First Look: Kiki's Delivery Service

Kiki's Delivery Service is owned by Ghibli...I think.

Star Trek: Into Darkness

J.J. Abrams-Hey guys. Hey. Hey Audience. I got a secret. There's a secret dude in into darkness, but I'm not gonna tell you who, cause it's a secret. Even though there is only one character in all of original star trek it could be and hiding his identity only serves to make it really obvious who it it as its the only one reason you would hide him. Because it's a secret, and you audiences love secrets.

No not a fan of Abrams. I find his secret box concept annoying and trite. If you don't know what that is google it. So how was the movie?

Don't blame me, the poster spoils it.

So Star Trek. Oh what a tangled web we weave. It is one of if not the largest sci fi franchise of all time sprawling over decades with a very... VERY loyal fanbase. Than the dark seed Abrams got his hands on it and decided to make a reboot/alt universe and it was a hit. This is it's sequel. 

So yet again we hit a snag in terms of reviewing. The meat of this movie, and the most glaring flaws of it come from it's spoilers. I will give a non spoiler review and preface the spoilers with warnings, but in this case they have to be discussed to do the film any justice. So if you're averse to spoilers, watch for the warnings.

Who could it be? Said no one ever.

These are the voyages of the starship into darkness. A terrorist has attacked a starfleet archive for unknown reasons and a meeting of the top brass is commenced. However when that too is attacked, Captain Kirk and his loyal crew are sent after the mad terrorist. When it becomes clear that there is a larger game afoot, Kirk will have to learn that not everyone can be saved, and that the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few.

3D was pretty good btw

So as for the directing, it's actually fairly decent. I may have a grudge against the JJ but i can admit when a scene is shot well. That being said, if i was to make a gripe about the direction it would be that we get way to intimate with the characters faces far too often. Yes close ups are nice and can be used effectively but not all the damn time. The score is brilliant as par for the course for a Star Trek movie. The effects are great and are really able to be showcased in several spectacular ship based set pieces. The acting from everyone is superb with special shoutout to Benedict who owns every scene he's in. Chris Pine is sometimes a little lacking but it's not bothersome.

So, non spoiler review. It's enjoyable. As an action movie, it fills the time. The action and acting are good enough to make it worthwhile. The biggest problem with this movie is plot. There are a dozen plot threads going throughout the run time and almost all of them are ignored or abandoned by the ending. If pacing is something that bothers you, then the last act of the movie will not be fun for you as it rushes through to the end. While this is not a good movie, it has several admirable qualities that make it worth your time. No, the real problems come at the end, so here there be spoilers. SPOILERS. I'm even giving you a picture in between to give you one last chance. SPOILERS

Spoilers I say!

Spoilers. So everyone who got to here knows spoilers right? We good? Ok. It's Khan. It's Wrath of Khan. Sherlock is playing Khan. Worst kept secret in the biz but there you go. The most major flaw of this movie comes from this fact as there was in fact, no reason for it to be Khan. In this not original star trek universe, we know nothing about him, his crew, or the Eugenics war. Therefore, we are given no ties or connection to his character or motives. There's no impact from his identity, he just announces "he is Khan" and then we move on. We are not given a reason to care and he is here solely to satiate Abrams fanboyism as newcomers won't get it and long time fans will be annoyed. Coupled with the fact that his motivations make no sense when coupled with his actions and the plot between him and the Admiral. Here is a point by point plothole list of this movie.

If Khan needed the Admiral to further his plans then why did he launch an attack on a starfleet command meeting that could have ended with the admiral dead.

If the Admiral didn't want Kirk to find out what the missiles were then why did he send him after Khan when clearly he could have gone himself.

Why is such a big deal made about the hostilities with the Klingons if nothing ever came from it? They kill a patrol of Klingons and then never mention it again. What was that subplots point?

If the Admiral's plan was to start a war between the Alliance and the Klingon Empire than again, why didn't he go himself.

Why did Khan direct Kirk onto the ship when his HUD went offline when at this point Khan clearly doesn't need him anymore.

Why didn't Khan do what he threatened immediately and destroy the enterprise and collect the cryo pods later rather than negotiate?

How did Bones undo 72 missiles in what was clearly less than an hour?

Who and how disabled the Enterprises warp core?

So Khan who has been frozen for 300 years can give the admiral a starship design that is significantly more advance than anything we have now? Why didn't he and his crew do that before they were frozen.

This isn't a plothole but just to reiterate, the Klingon plotline, the Admiral plotline go absolutely nowhere.

Now at this point,  I was still enjoying the movie. Then the last twenty minutes rolled by and we have some major issues. Up to this point they did their own thing and despite the issues, it worked. Then they decide to go somewhere and invite comparisons that they really should not have dealt with. The movie redoes the radioactive core scene from Wrath of Khan beet for beet only with the roles reversed. This was not earned by the movie and only serves as fanservice. It has no place in this film and is rendered doubly pointless when not five minutes later, it is clumsily resolved with no repercussions. Everyone get's away Scott free and nothing is learned. Again, you don't want to invite comparisons from Wrath of Khan. You will lose. It's like redoing the "here's looking at you kid" scene from Casablanca. Yeah you may do it well and the actors might to a good job but your still just copying what has already been done.

Though I disagree with the use of his character, his performance saves this movie

I fear for Star Wars VII now more than I ever have before now. Abrams is not the right choice as this movie is evidence to. You should not be given reign over a franchise if you are infatuated with it. That only leads to trying to do what has already been done rather than taking a new angle on the series. There are several good elements of this movie and I repeat that it is worth watching, but there are too many issues pervading the film to be called good.

Check it out if you're in this for the action

Rent if your a long time Trek fan

Skip if you hate movies with more holes in it than the enterprise does.

Notes:

The Klingon redesign is awful and makes them look like orcs. 

The crash of the enterprise was awesome.

I'm getting tired of the 'villain let's himself get captured' plotpoint.

The core scene reversal is unnecessary.

Thinking back, the plot was useless. Nothing advanced in a logical way and little was resolved. 

Iron Man 3

Wasn't what Marvel did awesome? With their movies I mean. Doing movies centered around the individual characters was really the only way that you could bring comic book continuity onto the big screen Then tying it all together in a crossover movie. So, can the series work in a post Avenger's setting?

Robert Downey Junior is two inches taller than Tony Stark. Boo, zero stars

This is a first to my knowledge. This movie is a sequel to two different stories. It continues off of Iron man 2 and has to show what life is like for Tony after the New York incident. If your late to the comic party, Avenger's was universally praised, everybody loved Iron Man and everyone tolerated Iron Man 2. Myself? Iron man was OK, Iron Man 2 was serviceable and Avenger's made it all worth it.

War Machine does sound better than Iron Patriot

Tony Stark aka Iron Man is busy tinkering and playing with his suits. His reasoning, ever since the events of Avenger's, he has been going stir crazy due to sleepless nights spurred on by apparent PTSD. tensions between he and Pepper rise and soon a new threat makes himself known. The Mandarin begins to take credit for several bombings. The oddity? No bombs are ever used. Tony must get back in the game and discover what the true danger is before it's too late.

Lot of super hero movies advertising the whole broken mask thing

Shane Black is one of my favorite directors and one of the greatest action comedy director in recent memory. He previous effort with Robert in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one of my favorite movies and when the news broke that Shane would direct this, my expectations soared. Justifiably so. The directing was top notch throughout with better action scenes than we've ever had before. The Writing is crisp and flowing and fricking hilarious. The effects were great and the actors all brought their A game with Robert stealing the show as always followed closely by Sir Ben Kingsley's scenery chewing Mandarin. The only technical gripe is that the 3D was worthless. Whenever there is a 3D movie and stuff fly's away from the camera, your doing it wrong. It doesn't enhance the atmosphere and it doesn't have any fun.

Aviators, you know he's bad

This one is my personal favorite of the Marvel movies. Avenger's notwithstanding. Everything as it should be. The stakes are high but not avenger's scale high and this gives a good reason for why the other heroes don't assist. I have always been in the view that when you adapt something, you should do your own thing especially when that thing is unique. I'll take creativity over accuracy to the source any day and this movie does a great job at both paying homage to it's comic book roots, while also doing it's own spin on things. The action is better than it has ever been with a particularly awesome mid air rescue scene, the comedy is funnier with my personal favorite joke of the series, the character's at their peak and the story is tight and clean as a superhero movie can be. I especially liked the villains who aren't just other guys with suits this time. Now they actually have powers and for the first time in the Iron Man movies, it felt like his opponents were a match for him. They also give the movie more of a comic book feel than the other two possessed. The twist halfway through is unexpected and hilarious. Almost everything about this movie works and if it's the final stand alone iron man movie, than it was a great send off.

what up guy?

My biggest problem is it does tie into Avengers and I can buy that Thor couldn't help, Hulk, Widow and Hawkeye, but as for cap? What was he doing? The events of this movie seem to be in his wheelhouse but oh well. Also there are a few plot holes. If you don't want to know skip to the next paragraph. Spoilers follow: When the helicopters attack his home, why didn't the military shoot them out of the sky within two minutes? The botanists plan didn't make much sense and if Tony could have had doctors remove the shrapnel from his chest, why didn't he do that before. End spoilers.

I'm calling it. Right now. Everyone will still claim the first one was the best, but really what was so good about that one? It was a decent origin story but what really sold it was Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. It was the role he was born to play and i agree, but He's perfected the role by this movie which is better in every area. Just saying. But you can keep on about how awesome the first one was and how this one's just trying to capture the magic of the first. You bunch of critics.

If your a comic book purest, this movie will not please you as several liberties are taken, but speaking as someone who has read those comics i found the changes to be minor as well as serve the same purpose as the original story so take that as you will. However if you enjoyed the first two you'll love this one. Check it out.

All materials owned by Marvel Studios
Review subject to fair use

Portfolio

This is my professional portfolio. At least professional in my opinion.

http://jessenadeau13.wix.com/jessenadeauportfolio

Spotlight: Sucker Punch

Did not think I would ever reach this point. When you have to watch this movie in order to do a report in your psyche class, there must be something to it am I right? This movie got bashed hard critically and at first I agreed. Flashy and fun but nothing of substance. However, after watching it again, there might be something to this explosion of awesome. If you'll take the time to hear me out, you just might get a sucker punch to the noggin.

And half the feminists cheered, and the others boo'd 

Plotting in the Asylum: Nickname Baby Doll is thrown into a mental institution by her evil stepfather so he could claim her inheritance. To deal with the stress, she fantasizes that she is a brothel girl in a high class joint. Still set on escaping, she enlists the aid of four other girl's in order to escape. In order to gather the materials they will need for the escape, she delves into another fantasy where she and her friends are bad ass action girls and much violent goodness is had. The plan is not flawless however and soon Baby Doll may realize hat she may be risking more than her life.

Let's all take a minute to appreciate this

Things that felt like a lobotomy: The acting is meh overall and it's not really the actors fault as they have very little dialogue actually. Character is lacking as only two of the main characters are given any real emotion. When two girls are killed (Spoilers btw) I actually didn't remember their names. The pacing is off and the movie should really be an R. Hooray for extended cuts.

Nazi's robots and samurai oh yes

Fantastic fantasies-The things that were awesome: The visuals are glorious. The fantasy sequences are a special sight. The action is good and the soundtrack is fan-flipping-tastic. One of the best. The effects are stunning and I always love a good story involving insane women.

Dragon's improve everything.

Why we're talking about it: As previously stated, this movie was crapped on when it was released. It was all flash and no substance which is the opinion I initially held. I didn't dislike it, i just thought it was fun and that was all it needed to be. The movie is misogynous and play to nerd fetishism. I didn't think of that when watching it but upon reflection that idea didn't seem too far off. It appeals to the lowest and most basic of teenage instincts. Ouch. That hurt me mainstream critics, right in the ego. Was it really nothing but mindless fetishism? Opinion time!

This pic simultaneously disproves me and makes my point.

Smarter than you thought: I agreed that the movie was mindless though i was against the idea that it was misogynistic. Upon re watching it, I saw their point. Mental patients in skimpy outfits doing acrobatics for our pleasure. It was hard not to notice the sex appeal being thrusted into our faces. The constant pantie shots didn't help the movies cause either. Then a weird thing happened. Baby Doll preforms her first dance for a high class creep. Then it all hit me at once. This movie, was a parody. A parody of all the action magical girl cheesecake stories that litter fiction. It was a condemnation of it's genre by turning everything said genre is known for up to 11. It was hard to see at first as a non comedic parody is rare. All of the men she dances for are horrible contemptuous pederasts. These men are meant to be the audience. The movie is actively  mocking it's supposed target demographic. "This is you. You came here to see hot girls in hot clothes doing hot things and you are disgusting for it. You are the exact same as these horrid men." That is what the movie is saying. The clients and the audience came to the show for the same reasons. During a practice run at one of the shows, one of the characters even asks point blank what about mentally unstable women being violated is sexy. The movie finds this genre's audience reprehensible and marketed itself to appeal to that disgust.

One of the things critics claimed was that the fantasy sequences didn't work and were mindless, raw and not filled with any merit. Sweet Pea points this out too. "All that gyrating and moaning, the dance should be more than titillation. My dance is personal, it shows who I am. What do yours say?" See what they did there? The movies purpose is so overt, it's covert.

Now let's talk about the other main character, sweet pea and the other theme I noticed. She at all points appears to be the most adult of the group. She's resistant at first to Baby Dolls plan not because of self preservation, as all the other girls, but that she believes that if they enacted this plan, her sister could get hurt in the process. As previously shown, she believes in being more personal and intimate in her dancing. A good metaphor for the story the movie prefers to be told eh? This as opposed to Baby Doll's raw visceral style i.e. the fantasy reality i.e. the action fetish mode i.e. the one the movie is railing against and here's the most important part, Baby Doll fails. The plan goes screwy and the girls do get hurt. Baby Doll doesn't get away and is still lobotomized. The only one who makes it is Sweet Pea. The first act decries female objectivism in the media, while the second act has just seemingly condemned what some call third wave feminism.

This has gotten pretty deep hasn't it? Before you shout that I'm pulling this out of my arse,  let me explain. Third wave feminism is feminism going to the opposite extreme. Sexual empowerment as liberation. Sexual-ism that the woman is in control of instead of the man. This is what Baby Doll's skimpy action persona represents as well as the fantasy scenes overall. Her plan was to use that empowerment to escape the oppression of her overlords, all male btw. The movie is in a sense saying that "no, your sexy schoolgirl outfit does not liberate or empower you. It's enslavement of a different sort." Just as Baby Doll chose yet another form of enslavement for her fantasy. Keep in mind, her fantasy, her liberation is a representation of her dance. The very thing that is attracting the perverts attention.

So the movie appears to have two goals. To show and condemn the genre that the movie itself is, and two that sexual freedom is not the same as sexual liberation. Both of these are juicy themes. Sucker Punch is empty and vapid eh?

Now for the other important bit, Sweet Pea would never have gotten away if not for Baby, who sacrifices herself so that sweet can escape. If we are to take it that Baby Doll represents third wave feminism which in this case we are, does this act of self sacrifice mean that Sweat Pea represents some fourth wave? One that had to endure the third to progress to a further goal? Interesting question isn't it?

So let's summarize shall we? Sucker Punch marketed itself as sexy girls fighting nerdy things, thus bringing in an audience that subscribes to that genre. Then the movie goes on to criticize both it's own genre, and it's audience. Then it goes on to make a statement about feminism and sexual liberation, then theorize about the movements future.

Feminism!

Now I'm not saying I agree with the latter philosophy, nor am I stating these theories as fact. I could just be making this up, but isn't that what the movie wants? It wanted to fool it's audience into seeing it.

Definition:Sucker Punch-A blow that comes from nowhere and is from the target's POV, unexpected

Maybe that title was more literal than you thought? Especially since it hit you with two of them.


Sucker Punch and all corresponding material is owned by Warner Brothers. 
Review is subject to fair use.

A Great Theater Experience

So, how about a look at my favorite theater that I have been to? For prosperity's sake. The warren 21 theater in Wichita Kansas is a theater experience like no other. In the Midwest at least.  Great service, awesome food (Yes food. Like actually food. Their pizza is delicious.) and great screens themselves. It's a huge complex and also boasts the biggest Imax theater in the midwest which was just constructed recently. The only gripe i have is that not all of the screens are stadium seating but if you go see a new movie that won't be a problem. Check it out if you ever feel the urge.


View For reals this time in a larger map