I'm just a guy who loves stories, whether they be past, present, future, movies, TV Shows, video games, whatever. If you came to get an average guys thoughts on film, you've come to the right place.
What's hilarious is that I've been working on a review for a couple movies recently, like John Wick. I was just about to get that posted when the non-bootlegged version of this trailer came out and suddenly every thing fell to the wayside and this took priority because ladies and gentleman, this is the trailer for Suicide Squad.
This trailer is important because while we've seen a lot of stuff come out about Suicide Squad, we've seen the pictures, we've heard the casting, everything else, we haven't actually seen it in action. Now I still think its still a little bit early to release anything out of this movie, especially since its over a year away. But I need to get used to trailers coming out this early because its becoming more and more of a thing. I just need to make sure that I'm not watching too many and I know what is too much, because this and Batman v. Superman are great trailers. I just hope they keep the level of information on these awesome films on the low key and don't give too much away.
Anyway, what is there to say about the Suicide Squad trailer?
The trailer begins with Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis) meeting with what I can guess are American generals. They are discussing the formation of a team of "the bad guys". Which is the basic premise of the Suicide Squad to begin with. They're a taskforce with the mission of taking down even badder baddies with a promise of commuted sentences if they succeed, and plausible deniability if they fail.
The trailer begins and showing the different members of the Suicide Squad, from Margo Robbie as Harley Quinn, to Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc.
And the great part about these introductions of these characters is just the atmosphere of the entire trailer. The pictures that were released did give the entire squad a really dark, grungy feeling to them and I wasn't sure on whether or not they could come out with a movie (or at least a trailer) that could sell me on the gritty, kinda gross looking feeling this has to it.
As opposed to David Ayer's other projects, especially Sabotage, which I really didn't like, Suicide Squad feels like a comic book as opposed to Sam Worthington just dressing up like a red neck biker in a DEA task force for no fucking reason. While it feels like a comic book, there's a really great atmosphere about this movie that I really like.
Harley Quinn looks phenomenal. Obviously Margo Robbie was good in Wolf of Wall Street and I want to see more of her because of that. I especially want to see her in this.
The other cast members look really interesting and while some of them are pretty nameless to me, the ones that stand out are obviously Margot Robbie, Will Smith as DeadShot, and yeah, I'm actually really excited for Killer Croc now that we've seen more of him.
I think Cara Delevingne is going to have a pretty big, hopefully dark role in the film in the film as Enchantress. I still don't know if she's much of an actress, but her part looks interesting.
Jai Courtney was... well Jai Courtney... I don't know, ever since Terminator: Genesiys, I've kind of given up on Jai Courtney, I'll have to wait and see when the movie comes out.
The most "disappointing" part of the trailer, meaning it just wasn't a thing, is the role of Joel Kinnaman playing Rick Flag. The way I understand the Suicide Squad is that Rick Flag is suppose to be a sort of leader of the squad... but he didn't really have a role at all in this trailer. I mean look at that picture, he's just kind of staring.
Will Smith kind of seemed like the leader of the group to be honest. I kind of wonder if the role was cut when Tom Hardy exited the project. I mean who would you rather have as a leader of your team? Will Freaking Smith? Or that boring guy from the RoboCop Reboot? (I still need to get to that one). Its obviously going to be Will Smith.
So the team formation is pretty cool, and then of course, I don't think they were going to reveal a trailer like this without having the huge reveal, the Joker.
And yeah... he's great.
I really don't think anybody has had a huge issue with the casting of Jared Leto as the Joker. I mean the guy has an Academy Award under his belt, he's definitely a method actor. He's angsty enough in his rock band to have a dark side to him, I don't think anybody has any problem giving him a shot to bring something new to the Joker.
I do think some people had a little bit of issue with the initial picture that came out of him and in case you were wondering, Yes, Damaged is still tattooed on his forehead. But its not really apparent in the trailer, I had to really search for it, so I don't think it'll be a huge deal in the film.
But how is he in the trailer?
I think he's really good. Like... I just shit my pants good. I think the good thing about this Joker is that this is not necessarily going to be a charismatic Joker (while I still think there will be an element of that to this movie) I think this is more of the serial murderer Joker who is charismatic in the way serial killers are. I don't know, there is a little bit of Ledger in what we saw from the trailer. But that's my best point of reference. I can only hope that Leto is creating something new while taking everything we've seen in the past, kind of exactly like Ledger did.
Needless to say, I'm really excited for this Joker.
There's a lot of good things in this trailer. Most of David Ayer's filmography is good. Some of it isn't so good. But I am definitely excited for Suicide Squad. I think I was already but I wanted to see something. With both of the trailers that came out from San Diego Comic-Con, I think a lot of people are starting to change their tunes about DC. And I have to be honest, I don't think it was a very good idea for Marvel to skip out of Comic-Con this year. While other announcements DC has come out with have been overshadowed by Marvel trailers and announcements that we're comfortable with, this time, there wasn't much to overshadow DC. They definitely ran Comic-Con this year and it was hard to compete.
But what do you think? What did you think of the Suicide Squad trailer? What does 2016 look like in the world of comic book movies? Can DC prove their worth with theses starting movies? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 in order to send me your thoughts and give me requests for future reviews. There you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews.
I'll leave you with this. I'm gonna be honest, this is a dumb spoof of Suicide Squad, but the Nerdist kind of called that we were gonna get a Suicide Squad trailer so I'll give them some credit. Enjoy!
So I've been pretty busy of late. I've had a lot of work I've had to get done, I've been catching up on Game of Thrones finally. On top of that, I just actually haven't watched that many movies this past week and haven't been able to review anything lately. That being said, I still have a couple of films I watched recently that I haven't finished reviews on, I still need to finish my Avengers: Age of Ultron analysis to compliment my review, I'm way behind on that. And I also need to finish my post on my thoughts on Tom Holland being cast as Spider-man.
To add onto all of that, I'm sure a lot of news is going to come out due to Comic-Con. So don't worry, new stuff is on the way.
But I had to drop everything I was doing, pause Game of Thrones, and do a review the minute I saw this...
ITS A 3 1/2 MINUTE LONG TRAILER FOR BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE!!!!
This is the trailer we've all been waiting for!
Now I've given my thoughts on the first trailer that came out which I thought was just brilliant. You can read my thoughts here.
I thought a teaser like that was perfect for the time it was released. It came out in April, a little less than a year before the movie is set to arrive, it got the message out that this movie is going to happen. I loved it.
The one critique I will have of this trailer is that after this, I really don't want to see anymore. I think I've seen all that I need to see from this trailer and I don't need to see anymore. And that's a little bit concerning because I know they're going to come out with more trailers and I almost feel like I won't be watching any of them.
So what happens in this trailer?
What doesn't happen in this trailer is the real question.
It starts with Superman appearing before a committee in what I can only assume is him coming forward for the events of Man of Steel. This is complimented with what seems like a flashback of Bruce Wayne in Metropolis watching the destruction happen around him.
Its apparent that Bruce Wayne was deeply affected by the events of Man of Steel and sees Superman as a danger to humanity instead of a hero.
The quote from Jeremy Irons as Alfred comes back saying this is the kind of stuff that turns good men cruel and what seems to begin is a war between Batman and Superman in all walks of their lives.
This is also complimented with the idea of Superman being a figure of controversy in the world.
To some, Superman is a hero and savior of humanity, to others, he's a menace and could have the power to wipe humanity off the map. This is shown really well in the trailer and it just strengthens the great ideas that were introduced in the first trailer and the ideas that I really hope they follow through with in the movie.
And while there's obviously tension between Batman and Superman, as they are the obvious rivals in the movie and Batman definitely seems as though he wants to stop Superman from destroying the world, there's another voice out there. Its not necessarily one definitively saying he doesn't like Superman (though we can assume he doesn't), but there's more an air of foreboding about him.
LEX LUTHOR IS IN THIS TRAILER!!!
Now Jesse Eisenberg has always been the wild card. I mentioned in my review of the first trailer that there wasn't much in that to say whether or not I'm excited about Jesse Eisenberg or not because we didn't see him. But now we see him in full force and personally, I really like it.
Its definitely not the Lex Luthor we're all used to. He's not Gene Hackman or Kevin Spacey bringing the same Lex Luthor we've seen before, no this Lex Luthor seems a little bit different. I can't say for sure just from a three and a half minute trailer, but I like this incarnation of Lex Luthor right now.
On top of that, I didn't see Jesse Eisenberg. I didn't see the awkward asshole. I actually saw some potential of a character. I think one of the most fun parts of the trailer is when he eerily says, "The Red Capes are coming". I don't know why but I really liked that ending part. I'm gonna try and watch The Double in the next few days (or week, we'll see) but I'm a little bit more interested in Jesse Eisenberg being Lex Luthor. Now, I think I still would have enjoyed this trailer just as much (if not more) if Kevin Spacey had reprised the role but gave a new Frank Underwood like flair to the role. But of course that's just a dream.
But I'm also interested in what Lex Luthor's plan might be, cause we saw a potential of it in the trailer.
Yeah... that's Zod's body...
Now there was some rumor speculating on the use of Zod's body in the past that I heard about. The rumors speculate around the creation of Doomsday and my idea is that, yes, Doomsday would be cool. But please... god... do not have Doomsday show up in this movie.
For those who don't know, Doomsday is the creature that eventually killed Superman in one of Superman's most iconic comic books, The Death of Superman. He's one of Superman's most formidable villains and we've never seen him on the big screen.
I get it, we're going to get to Doomsday. I think Warner Brothers and DC, and Zack Snyder would be dumb not to eventually bring Doomsday into the fold as the one creature that could destroy Superman.
Just don't do it in this film. This movie has some great potential. Its got great ideas, its got more than enough characters. Its got a conflict. It doesn't need a monster showing up at the end that Batman and Superman need to team up to defeat.
Save Doomsday for future films, save him for Justice League. Just don't bring him into this movie! For the love of god please!
But regardless, whether its that or something else, I'm excited to see these movies recognizing what happened in the last film and building off of that.
Oh yeah... by the way...
Wonder Woman is in this trailer too.
Now I'm actually mentioning her later in this rant because I'm still not totally sure what her role is in this entire ordeal.
I'm still of the idea that I'm willing to give Gal Gadot a chance. I think that she can make a good Wonder Woman. But in all of this epicness, this battle between Batman and Superman, there are these random scenes with Wonder Woman just placed in there, somewhat randomly. Don't get me wrong, they're awesome to see and its exciting seeing her there, but why is she there?
She just seems incredibly out of place. The trailer is still awesome, I'm still overly excited for this film. I just felt like she was kind of shoe horned in there and it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. I've said time and time again, while the movie is called Dawn of Justice, this should not be a Justice League Prequel. The movie should focus on Batman facing off against Superman. Not the formation of the Justice League. Like I've said in my post about Wonder Woman, I'm okay with her having a role in the movie, as long as it doesn't take away from the two main attractions.
Now I would have preferred if her role in the movie would have been that of Diana Prince and she didn't even see action in this film. But I'll tell you why I'm not as worried about it now.
A common feeling I got from every scene I saw in this trailer is summed up in one word: Epic. I may use that word too liberally, but it really is. This trailer wastes no time in giving you the feeling that this movie is going to be an Epic, not just be epic, but be an actually Epic (like mythology epic).
So yeah, if you wanna throw Wonder Woman in this epic, as long as it makes sense, you go right ahead.
People have said that there might be too much going on in this film, but my impression from both the trailers that I've seen have been, yeah there is a lot of stuff, but its all the right stuff.
They aren't showing Aquaman, they're not showing the Flash, their not showing Cyborg, they're showing stuff about Batman and Superman.
This trailer alludes to a Robin, this trailer has a lot of Joker references in it. And I love the, all. Everything in this feels as though its woven together and its teasing a story that I have incredible high hopes for.
Yeah Wonder Woman doesn't make a lot of sense in the context of this trailer, but the way things seem to be playing out, I'm thinking that there is some way that Diana Prince will bring something necessary to the plot.
And here's a theory. I mentioned before in a post I did on Aquaman that there could be a connection between the two as there seems to be a sort of Greek mythology connection to this story. Wonder Woman could be the connecting factor between Batman and Superman and the rest of the Justice League. In a way, Wonder Woman could be the Nick Fury or Black Widow of the Justice League. Just a theory. I don't know if that's how its going to happen, but its interesting no doubt.
But on top of this all, I can't help but think that there will be an element of this film that will paint Superman as sort of a bad guy in a way.
I mean put aside the fact that Superman apparently has his devote subjects in this movie with the S patch on their shoulders. There's a lot of this movie that says perhaps that Superman might have too much power.
Now this very well could be the perspective of Batman or Lex Luthor coming through on screen, but I'm kind of wondering with some of the images seen in this trailer if Superman is not exactly the absolute good guy in this movie. I mean once again, you see images of him shooting lasers from his eyes while a city (probably Gotham) burns around him. Superman might be learning how to be the hero and he may let this new publicity go to his head.
But even if he doesn't, that's how good this trailer is. It gives me the idea that this movie might not view Superman in the best light through the perspective of Batman or Lex Luthor. When a movie can make me see the bad guys (or rivals) points of view and makes me believe that they are doing the things they do because the believe its right, then we have a good villain, then we have a conflict, and then we have an awesome movie.
There is very little in this trailer that anybody could say is a down side. Yeah I think its a little early to be showing this much. Yeah I think Wonder Woman seemed a little bit out of place in what seems like it should just be a battle between Batman and Superman.
But besides that, this movie looks to be turning out better than anybody could expect. Now of course this is just a trailer and this movie could suck, but the more I see, the more I'm convinced this movie is going to be awesome. It gave me confidence about Jesse Eisenberg, something I was not excited about in the least. It made Gal Gadot look awesome. It made me believe Ben Affleck is Bruce Wayne and it hopefully will provide Superman with some much needed development, something that wasn't really present in Man of Steel.
Overall, I've watched this trailer about fifty times since I've seen it and I am just overwhelmingly excited about it.
But what about you? Are you excited for Batman v Superman now? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 in order to send me your thoughts on the trailer and send requests for more movies for me to review. I will make them my priority. You can also follow me to get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of the blog.
Before I go, I should let you know that despite the fact that Comic-Con is going on, I will probably not be able to comment on everything. Unless I get a request of someone wanting my thoughts on something (something I will make time for), I'll get to the Comic-con stuff when I have time. Like I said, I'm a little bit behind. Thanks for bearing with me.
I'll leave you with this though. Conan has done a lot of spoofs on Batman v Superman, this one is kind of old but its a good one. Enjoy!
Man! The 90s were just a brilliant time weren't they? There are just a crap load of movies out there that are beyond ridiculous concepts but somehow or another, they work phenomenally.
I had seen clips of Air Force One here and there but I had never actually seen all of it until today. I guess its the Fourth of July weekend so they're playing all their patriotic movies on TNT and this one rightfully goes up there.
Air Force One stars Harrison Ford as James Marshall, the President of the United States. Marshall is right in the middle of a situation with Russia that led to a high value target being imprisoned.
Unfortunately, there is a group of Russian terrorists loyal to the Russian general captured, led by Ivan Korshunov (played by Gary Oldman) who are able to gain access to Air Force One, the Presidential airplane. With the help of an insider on board the plane, they are able to gain access to weapons and take the plane over. In the initial attack, the terrorists are able to take control of the plane, take the majority of the cabinet hostage, as well as the President's wife and daughter (played by Wendy Crewson and Liesel Matthews).
Korshunov calls the Vice President (played by Glenn Close) and demands the release of the the Russian general or he will kill a hostage every hour aboard Air Force One. What both the terrorists and the Vice President don't know is that James Marshall was able to hide from the initial attack. Being a Medal of Honor winner and fighting in Vietnam, The President of The United States must thwart the plan of the terrorists and save his wife and daughter.
And if you're thinking to yourself, "Hmmm where have I heard this plot before? It sounds so familiar." You'd be right, this is the exact plot to Die Hard but instead of Nokatomi Tower, its Air Force One, and instead of John McClane, its Harrison Ford as the President of the United States.
I mean its not the first Die Hard rip off and it wouldn't be the last. The movie came out 9 years after Die Hard so I guess the plot is ripe for the taking. It just fun watching this movie for the first time in a long time and realizing its the same exact movie as Die Hard.
But enough about Die Hard, how does Air Force One stand as its own movie?
The truth is, its great. I mean you can tell that this movie is a movie from the 90s and a bi-product of movies that came out during the 80s. Is it likely for a group of terrorists to take over Air Force One, absolutely not. But it makes the movie fun as hell.
Talking about performances, this was definitely a time in Harrison Ford's career where he felt like he needed to growl everything. And this is the movie that you can definitely pair with a drinking game every time he growls something about his wife or his family.
Obviously, I love Harrsion Ford. There's not much else to say, he plays the part perfectly and I believe that he's the President of the United States, but at the same time, could kick your ass.
And then there's Gary Oldman.
God Bless this man. Its awesome that one of the most intimidating Russian bad guys from the 90s was not Russia at all, but a British, classically trained actor like Gary Oldman.
Oldman does it all in this movie. He's loud and just down right bananas when he's taking over the plane but at the same time can turn it around and be intimidating just by looking at your.
Those are the main stars of the movie. You've got Glenn Close who does a pretty good job and the wife and daughter who are your typical family member hostages.
The main attraction is Ford versus Oldman and its great. Watching this movie, I actually regret a lot more things about the movie Paranoia because these two are just amazing counterparts to each other.
Now how is the story and how is the movie as a whole. Well its classic 90s cheese. This movie knows how over the top it is and it doesn't really hide it. And the fact that it takes place on Air Force One and its involving the President, you know there's going to be tons of people jumping to take a bullet for the President. If you've seen the movie, you know how exactly ridiculous it gets, especially in the end.
Its just a down right ridiculous film and its definitely a pre-9/11 film. But that's not a bad thing.
The truth is, I'm probably going to recommend anything with Harrison Ford in it, especially paired with Gary Oldman. If you don't enjoy the action genre, if you can't sit through something that is really utterly ridiculous, you may not like Air Force One. But this movie is just one of many movies that came out starring Ford that in a way are seen as classics. This, The Fugitive, in a way the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan movies like Patriot Games.
This one is a little bit more action packed and is very reminiscent of Die Hard but its just a classic set up and a classic idea.
Overall, its pretty obvious that I loved this movie. Its a pretty classic 90's action film and its worth checking out if you haven't already.
But what do you think of Air Force One? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and give me your thoughts there as well as get updates on future movie news and reviews on this blog. Also send me your requests for future movies to review, I will make them priority.
I'll leave you with this. Harrison Ford is great because while he's a great actor, he's actually quite introverted if you see anything with him not in a character. But at the same time, from what I've seen, he seems like a pretty genuine guy. I don't know, maybe I just hope that's the case. Here's a video of him responding to a David Blaine magic trick. Enjoy!
Wedding Crashers is one of those movies that I've heard a lot bout but wasn't able to see it when it first came out. Since its come out, I've had opportunities to see this film, but never found much interest. Mainly because you've got Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. Now, these two actors are actually two very successful actors and I think both of them have good and bad movies. Both of them have also surprised me in the past with the choices of movies they've done and where their careers have gone.
At the same time, I haven't been impressed with some of the movies that they've made and this seemed very much like just the same comedy they've done over and over.
But I've been watching pretty much what has been on TV recently and this was on TV, I thought it was time to check out what this movie was all about.
Wedding Crashers stars Vaughn and Wilson as Jeremy Grey and John Beckwith. These two friend
pass their time by going to random weddings they're not invited to, making a splash, and sleeping with as many women as they can.
These two are despicable. They're assholes. They prey on vulnerable women and then leave them high and dry when the party is over.
Honestly, its a funny set up. The movie sets up these two as two guys you can think are despicable but at the same time there is a level of humanity to them both.
Now I will say that their transition to unlikeable to heart of gold guys is a little bit random, but I do think the movie rides a fine line between hating these guys, and rooting for them.
But we'll get to that in a little bit.
So eventually, these two find themselves at the wedding of the daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury. They do their same plays and plan to seduce just like they always do, but this time its a little bit different.
Jeremy and John find themselves going after the sisters of the bride, Claire and Gloria (played by Rachel McAdams and Isla Fisher).
Now I have no idea what kind of genes Christopher Walken and Jane Seymour have to give them one blonde daughter (the bride) one brunette daughter AND a red haired daughter, two of which are Rachel McAdams and Isla Fisher... I think that's a little bit ridiculous, but holy smokes, I want those genes.
But anyway, John finds himself infatuated (like any normal human man) and is interested in pursuing her. At first it seems like he's just going for her because he wants to sleep with her, but eventually, its very clear that John is falling in love with her.
On the other side of things, Jeremy seems to be interested in pursuing Gloria as just another conquest.
Until he realizes that Gloria is batshit crazy. Like to a ridiculous level. I have to hand it to Isla Fisher,
I never thought I could see her as THAT crazy. But on top of that, she's also the most ridiculously sexy when she's that batshit crazy. As nuts as she is, I would take crazy Isla Fisher any day.
But this happens to work for John's advantage as Gloria invites them to stay at their country home after the wedding. John sees this as a great idea as he can get closer to Claire. However, Jeremy thinks this is a horrible idea as he is almost terrified of Gloria.
Obviously the two go to the lake house and they meet the entire family. There's Christopher Walken as the Secretary of the Treasury. I don't think anymore introduction is needed there, I mean its Christopher Walken. And then there's Jane Seymour as the oddly sex depraved wife who thinks that John is hitting on her. Then you've got the younger brother of the family (played by Keir O'Donnell) who is just an odd ball. Apparently he's gay, socially awkward, and wants to jump Jeremy's bones for some reason. There are a couple other odd ball characters, but I think one of the strangest performances in this movie is that of Bradley Cooper as Claire's boyfriend, Sack Lodge.
At first I couldn't really believe that that was Bradley Cooper. He just kind of comes out of nowhere. On top of that, he's young in this movie. (Youngish... he's like 30). This was one of Cooper's first big roles and its weird seeing him in a role like this.
On top of all of that, I mean look at that picture! He's like a Ken doll!
I mean Bradley Cooper is not the absolute best part of the film, but its just kind of a surprise seeing him there.
Like I said, the transition from seeing the main characters as despicable people, to guys with hearts of gold is really quick and kind of random. They basically do the whole, they might be bad, but there are worse people, like the people in this family.
There are also a lot of really random parts about this movie. The whole mother having a thing for John is really random and doesn't really go anywhere. Kind of the same with the brother situation. And then there's Isla Fisher kind of changing notes half way through, and their sudden desire to make Vince Vaughn more of a relatable character I guess near the end.
And then there was this...
Ha! Awesome.
Anyway, Wedding Crashers is a fun comedy and a little bit different. Is it the groundbreaking comedy everybody thinks it is? I don't really think so. It sure is fun though.
Overall, Wedding Crashers is a pretty fun movie. Yeah its a little random, yeah its a little crude, but it is a pretty fun time. I'll probably stop and watch it next time I see that its on, so whatever that is worth.
What do you think of Wedding Crashers? Do you like Vaughn and Wilson? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to send me your thoughts on this movie and send me requests for others to review. You can also subscribe to get updates on movie news and reviews of the future.
I'll leave you with this. Like I said, I've liked certain aspects of Vaughn and Wilson's career. One of those aspects is Vaughn in the new season of True Detective. Here's him on Fallon with Collin Farrel. Enjoy!
When Eragon came out as a book, I was at a point in my life where I would read and watch anything that reminded me of Lord of The Rings. This was just about the times that the movies were coming out and I know Christopher Paolini was in the same mindset. A lot of his influences came from Tolkien and his books. Also as a writer myself, I loved the idea of this young kid writing this fantasy series and it getting so much acclaim.
So then a movie came out. And remember, this was a few years after Return of the King. This was years before Game of Thrones and a lot of people interested in fantasy were aching for another good fantasy film. My friends and I had a lot of high hopes for the movie because in a way, we wanted a similar reaction to the movies that we did to the books. We thought these could be the next Lord of the Rings movies because the books had been that before.
Oh god were we wrong.
Eragon follows the story of the title character (played by Edward Speleers). On a hunt, he comes across a magic blue stone. There's some background to this stone that is kind of explained but all you need to know is that this is a dragon egg.
And eventually a dragon hatches from it.
Of course, like any fantasy, this world is governed by an evil dictator named Galbatorix (played hilariously randomly by Jon Malkovich). Galbatorix killed all the dragons prior to coming to rule and he of course will not stand for any more dragons. He of course sends his henchmen to kill Eragon and his dragon, headed by Robert Carlyle (probably a demo reel for his role in Once Upon a Time) .
Eragon of course is saved by the Obi-Wan Kenobi figure of the story, an old man named Brom (played by Jeremy Irons). His job is to train Eragon to become a Jedi... I mean Dragon Rider.
Their mission: to find The Varden, the resistance against Galbatorix, and for Eragon to become a powerful Dragon Rider while developing a relationship with his dragon Saphira (voiced by Rachel Weisz).
There's a lot of things to say about this movie.
The first is, Jeremy Irons is actually really good in this role. Yeah he looks bored ultimately and I'm sure he's thinking there are better things to do with his life, but the guy is so British and pulls off the medieval look so well that I actually enjoyed a lot of his scenes. Jeremy Irons was the only redeeming part of this movie.
Besides that, everything else in this movie is either lazy, or contrived, or silly.
Even as a kid, I hated the casting of Edward Speleers as Eragon. The truth is, I hadn't seen this guy prior to this film and I haven't seen him in anything since because he's just not good.
Furthermore, Eragon is a stupid character. He's this young whiny punk who is suppose to have some kind of influence from Luke Skywalker obviously because a lot of the storyline from this movie (and the book) are ripped right from Star Wars. And he thinks he's the hot shit. He wants to go out and fight bad guys when he's just been a farm boy. Eragon reminds me of a kid who grew up reading fantasy novels would say if he got put on an adventure like this. He actively seeks out a fight and when his friends die because of his dumb decisions, he doesn't give a shit, he just goes to the next fight. Eragon, is awful.
Now, to be somewhat fair, the script is a freaking mess. Its not 100% the faults of Jeremy Irons, Ed Speleers, Garrett Hedlund, Robert Carlyle, all actors who I think have gone on to bigger and better things. (I didn't include the woman who played Arya because to be totally honest, she does absolutely nothing in this film and she hasn't done anything since, she's awful). But the truth is, nobody is good in this film... Nobody.
And the worst part is, watching the movie now, so many years removed from the last time I read the book, it really makes me question whether or not the book was any good. Its sort of like my reaction when I watched Anchorman 2. That movie was so bad that it made me question everything I knew about Anchorman 1 and whether or not that was a good film or not.
The fact of the matter is, it didn't really feel like anybody was trying that hard with this film. Its almost like people thought that since its a fantasy epic with dragons, and swordplay, that it was obviously going to be amazing. Unfortunately, that's really not the case.
Let's talk about the story itself for a second. What exactly happens in this film?
Eragon gets a dragon egg, it hatches, it grows up. He gets picked up by Brom who becomes his mentor. Brom intends to bring him to the Varden so he can be an asset in the resistance. Eragon decides to go help out this random chick he thought he saw once. And while they save her, Brom is killed, they pick up whoever Garrett Hedlund is, get to the Varden, and have a fight. That is the entire film. Now you may say that's more than enough for a movie. But think about it. There's not much of a reaction to him getting a mutha fucking dragon. There's no reaction to Brom saying, you are going to be the leader of the resistance. There is no feelings which way or the other about the bad guys in this film. This story is what happens when we think that fantasy is all about the sword play and the mysticalness of the environment.
There's no development, there's no feeling, there's definitely no chemistry. My god I know there's suppose to be some kind of romance between Eragon and Arya and dear lord it was bad in this film.
So yeah, you can understand why this movie would make me question the original books because again, this doesn't feel like a story, it feels like a kid taking everything he loved from Lord of the Rings and other fantasy books, wrapping it all together, and calling it original.
I'm not saying this about Christopher Paolini because this is a review about the movie and not the book, but that's how much this movie sucks. It makes you question something that you used to love, and really makes you question if it was actually that good.
Its one thing to say that Eragon was just adapted poorly, but its another thing to possibly say that Eragon was a book that didn't have much to adapt.
Needless to say, its been a rough 24 hours as far as the movies that I have watched (outside of Non-Stop) like this and Terminator: Genisys. Maybe its just been a bad series of films I've watched, maybe its other things, but this movie hurts particularly a lot more because of its representation of something I thought that I loved once.
I'm not totally sure what this movie was trying to be. Its in a similar situation that King Arthur was when it came out. It banked in on the fact that the people watching loved Lord of the Rings, they loved Sword play, they loved the fantasy element of it. However, with Eragon, I don't know if anybody knew who this movie was directed towards. Was this a movie for kids? Was this a movie for the audience who went to Lord of the Rings? Because that's a very different audience right there. Sure there were some kids who went to Lord of the Rings but the majority of the people who liked Lord of the rings were older because the movie was made for them. This movie had a PG rating and obviously couldn't do the giant action sequences the Lord of the Rings fans wanted.
Now I don't know if Paolini intended for this to be that huge fantasy epic that included guys getting heads chopped off, but the audience was just confusing for this film and just ended up hurting the film in the end.
I'm going to stop talking about this film and hopefully find something good worth reviewing. But Eragon is a movie that personally hurt me and I would never recommend it. Now, it is kind of fun to maybe get a beer or two and just bash this movie to pieces (something that I have done) but if you're looking for an entertaining time, you're better off looking somewhere else.
What did you think of Eragon? Comment and Discuss below! You can also let me know on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and follow me to get updates on movie news and reviews and also give me your requests for future movies to take a look at, I will make them priority.
I'll leave you with this. Here's an older video. It takes a lot of scenes from this movie and kind of makes fun of them. Enjoy!
Liam Neeson is just a gem. Whether its in Taken, or a cameo in Ted 2, or just anything. Anytime Liam Neeson is on screen, I love it. What I love about the guy is that he's got a wide variety of achievements. He's done incredibly serious movies like Schindler's List. He's done incredibly ridiculous movies like Taken. He's done silly movies like A Million Ways to Die in the West, the list goes on.
And what's more is that he's an action hero icon. Yeah A Walk Among The Tombstones was just a grittier and dark Taken, but it was a good film nonetheless because Liam Neeson is amazing. And now we have Taken... on a plane with Non-Stop.
Non-Stop is the story of a US Air Marshal by the name of Bill Marks. Marks is an alcoholic, he's depressed. He's your pretty typical hero with a dark past storyline. He's complex, but hey, its Liam Neeson so its okay.
Marks boards a plane going from New York to London. While in the air, Marks gets a text message on a Federal network saying that unless Marks transfers 150 million dollars to an unknown account, every twenty minutes someone on the plane will die.
And so begins the game of cat and mouse of Marks trying to figure out who on his plane is playing this game with him and who he can trust.
And that's basically the movie.
Marks is trying to unravel this mystery before any more people die and he runs across a series of suspects. From the mysterious woman sitting next to him (played by Julianne Moore) to the NYPD officer (played by Corey Stoll) to the flight attendants (played by Michelle Dockery and Lupita Nyong'o).
I really wish I could say more about this film but the honest truth is that that's it!
The things that I love about recent Liam Neeson films is that there isn't too much else to them. They're just simple and to the point. I really don't think that this movie is setting up for any kind of franchise or sequel. In this day and age, I wouldn't be surprised if they did do a sequel but I think this movie is entertaining on its own.
Now, is this movie a brilliant movie? No. Like I said, its pretty simple. There's a few twists and turns but its pretty standard.
I really liked the paranoia and the games the villain of the movie plays with Marks in this film. Its a really creative idea but I can't say it lends itself to anything beyond a one shot film.
Are the physics in the movie ridiculous? Of course they are. Is the movie ridiculous itself, of course it is. But its just a down right fun ride. The performances in the movie are entertaining and the twists and turns are a lot of fun.
The fact of the matter is that you really don't need to think about Non-Stop that much. Sure its not exactly the best written but its not meant to be an Oscar winning.
Liam Neeson knows how to entertain and he's a great action star. There's really not that much else to say about Non-Stop. Its a movie you can turn on and just have fun with whether its the beginning, middle, end. Just strap in for a fun ride.
I know its a short review but I obviously can't say anything bad about this movie. That's not that there aren't bad things in this movie. Its really kind of a mediocre film. But anything bad in this film is not really worth mentioning because the movie knows what it is. Its an action film that you just need to turn your brain off during and just have fun with.
I feel bad but there's not much else to say, but what did you think of Non-Stop? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. There you can also send me your thoughts on this movie and give me your requests for future reviews.
I'll leave you with this. I would not want to ever run into Liam Neeson in a dark alley. I definitely wouldn't want to face him in an arm wrestle. Jimmy Fallon tried. Enjoy!
You know... I consider myself a good sport. I've watched some bad movies in my day. Usually, I can sit through a movie, stand up and say, yeah that movie was bad, yeah there's probably not anything really redeeming about it, but I can laugh at how bad it was. At least when I went to the midnight premiere of The Last Airbender, I came out of it laughing saying, wow, that was so bad it was funny. Lots of times, I can find a movie so bad that its almost entertaining how bad it is.
Terminator Genisys has created a new category in bad movies. Like there are bad movies, and then there is Terminator: Genisys.
I've had a troubled history with the Terminator movies. I'll be one hundred percent honest, I fell asleep during the first one. Maybe its how popular the movie is, maybe its how well known the story is, but I knew exactly what happened and honestly the first movie put me to sleep. I have yet to watch the second one. I mean I've heard that its one of the best science fiction movies of all time, but with my experience with Terminator movies, you'll understand if I have a hard time believing that. I didn't bother with Terminator 3. I saw bits a pieces of Salvation but I never could get into it.
And then the trailer came out. Now, I was one of the many who saw the trailer above and said, wow that basically shows a huge spoiler in the movie (John Connor becoming a terminator), doesn't that seem like the entire movie?
But a part of me thought that perhaps we were all wrong. Maybe, just maybe, this movie could be really good. I mean James Cameron himself said that this movie was going back to the roots of Terminator and making it better. The whole rewriting the timeline has worked with other franchises like Star Trek, why wouldn't it work here?
Let's just say James Cameron has lost all his credibility in my mind and if you've watched the trailer above, you have seen the movie.
Terminator: Genisys starts out telling the story that has been told a hundred times over. John Connor (played by John Clarke) is the savior of the human resistance in a world where machines called SkyNet have taken over the world, enslaved humanity, and have brought about the apocalypse.
Connor and his right hand man Kyle Reese (played by Jai Courtney) have led a successful resistance and are about to destroy SkyNet. Right before their campaign is successful, the machines send back a Terminator (played by horrible CGI Arnold Schwarzenegger) to kill John Connor's mother, Sarah Connor (played by Emilia Clarke). Kyle Reese volunteers to go back in time after the Terminator and stop him from doing anything to Sarah Connor and saving his friend's existence.
Now the beginning of this film is basically the plot of Terminator 1 but from the side of Kyle Reese and John Connor. He shows up in 1984, he's looking for the Terminator and more importantly, a weak and vulnerable Sarah Connor, but twist! Sarah Connor rides up saving Kyle. She's not the vulnerable woman he thought she was going to be.
Sarah Connor has actually be protected by Old Arnold who was sent back to protect her back in 1973. Since then they've been training for her to be the mother of the savior of humanity.
Sarah knows everything, from SkyNet to the fact that she has to "mate" with Kyle Reese to bear John Connor. (really, that was a joke they were really pushing in this movie).
Because Old Arnold and Sarah Connor are a new team, their mission is to destroy SkyNet from every existing and like most of the other films, save humanity from ever falling into the machine apocalypse that it just seems to always fall into.
The movie takes a couple turns and because the trailer didn't give a shit about not spoiling the movie, I'm not going to give a shit either.
Basically, instead of going to 1997 and stopping whatever happened in past movies, they decide to go to 2017 where a new operating system called Genisys is being announced and turns out to be the precursor to SkyNet.
On top of all of that, suddenly John Connor comes out of no where and turns out he is a Terminator now.
And yeah, that was pretty dumb.
I'm not gonna say it was the worst thing to ever happen as it does create something different in the story than what we're used to and it does create for a villain that is a little more personal for the protagonists.
The thing that is so disappointing is that this could have actually made for an interesting twist... if I didn't know it was going to happen.
Like for some reason this movie decided tell everything about John Connor becoming a terminator and nothing about the real... villain? in Matt Smith's character. He's basically SkyNet and in essence is the Genisys program. And for the most part, I actually really liked Matt Smith in this movie. I thought he was really good. Why wouldn't they reveal him and leave the whole John Connor is a terminator thing as a secret?
Anyways, John Connor is a Terminator and he wants to release Genisys and make Judgement Day happen.
And Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese, and Old Arnold need to stop that from happening.
Like I said before, there are bad movies, and then there's Terminator Genisys. I can only hope that this movie is the nail in the coffin of the Terminator movies because this movie was just god awful.
And the weird thing is, I like the majority of this cast. I like Jason Clarke, I loved him in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. I love Emilia Clarke, I love her stuff in Game of Thrones. I love Matt Smith, I hope he gets better work because he was great in Doctor Who and I actually kind of enjoyed him in this film. And yeah, I kind of like Arnold as well. These are all people I hope get more work because I like them all.
Jai Courtney... I'm just not totally sure how he keeps getting work. I thought he was okay in Divergent and Insurgent but he was better as the asshole bad guy. There's no way he can hold his own movie like he tried to in this. And while Divergent gave him some rope for Suicide Squad, this movie pulls it right on back.
But the main factor that made me think that this movie was one of the worst pieces of garbage I've seen all year is the fact that 10 minutes in, I was falling asleep. Falling asleep at a Terminator movie! I don't mean that in a way of saying like the Terminator franchise has always been a thinking man's franchise, but a movie that had so many explosions, so many scenes of Arnold fighting like the soulless robot that he is, and I was falling asleep. This movie was not just bad, it was boring.
I'm not the first one to say this, and I won't be the last. Its time for the Terminator franchise to die.
When you get more out of a movie in its trailer than you do in the movie itself, its time to let the T-800 finally go out of commission and to let John Connor... do something, I'm not totally sure what, not exist or have a happy life, whatever.
And the thing is, lots of times with these movies I can say, if they had changed this, or if they had done this, I would have enjoyed it a little bit more or it would have been passable. But in this movie, there is really not a whole lot I think could have changed.
Maybe if the movie hadn't been spoiled in the trailers I would have been a little bit more interested but that's it, I'm here to tell you that you don't need to waste your money. Just scroll up, watch the trailer and figure out some kind of ending to what they're laying down in front of you. Chances are, it will be 10 times better of an ending as this movie did.
I didn't even stick around long enough to see the Post-credit scene because this movie was so boring.
I mean I might say that this movie had an interesting idea, changing up the timeline so you can reboot the franchise while paying homage to the first movies but just all the choices with this new set up were awful and the movie just suffers.
I really cannot believe that this movie bored me so much that I fell asleep but its true. This is what happens when people don't care about their story and just put up big name stars, a franchise name, and a lot of action sequences and say, "TA DA! Its a movie!"
Terminator: Genisys luckily is a negative outlier in a series of reboots (because we have a lot of those these days) that for the most part, have been homages rather than what this movie did which was not give a shit.
While I don't think Jurassic World is better than the first movie and is even an incredible movie, while I did enjoy it, it seemed like Colin Trevorrow and everyone involved with that project loved the source material and wanted to make the best next part of the series possible.
In this film is just seemed lazy and exhausted. Maybe the story is exhausted, maybe there is only two movies worth of material about a robot apocalypse and time traveling Terminators that made Terminator 1 and 2 good. I don't know, I'll have to go back and watch both of them and the subsequent sequels to really tell, but after this movie, I don't imagine that happening for a long time.
In short, this movie just left the Terminator franchise leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth and I don't want to think about this movie anymore. My advice, watch the trailer above and figure out your own ending, it will probably be a better movie that this pile of dogshit.
But if I'm totally wrong, please let me know. What did you think of Terminator: Genisys? Is there anything redeeming about this film? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on future movie news and reviews. You can also send me your thoughts on Terminator Genisys and give me ideas for future reviews.
I'll leave you with this. Its an Epic Rap battle of history. Enjoy!
