Insomnia

Oh Christopher Nolan, you've brought me such joy for so long. Ever since I watched Batman Begins, I have enjoyed your films so freaking much.

I would say that, which the exception of The Following, which I haven't even properly watched because I fell asleep because that movie is incredibly dry and a little boring, I have loved every single one of Christopher Nolan's work. Mainly because I can always expect something in the film to be fascinating or thought provoking. Nolan has this great way of making films that are thought provoking but entertaining enough so that I'm not sitting through a movie like Primer... yikes.

In short, Nolan gives food for thought and dumbs it down a little bit for people like me.

Let's take a quick look back at Nolan's greatest work.

First you have Memento, which I have to re-watch soon because I think that might be my favorite Christopher Nolan film. Then you have the Batman franchise with The Prestige (another great) and Inception snuck in between. Then you have Interstellar. On top of that, he's an executive producer for my favorite superhero film today, Man of Steel, and is involved as an executive producer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

But right before Batman Begins and after Memento, Nolan gave us a little film called Insomnia starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams. Its another film, like Good Morning Vietnam that came out after the tragic passing of Robin Williams. I put it on my list a while ago and I needed to watch it before it left Netflix...

And again, I'm glad I got this one before it left.

Insomnia is a crime thriller about a cop and his partner from Los Angeles going to Alaska to help out a murder investigation of a young girl. The two cops are under investigation from internal affairs over a previous case and there is tension between them as one (played by Martin Donavon) mentions he needs to come clean and get a deal from Internal Affairs. His partner, Will Dormer (played by Pacino) is afraid he will be the one who gets screwed if his partner takes a deal.

But the investigation continues and they believe they have who murdered this girl. They track him to a wooded area where in a pursuit, Dormer accidentally shoots and kills his partner.

Afraid of the backlash and consequences, Dormer decides to cover up the shooting and go as far as to tamper with evidence to make sure he is not blamed for the murder of his partner.

Pacino, like most cases, really brings it in this performance. Now when I say that, I mostly mean, he's playing Al Pacino. Its not a bad Al Pacino, I do feel his struggle and his conflict as he fights his conscience. However, I had a moment where I realized that Dormer could just be an older version of Pacino's character in Heat. Which I actually would be totally down with, but it doesn't exactly show range.

All that said, you can see the toll the cover up takes on Dormer as he does everything in his power to make sure the evidence does not point towards him.

And he almost gets away with it, until he gets a call from the killer of the girl saying he saw Dormer kill his partner.

Walter Finch (played by Robin Williams) is a writer in this remote Alaskan town. When his character comes in, it becomes not only a battle of wits, but an uneasy alliance.

Finch needs help from Dormer to get a patsy for the murder of the girl, and Dormer needs Finch to not tell anybody about his killing of his partner.

Williams gives a surprisingly chilling performance of a first time killer. The phone calls between him and Pacino are some of the best parts of the film just because Williams brings this really eerie performance.

When I was a kid and saw trailers for movies with Robin Williams in it where he was a bad guy, I could never believe it. He's just always been the upbeat comic character and suddenly he's a killer? But in this film, it really works. Finch is not your average serial killer but you can tell, given time, he could be. There's really a psychology to this guy and there's an uneasy alliance dealt between these two. Its great.

On top of all of that, Dormer is having trouble sleeping. The thing going on throughout the film is that its the time of season in Alaska where the sun does not go down. Therefore, Dormer is not able to get any sleep. This keeps on building and building until the climax where he's almost losing his mind due to the lack of sleep he's had throughout the film.

I suppose that's the hook of this movie. Inception was about dreams, Interstellar was about space travel, The Prestige was about magic, this movie is about sleep deprivation. And that's why I thought the movie was going to take a different turn throughout the film.

Now, being as this is a Nolan film, I really thought there was going to be some kind of twist, or that the movie was going to go in a totally different direction than I thought it was going to go near the end. On top of that, I thought the movie was going to have a thematic point that would be explained through lots and lots of exposition. Though I love almost everything Nolan has done, I am realizing that in more and more of his movies, he's putting these long winded speeches (often done by Michael Caine) about morality or some other theme. Nolan has become the king of exposition.

Insomnia is surprisingly very subtle with its message and its themes. That may be because the movie is adapted from a Norwegian film so Nolan didn't have as much creative control, but there's a part of me that actually really likes that.

I kind of like when Nolan has some boundaries and he is just focusing on directing rather than writing some long winded philosophical journey. The guy can direct straight forward crime thrillers and still give us a great movie.

Insomnia unfortunately is probably the least known of Nolan's films, (with the exception of The Following) and I personally think that's a little bit of a shame. Its straight forward but at the same time a very theme driven story. You can tell the guilt and the moral dilemma Pacino's character is facing. You can see the rationale of Robin William's character and his belief that he is not a murderer. You can feel the burden of this lie weighing on Pacino the entire time and the movie doesn't need the themes and morals to be explained, they just need to be acted.

This is probably a shorter review both because this movie is pretty straight forward and keeping in mind the fact that its 12:31 in the morning and I need to go to bed.

Insomnia, to me, is an incredibly underrated film. I won't say its my favorite Nolan film, but I definitely think it should be more appreciated than it is right now. You have great performances from Pacino and Williams, you see a side of Robin Williams not everyone gets to see, you get a compelling story and a subtle message. If you consider yourself a Nolan fan, you must see this one, just to confirm, yes it is better than The Following.

But those are my thoughts on Insomnia. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also shoot me a tweet and follow me @MovieSymposium on Twitter. Follow me and you can get updates on movie news and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. The people over at Screen Junkies did a bracket of Nolan's movies to decide which one is the best. Is it the one you thought it was? Enjoy!

Good Morning Vietnam

In the wake of the death of the legendary Robin Williams, a lot of his movies made their way onto Netflix. Now I consider myself a pretty big Robin Williams fan and was incredibly saddened by the news of his passing last year.

There were a lot of movies that came onto Netflix that I wanted to see, but the one I think I wanted to see the most that I hadn't seen yet was Good Morning Vietnam. This was a movie that I had heard great things about and yet had not yet seen. Similarly to The Karate Kid, it was leaving Netflix and I realized I needed to watch it before it was gone.

Good Morning Vietnam follows the story of Adrian Cronauer (played by Williams). Cronauer is assigned to an army base in Vietnam where he is tasked to be a radio show host and read the news provided by the United States Army to the soldiers fighting in the Vietnam war.

Like most Robin Williams movies, the establishment just can't totally handle Robin Williams and his first radio show is filled with incredible energy. Cronauer is funny, he's energetic, and he plays catchy music of the time like The Beach Boys, etc. This of course does not bode well with the higher command, a Lieutenant by the name of Hauk (played by Bruno Kirby) and a Staff Sergeant by the name of Dickerson (played by J.T. Walsh). Their styles definitely crash and create conflict throughout the movie.

But furthermore, Cronauer finds fancy in a young Vietnamese woman named Trinh (played by Chintara Sukapatana). So much that he bribes the soldier in charge of a class she's in that teaches English and begins to court her, all while becoming friends with her brother (played by Tung Tahn Tran).

Other characters worth mentioning are Cronauer's body guard played by Forest Whitaker and his partner in the radio played by Robert Wuhl.

The cast of this movie is solid as it can be and they really pull the story together. It really shows the disjointedness of the army during Vietnam and the consequences of demanding respect rather than earning it, and that is shown in Lieutenant Hauk's character. I can't say how accurate the movie portrays the conduct between officers and their subordinates but based on what I know of the Vietnam war, its a piece of the times. For the sake of the story, every relationship in this movie works. From everyone treating Hauk with no respect mainly because he doesn't deserve it, to the relationship between Williams and Whitaker's characters.

And not just that, its the relationship between Cronauer and the Vietnamese people he comes in contact with. He really becomes a part of the community and becomes empathetic to their situation. And that's where the movie has some heart, it really delves into giving humanity to the Vietnamese as they were just as affected by the conflict as we were, if not more.

But by far the greatest part of the movie is when Williams performs on the radio.

Whenever Williams is on the radio, of course, all his dialogue is improvised. If you've watched anything with Williams, you know that the man has an energy to him that is incomparable.

I couldn't help but get emotional just because its tragic that such an energetic soul, and someone who was able to make people laugh so easily was taken from this world way too soon.

Good Morning Vietnam is just a phenomenal example of a film you can point to and say, that's what a Robin Williams performance was. Granted, there are a lot of films where that is the case, but something about this one just hit a chord with me. Yeah its the story of Williams bringing a human factor to an institution that is distinctively lacking humanity, but if that was going to be used anywhere, Vietnam is a phenomenal backdrop to that storyline.

Honestly, there's no too many bad things I can say about this film. The film does have a more serious side to it. While a lot of the movie is a comedy, it has a very serious edge to it. This can mainly be shown in one of the most iconic parts of the film, where Cronauer is playing Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World"

The imagery is incredibly powerful and incredibly potent. Contrasted with the film's comedic side, it is incredibly rich. There are a couple moments where I thought the humor maybe was misplaced, mainly near the end, especially when the message of how the Vietnam war is affecting the Vietnamese people, they throw in a joke that I don't think needed to be there.

But Williams shows once again that he had this brilliant ability to both make us laugh and act, and act very well. It seems like such a different part when you look at it on face value, I mean Robin Williams in the army? It sounds like something from Stripes. But the film definitely surprises you and its a phenomenal performance, so much that you say, there's no one else who could have played this.

Good Morning Vietnam is an example of a movie that holds up years after the conflict is no longer a hot button issue. I'm disappointed that I hadn't seen this movie prior to this past week. If you haven't seen it, put it at the top of your Netflix list (and watch it quick, its leaving Netflix on April 1st) or find it as soon as you can because I whole heartedly recommend Good Morning Vietnam.

But what do you think? What did you think of Good Morning Vietnam? What is your favorite part that Robin Williams played? Leave a comment and discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and shoot me a tweet of your thoughts, I would love to hear it. You can also get updates on movie news and reviews if you follow me. I'm on spring break right now so the reviews are going to keep on coming pretty steady for the next week.

Get Hard

When I first saw the trailer for Get Hard, I was not sure whether or not I wanted to see it. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled by the trailer and I kind of saw it as a throwaway movie that is only going to make money because Will Ferrel is in it. While I like The Other Guys, I kind of recognize that movie as an attempt to make money with Will Ferrel's name while putting another celebrity name on the title. With The Other Guys, it was Mark Wahlberg, with this movie it was Kevin Hart.

When I finally watched this film... I feel like I was wrong... but at the same time I was right.

Get Hard follows the story of James King (played by Will Ferrel), an incredibly successful stock broker. He has a huge house, he has a very successful job, and he has an incredibly smoking hot wife (played by Allison Brie)

On the other end of things, you have Darnell Lewis (played by Kevin Hart). Darnell is an incredibly hard working family man. He works at a car wash under King's business. Darnell and his family live in a pretty bad neighborhood with his wife and his daughter.

He wants to buy a house in a nicer neighborhood so that his daughter can go to a better school. Unfortunately, he just doesn't have the money to move his family. Of course, when he interacts with King, he is only given condescending remarks about how he can pull himself up from his bootstraps and he can be in the position King is in.

The beginning of this movie has some lines that people are either going to find incredibly funny or incredibly offensive. King's lines in the film are, in a certain sense of the word, racist. Now this is not the type of racism you usually think of, that racism is shown in the film, but King is definitely a different kind of racist.

Its more of a passive aggressive, subtle type of racist that a lot more people are than the stereotypical racism people think of. Here's the example, its a hyperbole in the film but when King gets his car he doesn't have his keys, Darnell goes to give him the keys, knocking on the window and King freaks out thinking that Darnell is going to rob him. The only reason? Because he's black. Whether you subscribe to the idea of microaggressions or not, this is an exaggerated version of that kind of racism.

I'll talk a little bit more about this later.

On a totally different note, lets give a quick word to Allison Brie.

Hot Holy Damn!

Like... wow... its ridiculous.

I really like Allison Brie. I really like her in Community, and I think she's a really funny actress. I am a little disappointed that she's become such a sexualized actress, even on Community, but even through my disappointment, I can look at that image above and say... DAMN!

Moving onto more constructive comments on the movie...

King is suddenly accused of embezzlement and in a surprisingly quick montage, is sentenced to ten years in maximum security prison. 

I was actually very surprised on how many days go by before King and Darnell actually come together. It seemed like the events prior to his arrest were larger than I expected but his trial was much faster than I expected. While I wasn't wild about this at first, I feel like it actually set up the characters well and got us into the action pretty fast.

And the action is the interaction between King and Darnell. Eventually, King gives a proposition to Darnell. He says that he will pay him to teach him how to survive in prison. The thing that King doesn't know is that Darnell has never been to prison. Again, King is using the stereotype of black men in prison to assume that Darnell has been in prison. The only reason Darnell doesn't call him out is that he wants the money to buy a new house. Thus, you have your story. 

King and Darnell transform King's mansion into a prison, his household workers , who he has treated horribly, are inmates and wardens of this prison and suddenly, King gets transformed almost to a point where Darnell can no longer control him. 

The training has a lot of moments that are really, really funny. There's a great scene where Darnell is teaching King about how to interact with different people in "the yard". In this scene, Hart jumps from three different characters taunting King in "the yard" and its freaking hilarious!

This movie really shows off Kevin Hart as an actor. I love his stand up but I haven't seen a lot of his film acting. I was a little worried he wasn't going to be that good but he's freaking hilarious!

Will Ferrell as well is very funny! I've kind of been disenchanted with Will Ferrell ever since Anchorman 2, mainly because I was so disappointed with the hype that built that movie up and how disappointing it was. While its probably not the best Will Ferrell movie, I thought he did a good job and he made me laugh. It gave me a little bit of hope that Will Ferrell is not cruise controlling it. On top of that, I've realized that Will Ferrell will commit to a joke no matter what. Even if the joke is not funny, Ferrell commits to it. I have to applaud him for that.  

So there's a lot of good things I've mentioned that are really good about this movie, why am I not saying its a really good movie? Well... Personally, I can't decide on whether the humor of the movie is in good taste or not. 

Now I love crude humor, I love satirical humor, I love the kind of humor that a lot of people think are pushing the line sometimes. So how is this movie different from those?

Here's the thing, I definitely think that this movie was trying to be satirical. I definitely think that the movie was trying to poke fun at a lot of stereotypes, not just about race, but of sexual orientation, religion, etc. The large part of the movie is Ferrell and Hart going to different groups and doing a bit making fun of them. By making fun of everyone, they don't isolate one group. In that sense, I feel the movie was trying to be progressive. 

Does that mean it succeeded? Well... no.

First off, the big thing that kind of bothered me was all the jokes this movie made about rape in prison. We get it, prison rape is something that has been joked about time and time again. But this movie was making a prison rape joke in almost every scene. The whole point of getting Darnell to help King survive in prison is so he doesn't get raped. 

I know a lot of people who might have a problem with making light of something so terrible that does happen to people in prison. Its not funny when it happens to women but it is when it happens to men? 

I don't know, maybe I'm in a minority here but I had a couple moments in this movie that I had a hard time laughing at prison rape jokes, especially since they kept making those jokes!

By the same coin though, a lot of the jokes making fun of stereotypes were incredibly funny. When King interacts with the gang Darnell brings him to, and almost joins them, it was so ridiculous and over the top, it was incredibly funny. And again, even when the jokes didn't land, Ferrell was committed no matter what. 

So Get Hard really ides a fine line of being a really smart raunchy comedy film and just being a distasteful comedy that in many ways is incredibly offensive. 

I don't know, I really came out of Get Hard with mixed feelings. I laughed hard, and yet I didn't really feel good about how hard I laughed. 

I suppose it all depends on how this movie will be looked at in the future. I don't think this is any ground breaking film, but are people going to look back on this and say this movie had the balls to make fun of issues that people in the United States are often too scared to talk about, or was it headed in the wrong direction by making fun of it. I personally don't quite know where I stand on that issue. What about you? 

Have you seen Get Hard? What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! Or shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 and follow me on Twitter to get updates on movie news and reviews!

Mission Impossible

It was a big week for movies about super secret spy agencies. First the Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation trailer drops, then the Spectre trailer. Well on top of that all, its my Spring Break, I thought I needed to watch something that had to do with the secret spy genre.

Personally, I think I actually watched Mission Impossible more than I watched any James Bond movie. Looking at them now, I'm pretty confident that the James Bond series is the better series. But I think the Mission Impossible series has actually started on a track of being the actual American James Bond. Now, I can't say for sure whether or not that's going to happen, but what I can do is go back to 1996 and take a look at the original Mission Impossible.

Mission Impossible follows the story of Ethan Hunt (played iconically by Tom Cruise), a secret agent with the Impossible Missions Force. Its never really clear whether or not IMF is apart of the CIA or its own independent organization but I think in this one its a little bit more clear to be a section of the CIA.

Ethan Hunt is a field agent within a specialized team. This team is led by Jim Phelps (played by Jon Voight). Ethan has a personal connection with Phelps and of course the team is very effective.

At the start of the film, the team is tasked with observing and apprehending a Russian informant trying to steal the CIA NOC list. Its actually a plot that was in fact used pretty well in the most recent James Bond film, Skyfall.

Well the mission goes awry and everyone on the team is dead with the exception of Ethan. Naturally, IMF believes that Ethan is responsible for the death of the team and he is in fact the mole that they have been looking for recently.

On the run, Ethan makes it his mission to find the real mole and clear his name. To do this, he needs to allign himself with other disavowed IMF agents, weapons dealers, and people he may or may not trust.

The talent that was in this movie is actually really good. Its a lot of actors who were well known and made the entire movie fun. Tom Cruise had already made a name for himself at this point as an actor, but I think it was Mission Impossible and the series that followed, that really solidified Cruise as a popular movie star. I was watching a video the other day and they were debating on whether or not Tom Cruise is a good actor, or just a popular movie star. I am personally of the idea that he's a good actor, but he's also a very, VERY good movie star. I think its movies like this, Top Gun, and Jerry MacGuire that just make Cruise a household name. Mission Impossible definitely has its place. Then you've got Jon Voight, another credible actor. Then you've got Jean Reno. You've got Ving Rhames, you've got an uncredited Emilio Estevez cameo. I don't know, watching it, I realize its a really fun cast.

The story is very smart. Its a really fun spy thriller. Its got its twists and turns and I think with the good cast, the movie goes down as probably one of the best in the series, in my book.

The film however is very different from any of the other films that have come out in this series. If you were to show this movie then show me Ghost Protocol, I probably wouldn't think they were the same franchise.

Now the movie was adapted from the Mission Impossible TV show. Now of course I have not seen the TV show but I think it was more trying to create a movie adaptation of the TV show rather than an American James Bond.

So how is the first movie different?

I can explain this more if I decide to do more reviews of Mission Impossible 2 and/or Ghost Protocol. You can probably tell the difference between this movie and MI3 directed by J.J. Abrams in my review of that film. The main thing though is the different directors. Brian De Palma directed this film and De Palma went for a more subtle and plot driven story rather than Woo and the others who put more of an emphasis on action. Its not to say the stories are not good, especially since Mission Impossible 2 is actually one of my favorites with the combination of story and action, all of it being incredibly hokey. Lots of people don't like MI2 as much, but I personally love it.

Furthermore, it was 1996, technology was a lot different and I don't know if action was even as great in the spy genre. This film was sandwiched by Pierce Brosnan's earliest films as Bond, Goldeneye, and Tomorrow Never Dies. I've only seen Goldeneye but I do know that the action was not nearly the level achieved since, especially with movies like Bourne and Casino Royale coming out since. Mission Impossible is pretty much the same. It was right on the verge of an improvement on technology and fight choreography, but with what was available and done before, Mission Impossible made due with what it could.

I think in that sense, you could probably consider Mission Impossible the most clever and reserved out of all of them. The movie definitely has its flaws though. There's a big twist near the end of the movie that apparently Ethan figures out, but when I was a kid, I never really understood how he figured that out. Even today I'm not totally sure.

Furthermore the acting is a little hokey at times and characters can switch sides for like, no reason. On top of that, I'm realizing more and more that none of the movies really explain who Ethan Hunt is as a character. Now maybe that's fine and we don't need necessarily know who he is. I think the gravitas of Tom Cruise helps this character out a lot that his personality makes him interesting and makes me invested on whether or not he lives.

On top of all of that, while not every movie needs to have action and perhaps Mission Impossible was a more clever movie for not being oversaturated with action, I do feel it has its slow moments because of it. That iconic scene of Ethan suspended in midair, while awesome, could put me to sleep with how quiet it is.

However, the movie still is the thing that started it all. Ethan Hunt has changed so much over the past almost 20 years and while it hasn't been maybe the most character driven 20 years, I still think the franchise is pretty damn good.

I guess now is as good of a time to show the trailer for Rogue Nation and by the pictures alone, you can probably tell that this franchise has evolved incredibly since.

I am personally very excited but what about you? Are you excited for Mission Impossible Rogue Nation? Do you think the franchise has gotten better or worse since Mission Impossible 1? Also do you think eventually when Tom Cruise can no longer play Ethan Hunt (which will probably be when he dies) do you think they will reboot the character the same way they reboot Bond every so often? Comment and Discuss below! Also shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 and follow me on Twitter to get updates on movie news and reviews!

I'll leave you with this. In the spirit of things, here is the trailer for Spectre. Its not much, but I'm definitely excited nonetheless. Enjoy!

Blacklist: Season 1

The Blacklist is another example of me being a little bit of a TV snob. I think because I think that Breaking Bad had the greatest finale that has ever been on TV, or that 24 was the last great show on prime time television before the start of Netflix and other phenomenal shows outside of primetime, that I close my mind to shows like the Blacklist, actually being good.

Fortunately, I did eventually try watching The Blacklist, and fortunately, I really did enjoy it.

The Blacklist stars James Spader as Raymond Reddington, a man on the FBI's most wanted list for being a lucrative aficionado of crime. He deals in almost all aspects of the crime world from art thievery to terrorism.

One day, Reddington walks into the FBI headquarters and just turns himself in. Brought to an FBI blacksite, he says that he will only talk to new FBI recruit, Elizabeth Keene.

So its not a totally original concept. I've seen this set up before, and I'll probably see it again. The master criminal working with the FBI, haven't we seen this before? White Collar, The Following, countless movies. How in the world is this different from any of those examples?

When Elizabeth Keene (played by Megan Boone) arrives, he says that he has a list of criminals that are so high value and so dangerous that they are not even on the FBI's most wanted list. Brokering a deal with the FBI, Reddington begins working with the FBI to take down these criminals all while his motives are clouded in mystery as he manipulates and influences Keene professionally and personally. Again, how is this different from anything we've seen before?

The answer is very simple. James Spader.

The man is terrifying, yet incredibly charming, he's hilarious, yet deathly intimidating. He'll court you with a smile and tell you everything is going to be alright, then throw a guy in a vat of acid.

Honestly, the rest of the show is mediocre at best, but its only made better by Spader's performance as Reddington. Something about his mannerisms, his shady motives, and his voice. By god, that voice. If there was anything that made me more excited about Age of Ultron, it was watching James Spader just killing it in this show. And for the first part of the season, Spader really carries the show. Honestly, at the beginning, I wasn't wild about Agent Keene or the supporting characters, but the real reason I continued to watch the show was for James Spader.

Honestly, the show just didn't have the feel to it that I had been used to. I had spent a lot of the past winter, watching Homeland and that has a definitely different feel to it than this show. I'll talk a little bit more about that later.

But first I want to talk about Megan Boone as Elizabeth Keene.

At the start of the show, Keene was set up as either a really interesting character, or an incredibly cliched and boring character. She's an FBI profiler. She wants to adopt a child with her really supportive husband. And of course, she is the only person Reddington will talk to. Why? Well you don't even totally figure that out in the first season, I'm sure it comes out in later seasons, this one, not so much. And I expected that, I didn't think I was going to figure out the entire mystery in the first episode, but to me it just seemed a little cliched.

And I'm sorry, they call her an excellent profiler, but to me, she was just an FBI agent. I think they were trying to throw too much on her and in the end, I never got the feeling she was this Criminal Minds profiler who gets into the minds of criminals, I think she was just an FBI agent, which is fine, she can be just an FBI agent, but don't try and tack on the psyche of criminals onto this show, there's already enough going on, it honestly doesn't need that. And I think they eventually dropped that idea. Her profiling skills really only come into play in the first episode and after that its really dropped.

And then you have the whole deal with her husband. And that, at the beginning, I was worried was going to to breach into the territory of annoying and forced. There was just so much introduced in the first few episodes, Reddington, Keene, the whole idea of her wanting children, her balancing her work and her family, the mystery of her childhood. All of it together and then throw on top of that a possible spy husband? I wasn't incredibly wild about that.

Luckily, I was happily surprised on how well it actually turned out.

His involvement in her life is still pretty ambiguous in order to leave more mystery for future seasons, and since it ties into the connection between Elizabeth and Reddington. And that's really a part I absolutely love about this show.

The villains of the show, mainly talking about Reddington and Keene's husband, ride this great line of saying one thing and having malicious intentions. Keene's husband does a great job at doing things as the bad guy that actually clash with what Elizabeth is doing and instead of not acting suspicious and not asking about it, he goes out of his way to get involved and just show the audience that this marriage is a sham.

There's a part where Elizabeth shows up at a hideout her husband has been using and she basically gets there while he's trashing the place. She never sees him but in order to escape, he attacks her from behind and runs away. Later that night, he asks about her day and acts concerned as if he knew nothing about it, something an actual husband would do. When it comes to the interactions between him and her prior to her discovering his evil intentions, he is very good at living that double life and I actually really enjoyed it.

There was a point where I thought it was getting kind of ridiculous that she hadn't figured out by this point, but either way, Tom Keene was a pretty great part to the show.

And this two facededness is done absolutely brilliantly with Reddington.

Apart of the show that was a little funny at the beginning of the season was how many steps ahead Reddington is at all times. Its almost like he knows the answer and refuses to share what he doesn't want them to know.

In fact, the show really makes the FBI look kind of silly in comparison with these brilliant criminals in the league of Reddington.

But like I said, Reddington has this two faced nature that is really brilliant and again solidifies James Spader as the shining star of this cast.

The supporting cast of the show is... okay. They definitely get better as the season moves on but for a long time I really didn't like characters like Keene's part in the FBI Donal Ressler (played by Diego Klattenhoff). I thought he was always so wooden. But the more they developed his character later int he season, the more I saw him as more than just the run of the mill FBI agent and more of an actual character. When they start delving into his connection with Reddington, when they bring in his wife, that's when things get good.

And that's really where the show had an advantage. I would have liked to see these characters as developed from the get go, I would have liked to see them actually be convincing characters in the pilot episode, but they weren't. The reason I stuck around was James Spader. And he really did carry it, all the way until the show caught on its stride and started making characters interesting and not just walking cliches. They're not Breaking Bad level characters, but the show is a procedural, they didn't have to be that level.

The show's story really clips along at a good pace. There were definitely your filler episodes, but I did feel the show was building up to something, even if that something wasn't always clear. Like I said before, the "filler episodes" were usually used later on in the season to develop the main and supporting cast. And throughout the season they introduced a slew of great bad guys. Some of them maybe were doing crime just to be creative instead of the pragmatic way, for example, you had a criminal who guaranteed anonymity and a second chance from your life of crime by putting an innocent in your place at the time of your reported death. The police would find your dental records and sometimes even DNA in these lookalikes and you'd be able to live your life free now having the authorities believing you're dead. Don't get me wrong, I actually like the idea and its creativity, but its examples like this that just make you think, maybe the criminals they're looking for are committing crimes to be creative instead of pragmatic reasons. It would be like if I was a bank robber and my calling card was that I came in with an apache helicopter to the bank and airlifted the vault right out of the bank. Its a clever idea and and works, but maybe its just too over the top for me to do that EVERY time I rob a bank. Again, they're really creative and entertaining, but if you think about it for a second, maybe there was another way to do all these crimes. And on top of all of that, all the criminals have super villain like names. The Courier, the Undertaker, the Kingmaker. Many of these names could be decent Batman villains. Again, in the context of the show its a lot of fun, but if you step back and really think about it, The Blacklist is doing a better job at creating villains for TV shows than Arrow.

In the end, I really feel The Blacklist struck a right chord and knew what to reveal in the end and what to keep a mystery for later seasons. Where I was maybe interested in seeing the next season of Arrow, I feel like I need to eventually watch the continuing seasons of the Blacklist, if anything for James Spader alone. The guy really is the show.

The show still feels a little bit like a prime time network show, despite it really pushing the limits at some points. I would have loved to see this show on a network like AMC, HBO, or maybe a Netflix Original. It would be just more interesting to see these characters not be restrained at all. I would love to see Raymond Reddington totally uncensored. It would be brilliant.

But for a network show, The Blacklist is very, VERY good.

I'm sure there's more I can talk about but I feel like I've been talking about this long enough. What do you think of The Blacklist? Do you agree with what's been said about it? Comment and Discuss below! Also shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 and follow me on Twitter to get updates on movie (and TV) news and reviews!

The Karate Kid

There are movies out there that are just classics. I don't know if that actually means that the movie is good or its just a movie that everybody watched as a kid and they grew up with it. Sometimes, I think its a combination of both that make a movie just really damn good.

The Karate Kid is an example of that.

Now if you're normal, and above a certain age, you've probably seen this film. I'm still going to review it as if its the first time I've seen the movie... because it is. But I will tie in how this movie has been iconic because, it really is.

Now I'll be honest, until tonight, I had not seen The Karate Kid in its entirety. I think this is mainly because my parents didn't show it to me and therefore I did not grow up with this film. After watching it, I understand why they might want to hold off on showing me this flick. I'll talk about it when I get to the end of the review.

The Karate Kid centers around the story of a kid named Daniel (played by Ralph Macchio, god, what a phenomenal name!) as he and his mother are moving from New Jersey to California because his mom got a new job. Its apparent that Daniel LaRussodidn't want to move but he quickly finds some friends and even catches the eye of Elizabeth Shue (I actually only know her from Back to The Future).

Before I go on I should probably talk about Ralph Macchio. When this movie first started, I thought I was gonna hate this kid. I thought he was going to be this really annoying kid. And I'll be honest, there's a reason you don't really see Ralph Macchio in anything, he's not that great of an actor. But something about him is just perfect for this movie. He's this thin wimpy kid. He acts tough but he's going through a lot of shit. Its just one of the things that made this movie memorable. He's not the most ideal character, but I think that makes him more relatable. I don't think this movie set out to have Daniel be this incredibly complex character and have Ralph Macchio give a performance of a lifetime (even though he did). The movie set out to have Daniel be a kid being bullied. Not only that, but a kid going through a lot of transitions. He's moving from his home, he's getting bullied, he doesn't have any friends. This kid was relatable.

But things look really great until Elizabeth Shue's ex-boyfriend sees Daniel making moves on his girl and from that point on, it is this guy, John Lawrence (played by William Zabka) to make Daniel's life a living hell.

Now apart of me wanted to critique this movie on its incredibly over the top bad guys. Zabka's character, his friends, and ESPECIALLY his dojo master, all just the most over the top villains you could ever see. These kids aren't just your school bullies, these guys are absolute psychopaths. And they do not let up on Daniel at all. Its like they have nothing better to do but to watch this kid and make sure he doesn't go anywhere near Elizabeth Shue and if he does, they beat the living shit out of him. They're really kind of ridiculous.

And while its obnoxious how over the top they are, it really makes Daniel's struggle ever more satisfying in the end. On top of that, it really just exacerbates the time period this movie came out in. If you watch films now, even comic book films, the great villains that people connect with these days aren't your Johnny Lawrence or crazy dojo masters, they are your "anti-heroes" which I could write a whole other post on the loose use of anti-hero today, but you just don't see these characters anymore who are just evil for the sake of being evil and its done well. I feel like a couple movies I've watched lately, or in past reviews, I've knocked a movie for having villains who are just assholes for the sake of being assholes. They don't have much motivation, they're just the bad guy because the script called for it. But with this film, I just don't think the movie could have been as meaningful if Johnny Lawrence wasn't such an incredible asshole. I don't think the movie would have been the same if the dojo master wasn't such a hard ass psycho. Its not to say that I don't think villains need some kind of motivation because I feel like villains, especially villains in the movies of today, are good when you can see their side of the argument. You may disagree with their methods, but there's a connection there. With this movie though, Zabka's character is an asshole, plain and simple. And he's brilliant at it. The dojo master is so over the top, and it compliments the movie brilliantly. So while its obnoxious and over the top, these "villains" of the movie, play an intricate part of the story and really make the movie memorable.

So anyway, Daniel's getting the shit beaten out of him and he's sick of it. All he wants to do is leave. This is the point where he meets Mr. Miyagi (played by Pat Morita), the maintenance man at the apartment complex they live at. And if there was one thing I had to point to and say, that is the best part of the movie, I would definitely say the relationship between Daniel and Mr. Miyagi.

In a movie full of cheesy 80's dialogue and just over the topness, the relationship between Mr. Miyagi and Daniel is an incredibly honest and incredibly rich relationship. I don't know, I just love everything about it.

And I think with all the cultural references this movie has created since its release, I think I always imagined Miyagi as this Yoda, do-no-wrong mentor character, when in reality, he is just as flawed and realistic as Daniel is. He's had his own experiences his own struggles, and the two naturally come together.

So after Daniel figures out that Miyagi knows karate, the two go to talk with the bully and his dojo master. This is another great part about Miyagi. He says that fighting is not the answer and problems must be faced by talking. But because everyone at the Cobra Kai dojo is fucking insane, Miyagi instead strikes a deal. The bullies leave Daniel alone and Daniel competes in the karate tournament a couple months later. The bullies agree, and the rest of the movie is Miyagi training Daniel.

But of course, its not your traditional training, he's having him wash cars, do yard work, paint fences, etc. And this is the great depth and complexity of the character. He's not just teaching Daniel how to fight, fighting is the last thing Daniel actually learns. Instead Miyagi is teaching Daniel about balance, not just in karate, but in life. Its hard to explain, but this contrary to popular belief, and something I actually believed, Miyagi is not teaching Daniel to fight, he's teaching him to be a better person.

Throughout all of this there's this relationship between Daniel and Elizabeth Shue's character. Its alright.

Nobody looks back at The Karate Kid and points to Macchio and Shue's relationship. I'm not saying its bad, I would even say a lot of teenage relationships use this relationship as a base. What I would say though is that sometimes it kind of takes away from the great parts, which is Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. There's a little bit about how Daniel is poor and she's rich, there's a little bit of drama instigated by John Lawrence, but it all kind of goes away in the end. Its not a huge distractor but the movie could have done without all the hiccups in their relationship.

Oh and the relationship between him and his mom... yeah that kind of starts somewhere in the beginning but once he starts hanging out with Mr. Miyagi, his mom shows up at the end to cheer him on and that's it. She's really not that big of a part in the film... at all. Like I get it, if you don't have Shue and his mom, you don't have any female characters, but if you're going to put them in there, at least write them well.

The tournament portion of the movie is some of the best cinematic gold you can ask for. Its intense, its nail biting, and its this great build up to the final fight that you all saw coming from the beginning, Daniel versus his bully, Johnny Lawrence.

If you've seen the movie, you know this scene. Its so over the top, the stakes couldn't be higher, and its just a classic fight of good versus evil. There's no way around it. 

The ending is just an absolute perfect piece to this incredibly well put together movie and at the end, in the middle of my room, I was on the edge of my seat cheering for Daniel-san. Its that culminating suspense that sports movies often do and its done to perfect in The Karate Kid. 

But... its this ending scene that does make me realize why I was not shown this movie as a kid. 

As much as I love it, as much as I love the themes and messages in this movie about balance, and facing your problems head on, the end of this movie does kind of have a slight leaning towards saying, If you have a bully problem, just fight him, you'll earn his respect... and that's basically what happens. 

Its sad, because there's so much more to this movie. The interactions between Miyagi and Daniel are great, the messages Miyagi is passing onto Daniel is great. But in the end, it really is, fix your problems with violence. And I can understand how my parents would maybe see that message and say, we don't need to show Connor that, especially at an age where perhaps the messages are lost in the awesome karate and Joe Esposito singing "You're the Best Around". 

The solution to this problem was not, let's fight and I'll earn your respect and you'll stop bullying me, instead it should have been, you're a fucking psychopath, I'm going to get a restraining order and send your ass to jail because on Halloween, if a small Japanese man hadn't saved my life, you probably would have murdered me.

So what are the downsides of this movie? I mean there are things I could say but I think the things that this movie didn't have or "didn't do well" make it an iconic 80's film. Like I said before, the Cobra Kai dojo is over the top and ridiculously evil just for the sake of being fucking psychopaths. But it works for the film, it works perfectly. There's a distinct lack of female characters, but honestly, its not about Daniel's mom or Elizabeth Shue, its about Daniel. The dialogue is pretty hokey and cheesy, but I think that just makes the movie all the more iconic. And after the final fight, the bully is just cool with Daniel suddenly? Yeah... its pretty bad, but by the same token, the movie has a lot of heart to it. The relationship between Daniel and Mr. Miyagi is classic. The message of balance and patience is great. I would have liked to see a little bit more development of Mr. Miyagi, but as much as he is just as flawed as Daniel, I almost like how Yoda-like he is. Maybe that's done in the later films, but honestly, I don't know if I'll be able to watch all three on Netflix before they get pulled on April 1st... it is my spring break now though... We'll see.

So those are my thoughts on The Karate Kid. Rereading it, I may have overblown the impact this movie had, but honestly, I just finished it an hour ago and I'm still jacked. I'd like to know how influential on film history The Karate Kid was, if it was. Comment and Discuss below! Also, shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 and Follow me on Twitter to get updates on movie news and reviews.

I'll be on Spring Break this upcoming week so hopefully I'll get this blog updated a little more. There are a couple movies being pulled from Netflix by the end of the month so its pushing me a little bit more to watch some movies I've had on my list but haven't watched yet.

I'll leave you with this. I mentioned a little bit that Ralph Macchio never really did anything quite as large as this movie. Here's a funny little Funny or Die bit on Macchio, I thought it was kind of funny. Enjoy!

Max Trailer

This may seem out of the ordinary since its not really my type of movie, but I really wanted to say something about this movie because I feel like it could either be just a phenomenal movie... or a really crappy movie. And that's a shame. Check out the trailer.

If you're not on the verge of tears before the first minute of this trailer is over, you probably have no soul.

This is probably going to be a really short post, but I haven't been posting very consistently, I wanted to give you a little bit so this month isn't completely cut short.

In short, I really like half of this trailer. The first half of this trailer sets up the plot of the movie really well. A marine in Afghanistan is killed and the dog that he handles is just as distraught over it as the marine's family is. That's really something we haven't seen before. Its a perspective of war that we haven't been exposed to. On top of all of that, we have a very familiar story of a boy who loses a brother and has to cope with that. Doing that with a dog just adds a whole level of feels to it.

Up to a certain point, I was really amped for this movie. I was thinking it was going to make me cry, give me a perspective of PTSD in war dogs, just a pluthera of awesome things were coming out of this trailer.

And then they introduce the bad guy of the film.

Why put in a bad guy in this film? You've got a great premise. A drama of a kid dealing with his brothers death, a dog dealing with the loss of an owner. Their relationship and how they become friends. That's an entire movie right there... and I'm guessing that's only up to the second third of the movie. The last third is going to be this kid and the dog going out and solving mysteries, and I really hate it!

Now I'm only basing this off the trailer so I can't say too much, but what a waste of potential. This could have been a phenomenal drama, but when you needlessly add in some BS about a bad guy doing whatever, that was the point in the trailer where I wasn't as interested in the movie. Before it was a movie I was going to see no matter what, and now its more a movie I'll wait and see for the reviews to come out to see it. And that's a shame.

Again, this is all speculation, but my prediction is, that this could be either a really, REALLY great movie (I don't want to say Oscar contender cause its way too damn early) or it could be a really disappointing movie, which is a shame because its a very original idea and something we haven't really seen before.

Again, its a really short rant, I just saw this trailer and got so frustrated with the span of the emotions I had, from almost crying, to really pissed off. Especially when the kids friend said, "You have the Air Jordan of Dogs." STUPID LINE!

Anyway, give me your thoughts on the trailer. Comment and Discuss below or shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 and follow me on Twitter to get updates on movie news and reviews.

Insurgent

First off, I have to apologize for not posting in a while. I've been caught up with some other things and I haven't had the chance to actually sit down and knock out a couple posts. I hope you've enjoyed the past few ones and now that I actually went out and saw a recent movie, I thought it was time to take a break from the other things pressing me right now just to give you my thoughts on Insurgent.

Now, if you recall, I actually was pleasantly surprised by Divergent. Yeah it had a lot of elements that reminded me of The Hunger Games, but it actually turned around and decided to be a little bit different of a movie.

Unfortunately, maybe I've been busy, maybe I just have a bad memory, so I had kind of forgotten what had happened since I had last seen these characters, but here's where Divergent left off.

So at the end of Divergent, Tric (played by Shailene Woodley) and her companions, her boyfriend Four (played by Theo James) her Erudite brother Caleb (played by Ansel Elgort) and randomly Miles Teller (his characters name is Peter but he's always just been Miles Teller to me in this film series) are on the run from the evil government that is taking advantage of the faction system that is the system in this post apocalyptic world. They're on the run, only because Tric and Four are Divergents, the people who do not fit into one faction, but they are also blamed for the events of the first movie.

When I saw the trailers for this movie, not having read the book, I thought this movie had a really great opportunity laid down at its feet. Whereas the newest Hunger Games: Mockingjay was set in this revolutionary setting, Katniss was never really in the fight, she was never really massing people together to fight, it was more focused on the propaganda videos created by both sides in order to bring people to their side, not the actual fighting. I thought Insurgent had the great opportunity to show that side of the struggle, to show the post apocalyptic youths rising up against the evil President Snow... I mean... Jeanine... (played by Kate Winslet.)

Unfortunately, the movie never really does that. It never really focuses on the rallying of the troops, instead its just kind of floating in space. The main characters are just kind of floating and don't really have a purpose... until about the last third of the film. They'll come to this one group of people, hang out with them for a while, then float on over to another group of people when the bad guys reach them. They start the movie with Octavia Spencer and her clan of hippies. We don't really get to know Spencer's character at all, in fact, I kind of forgot she was in the movie, but hey! Here's a celebrity cameo I suppose. Then they migrate over to the factionless group, headed up by Naomi Watts when the bad guys show up at the hippy camp.

Which by the way, Naomi Watts is stunning in this film. I suppose she's suppose to be Four's mom or something but I was thinking she was maybe a former lover of his until he said she was his mom. Just stunning.

But its the same deal. They hang out there for a while, then they go onto hang out with the Candor Clan and shenanigans ensue there. I feel like there wasn't enough time spent at these places to really flush out this interesting world that has been created, or create some opportunity to really win these factions over against Kate Winslet. Instead it was just kind of convoluted and not exactly a strong story.

I think the good part of it all was the internal conflict of Tric.

Shailene Woodley, I would say, has really embraced this role. I could akin this role to Jennifer Lawrence and Katniss and how that really boost her career. The same can be said about Shailene Woodley.

So Tric is feeling immense guilt over the events of the first film. And that is shown pretty well throughout the film. And the better part of it all is that there seems to be a point of resolution within her. She seems to forgive herself after almost literally facing her inner demons.

The problem with it is that I feel like those parts were so blown over because they were trying to get to the next thing. Its kind of interesting having that reaction because I haven't read the book. I don't know if things went that fast or if they skipped some parts, but I feel like while they were sprinkled in nicely, they didn't always meld with smart decisions in the story. And that's the biggest problem I have with Tric, sometimes she just does things that are stupid. She's a very capable heroine and I think if the series wasn't so overshadowed by films like The Hunger Games, Tric could be a really memorable character. The problem is that she is overshadowed and for the convenience of the film, she's forced to do things that I just have to question as smart.

Also her issue with Four seem very forced and contrived.

Now on Four, I think he's actually a really good supporting character. He's your strong, tall, dark, and handsome love interest, but I think the movie made a real effort to make sure that this is Tris's story, not his. He's there to support her. While he may actually be the leader, this story is on Tris and that I actually liked.

But I almost feel like because they were trying to hard to make sure the focus stayed on Tris, it took away from any development of Four at all. There's a little bit of conflict with him and his mother, but that is quickly pushed aside. Again, he's not a horrible character, and I do like that he doesn't steal the spotlight from Tris, but I think he's a little bit boring in this movie as he's just the supporting boyfriend.

The same can be said about her friend Christina. I understand that she probably didn't have that big of a part in the second book as she didn't have a huge part in this movie. But any problems that Tris had with her had one brief scene of conflict and then suddenly she's one hundred percent behind Tris despite the fact that the last scene, she was all pissed at Tris.

So there are the characters who are incredibly devoted to Tric, and then there are the ones who oddly change their loyalty at the drop of a hat.

Most namely Miles Teller.

Now Miles Teller and Ansel Elgort are both rising stars and I'm kind of wondering if they were getting bored with this film series by the end of the first one. Honestly, they both look a little bored in this film. Now I can't totally blame them because I think both their characters are horribly written and their loyalties change at the strangest places.

I'm confused on why they even brought Miles Teller along with them and the first chance he gets, he screws them over almost immediately. The motivations for the big betrayals in this movie are really weak and just down right silly.

I talked with my girlfriend and she said that the book does a better job at explaining the betrayals and changing of alliances, especially in a character like the one Miles Teller plays. But if I have to go to the book to explain something that didn't work in the movie, that's kind of a disappointing movie in my book.

That being said, despite me thinking that Miles Teller didn't exactly bring it in this film, I am excited to see him in Fantastic Four and I even would love to see him in a Star Wars movie in the future. It may seem random, but something about this futuristic film and Miles Teller just made me think he'd be a really good character in Star Wars. Maybe give him a good script but keep him as the same really smart, but conniving bastard he is in this film, and just put it in the Star Wars universe, I could actually be down for that for some reason.

And then you get to President Snow... because lets be honest, Kate Winslet is just female President Snow. She's evil just for the sake of being evil and she's the self proclaimed leader, not really having a fair or understandable motive, but because she wants power. And that was really relevant in this film. You could tell she was just doing this for power. Which I mean that's not a horrible villain trait, but I think I would have wanted to see her actually be a sympathetic villain, the kind that is so evil but at the same time you can see their point of view.

This one, was just plot convenient and kind of boring. I mean, Kate Winslet is surprisingly good at playing a bad guy but I really don't think she'll be nearly as memorable of a character as President Snow is in The Hunger Games. Now I actually don't really like Donald Sutherland as President Snow, but at least he's memorable.

Honestly, the allies are undeniably good allies with unshaken devotion, the sort of bad guys have horrible motivations for betraying Tris and her gang, and the evil character is just blind evil.

And again, I would have liked to see Tris do something Katniss could never do. Actually fight in this Civil War going on.

I mean, if you're going to have this character be in this revolution, have them fight in the revolution for pete's sake.

But they don't really do that in this film.

The last third of the movie is going back to that Inception-like test mode and that is actually where the first movie kind of hooked me in. I think when they brought that back, that was actually one of the better parts of the movie. But at that point, it was a little too late, it was brought on by plot convenience and the results were just a little too coincidental. Everything seemed cliched and not anything I haven't seen before.

Now the ending actually kind of took me by surprise and I'm going to have to wait until the next movie to see where they actually go with this. It wasn't where I thought this film series was headed. Honestly, I almost feel like they could have ended the series with this movie. With the exception of one thing at the end, the movie actually wraps up pretty well. But this of course is a trilogy and the third movie will be split into two movies. But I actually think if for some reason, they wanted to end the series here, they probably could. I would actually be okay with this being the climax and conclusion to the film. But of course I am now two movies in and I would feel incomplete if I didn't watch the third movie. I guess I'll just have to wait.

Overall, Insurgent is not the worst second installment of a movie franchise, but it is miles from the top. It seems like a lot of this movie abandoned the things that made the first movie a pleasant surprise for me and kind of fell back into the formula that you see with every young adult book series film these days. It didn't feel new, it didn't surprise me (much) and it made me think that this film was just a rip off of the Hunger Games again. Hopefully the third movie can change things around, but for now, I'm not exactly impressed with the Divergent series.

But what did you think of it? Comment and Discuss below! Or shoot me a message @cmhaugen24 and follow me on Twitter to get updates on movie news and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Here's an honest trailer for another generic young adult series, the Maze Runner. Enjoy!

Age of Ultron Trailer Trailer

So, I already did a rant on the Age of Ultron trailer that came out a couple months ago. Well now, there has been a new Trailer Trailer released for the new Avengers movie. The earlier trailer was actually considered a teaser trailer, but this one, I would personally consider this an actual trailer because it's not just showing what the movie is, but its pointing out the ideas and plot of the movie so we know what the movie is actually about before going to watch it. 

 

First to clear out the obvious. This trailer looks amazing. Its got a great look, it shows all the characters we love, it teases even more all the characters we're interested in seeing, and of course, it shows a lot of Ultron. Am I excited about Age of Ultron, Of course I am! It comes out in two months, I'm probably more excited about it than I was for the first Avengers believe it or not. 

There are some great things about this trailer. 

To me, this is the real trailer of Avengers Age of Ultron. I know technically we had the earlier one with the creepy Pinnochio song and that was a great trailer, but in the world where we live in where we're getting so oversaturated with trailers, that is now considered a teaser trailer... I don't know whether or not to be happy or sad about that. 

The unfortunate part is, that since that teaser was basically a full fledged trailer, the only way to make this third trailer awesome is to show more stuff and unfortunately, I feel like I know exactly how the movie is going to go now because of all the shit piled onto this trailer. Its all great seeing this stuff, but I think I would have been content if I had just seen the first trailer

This one, and just moved on with my life? I'm kind of of the idea that many times less is more, and its more important to keep me on the edge of my seats so when I go see the movie, I'm ready to go and enjoy an awesome movie, with Age of Ultron, I'm not totally certain they did that. I'm concerned that this trailer showed too much and nothing is going to surprise me because I've seen so much in the three trailers they've released for this movie. Doesn't make me any less excited, I just need to stop watching trailers I guess. I'm just worried that because I watched all these trailers, I have now seen the movie. I'm worried that I've now seen all the great action parts of the film, I'm worried that I now know exactly what is going to happen.

We'll have to see though.

Now, one of the good things... and bad things about this trailer is the fact that I know a lot more about the plot, how some of the characters will be used, and what this movie is going to turn out to be as we get closer.

The part of this trailer that got me actually really excited for this film is all the new footage of Scarlet Witch.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we saw very little of Scarlet Witch but I think that post credit scene was one of the best post credit scenes I've seen out of a Marvel film.

In this trailer, Scarlet Witch is shown fighting with the avengers, possessing people, and honestly, looking a lot more awesome than Quicksilver.

I am excited to see the two of them, but apart of me is really excited to see Scarlet Witch and her contribution to the film. I feel like with the dark tone of the film, she'll be a great addition.

I think its because we saw a great interpretation of Quicksilver in X-men: Days of Future Past, I'm just not as excited about Aaron Taylor Johnson's interpretation of it. I hope its a fun version of the character, but the bar was set pretty high by Evan Peters in Days of Future Past.

Something that was revealed by this trailer is the confirmation that Scarlet Witch will be used to possess some of the Avengers and they will be used to fight one another. Put aside the fact that this was used in the last Avengers and this movie runs the risk of repeating itself, this actually has the potential to be really interesting and make Scarlet Witch a really scary character.

It does worry me though.

Mainly because of what we've seen in past trailers. The big thing that has been advertised in this film is that Tony Stark is going to bust out the Hulkbuster in order to fight a raged out Hulk. On face value, that's awesome. Its the Hulkbuster, it opens up for a great fight.

However, I'm worried that the possession, again, it going to be a rehash of what happened in the first Avengers and is only being utilized to pit Hulk and Iron Man against each other.

I've written in past posts on how I would actually like to see some kind of story going on for Bruce Banner, especially after what I saw in the The Incredible Hulk. I thought that he was sick or something and was losing control of the Hulk.

I want there to be actual conflict and character development that would prompt a fight between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, two people that have traditionally been friends.

Maybe that's too much to ask for one movie, but I would have liked something a little bit more than, he was possessed. Unfortunately, this trailer kind of points to The Hulk being possessed by Scarlet Witch.

I'm still not totally convinced that his eyes are actually the Scarlet Witch red or they're just blood shot (possibly pointing towards the Hulk getting sick) but this new trailer kind of points towards that pretty hard, especially looking at Scarlet Witch possessing Black Widow.

Now I could just seem angry because my fan theory isn't correct. The honest truth is, I just like to theorize. As long as Joss Whedon brings us a compelling story that gives justice to a team we've grown to love and cherish, I have no problem with the Hulk being possessed. It just needs to make sense and it needs to be interesting.

Overall, I think the trailer just showed too much. I will probably bite these words but there doesn't seem to be much in this movie that we haven't seen from the trailers.

I saw a video the other day of a bunch of guys debating this very issue and the fact of the matter is, for fanboys like me, they could have just put a clip of the Hulkbuster, Ultron, and the Avengers with a 2 next to it and they might as well take our money now. I get for the average movie going audience, they need to show a little bit more, but this is getting kind of ridiculous.

Age of Ultron is going to be huge. There's no question about it. Marvel has been virtually unstoppable up to this point.

I am of the belief that Marvel is trying to maintain the integrity of its franchise by not just putting out fodder for fanboys to clap and cheer over seeing, but actually making stories and comprehensive ones at that.

Furthermore, Age of Ultron (from what I gather) is going to be the jumping off point for a whole new direction in Phase 3. The Marvel Universe is about to get huge and its starting with Age of Ultron and its lead into Civil War. I think a way to get even more excited about phase 3 and Civil War is for Age of Ultron to just be a great film.

I love the first Avengers film. However, I do acknowledge that the film is not incredible (story-wise) and that's okay. The franchise had reached a level that was unprecedented. Having all these heroes from past movies come together in this culminating event is something people have been trying to emulate ever since.

All I'm saying is that Marvel needs to be careful that its still on the trajectory that it was headed on with Captain America: The Winter Solider. That movie, to this day, is still my favorite Marvel movie and its because it wasn't just a good superhero film but a good film in general.

Marvel needs to continue not just making good superhero films, but also just making good films in general.

This Age of Ultron trailer is by no means showing any signs of Marvel going on a downturn, but my critiques of it will be showing too much in trailers, and the warning of dumbing things down just so you can get Tony Stark in the Hulkbuster. Give us something with substance, give us the Avengers movie that surpasses the original.

This rant didn't exactly turn the way I wanted it to, but I think I liked the direction it went. What do you think? Do you see any problems with Marvel's model of business or are they indestructible? Comment and Discuss below! Also shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 and follow me on Twitter to get updates on movie news and reviews!

I'll leave you with this. I may have already used this video but I think its relevant to the Marvel universe. Also I enjoy anything being critiqued by Nick Mundy. Enjoy!