Mini Review - Elektra

I was hoping to make a long review of this, but upon a rewatch, I didn’t think I had the material to do that. My thoughts on Daredevil have somewhat changed, but I’m leaving the details for something special next year, for now, just know that Elektra Natchios was introduced in that film and because of the relative success of Daredevil, a spin-off was released in 2005 with Elektra as the star

Elektra was not successful in any way, it scored a meagre 10% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 3.8/10, it has an audience score of 29% with an average 2.6/5, but worse than that it made only $56.7m on a $43 budget, which when you factor in theatre cuts and marketing, results in a net loss for the studio. This film has a certain infamy as one of the worst (the worst is coming, we’ll get to it) but it that entirely warranted? Let’s take a look.

Mini Review - Baby Driver

Baby driver was my favourite movie of 2017. It received critical acclaim upon release, including several academy award nominations, and made a respectable profit on its relatively small budget. So why is it worthy of all this, let’s dive in and find out.

Mini Review - Superman Returns

I know it’s been a while, but we’re back to Superman.

2018 was a year I decided not to cover 2 movies because of the unfortunate and horrific things levied against Kevin Spacey (which continued after I finished writing this, seriously, f*ck Kevin Spacey). But there is a time to separate the art from an artist and refusing to cover them because of one actor is insulting to everyone else involved, so I’ll be doing mini reviews of Superman Returns and Baby Driver over the coming weeks.

Superman returns was intended as a sort of tribute to the Christopher Reeve Superman era, as well as an attempt to breathe new life into the franchise after the horrendous performance of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. It didn’t work out very well, it made only $390m on a $200m budget, thanks to a dismal performance overseas.

Whilst critics tend to like it, most praises came with a few caveats, so let’s dig into the… 2 hours and 37 minutes!!! Holy sh*t, this is a long movie!

Mini Review - Jumanji

Soon, we’ll be looking at the movie I actually want to cover: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle but for the sake of completion, we’ll look at the original first. Based on the novel by Chris Van Allsberg, the movie was released in 1995 and was successful at the box office, earning $262m on its $65m budget. It’s also received some acclaim, being rated number 48 on Channel 4’s top family movies in 2005, but it’s reception on Rotten Tomatoes is a more mixed 53% with an average score of 5.7/10, audiences rated it a 62% with an average 3.2/5

Mini Review - Blade II

The original Blade was a fun time, and it was successful, so in Hollywood tradition a sequel was green-lit. Now, I’ve spotted a problem with Blade’s longevity, he is a Vampire Hunter, and as such he doesn’t have a variety of rogues like other comic book characters, generally either someone from the hierarchy of vampires or random Avengers villains. As such I worry the action can get a little stale, something I’ll come back to in the review.

Wesley Snipes and David S Goyer were both involved as star and writer respectively, with the directing this time handed to Guillermo del Toro, last seen here when I did Pacific Rim but also known for the the Oscar winning The Shape of Water. The film gathered a mixed reception with a 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, just below the Fresh threshold of 60% with the average score being 5.9/10. That said, it was successful, earning over $150m on a $55m budget and sadly ensuring the green-lighting of Blade Trinity, we will get to that.

This review was originally scheduled for back in July, but got pushed back as my DVD was skipping moments and I felt I’d be rushing to judgement.

Mini Review - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Alright, let’s start with my history with this group

Yeah, I’ve not seen any of the shows, or any of the movies, I just happened to hear all the buzz for this one, in particular an element I’ll discuss later. Released in 2014, it made nearly $500m on its $125m budget, earning a modest profit for the studios involved and enough to get a sequel, but a story for another day.

Critics were less than happy with it, it holds a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 4.2/10 score, audiences took to it a bit better, it holds a 51% audience rating with an average 3.3/5 score, still not fantastic by any means.

Mini Review - Ride Along

This was another movie franchise that was on my sequel baiting list… I regret nothing!

Ride Along featuring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. I should’ve known what I was in for but I didn’t stop to think. Released in 2014, the movie was financially successful, earning $150m on a $25m budget but it was slammed by critics with only an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So why don’t I just go the whole hog and make it a rage review. Answers to follow

Mini Review - Angels and Demons

It’s been a while since I talked about the Da Vinci Code. Number of reasons, my schedule being full with other movies, the fact that these films rely heavily on religion, a subject in which I’m not very well versed and I am not myself religious, and finally because I found the Da Vinci Code itself quite boring and had little desire to return to the trilogy in any hurry. But, the time has come and I’m ready for it.

Released in 2009 it made $486m on a $150m budget, which is respectable but it didn’t exactly set the world on fire critically, with only a 37% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, still a marked improvement over The Da Vinci’s Code’s 25%.

Mini Review - Star Trek

Let me tell you about my experiences with Star Trek

Yeah, whilst it took me until I was in my 20s before I watched Star Wars for the firs time, I never watched Star Trek. I think I had an old VHS of it, but it never caught my attention. But in 2009 they decided to reboot the franchise in bring it in the New direction, brought to us by the guy who directed the Force Awakens and Mission Impossible 3, JJ Abrams.

The movie was modestly successful, earning $385m on a $150m budget, not that great, but enough to kickstart this franchise anew leading to a new TV series on Netflix. Look, my schedule’s pretty packed, I may get to discovery some-when down the line but not in the near future.

Mini Review - Australiens

I haven’t done a low-budget sci-fi movie in a while. Let’s tackle on from the other side of the world, this is the Australiens

This appears to the passion project of ArtSpear entertainment, a reasonably successful YouTube channel that does animated trailer parodies and other sketches. The brains behind it are Rita Artman and Joe Bauer, who also star in it. The budget is estimated to be around $20000 Australian, and whilst not a smash hit, it did get some nominations and awards at film festivals.

So, why am I bothering to even touch a movie like this? Well we’ve had a run of really bad, crass, offensive pieces of sh*t created by popular YouTubers, and this is something a bit different. This is an attempt at a sci-fi comedy.

Mini Review - Sherlock Holmes

I have a confession to make. This was initially supposed to be the last sequel baiting with this film going up against Game of Shadows. Unfortunately, Secret Empire ended up being a much bigger project than I was envisioning, combined with some personal sh*t meant I’ve fallen behind and now I’m reducing it to a mini-review to compensate.

Yes, yes, I know, but here we are, so let’s get to it

After a few bad years for Robert Downey Jr where he was imprisoned in a rehab facility for drug users, Robert Downey Jr came back, and came back hard, winning over the audience with Iron Man in 2008 and in 2009, he was the lead star in Sherlock Holmes. It was a decision that won him a golden globe. The film was successful commercially earning $524m on a $90m budget and also critically, a 70% rating on Rotten tomatoes, and 2 academy award nominations. So, 2009 was almost 10 years ago, does it still hold up? Here’s my take on it.

Mini Review - Blade

We’ll be taking a break from the Superman reviews for the time being because Kevin Spacey is a…

  

As I was saying, time to wind down with another superhero franchise, and what a topical time. At time of writing Black Panther just came out and celebrates the first superhero movie and probably first big budget blockbuster in general to have a predominately black cast of characters, but NOT as some people try to claim, the first Superhero movie with a black lead. That honour goes to… I’m not actually sure, but Blade sure as hell is one of them.

Blade came out in 1998, and it was sure as hell an adult movie, R rated in the US, rated 18 (the equivalent of NC-17) in the UK. It didn’t have blockbuster budget, only $45m and didn’t get blockbuster returns, $131m. It was just successful enough that a sequel was greenlit. It wasn’t exactly a critical smash either, rated 54% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 5.7/10. Here are my thoughts

Smith Month - Mini Review - Collateral Beauty

In cinema history there have been many horrors, killer clowns, serial killers with clown masks, reliving the same day over and over again, sociopaths, ghosts, zombies, things that go bump in the night and literally anything by Adam Sandler these days but none are more scary than Will Smith trying to win an Oscar

We conclude Smith Month with the most recent of Will Smith’s Oscarbaiting flicks, Collateral Beauty. Can’t we do Bright instead? No? Oh joy. Despite a star-studded cast, this movie was panned by critics with only a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and whilst moderately successful thanks to it’s low budget, it made less than $100m and marks one of the lowest openings of Will Smith’s career. That Oscar just seems further and further away.

Mini Review - Spy

I love me a spy comedy. Kingsman: The Secret Service might be one of my favourite movies that I reviewed last year. But there was one movie I said topped it and that was Spy

Released in 2015, the trailers for this movie did not fill me with hope, so I didn’t catch it at the cinema but I did eventually catch it on DVD, the movie was a decent success earning $235m on a $65m budget and has an 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But it’s been a while since the first time, does it still hold up? Here are my updated thoughts

Mini Review - Logan

Wolverine has been regarded as one of the most popular X-men, he’s shown up in almost every X-men movie in one way or another, and has been the main character in the vast majority of them. That’s a testament to Hugh Jackman who elevated this character beyond his comic book popularity, to the fact that whilst Fantastic 4’s future in comics went into doubt after Secret Wars, the X-men survived and recently Wolverine was brought back into the fray in the Marvel Legacy title.

Logan, Jackman’s final performance as Wolverine is based on a comic book Old Man Logan, I have not read the comic book but I know it has a following, with him replacing Wolverine in certain X-men titles and having a steady performing solo book.

With the success of Deadpool, Fox knew that an R-rated comic book movie could be successful and given Wolverine’s powers and history, an R-rated movie was ripe for him. Of course, they want to mitigate the risk, the budget for this movie was $96m, about half what the budget of your average superhero blockbuster. It was very successful, earning $616.8m at the box office and having a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Mini Review - Deadpool

Time for a series of mini reviews that may not make the light of day until September. Happy September if that is the case. But let’s talk about the Merc with the mouth, Deadpool. At time of writing, which is in November 2017, a teaser trailer for Deadpool 2 has just released, and it’s funny as hell.

Mini Review - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

So, we’re concluding Marvel Month with Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2. Given the success of the original, a sequel was inevitable, what might surprise you is the budget wasn’t raised. It still had a £200m budget, and again it was successful, earning $860m at the box office, and was well received critically, with an 82% rotten tomatoes rating.

Marvel Month - Mini Review - Doctor Strange

Whilst the Scarlett Witch exists in the MCU, she was more a super-powered being than a genuine magic user. Magic is a fascinating area that does warrant exploration and it’s not beyond the realms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe which can more-or-less do anything by this point. And for exploring the realms of magic, doing the origin of Doctor Strange, a character who is himself relatively new to the realm, makes perfect sense.

So… Doctor Strange had a budget of $166m and made a profitable $677m, it also was well liked by critics despite some unfortunate press going in. 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes is pretty high. But here are my thoughts

Mini Review - Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie

Here’s the second of the Power Rangers cinematic outings. But unlike the first one, this is canon to the TV show, essentially a cinematic 3-part opener to the new Power Rangers Turbo series, following on from Power Rangers Zeo. At the end of Zeo Lord Zed and Rita Repulsa had destroyed the Machine Empire and promised a comeback, but we’re not getting that here.

So, this movie holds an abysmal 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is hated by fans and critics alike. So, why is this so revered? Here’s my take on the movie.

Mini Review - Battleship

Well, this is a thing that exists

Yes, Hollywood really ran out of ideas in 2012, and really hasn’t been recovering that well but someone decided to make a movie based on a board game. Universal to be precise, along with really, Hasbro has a movie division now? Actually, they’ve had one for years and have used it to release Transformers, My Little Pony etc.

But still, a movie based on a board game. Unsurprisingly, it was a disaster with a gargantuan $220m budget, it only made $300m at the box office, resulting in a loss for all parties involved. Critically, it was not a hit either, with a 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 4.6/10 and an audience score of 54%

Well, here we go.