Quick Movie Review

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016, USA) | Rating: 3.5/5
It's no surprise that I was going to continue with this wonderful revival in the X-Men franchise, especially since I thoroughly enjoyed X-Men: Days of Future Past. Seeing this new threat to our mutants presented a lot of excitement for me, since he is apparently the first mutant in existence. Also, I was looking forward to seeing new mutants or their younger versions on the screen, especially Olivia Munn's portrayal of Psylocke. Going into this movie, I heard lots of mix reviews and I was a little concerned, but at the same time I was not very surprised by it. There were a lot of extra characters in this movie and some of them seemed to have no purpose in my eyes, especially that cameo. The story had a really interesting premise and trying to connect these younger counterparts to their adult actors from the past was a fun thing for me, but there were certain elements of said interesting story that didn't get executed as well as I hoped. I think most complaints had to deal with the villain himself, which I had after much contemplation. He seemed like an amazing threat to our group of mutants, but he kinda let me down with his power and slightly his appearance. Nonetheless, I feel like Magneto has undergone a well developed transformation over the past three movies. In short, this wasn't a terrible movie at all, just a little disappointing in certain areas. My enjoyment for these younger versions still continued to grow and the premise had some promising potential, but I sadly must admit that this is definitely the weakest installment with our new generation of actors.



The Witch (2015, USA) | Rating: 3.5/5
When I saw the previews to this movie, it looked admittedly not so good. I originally had no plans on seeing it, until I heard the surprising praise for this movie. Curiosity got to me and I had to check it out, but I wasn't rushing to see it in the theaters or anything. Once it was released on DVD, I was still a bit skeptical. Ophelia gave me her short opinion on the film while she was watching and there was a small glimmer of hope that it might actually be worth my time. It definitely is a slow burn of a movie and it's also a period piece, but the suspense and psychological elements kept me glued to the screen. By the end of the movie, I had no idea what just happened, but I wasn't upset that I watched it at all. It really was a pretty good movie and it was different than the jump scare, gore fest that some directors believe audiences want. Sometimes a good slow burn, suspense thriller is what we need in our lives and this satisfied those areas very well. Check it out if you're looking for something different in the horror genre.



The Other Side of the Door (2016, USA) | Rating: 2.5/5
Unlike The Witch, I think I actual did want to see this one in theaters and honestly I have no idea why. The premise is very blunt and the possible contents of this movie could easily be predicted with some key cliche knowledge. I'm glad I caught this on DVD as it really isn't theater worthy, but it wasn't terrible either. It does deserve a rental if The Witch is beyond your mental or aesthetic range. I've seen enough horror films with parents pining for their deceased children to only be punished by their mistakes of messing with the dead. I passively watched this from beginning to end, not really feeling too much for any of these characters, but I must admit that it did catch my attention toward the climax. I guess Sarah Wayne Callies learned a thing or two about parenting in a desperate and dangerous situation from her Walking Dead days.



The Legend of Tarzan (2016, USA) | Rating: 3.5/5
I'm sure the reason behind seeing this movie is pretty obvious: I love Alexander Skarsgard! Aside from that, I was curious to see what they would do with the Tarzan story in this day and age. In a time where having an origin story is the norm, this movie did a good job balancing the main timeline while also giving us enough backstory that it didn't dwell on the past too much. The way the story is structured, it uses Tarzan's background to build on the present situation. I was surprised to see Samuel L. Jackson co-starring in this adventure adaptation and I know he's capable of keeping it tame for PG-13 movies, while still maintaining his comedic timing and charm. The story was rather standard with having the "white man/corporation" as the enemy, but changed its "damsel in distress" dynamic by making Jane be a fighter and being capable to handle her own mentally and physically. I didn't feel like she depended on Tarzan in the least, but that their relationship depended on balance from each other. I think they call this "#relationshipgoals". Anyway, I was impressed with the action and visuals of this adaptation, although I think The Jungle Book handled CG animals a little better. Nonetheless, it didn't take me out of the flow of this movie and my mom, my aunt, and I enjoyed what we saw. I'm kinda hoping I'll see more from this in the future.



Allegiant (2016, USA) | Rating: 2.5/5
After seeing Insurgent last year, I was looking forward to how the story would continue in this third (and should be final) installment. I had intentions of seeing it in the theater, but decided to let those intentions go as there was just way too many things coming out at the time that I was more excited about. By the time I watched it on DVD, I was happy that I didn't spend any money on it. It was sad to see that this movie took a few steps back to how I felt about Divergent. There were predictable plot points, disappointing deaths, shoehorned romantic gestures, and tons of lovely teen novel cliches that were better executed in the Hunger Games cinematic franchise. [I haven't read the books yet, so I can't compare there.] While some of the action was interesting, it didn't grab me as much as Insurgent. It also didn't help that the effects looked cheap. While prodding around IMDb, it seems like that's probably where unfortunately the budget went to and ultimately landed this third installment as a box office failure. I noticed the low rating on the site as well as the unhappy fans in the boards. Lastly, you may notice that I didn't call this movie "Allegiant Pt. 1", since I read that originally it was going to follow the lead of Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Twilight with its money hungry split finale. Well, they changed the name of the final part and plan on releasing it as a TV movie, considering it failed in the box office. For the sake of curiosity as well as the open ended, poorly executed cliffhanger conclusion, I'll most likely seek it out and learn how this all unfolds for the future city of Chicago.


If there's something you want me to review (or want a more in depth review of the movies above or previous ones), check out this post on how you can submit requests.