Thor: Ragnarok

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Thor: Ragnarok is the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In this film, Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) must stop the villainous Hela (played by Cate Blanchett) from conquering Asgard and the rest of the nine realms. Despite the number of movies we have had in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this still felt like a fresh take on the character. The first two movies were generally considered decent, but far from the greatest films in the MCU. Thor: Ragnarok manages to take Thor into the stratosphere. At first, you might think Ragnarok and Planet Hulk wouldn’t mesh very well, but they actually do manage to make the two stories combine really well. The action sequences are amazing, with the right blend of action and humor. Every single actor brings their A-game. As always, Chris Hemsworth has pretty impeccable comedic timing. Tom Hiddleston is excellently weasely as he always is, perfectly transferring into the anti-hero role as opposed to the straight villain he was in Thor and The Avengers. Cate Blanchett really hams it up as Hela in the best way possible. As always, Anthony Hopkins shows exactly why he’s one of the greatest actors of all time. Karl Urban really gets to flex his comedic chops, and does so incredibly well. There are three actors in this movie I really felt stood out though. The first was Jeff Golblum as the Grandmaster. He was just kind of this weirdo, and felt like Jeff Golblum at his most Jeff Goldblum. The second actor that really stood out to me was Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner a.k.a. the Hulk. The Hulk’s attitude and dialogue felt like that of toddler, while in previous MCU films, he felt more like an infant. He kind of talks in bare-bones sentences and complains when he doesn’t get what he wants. But the real MVP might just be Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. She was a hard-drinking badass with a don’t-give-a-fuck attitude. The characters felt surprisingly well developed for a movie like this as well. You understand why Thor, Hulk, Hela, and Valkyrie are the way they are. They show Skurge’s reactions to Hela’s villainous behavior, and the place he feels he’s in, practically through his facial expressions. They actually give some strong resolution to Thor and Loki’s conflict through these movies. Overall, Thor: Ragnarok excelled in almost every way possible, making for one of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the best of the three Thor films.

10 / 10

Ghost in the Shell

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Ghost in the Shell is based off of the acclaimed anime of the same name. It centers on a character named major (played by Scarlett Johansson) who is essentially a cyborg. She works as something of a police officer trying to get to the bottom of a mystery involving a mysterious hacker known as Kuze (played by Michael Pitt). Visually, this movie is stunning. At this point in time, the effects are amazing. Scarlett Johansson as the major is really good, and actually does a solid job carrying the movie. You understand that she does have a mix of human and robotic emotions. Out of all the characters in the movie, she is the most well rounded and developed. The action sequences are pretty good too. They are very well handled, and have little to no shaky cam. The pacing of the movie is easily its biggest issue. The way this movie is structured feels very sloppy. It comes off as less of a flowing narrative, and more like they had multiple movies crammed into one 2-hour film. It just didn’t work as well as it should have. This is a movie that could have been a lot stronger than it actually was. In case you are wondering, no I never saw the original anime. I went into this with no prior connotations or connections. The final result was a movie that I can only describe as “OK.” I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it. I thought it was visually stunning and had some solid acting, but felt a bit too messy when it came to the plot.   

6 / 10

Smurfs: The Lost Village

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Smurfs: The Lost Village is a computer animated film that serves as a reboot to the Smurfs franchise. Smurfette (voiced by Demi Lovato) stumbles upon a strange smurf she has never seen before, and accidentally exposes the existence of these unknown smurfs to the villainous Gargamel (voiced by Rainn Wilson). It doesn’t take long before Smurfette, Clumsy (voiced by Jack MacBrayer), Hefty (voiced by Joe Mangianello), and Brainy (voiced by Danny Pudi) go looking for the lost village, hoping to reach it before Gargamel. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that this is the best Smurfs movie. The thing that honestly did surprise me was that this movie was actually pretty good. The smurfs are much more suited for animation, and it looks really good. Rainn Wilson as Gargamel was pretty funny. His plan was essentially the same as it was in the live action films. Here’s the thing. This movie makes him clueless and inept. Therefore, it makes more sense why he would want to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Perhaps the biggest upgrade was Smurfette. While I don’t think Katy Perry necessarily did bad job voicing her in the live action movies, she felt a little too one note. This movie does a better job trying to explore the character’s feelings, and I actually thought Demi Lovato did a solid job with her voice. Just because I think this was good movie doesn’t mean it’s perfect unfortunately. The use of music in this movie never really fits right. While I don’t think Mandy Patinkin as Papa Smurf is bad, he doesn’t compare to Johnathon Winters. While most of the jokes actually do work, there are some of them that fall flat. The smurfs from the lost village are under-used. You don’t really get to know enough about them, or enough development to them. While this movie is far from perfect, it’s miles better than either of the two live-action movies.

6 / 10  

Jigsaw

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Jigsaw centers on Detective Halloran (played by Callum Keith Rennie) investigating when a new game soon begins, despite John Kramer’s death nearly a decade prior to this movie’s events. So, full disclosure, this movie is ridiculous. The games are just as gruesome and gory as they’ve ever been. Some of the traps did feel a bit outlandish, but they were pretty fun nonetheless. If you are wondering, this movie doesn’t really acknowledge the events of Saw 3D. Yes, I know the plot is full of holes. The killer in this movie pretty much has to rely on coincidence. The characters in this movie make stupid decisions (Because you have never seen the victims in a horror ever act like idiots before). The acting in the movie is pretty hit and miss. The same can also be said of the writing. On one hand, I like that they trick you into rooting for certain characters. As always, Tobin Bell as John Kramer / Jigsaw puts his all into the movie. I also really liked the performances by Laura Vandervoort, Callum Keith Rennie, Cle Bennett, and Matt Passmore. The rest of the cast really struggles to deliver their lines well. I kind of want to see if this franchise is going to continue. Will this be the resurgence for the Saw franchise? I don’t know. I loved this movie. Like the rest of the movies in this franchise, I feel like this is an enjoyably stupid, ridiculous guilty pleasure of a movie. The acting and writing are definitely a mixed bag, but the traps are really why fans are going to want to see this (and they don’t really disappoint). Is this the movie in the franchise that is going to convert people who don’t like the franchise? No. It’s a fun guilty pleasure that’s going to please fans of the Saw franchise.

7 / 10

The Emoji Movie

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The Emoji Movie is about a “meh” emoji named Gene (voiced by T.J. Miller) who is considered a malfunction within the world of the phone. He joins the Hi-5 emoji (voiced by James Corden) to find a hacker named Jailbreak (voiced by Anna Faris) in order to fix himself. The whole time they are chased by malware bots sent by Smiler (voiced by Maya Rudolph). I wanted to give this movie the benefit of the doubt. I honestly thought The Lego Movie was going to be a bad movie, but it turned out to be amazing. THIS is what I feared The Lego Movie was going to be. The whole movie is a product, where the plot is moved forward by the likes of Candy Crush, Just Dance, Spotify, and Dropbox. The movie is practically a barren wasteland of comedy. There are two chuckles I got out of this movie. The first came about 5 minutes in, the second almost an hour in. I will admit the animation was decent. Yeah, that’s all I’ve got for compliments. Story wise, you’ve seen this before. It’s just another attempt at Toy Story, The Lego Movie, and Wreck-It Ralph. Here’s the thing, though. Those movies had heart, clever writing, and good humor. The jokes here are terrible puns you’ve seen hundred times before. The ending to this movie is awful. It’s clear hey wanted to have their cake and eat it too. I am going to go into spoiler territory here. So, if you haven’t seen this movie and want to (please don’t), then stop reading here. The main character of Gene gets his big realization that he can just be himself (an emoji with every emotion). I don’t have a problem with that part. The issue I have comes from what they do with the Jailbreak character. You find out halfway through the movie she’s this mysterious princess emoji that disappeared. The whole movie, she wants to be more than just a princess. By the end of it, they give up and she pretty much just gets stuck in the princess role, and actually seems like she’s totally fine with it now. This movie sucks. , I sat there stone-faced almost the entire time I watched this piece of shit. I was almost always bored or annoyed. You know how sometimes, you see a movie that you’ve heard is bad, so you’re kind of curious. Believe everything you’ve heard about The Emoji Movie. It’s every bit as bad as it’s been made out to be.

1 / 10