movie is well worth a Redbox.  It documents her rise from local singer in England to global phenomenon.  With video footage from when she was 16 and looking for work as a singer, to her tragic death, you are able to watch her rise and her ultimately fall and die from alcohol poisoning at the age of 27.

The documentary is a window at modern celebrity.  Take one talented singer, from a broken home, mix in fast fame, and a group of hanger-ons who know this person is their meal ticket and will do anything to prevent the gravy train from stopping.

I only know Any Winehouse from "Rehab" but from the documentary you could see and hear the talent.  You can also see and hear the pain as her lyrics were an open book to her struggles as a young kid and her major struggles as a young adult.  Her music was her life and its all there.  I am more interested in going back and buying her music now after seeing this documentary.

Overall, the movie is a bit long and drags on its way to the end.  But on a whole, its well worth the rental and will leave you saddened that her voice was silenced so soon.

The Producer

Fox and their Turkey Movies

I'm gonna go ahead and give Fox props for some XMen movies right off the bat.  There is a caveat tho.  X-movies that have been under the guidance of Brian Singer have done well and are critically and commercially successful.  This would include X-Men, X2, XMen: First Class, and X:Men Days of Future Past.  He is also directing XMen: Age of Apocolypse.  Each of those movies was either directed and/or produced by Singer and his team.  We can debate the merits of those movies with details, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who says they are "bad movies".
 However, when Singer has not been involved, Fox loses its way and produces some Turkeys. With it being the holiday season, lets pull up a chair, grab some white meat, macaroni and cheese, some collard greens, and cornbread and look at some of Fox's biggest Turkey's.


XMen: The Last Stand

they look like 90's boy band on tour in 2015

Um... err.... look... I hold X2 to a high place in comic book movie rankings.  The ending of that movie with that Phoenix effect in the water had me so hype, I am getting goosebumps typing this thinking about it. So when I heard Singer left, I was like, "well, they can still make a good Phoenix movie".  I was so fucking wrong! The movie is a mess with more characters than you know what to do with.  Plus Halle got her Oscar before and she wanted lines and powers which would've been fine but it comes off as forced.Juggernaut is in the movie essentially to drop the " I'm the Juggernaut bitch!" line. Cyclops get killed, so does Professor X, we got The Cure, but somehow Angel is involved in that. And don't forget about the Morlocks and Wolverine with his Braveheart speech near the end. That movie is so hard to watch based on the potential it had going in.  I am so hoping they get a do over somehow with this new batch of XMen and we get a proper Phoenix story line.


Elektra

not gonna front, she looks great here

Now, I and Brotha Beavis probably liked Daredevil more than other members of @brothascomics. I thought it struck a nice balance between comic and reality and even tho I was not crazy about Afflek as Daredevil, the movie was serviceable.  However, if that movie was not good enough to spawn a sequel, I am not sure how the people at Fox thought it was good enough for a spin off movie.  I have seen bits and pieces of Elektra over the past 10 years and its all bad.  The acting, the special effects, and most importantly the lead, Jennifer Garner, is just awful in this movie. There is no reason to have an Elektra movie at all.  I am all for powerful, female characters getting their own movie but how the hell does Elektra have a movie and Storm doesn't? It makes no sense and neither does this movie.





Fantastic Four

#foxgonnafox- Its been stated and written before that Fox has no idea what to do with this property.  The three movies committed to film are all sorts of awful. They are so equally bad,  its really hard to pick which one is actually the worst.  If you dropped me from a Fantastic- Car from 3000 feet plummeting to my death, I would say Rise of the Silver Surfer is the worst of the three.  The movie in parts is a straight up 90's sitcom. All it was missing was a laugh track.  Jessica Alba may be the prettiest, most terrible actress ever and she is not alone in this debacle of a series.  Plus, Sue Richards may be the most powerful person in the Fantastic Four and they regulated her to bubble making duty. The Thing suits is all sorts of awful and his hang dog, woe is me drives me crazy. The Mr. Fantastic shows no signs of the comic book genius and is literally the bumbling dad from a 90's sitcom. Then there is Doom with his Trenchcoat Mafia cloak and no real sense of gravity on how powerful the character is. The only redeeming thing is Johnny Storm/Human Torch.  They nail the character pretty well and his powers look great on screen.  If he coulda only left the rest of them bitches behind. The new series tried to make it too serious and waited over an hour for the "team" to actually get together.  By that time we had all checked out. Now we get CGI Thing but rarely see him get to be "The Thing".  We do finally get genius Reed Richards but the character and the actor both are dicks.  Sue is powerful but all emo and there is no hint that eventually she will marry Reed Richards.  Human Torch is cool again but I think its mostly easier to play that character ( black or white).  Just a bad series over all and we're all hoping that Fox sells it back to Marvel so they can finally do the characters justice in a good movie.

Wolverine Origins

someone tell my why Cyclops is in this?!

Of all the movies on this list, this one, along with XMen the Last Stand hurt the most.  @brothascomics was all in on this movie.  Big Hutch, myself, and Female Perspective went and saw this at midnight when it premiered. The comics that its "based" upon was hype so going in, my expectations were crazy high.  I would say about 20 minutes in I was looking for the exits.  Shit, where do you start? The opening with him and Sabertooth fighting all the major wars since the Civil War still gets me hype.  But after that, it goes off the rails so quickly. Its really just a vanity project for Hugh Jackman and the value of HGH.  I still have no idea why they cast WILL I AM as a character that teleports when they coulda just cast someone as Nightcrawler.  The Gambit portion was kidna cool, I guess... until he is crawling the wall like Spiderman.  Then that ending... ugh... "back to back" even tho I been trying to kill you for the last 90 minutes.  And lets not forget the adamantium bullets which cause amnesia.  Fuck that is a bad movie!

The Wolverine

I actually had a hard time putting this movie on here because I enjoyed it.  But when you think about it and even if you watch again, people compare it to Origins and anything looks good compared to Origins.  Its like people saying they like Attack of the Clones because it came out AFTER Phantom Menace. The Wolverine is not a terrible movie.  Again it shows the benefits of HGH on older Australians and the acting and action of the movie are pretty good.  But overall, what do you remember most about that movie?  Not much really and Singer and his mutant team didn't think much of it either as they wiped it all out of existence with Days of Future Past.  Wolverine in Japan with Mariko is explored deeply in the comics and they touch on it here but it seems kinda passe while we are just waiting for Wolverine to SNIKT someone! And even that, they took his healing away for most of the movie and just made him a regular dude.... I don't know.  The Wolverine is like frozen yogurt. I like it, I'm just not in love with it.




So that's 7 Fox turkeys.  Now, they have two more in the pipeline that are non- Singer approved.  The first being Deadpool which comes out in February 2016.  Look, I think the trailer looks good and I think, if any, this is the role for Ryan Reynolds to play as long as he stays in the suit.  But, #foxgonnafox so be prepared for it to possibly suck.  It's going to be super violent and possibly super juvenile and its rated R which is going to prevent many fans of the character from actually seeing it in the movies.  I have my doubts that Fox can pull it off successfully( like why the hell is Colossus in this movie) and it could be another Ryan Reynolds comics, franchise killer to go along with Blade, Green Lantern, and RIPD.

Franchise Killa

The last of the Fox movies is the Gambit movie.  Now we @brothascomics have been consistent in saying that this movie is a bad idea as currently constructed.  Its already been hit with a slew of delays, script changes, director changes, and bad press.  This is never good news before a movie even begins principal photography( which it still has not).  This movie should not be made... at least not yet.  They are taking, possibly the 2nd most popular Xman, and putting him in a no win situation for a movie and could possibly hurt/kill the franchise in one swoop.  Please Fox, put Gambit in an XMen movie.  He is an Xman.  He shoulda been in a movie already.  The character is popular- so is Wolverine and look at the two turkeys that character has produced.

All these turkey movies have given me the ITIS. I'm ready for a glass of Merlot and to prop myself up on the couch to watch X2 and Days of Future Past and fall asleep and dream of a world where Brian Singer produces and directs all X properties.  A brotha can dream can't he?

The Producer

Is it worth a Redbox: Pitch Perfect 2

For these Redbox reviews, we usually pick movies that either struggled hard at the box office or did kinda sorta well and people have heard of the movie but probably didn't want to pay real money to see it in the movie theater.

Pitch Perfect 2 does not meet any of the criteria.  The movie was a huge box office success and made in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  But I am using it for the feature because Pitch Perfect does play primarily to a female( mostly white female) audience and I wanted to review it from a brothas perspective.  Like i find it to be hilarious that a movie about singing acapella has like 2 black people in it.  Its funny how certain people are okay to accept soulfully singing acapella( Pitch Perfect), or dancing ( Step Up), or even prison( Orange is the New Black) as fun and entertaining when they recognize the faces as their own.  Yet if a Black person attempted to make these movies or shows, they would never receive the critical acclaim or accolades or box office these movies and shows receive.  Just a side brotha note!

I did see the first Pitch Perfect on one of those DirectTV free HBO weekends. I recorded it and watched it with the Mrs. not thinking anything about it and I really enjoyed it.  The concept of acapella being a thing in college and how it was executed with heart and humor in the original entertained me! Plus, not gonna lie, Ima a sucker for Anna Kendrick!  The over the top stuff with Rebel Wilson I could do without and I feel really took away from the movie.

Well Pitch Perfect 2 has alot more Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy and they give her way too much time for her brand of shenanigans for my part.  The plot of the whole movie is based on something Fat Amy does that shames the Bellas and the movie rolls on from there with a World Acapella Championship and some of the same "battles" that were popular in the first movie- just with a newer set list of songs.  There is a side plot of a new Bella, the Bellas graduating, and Anna Kendricks character looking to find a job as a music producer.  Its all in good fun!

So is it worth a Redbox rental?  In a word, YES but the movie is not nearly as fun and enjoyable as the first one. Not even close!  But its funny and good hearted; although its about 20 minutes too long.
So rent Pitch Perfect 2. You wont feel like you wasted that $1.50

The Producer

Is it worth a Redbox Rental: Tomorrowland

Disney, after taking a break from their turning their attractions into movies, comes back to it with Tomorrowland. A big budget, thriller starring George Clooney and directed by Brad Bird, who most geeks love for being the director of the Incredibles.

This movie did nothing for me personally; although the Mrs. liked it.  It begins in the future and involves time travel which is always hard to pull off in movies.  It also involves multiple time jumps and a plot that is kinda far fetched and you can see why the movie did not perform well at the box office.  It also has robots who you don't know are robots and by the time Clooney does show up in the movie, you forgot who his character was in the future before they come back to the past.... Confused yet? Me too!

It's surprising this movie did so poorly based on the people who produced, directed, and starred in it. The movie is paced poorly, takes itself way too seriously in some parts, and turns into a Men in Black rip off in others. Plus its  "message" is totally lost by the time you get to the end.

In a word, NO this movie is not worth your $1.50.  When it comes on ABC Family, just watch it for free and use that $1 to play Mega Millions!

The Producer

Fantastic Four Podcast

Podcast 8 we review the Fantastic Four movie moments after we saw it.  We pour some out for Fox and the homies who paid full price for this movie.  We discuss where the franchise goes from here and how long before Marvel get their property back.  We also talk about Ben Affleck and his new Batman deal and Straight out of Compton opening wide next week and now rappers now are on AARP.  We hold back on STFU awards but discuss policing in the United States in light of another unarmed black man killed this week.

Join us! Grab a glass and kick back and listen!  Lots of fun!

FF Podcast Review

I Tunes

Is it worth a Redbox rental: Ex Machina

This week's movie of Is it worth a Redbox rental is Ex Machina.  I am going to need to be very careful with this review without spoiling too much of the movie.  In a phrase, "hell yes" this movie is well worth your $1.50.  This is probably one of the better sci-fi movies I have seen in the past 3-5 years.  I label it sci-fi but its probably more of a psychological thriller than a standard sci-fi flick.

The premise of the movie is based on the singularity.  This has been touched on by every movie and television show that fools with AI, or Artificial Intelligence.  The singularity is when robots, or machines based in AI become more wise than their creators and begin to make changes and possibly eliminate and replace their human creators.  You saw this in the Matrix,  I, Robot with Will Smith and if you are not watching Humans on A&E, you should be,

The movie deals an eccentric billionaire named Nathan,  who has created an AI robot named Ava and he needs someone to test her abilities in interacting with humans.  The billionaire picks a coder from his company, named Caleb, and fly's him out to his remote compound where he works on his machines. Caleb and Nathan have a complicated relationship on how to test Ava properly and once Caleb begins to test Ava, Caleb finds her interactions beyond AI and that she has fully reached the singularity.  So much so, Caleb finds himself falling in love with Ava and begins making decisions while in his feelings.  All the while, as you are watching, you are not sure who is actually controlling the puppet strings.  Again, I do not want to give away too much because it would spoil the movie.

So I highly recommend this movie.  This is not for the kids!  Lots of bad language and nudity galore so keep the young ones away.  But if you are a fan of this genre, this is a great movie and well worth a Redbox rental.!

-The Producer

Gaming in the 80's: Atari and beyond

If you have Netflix, you may want to check this documentary out about the rise and fall of Atari. Now you have to be of a certain age to know and understand what Atari was and what it meant and the documentary does a great job demonstrating that.

Back in the 80's and I mean like 1980, Atari was what Nintendo, and Sony Playstation, and Xbox are now.  They were the first in home gaming system that allowed you to play video games at home and not at the arcade.  Originally, games like Pong were popular with the system but later on versions of popular arcade games like Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Frogger, and Centipede could be played at the crib and all you needed was this gaming system, a very rudimentary tv hook up, and a joy stick. When you look at the design now, it seems so basic but this was some powerful shit for the late 70's, early 80's.

So obviously Big Hutch and I wanted one and dropped subtle and not so subtle hints all the time to try and get one.  We was extra good and nice to each other, cleaned our room( by putting shit in the closets), did our chores. But most obviously, we would play the Atari every time we went to Sears because they had it hooked up inside the store and beg for it when they made us leave.  We probably looked something like this:

We got ours in 1979. We would have gotten it earlier but I got some bad interim reports and report cards and was punished by my 'rents by delaying that purchase.  Once we got it, we played it... alot.  We played before school, after school, before dinner, after dinner.... you get the picture.  We wore them joysticks out on all kinds of games.  And kids, back then, the games only cost like 20-25 dollars- none of this $60 junk. And even tho that was alot of money to our 'rents back then, it seemed to be worth it to them to keep us off the streets and in the house where they did not have to worry about what we was doing( we was playing video games)!  And our house became a landing spot for our neighborhood friends.  We played games all the time on our system or they would bring their games and play them at our house.  In 1980, we were living the dream!

This documentary captures that feeling we had as players- just from the designers and developers perspective.  These dudes was rock stars and was living a nerd life that most nerds could only dream of.  They partied, drank and smoked weed, they played and designed games.... man they even had groupies! Video game groupies!!!

But like all good things, they do come to an end.  On our side, new gaming systems that had better graphics and playability had come out.  Some people got the Intellivision but we wound up going with the Colecovision.  Now if you had Coleco, you know its graphics for mid 80's was extra tight and it made Atari look like...well look like Atari. And Atari tried to keep up by releasing the new Atari 5200, but Coleco had better games and we just moved on from Atari as we got older.  Sensing that shift, Atari attempted to rebrand itself and started to take chances with their Atari system by making more original games, along with the arcade versions of games.  This is when Pac-man for Atari comes out, as well as Space Invaders - which were the two most popular games in the early 80's.  But they looked terrible and played even worse.  

Atari also begin to license out video games based on popular movie franchises and in 1982, the biggest movie in the world was ET.  Atari, taking a gamble because they were losing ground to new gaming systems, agreed to make an Atari version of this game.  If you see the movie, the people at Atari were given a 5 week deadline to make this video games so they could sell it at Christmas time. At this time, a game took at least 6 months to develop.  But the people at Atari worked and got the game out... and it was terrible.  We had a copy! The in game play was poor but more than anything, it was crazy glitchy and was not a game you wanted to play over and over.

Atari produced over 2 million copies of the game and when it did not sell, they were stuck with them. Over 700,000 copies of a game that no one wanted.  So what did they do?  They buried them. Literally!  In a dump in Arizona, they buried copies of ET  and other poorly sellling games and the documentary is based upon that dump and the fall of Atari.

This is less a movie review than a look back at gaming in the 80's.  From Atari, to Colecovision, to Nintendo, to Sega for Big Hutch and I, gaming has always been a part of our black nerd experience. I know we went outside and played sports and went to school, but most of my 80's memories are tied to gaming in our house( and professional rasslin') Even today, I have a son who loves games and we do retro gaming nights every Tuesday on the Playstation 2.  To see my son play Pac Man, Joust,  and Root Beer Tapper always brings a smile to my face and allows he and I to connect on a different level as father and son.

So what was your favorite 80's gaming system?

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Atari: Game Over Trailer

-The Producer

Redbox Movie Review: The Boy Next Door

In our continued series of movies from Redbox that we watch for you so you can decide if you want to rent it from Redbox, we watched the Boy Next Door starring Jennifer Lopez. So is it work your $1.50.

In a word NO.  IN two words, HELL NO!  If you know me well enough, you know that I enjoy campy movies and I have been known to partake in very long Lifetime movie marathons which are essentially the same movie over and over again with women in distress( I am not sure what that says about me).

I know alot of fellas wanted to see this movie because of J Lo.  And she looks good in the movie.  But if you are expecting to see "something" you are going to be sadly disappointed which makes the movie even worse.  J Lo plays a teacher who is going through a divorce( side brotha note... how come JLo ain't never married to no minorities in these movies?) and when the new neighbor moves in to take care of his ailing uncleshe has a one night stand with him and then he goes nuts after getting some and the movie spirals from there.  The movie never explains where the uncle goes after a brief hospital stay or why this kid is a psychopath. I guess J-Lo's  the ill na na just turned him out!  That's pretty much the only explanation you can come to based on the movie.

It goes through all the scenes you would imagine from a Fatal Attraction rip off, minus the cooked bunny.  The ending is outrageously ridiculous and worse than any movie you may see on Lifetime.  And that is the biggest problem- the movie did not embrace the camp.  If you are going to be this outrageous, over the top, camp-fest, embrace it.  It toes the line between camp and taking itself too seriously and the movie falls so flat.

I would pass on this one, ya'll.  Use that $1.50 to buy a lotto ticket or something!

Wedding Ringer: A Redbox movie review

Part 2 of our new feature: Is it worth a Redbox rental.  We watch shaky movies for you and decide if they are worth that $1.50 Redbox rental.  Today's movie is the Wedding Ringer starring Kevin Hart, that chick from the Big Bang Theory, and that dude that voiced Olaf in Frozen.  When those are your selling points, you should know your movie is in trouble.

So is it worth your $1.50. In a word, no.  In two words, Hell No! Look, Kevin Hart is a funny dude, I guess. I am not the fan that some people are and I think as a stand up he is highly overrated.  But the material in this movie is not worthy of the meager talents that he has and he cannot elevate the movie into something that is even passable.  I may have had two chuckles this entire movie. 

The movie is a Hitch rip off essentially.  Black guy works with fat white guy who has outkicked his coverage on the girl he is going to marry. The biggest difference being Will Snith is a movie star who can make ( or could make) average material entertaining, whereas Kevin Hart can't do that yet and probably never will. The weird premise is that the dude has no friends to be his best man or groomsmen.  Really? What dude has no friends?  Even the most secluded dudes I know have at least 1 person they can count on!

So its bad. I kinda want to petition all of you for a penny to get my money back for watching it for you!

-The Producer