Chad C has a super early Suicide Squad review to hold you over for the next couple weeks and throws in Jungle Cruise and The Green Night because he’s a decent guy.
This column introduces you to the most popular movies that are coming out in theaters this weekend.
What movie will you see?
Blade Runner 2049
Blade Runner 2. A new blade runner uncovers a secret that leads him to an old blade runner that has been missing for 30 years. Starring in this Sci-Fi thriller are Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Dave Bautista, Robin Wright, Jared Leto, and more. Denis Villeneuve is running the show here as director. Villeneuve has directed Arrival, Sicario, Enemy, and Prisoners. Don’t walk. Run to the theater to see this. Hear Garrett’s review from this weeks Binge Cast at 2:40:13.
The Mountain Between Us
2 strangers board a small aircraft that eventually crashes in the snow covered mountains. These 2 strangers must come together and survive. Starring in this drama are Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Beau Bridges, Dermot Mulroney, and more. Hany Abu-Assad is the director, while Chris Weitz penned the screenplay based off the novel. Weitz has written scripts for Antz, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, About a Boy, Rogue One, and more. Go check out The Mountain Between Us this weekend.
My Little Pony: The Movie
Calling all Bronies. Calling all Bronies. It’s a My Little Pony movie. Said and done. Lending their voices for this animated feature are Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black), Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Taye Diggs, and more. The director of MLP is Jayson Thiessen, who has directed many shorts and episodes of MLP. Go call your Bronies and ride into the theater this weekend.
This column will introduce you to the most popular movies that are coming out in theaters this weekend.
What movie will you see?
The Dark Tower
Based on the Stephen King books, this film adaptation tells the story of Roland Deschain, (the last Gunslinger), who must battle and prevent Walter O’Dim (the Man in Black) from destroying the universe. Starring in this action adventure flick are Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Jackie Earl Haley, Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road), Nicholas Hamilton (Captain Fantastic), and more. Co-writing and directing is Nikolaj Arcel. Arcel wrote the screenplay for 2009’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Go check out The Dark Tower.
Detroit
Detroit is based on the Algiers Motel incident and the 12th Street riot that took place in 1967. Starring in this historical crime drama are John Boyega, Will Poulter, John Krasinski, Anthony Mackie, and more. Mark Boal penned the screenplay for Detroit, as well as the screenplays for In the Valley of Elah, The Hurt Locker, and Zero Dark Thirty. Directing, we have Kathryn Bigelow. Bigelow’s last 4 directorial films are Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker, K-19: The Widowmaker, and Strange Days. If you live in Detroit, go see Detroit, in Detroit. If not, go to a theater near you.
Kidnap
Somehow Law saw this and reviewed it. Anyway. Simple premise. Here we go. A child gets kidnapped in a park in front of his mother. Now, mom must find the kidnappers. Starring in this thriller are Halle Berry, Dana Gourrier (Minnie from The Hateful Eight), Lew Temple (The Devil’s Rejects), and more. Luis Prieto is the director of this flick. Now go Kidnap your best friend and bring him/her to the theater this weekend.
Five years after Fox cashed in on the appeal of Aliens clashing with Predators, director Ridley Scott made it clear that he was ready to return to the science fiction world which put him on the map. He had a meeting with writer Jon Spaihts, and together they mapped out a prequel of sorts to one of the most highly regarded movies of all time.
But a more contemporary approach was not what Scott was looking for. And, in a controversial move, Fox brought in Lost‘s Damon Lindelof to add an extra outside dimension to the answers fans were looking for. The resulting film Prometheus is still debated by film goers -and the hosts of this very podcast- for what exactly it adds to the universe it was claiming to be a part of.
Join me, Jack Valley, and Johnny Moreno as we engage in what is probably the most debate heavy podcast that’s been had since I started sprinkling in the retrospective format. And then gear up, as we get ready to ride the Alien wave straight into Alien Covenant, to be reviewed the week following its release.
You heard them talk about 12 Star Trek movies already, so what harm could one more do? Garrett and Freak are back to give their review of the divisive Star Trek Beyond. What did they love? What did they hate? How many comparisons to the Gilmore Girls can Garrett cram into one podcast? Download to find out.
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Linda Cardellini, Mark Ruffalo, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hayley Atwell, Andy Serkis, Cobie Smulders, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Hiddleston, James Spader, Jeremy Renner, and Idris Elba.
Make no mistake about it. For the second time in a row, writer/director Joss Whedon had a mighty big weight on his shoulders. Leading up to the release of 2012’s The Avengers, there was a lot of talk about how many balls Whedon was going to have to juggle in order to make it a successful round-up of characters Marvel spent a lot of time and money establishing the origins of since 2008. Even given these origins, Whedon had to plausibly enter Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, and Captain America into a life or death situation involving the fate of the world. Personally, while The Avengers was an all around fun first time cinematic viewing experience, I have to say that I do not think it holds up on repeated viewings. There was no filter to be found for how many snarky lines were sprouted, and moderation was completely absent. Going into The Avengers: Age of Ultron, it was hard to not know of the pressure Whedon had to top himself from the original film’s overly positive fan and critical reaction. Despite my reservations about the first film’s faults, I found myself wondering if there was any way he could possibly make this film better than its predecessor. Let’s be honest. There were quite a few things to improve. The movie’s final enemies were boring, and the overly jokey dialogue gave it less and less replay value. But the brilliant juggling act of combining slam-bang action with the Avengers forming -or Assembling, if you will- Whedon pulled off was never in question. So the main doubt I had with Age of Ultron was, with the job of assembling The Avengers for the first time behind him, did Whedon bring a continuation story worthy of all these characters coming back while making it seem organic and not outlined with the color of money? In other words, did he make his Empire Strikes Back?
In a word, hell yes. With The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Whedon has accomplished the impossible. He has made a movie that is not only one of the most entertaining summer films to come around in quite sometime, he has also injected some surprisingly philosophical themes into what could have once again been the romp he got away with last time. This time, Whedon decided to instead play with the God complex that comes with being a superhero. The way the story and main conflicts develop revolves around Tony Stark. With S.H.I.E.L.D. gone, Stark (Downey Jr) decides to take matters into his own hands and make things easier on his fellow heroes by developing an artificial intelligence run police force, headed by Ultron (Spader). Ultimately, Ultron sees all mankind as the real betrayers of humanity and takes it upon himself to quench the world with their extinction. What follows are many doubts among the Avengers about whether they can take both the physical and mental hits Ultron has to dish out, as well as people who started off on Ultron’s side changing allegiances. In all honesty, that is all the plot you need, as the way its points are layed out and followed through in Whedon’s taut script does more than enough to let you know what is going on in each character’s head.
Speaking of which, that would lead to my favorite new character of the series. From Buffy Summers to his last incarnation of Black Widow, Whedon has a history of writing strong women. He once again does not disappoint with Avengers: Age of Ultron, as not only does he again push the Black Widow character over boundaries we have not seen her jump yet, he also introduces Scarlet Witch. Played with a glint in her eye by the lovely Olsen (Godzilla), Scarlet Witch is a character who, like all characters in this series, could come off as silly if written or played wrong. But her abilities to go into someone’s head without them knowing while going through their exact experiences are brilliantly integrated into the film’s plot. It also helps that Olsen plays up her emotions so that you feel her pain.
Another highlight for me was Hemsworth, who despite being given sub-par scripts in both Thor movies (as well as playing carnival hammer games at state fairs to promote them) has never deterred his charisma. He once again brings his welcome swagger to the proceedings, and Evans & Downey of course chew up each piece of scenery they own. Along with giving Black Widow a bigger part, Whedon saw fit to make Hawkeye a larger piece of the puzzle this time as well. A bigger role and better lines did nothing but endear me to an otherwise boring Renner. The writing of his character makes him more than eminently watchable.
In addition to Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, another surprise was this film’s villain and title character. When I am told by people how entertained they were by The Avengers, they always talk about the action and dialogue. Yet they never talk about the film’s enemies. Hiddleston’s Loki (who once again shows his face here) was written well. But the ‘troops’ Whedon stuck him with made the ending of the film feel weak to me. Yet like most of the 2012 film’s faults, Whedon has fixed the problem. Spader, who has always been one of the most magnetic supporting actors of his generation (something tells me Downey, who acted with Spader in 1987’s Less Than Zero, had a say in this bit of casting) is everything a good villain should be. He is imposing, he is monstrous, and he is emotionally conflicted. Spader -who also did the character’s mo-cap- emotionally digs deep into Ultron’s subconscious, and Whedon’s talent at displaying angst is on full display when he shows Ultron wrestling with his emotions and what he has to do.
Whedon has no doubt gone deeper this go around. Though the movie is not as dark as the trailers would have you believe. While his previous Avengers film was not nearly as clever and funny as it thought it was, Whedon has done what I was hoping for Age of Ultron, which is use moderation. The humor in Age of Ultron comes off as hard hooks as opposed to soft jabs. This time, instead of groaning at someone playing Gallaga, I found myself laughing with the rest of the gang at Hawkeye’s purpose on the Avengers team.
All roads lead to this being Whedon’s last crack as director of an Avengers film. Let me say, if this is his curtain call from the director’s chair of a Marvel film, then he picked a hell of a way to go out. Sure, his hands were tied with Quicksilver (Taylor-Johnson) and what the rights to use him meant to both parties involved. But he did what every good director does, which is do what he could using the tools he had. Yes, his plot has roots in Terminator-esque fears of messing with technology. But I didn’t care. At its core, The Avengers: Age of Ultron is a movie whose soul it does not wear on its sleeve. It is an action packed, rib cage rattling romp through many different emotions. After what he pulled off last time, I did not expect Whedon to do more of the same. But I also sure could not foresee him spinning the web of an emotionally layered action film that he did. And no, that is NOT a hint to the film’s final scene.