Movie Reviews

A bit of an outdated page as I don't do written movie reviews anymore. However, if you are interested in my thoughts on movies - particularly the Marvel movies ands shows - then you can check out my YouTube channel. The Chosen Girl Reviews

Spider-Man Far From Home review

As a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe I was excited to see how Spiderman: Far From Home would deal with the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame. The movie does show how life in the MCU has continued since the end of Endgame but it doesn't linger on it for too long. Far From Home is a true sequel to Spiderman: Homecoming, focusing on Peter Parker and his classmates. While I think I prefer Homecoming, there are some great aspects of Far From Home. The first being that this is the first Spiderman movie where the primary story does not take place in New York City.

In the movie Spiderman battles creatures called Elementals which are made from water and fire. The special effects in this movie are amazing. The action scenes are great, but the overall plot of the movie falls a part if you think it about it afterwards. This includes the villain Mysterio, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. I did like Gyllenhaal's performance and his interactions with Tom Holland's Peter Parker were excellent.

As mentioned this movie does not take place in New York but rather, Venice, Prague and London, with a stop off in Berlin and the Netherlands. The fun of this movie is with Peter and his classmates traveling across Europe while encountering the Elementals. The last Spiderman movie (Homecoming) focused on Peter trying to be Spiderman, an Avenger level hero, and this new movie does the opposite. Peter just wants to be Peter, a normal teenage boy trying to ask out a girl he likes and having to be Spiderman gets in the way. It's a different take on the character that I find refreshing, but at the same time, I feel as if Spiderman the hero is not as impressive in this movie.

I would have to see the movie again to really see how I feel about this one. There's some great comedy, awesome action and brilliant character interactions but something is missing for me. While I love Holland in the role of Peter Parker, I don't think this is my favorite movie with his Spiderman in it (that goes to Infinity War). I will say that both of the end credit scenes were amazing and shocking. Hopefully they will have bigger implication going forward in the MCU. Still, if you enjoy this version of Spiderman, you will like Far From Home.

The Lion King Movie (2019) Review

With the success of the recent live-action remakes of classic Disney animated movies, I was really looking forward to this new version of The Lion King. I loved what Disney did with Beauty and the Beast and most recently the new Aladdin movie. The later of which I find has the best soundtrack of these new remakes. So, I was hoping to be blown away by the new lion king movie. While I did enjoy the movie, I left a bit disappointed.

The new version is almost shot for shot the same as the original animated movie. Unlike the new Aladdin which added several new changes, The Lion King only had small changes that didn't actually impact the story much nor give the story a broader scope. Director John Favreau used the technology he help develop during filming The Jungle Book live action remake, and up'd the game for this movie. The visuals are spectacular, at times you forget that these are not actual lions or animals on screen. Even the landscape and environment are computer generated graphics. This movie looks better than some nature documentaries.

However, looks are not everything, and this movie falls flat for me in a few areas. First, the voice actors specifically, Scar, Simba and Nala. To be fair, the actors are not trained voice professionals, but little emotion comes through in their performances. Secondly, the story doesn't add enough new to it, making me think this was only remade to challenge the visual effects team. Lastly and most importantly the songs. The original animated movie has a some of the most notable Disney musical numbers. So, popular that the Broadway musical version is still going on to this day. And while Donald Glover and Beyonce do bring their vocal talents to the song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” the other songs aren't as strong, and that includes the new Beyonce song “Spirit”. While the songs in the movie were fine, they didn't blow me away the way the Aladdin soundtrack did.

Now on to the positives of the movie! Three of the characters stood out, Timon voiced by Billy Eichner, Pumba voiced by Seth Rogen and Zazu voiced by John Oliver. These three make a big impact on the movie and provide most of the comedic relief. Eichner and Rogen even sing a new and longer version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. And Eichner pays tribute to another classic Disney song from Beauty and the Beast (not the one you're thinking of). While I was disappointed In Chiwetel Ejiofor's Scar, I was impressed with Alfre Woodard's Sarabi (Simba's mom). She offered a strength to the character that was in the original but Woodard improved the character. A quick mention to the hyena's, they are a lot more threatening in this version, with Shenzi being the fierce leader.

If you loved the original animated The Lion King then you will enjoy the new version. However, don't get too excited for the musical numbers. While there is a lot of good in this movie, it's not one of my favorites from these new Disney remakes. I may watch it again, but since it doesn't added enough new changes I'd rather watch the animated movie. I'll say this though, I did cry throughout the whole movie, and as a cat person, I found young Simba to be absolutely freaking adorable! So, there you go, a good movie, but not a favorite of mine. Still something to check out if you love the animated version.

Aladdin (2019) Review 

The original Disney animated Aladdin movie was for a long time my favorite of the Disney classic animated movies until I re-watched the 1991 Beauty and the Beast. The musical numbers from Aladdin are some of the best that Disney has done, and my love for the original made me very excited to see the live-action version. Even though I was really hyped, I toned down my expectations after the first five minutes of the movie. I told myself, "this isn't going to be the animated movie, so I should stop expecting it to me and judge it on its own merits."

Now, going into the movie, I was most concerned about the actor playing Aladdin, but luckily I ended up really enjoying Mena Massoud in the role. I loved Will Smith as the Genie and loved the idea when he was first cast. While Smith doesn't have the best singing voice, he makes up for it with sheer charm and enthusiasm. Plus accompanying visual spectacles. I even enjoyed the "Friend Like Me" hip-hop remix that plays over the end credits. The new song by Jasmine was also a surprisingly excellent addition to the movie. While I did miss Jafar's reprise of "Prince Ali," I also understand why they didn't add it in. It wouldn't have fitted with this version of Jafar.

Which brings me to the changes to the characters and overall story. Like the other Disney live-action remakes of the animated movies, Aladdin takes a slightly more grounded approach to the world. Yes, there is magic, but the animals, in particular, do not have the same amount of personality that they had in the cartoon. Iago only speaks in the sense that parrots are known to mimic what humans say. Raja looks extremely badass, and Abu is still cute. Jafar is not the same colorful character from the animated movie, but much more uneasily calm, and at times a bit one-dimensional. The additions to Jasmine's character, give her more depth and ambitions that merely being trapped in a palace.

One of the reasons I have enjoyed the Disney live-action remakes is that they expand the stories, and in Aladdin's case, it builds the relationship between Aladdin and Jasmine, making them have a connection before he even finds out she's a princess. Also, it develops his friendship with the Genie as genuine. The real strength of this film, however, is simply the fact that it is a fun and exciting journey. While the music is not the quality of the animated version (some song lyrics have been changed), I had such a great time watching this movie, altogether singing along and a grin on my face the whole time. Will Smith was delightful as the Genie, Aladdin was charming and Jasmine stunning. Director Guy Ritchie adds his signature style to the film, and overall I'd say it's a good, fun, entertaining movie, on par with the 2017 Beauty and the Beast film. Can't wait to see what Disney has in store for the rest of its live-action remakes of the classic animated movies.  

Review of Captain America: Civil War

The third movie in the Captain America trilogy (so far) does a great job balancing the story with the rest of the Avenger characters. The main plot of the movie involves Steve Rogers (Captain America) trying to find and protect his childhood friend Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier) while dealing with a political rights situation involving all of the characters with super powers that are in Marvel movies. 

One of the things that stood out was the action sequences. In the opening fight scenes, the choreography for the hand to hand combat scenes are really impressive. The characters Black Widow, played by Scarlet Johansen, and The Falcon played by Anthony Mackie, both get to show off some new moves and tricks when fighting their enemies. Another scene later in the movie makes great use of an apartment stairwell.

The big showdown at the airport is also very well done and brings in the main superheroes that have appeared in the Marvel movies. Team Captain America versus Team Iron Man is a battle that does not disapoint. The standout moments are from the newer superhero characters which include Black Panther, Ant-Man and of course Spider-Man.

As far as the villains go, Crossbones looked really cool and had some exciting fighting scenes, but ultimately was just a plot device to introduce the real villain that divides the Avengers, and that is a governmental act that wants the heroes to work for the government on missions to try and prevent any casuallities and property damage. This requires the team to take sides, some voting with Tony in favor of the act, and some with Steve against the act. The actual villain is a man named Zemo who is trying to get the Avengers to kill eachother because of the destruction that oocured in Sokovia in the movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. He is a man out for revenge and in a way he succeeds in spliting the group apart, at least for this movie.

While it's easy to think of this movie as an Avengers movie, at it's core it is very much a Captain America story but also adds in a great plot with Tony Stark. The story involving Steve and Bucky is something that has been building since the first Captain America movie, The First Avenger. As for the Tony Stark plot, that is something that began in the movie Iron Man 2 involving his father Howard Stark. At the end of the movie Tony's story has wrapped up, but Steve's isn't quite finished. After seeing where all of our heroes end up, it will be interesting to see how they are brought back together for the next Avengers movie.

Review of Justice League

Knowing some of the controversies that went on while making this movie and having heard some negative reactions, I went into this movie with lower expectations. Perhaps maybe that's the reason I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. There are some good action and funny moments that make this movie for the most part, enjoyable.

Having loved the Wonder Woman movie I was very excited to see her in action here. Wonder Woman is awesome! There's a great scene in the beginning that shows her powers and reminds you that she is a powerful fighter. Aquaman, while fun, was a bit underutilized. He seems powerful, but this movie doesn't explain what his powers are. With the exception of a joke about him talking to fish.

A character that surprised me by how much I ended up liking him was was Victor Stone, aka Cyborg. He gets some really good moments with Wonder Woman and has to deal with his internal struggles about being more machine than human. Very good, but like Aquaman, I needed more backstory about his character. One character not in the trailers was Superman. Wow, he's powerful. I don't want to give too much away, but this movie really utilizes Superman's power set and it's awesome.

Now being a big fan of The Flash television show, I was going to be biased no matter what about this new Flash character. He's a bit uneven to me. He's good in some scenes, too comedic in others, and ultimately has the least to do, in terms of power, among the group. Batman has some great actions scenes and gets to be the strategist of the group, and I just like it when he gets to use his cool gadgets.

While this movie does have a quick pace, that is ultimately a detriment to the overall story quality. The plot and villain don't make much sense, and some of the character developments have either been rushed or dropped entirely. Adding a few extra scenes could have fleshed out and fixed some of these problems. Another flaw is the CGI (computer generated graphics) in the movie. The villain should have been done using practical effects makeup. The actor that plays Superman had to have his mustache digitally removed in most of his scenes which is why his mouth looks a little weird.

The strong point of this movie is the team. It's fun to see this group of characters interact with each other and have to work together. This is not Marvel's Avengers, but it's not a bad movie. There's a lot of fun to be had, and some really cool action scenes. If you don't focus too much on the plot then you should have a good time watching this movie. Only makes me more excited to see Wonder Woman 2, if they make it.

Review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

When the first Jurassic World movie came out back in 2015, I was super excited because I love the original Jurassic Park film. Even though Jurassic World made over 2 Billion dollars at the box office, fans had mixed reviews. Personally, I really enjoy the movie, but recognize it's flaws. So I was a bit skeptical going into Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. I will say that overall I might like it more than the first Jurassic World.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this movie is that it added in the horror elements that made the original Jurassic Park so great. The tone throughout the movie was dark, but most of it worked well. It plays into the theme and dark side that comes with the creation of the dinosaurs. Fallen Kingdom does a good job at following what the first movie set up, and pushes the theme of a dinosaur world further. It raises questions about the responsibility that humans have for these dinosaurs and what it means to have dinosaurs in the world, rather than just a theme park.

Jeff Goldblum returns! All though it's brief, the way that the character Dr. Ian Malcolm was used fit perfectly with the movie's theme. Hopefully, we can get more from this character in the third movie, and maybe even bring back Dr. Alan Grant. The acting in this movie was pretty good, and in particular I enjoyed the child character. The two boys from Jurassic World were boring characters that had too much screen time, the young female child in this movie, does a much better job of integrating into the story.

Not everything in the movie was great. There are a lot of moments that are used as plot points. A way to quickly jump the story forward, even if it doesn't make sense. While it doesn't ruin the movie for me, it is something that you have to just roll your eyes and move on from. Another thing I didn't like, was that the movie spent such little time on the actual island. Most of the movie takes place off the island, and I would have loved to see more of the island before leaving it behind forever. The movie's villain is also very one dimensional and lacks a compelling motive.

The opening scene did a great job to capture my attention and the movie has a lot of action. I like the direction they took this sequel, I wish it was maybe executed better. But coming out of the movie, I found myself really enjoying it. There were a lot of nods to the original Jurassic Park, some of which I appreciated and some that I rolled my eyes at. I'll have to see it again, but this might be the second best Jurassic movie, in my opinion.