Television Review #4: Sherlock Series 2

When I first watched the first series of Sherlock, I couldn't think it could get any better! Then I watched series 2........

Sherlock Series 2 has Moriarty, Irene Adler and the Hounds of Baskerville. So if you're an avid fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories, these episodes will cater to your liking.

Series 1 ended with them finally meeting Jim Moriarty and from that alone you can expect the next season to be about him. I'm not saying that as a bad thing, in fact it's actually a great thing! Moriarty has got to be the most charismatic villain to ever grace the face of television. There are times when you hat his guts, and others where he makes you laugh. It may sound strange but it works for him.

Once again series 2 only has three episodes, but what episodes they are! Moffat and Gatiss continue to craft incredible episodes filled with mystery, humor, confusion and the episodes will never leave you bored. And considering each episode is 90 minutes long, for you to never feel bored, if not wanting more, that is the sign of a fantastic television show.

I really don't have much else to say about this because I have already praised Sherlock in my review of the first series.

Final Report: Sherlock keeps getting better each season and I am so excited for what series 3 has in store. Steven Moffat you better not screw this up!

Movie Review #28: The Pianist (2002)

I had to watch a movie about World War II for my history class, and since Inglorious Basterds isn't historically accurate, I decided to go with this film and I'm glad that I did.

The Pianist is a movie based on the true story of a Polish Jew in WWII trying to survive the ghettos and hide from the Germans.

Now I'm not the biggest Adrien Brody fan. I think that he's just a generic actor that gets cast in generic movies. After watching this I understand why he won the Oscar. His performance was incredible. It felt so real and genuine and I don't see that very often. After watching this, it makes me want to re-watch King Kong to see if he was generic or if he stood out. All of the supporting actors were great. Everyone gave very heartfelt performances. When I was watching this, I honestly believed that they were in the ghettos fighting for their lives just to live another day.

I felt that the essence and feel of Nazi-occupied Poland in the 1940's was captured perfectly. It felt realistic in every sense. The setting of the ghettos felt real and the violence and murders performed by the Nazis wasn't over-the-top or exaggerated.

Not only is the story interesting enough, but the script is very well written. It's filled with interesting dialogue that never left me bored. With the title being The Pianist, you are bound to expect some great music to accompany it. If you guessed that you'd be correct. Most of the time during extended scenes of dialogue the score tends to be overbearing and loud but the music sneaks up on you. It's often times quiet. Almost a whisper. There's also a great scene in which Adrien Brody plays the piano and it's fantastic. The scene was just a camera focused on his hands playing but it was great.

Final Report: The Pianist left me speechless with its emotion and horrifying depiction of a true hell on earth.

Movie Review #27: Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

I went to a used movie store last night and I found this for $3.99 and I asked myself two things:

1: There's no reason why I shouldn't buy this.

2: Why haven't I bought this movie already?!

Pirates of the Caribbean is perhaps the most successful live action movie franchise Disney has ever produced. Ever since its original release 10 years ago, Disney has been doing whatever it takes to get another franchise as successful and profitable as this. And so far they haven't been able to do as good as this. But they have been trying and still trying. If you don't believe me, just look at the Lone Ranger coming out this July!

The story is that in order to save the love of his life, Will Turner played by Orlando Bloom teams up with Captain Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black isn't a perfect movie, but what a movie it is! The biggest strength of the film is Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. This is my favorite Johnny Depp character for a reason: This role was made for him. He plays the role of Sparrow with such charisma and humor you would think that he's done this before. I actually found out that Depp was so good in this movie he was nominated for Best Lead Actor at the Academy Awards in 2003! Way to go Academy for giving recognition where it's due! I personally think he deserved the Oscar for this role and Depp deserves an Oscar in general because in every movie he's in he's fantastic. Johnny Depp is one of the few actors today that can sell a movie with just his name on the poster.

Captain Jack aside, this movie is also really well made. It has great visuals, makeup, props and enough fight scenes to fill three sequels. The script is pretty silly and goofy at times with some of the jokes here and there but that can easily be forgiven because let's remember; It's a Disney movie!

Curse of the Black Pearl also contains an incredible score by Klaus Badlet. This is without a doubt my favorite score of all time. The main theme that is played during the credits is beyond good. It's riveting, exciting and the perfect theme to a movie as fast-paced as this.

Final Report: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl has relentless scenes of action, a great cast, memorable characters and Johnny Depp in perhaps the greatest performance of his career. Savvy?

Movie Review #26: Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Tarantino, Nazis and Brad Pitt with a horrible Italian accent. If that description didn't perk your interest then I doubt that the rest of this review will.

Inglorious Basterds is more or less Quentin Tarantino's vision of how World War II should have ended. So history snobs be warned, this movie is more historically inaccurate than an Oliver Stone film.

The story follows Brad Pitt and his group of Jewish American soldiers who are dropped into France to do one thing and one thing only: Killing Nazis. Awesome!!! When Brad Pitt's character Aldo is introduced, he gives one of the best monologues in a long time. Aldo is a ruthless killer. If you look closely, you can see rope marks around his neck. Yes, he was hung but didn't die. By default he's awesome! His group called the Basterds are also really cool. One of them is played by B.J. Novak who plays Ryan from The Office which made me laugh. Eli Roth plays a soldier called the Bear Jew and he is one of the few Americans that even the Nazis fear. And rightly so because there is a scene with him and a baseball bat that you will both cringe and laugh at. It's okay people, don't beat yourself up if/when you chuckle when a Nazi gets tortured or executed because you can't sympathize for them! Seriously, you feel nothing for them because they are perhaps one of the most ruthless killers in the history of the world. You are not going to walk out of this movie saying,

"Oh well it was okay, but they were being really unfair to those Nazis. I just felt so bad for them."

If you say that after the credits roll, you are missing the point of this film. This is Tarantino. He writes what he wants and could care less if it is historically or politically correct. Check your hat at the door and enjoy the film.

Nw this is the first and only Quentin Tarantino film I have watched and I expected an over-the-top, bloody WWII movie. I did get that, but something else. There are many scenes that are just a couple of people sitting around a table talking. Now most of the time during scenes of prolonged dialogue, that's my cue to go to the bathroom. Not this time. Tarantino shows how to raise the tension really well. The dialogue scenes play out like someone tightening a guitar string. You know that it's going to snap eventually but when it does it's insane. The scene that stands out to me is the first chapter of the film. It starts out with a Nazi SS Officer talking to a french farmowner. He invites the officer into his house and he asks the owner if he's hiding any french jews. That scene is executed perfectly in every aspect. Christoph Waltz plays the Nazi SS Officer called the Jew Hunter and he's absurdly good. He's more or less the main villain but oddly enough, he's likable! He's really soft-spoken and is all smiles all the time.You know that he's evil because he's a Nazi, but you don't really see his sadistically evil side until near the end. His performance really stands out.

Mike Myers also made a cameo which was crazy to see because I've never seen him in a serious movie before. Or a movie other than Shrek or Wayne's World. Definitely look for his cameo.

Final Report: With well developed characters, a great story, a masterfully written script, plenty of dark humor and enough Nazi violence to go around: That's a bingo!

Movie Review #25: Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011)

After watching Jack Reacher, it got me thinking about what my favorite Tom Cruise film is. There are so many to choose from like Minority Report, Top Gun, War of the Worlds and so many others! But of his entire filmography, Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol is my favorite.

In Ghost Protocol, the Kremlin gets destroyed and the IMF is shut down because they were thought to be the bombers. This leads Ethan Hunt and his team to clear the name of the IMF.

Now these are my thoughts on the first three Mission Impossible movies:

• Mission Impossible: An iconic action thrill ride that turned Tom Cruise into one of the biggest celebrities on the planet.
• Mission Impossible II: Often times boring and cheesy. John Woo wasn't right the right fit for the franchise.
•  Mission Impossible III: J.J. Abrams reignites a franchise that most people stopped caring about. Sound familiar? 

Now for the fourth time around Abrams is still attached to this movie but not as the director. Instead we have Brad Bird. It's an odd choice because he's most well known for The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille. All of them are great animated films, but with this being his live action directorial debut; How does he fare? He kills it! With this being his live action debut, he makes it look like he's done this before. The action is awesome, the visuals are top notch, and there are scenes that will make your heart stop. When I watched it for the first time, I could not believe what was happening. It was that mind-blowing. The main characters are Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg. Cruise is still a great action hero, Renner's character undergoes some great and interesting character development, Patton is stunning and Pegg steals every scene he's in (as he always does).

Final Report: Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol is the best Mission Impossible movie yet with great characters, incredible visuals and action scenes that will take your breath away and stop your heart. It's one of the most enjoyable action movies made in quite some time.

Movie Review #24: Jack Reacher (2012)

I rented this movie thinking it would be a typical Tom Cruise action flick. Turns out I was wrong and pleasantly surprised.

Now I haven't read any of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child but hardcore fans say that Cruise is an odd choice. In the novels Reacher is 6'5" and Tom Cruise is a measly 5'7". Since I am not familiar with the source material, his height didn't affect me.

The plot of the film is that Jack Reacher is a homicide investigator who has to solve a case of why a sniper killed five random civilians. I thought this would be a generic action movie, but it turns out that it's a well crafted thriller and a masterfully written mystery! The movie had a great script that  will captivate you and leave you wondering why the sniper killed five civilians until the credits appear on the screen. Even though this movie doesn't have many action sequences, the action it does have is fantastic. There is a bar fight scene that is a lot of fun to watch and honestly pretty realistic. My favorite scene in the entire movie is the car chase scene. Now even though the chase scene didn't have flashy visuals, pointless explosions or unrealistic crashes, it is beautifully shot and even crazier that Tom Cruise did all of his own stunts! Yeah, the Dubai Tower scene in Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, that was him up there. He's insane and is going to kill himself one of these days.

Speaking of insane, Tom Cruise was great in this role. Fans of the novels might not think this way but I thought Cruise was great. He was charismatic, witty, though and serious when he needed to be. This movie reminds us that Tom Cruise is one of the best actors working today. He's committed to his roles and gives his all in every movie he gets. The supporting cast is fine even though they could have been played by anyone. The only supporting character that stood out to me was Jai Courtney's character. He plays the assassin and he plays an unlikable villain and he works for this movie.

The main problem I had was that there were quite a few moments that were complete cornball. Example: Reacher is investigating a house and he gets hit on the back of the head with a baseball bat by a pair of hit-men/goons. Once he is knocked down, the goons are fighting amongst themselves on who gets to kill him. They were beating each other up when they could have taken out their target once and for all. Now I'm no goon or paid assassin, but I'm pretty sure that that is not the correct way to take out your target. I found that complete cheese and completely unrealistic. Aside from that it didn't bother me.

Final Report: Jack Reacher is a well written and skillfully directed mystery with Tom Cruise in top form. What more could you want?

Movie Review #23: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

From the trailers alone I had a gut feeling I would like it. It turns out I was wrong. I love it.

In Star Trek Into Darkness, Benedict Cumberbatch plays a terrorist who goes around committing acts of terror and it's up to Kirk, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise to stop him. It's a pretty straightforward plot, but it's much more complex than that. I am not going to spoil this movie because for me, half the fun is going into this with an open mind.

This movie, like that last starts out like a firecracker. The crew of The Enterprise is on a planet of Native aliens and they have to save the planet from an impeding eruption of a volcano. From the get-go you can't get your eyes off the screen! Now that is how to make a movie.

The relationship between Kirk and Spock is still one of the biggest strengths of the film. I was really hoping that in this movie they wouldn't argue about who the captain of the Enterprise is like they did in the first one. Even though that showed the strength of their relationship, it would feel overused in a sequel. They ended up not doing that again but highlighting their friendship in multiple other ways. I won't say how because if I did so I would ruin the movie for you and that's half the fun! The supporting cast is still great. Bones still speaks in metaphors, Chekov still gets his V's and W's confused, Scotty steals every scene he's in and Sulu and Uhura are still great. Although the biggest strength of the film is comes in the form of none other than Sherlock.

Benedict Cumberbatch killed it in this movie! His role in this movie made Eric Bana as Nero look like a girl scout. He's not only menacing and sinister, but he's down right evil! By the third act of this movie, you want to see him dead. He's that evil. Okay, maybe I was the only one who thought that but I am fairly sadistic when it comes to evil movie villains.

Like the last film, the original timeline is rewritten but since I'm not the biggest Trekkie I wasn't bothered by that fact. Michael Giachino's score is as great as the first. The visuals are stunning as usual. When they go into warp, it's the coolest thing ever. The ship leaves a trail of what looks like blue sparkles. Even though that wasn't in the first one, I think it's a nice touch. It's basically the space equivalent of skid marks and it's super cool. And yes, there are enough lens flares to go around. I didn't notice them as much as I did in the first one, but they're still there and I'm still not complaining.

Final Report: Star Trek Into Darkness is a rare sequel that exceeds the incredible standards set by its predecessor. For me, this was The Empire Strikes Back of Star Trek movies. It may seem like a crime to compare Star Wars to Star Trek but I can't explain it any better. It's just incredible!

Television Review #3: Sherlock Series 1

I was contemplating on whether to review Star Trek The Wrath of Khan but then I though about Sherlock. Considering the actor that plays Sherlock is the villain in Star Trek Into Darkness, why not?

Sherlock is the legendary story of Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr. Watson but the show takes place in present day. Like that show Elementary only less American and Watson isn't played by Lucy Liu. The creators of Sherlock are Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Gatiss also stars as Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's brother. Now I am not sure what to think of Steven Moffat. Before creating Sherlock, he was a writer for Doctor Who and every episode he wrote I adored. He wrote at least one episode a season and that episode was always one of my favorites. But Moffat later became the head writer for the show and for me it just hasn't been the same. Each season with him as head writer becomes more and more convoluted and I am not a fan. That being said, he has done nothing wrong with Sherlock. NOTHING. 

Everything about this show is phenomenal! Let's start with the actors. Both Sherlock and Watson are perfectly cast. They demonstrate some of the best chemistry I've seen on the small screen in the longest time. Sherlock is played by Benedict Cumberbatch and if you don't think that his name is awesome, after watching the first episode you will fall in love with his personality and his cheekbones. Seriously, his cheekbones are incredibly prominent! Sherlock is a man with a unique knack for solving crimes. Everyone thinks he's either insane or a psychopath. But what they really don't understand is that he's a genius. There isn't a better way to say it but he's kind of autistic when it comes to solving crimes and mysteries. He's also incredibly anit-social that only makes him more hilarious. Dr. Watson is played by Martin Freeman who is most well known for the British Office and for playing Bilbo in the Hobbit. Freeman killed it in the role of Watson because his character represents us. We the audience can relate to Watson more than we can to Sherlock because unlike Sherlock we aren't crime solving geniuses. Unless you actually are a crime solving genius, in that case that's super cool for you.

The writing as I said, is INSANELY well written. The mysteries become more complex and it hooks you even more with every minute you keep watching. With every episode you watch you become more attached to both Sherlock and John. Each episode is 90 minutes long so even though there are only three episodes in each series, their combined run-time comes out to about four and a half hours long.

Final Report: Now even though I don't watch much TV, this is one of the best shows on the air and one of the best shows I've ever seen. Period.

Movie Review #22: Super 8 (2011)

Let me start off by saying that  I apologize for not being able to post a review yesterday. I was going to re-watch Batman Begins and write up a review but I had to write an essay and I didn't have enough time to do all three things. I'm sure you guys will understand.

After reviewing Star Trek, it made me want to review J.J. Abrams TV shows and other movies. So why not start with this one?

Super 8 is the story of a group of kids in 1979 that witness a spectacular train crash and from then on strange events occur in their town. I went into this movie not expecting much. I went into this expecting an alien invasion movie. I got that and then some. Now the main characters are a group of kids and we all know that kid actors are usually either bad actors or obnoxious 75% of the time. The Phantom Menace has proved that for us. As it turns out, the kids were pretty cool kids. Granted they weren't as cool as the Goonies, but if I were two years younger I would totally hang out with them. There's this one kid that was particularly funny. He reminded me of Freddy from School of Rock if Freddy had the teeth of Gary Busey.

The story turned out to be a lot more in depth than I though it would be. You start out confused, but by the end everything made sense for the most part. Like how a good sci-fi thriller should be! The visuals are also great. The train crash is easily the most spectacular and breathtaking part of the film but it slightly hurt the film in a sense. The crash happens early on in the movie, like within the first 30 minutes or less. When the most visually striking part is so early on, the ending feels more or less like a letdown because nothing else surpassed the awesomeness of the train wreck. Yes the end is more thrilling than the crash but it doesn't come close to the visual splendor of the crash.

Final Report: Super 8 is an exciting film with enough thrills, chills and humor to please the inner kid within us all.

Movie Review #21: Star Trek (2009)

With Star Trek Into Darkness premiering this friday, I felt that it would be fitting to review J.J. Abrams first Star Trek film. I would love to review all the Trek movies, but I don't have enough time to watch and review the other ten films. So this will have to suffice.

Star Trek is a prequel to the original series and is more or less the origin story of how James T. Kirk became the captain of the Starship Enterprise.

The movie is awesome for the get-go. It starts with a flashback to an enormous Romulan ship destroying a Federation ship. The movie is not even five minutes in and it has your attention!

The film stars Chris Pine as James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock and those two as the leads were perhaps the strongest aspect of the film. Both Pine and Quinto captured the early relationship between Kirk and Spock. Since Kirk and Spock originally weren't best pals, they demonstrated that exact fact! Kirk smarts off to Spock and it's often hilarious. They played really well off each other and not to mention they both look the roles! Even though I'm focusing on only Kirk and Spock, the supporting cast is just as fantastic! Zoe Saldana was great and gorgeous as Uhura, Simon Pegg stole every scene he was in as Scotty, Anton Yelchin was good as Chekov and John Cho was cool as Sulu! But the best supporting actor award goes to Karl Urban as Bones. He was sarcastic, hilarious and his on-screen chemistry with Kirk that was just as great as Kirk and Spock's. The villain is Nero played by Eric Bana. Nero is a time-traveling Romulan with a serious grudge and he decides to travel the galaxy creating black holes. I though he was good as the villain but I felt that he was underused. I would've loved to learn more about his backstory and I wish he had more screen-time.

Quite a few people hated all of the lens flares. They said that they were either annoying or distracting. I personally thought that they looked cool. J.J. Abrams is a stylish director and the lens flares are just one of his trademarks as a director. The script is also well written. It has a great story, great characters, plenty of humor and good dialogue. The visuals really go without saying. The set pieces like the bridge of the Enterprise look stunning. The score is one of my all-time favorites. The main theme and end credits are my favorite tracks. A phenomenal score.

During the movie, there are a couple of events that happen that contradict the original Star Trek timeline. This was bound to infuriate hardcore Trekkies, but it didn't bother me since I was more of a Next Generation kind of guy.

Final Report: Star Trek is a stylish and fast-paced movie filled with great characters and spectacular visuals that will appeal to both Star Trek and Star Wars fans alike.

Movie Review #20: Batman & Robin (1997)

I feel like I don't even need to review this movie. I don't need any other reason aside from the fact that this movie is so bad that I want to truly rip a film apart. Yeah it may sounds sadistic when I put it like that but this would be my first bad movie review/rant! And what better movie to bag on than Batman & Robin?

Batman & Robin is Batman and Robin. It really needs no explanation. I'm not even going to waste typing out the plot because I honestly don't think that there was a plot in this movie!

George Clooney plays Batman and his Batman is the worst of the worst. He spouts off cheesy dialogue that not even Daniel Day Lewis could make sound good! He couldn't even make "I'm Batman" sound convincing! Arnold Schwarzenegger's dialogue was only one-liners! If you played a drinking game to Batman & Robin and took a shot every time Arnold said either a one-liner or an awful joke, either your liver would fail or you would die from alcohol poisoning! I found Uma Thurman hilarious because as Poison Ivy she's a plant freak and I can just imagine that people like her are the founders of GreenPeace and PETA. I'm not saying she was good in the movie, but I just made that connection. Bane is also in this movie, but he looks more like a mentally handicapped Mexican wrestler. All he does is say, "BANE!!!!!!" or "BOMB!!!!!" Even though he's ridiculously stupid, he just might be the best actor in this movie because he never said more than one word a sentence and he never had to show his face!

The props were also complete cheese. The Batmobile and all of Batman's other vehicles looked like a bunch of stupid toys. There is one scene where Batman, Robin and Batgirl are riding in their vehicles down an ice covered street and it looked like a scene from a Disney on Ice performance! It was so fake, lame, cheesy and too clean! They couldn't even make the icicles seem realistic. There's a scene in which someone opens a car door and you see the icicles are swaying. Who said that that looked okay?!? How hard is it to make icicles stay in place?!?

Even though this movie is terrible, it's hysterical! Batman & Robin is the perfect example of a movie that's so wrong it's right. By right, I mean really funny. I use the term right VERY loosely. It's fun to watch this movie with your friends and just roast it and indulge in this ludicrous piece of cheese.

Final Report: Batman & Robin is one of the worst movies I've ever seen and perhaps one of the worst movies of all time. It's an overacted, over-the-top piece of cheese if there ever was one. But it's hysterically bad and so enjoyable that you don't hate yourself for watching it!

Movie Review #19: Batman Forever (1995)

Out with Tim Burton and in with Joel Schumacher. This ushered in a new age in Batman movies: The Bat-nipple age.

In Batman Forever, Batman has to battle against Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as The Riddler with help from Nicole Kidman as a Dr. Chase Meridian and Chris O'Donnell as Robin.

Val Kilmer played Batman and I liked him as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. He looked the part of Wayne better than Michael Keaton or George Clooney for that matter. I liked him as Batman, but not as much as I liked Keaton as the Dark Knight.

Jim Carrey was out of his mind in this movie! This came out when Jim Carrey was in his top form and it shows. He's wacky, hilarious, creepy and often over-the-top. I think Joel Schumacher told Jim Carrey to act like Ace Ventura on Speed, and he does it a bit too well. Tommy Lee Jones on the other hand should have been more toned down. I felt like he was trying to hard to be like The Joker. He was constantly laughing and acting silly. I think Tommy Lee Jones felt out of place next to Jim Carrey on Speed so he decided to act just as crazy. It's either that or Joel Schumacher had no idea how Two Face should act and just told him to act crazy since all the other villains did that. Nicole Kidman was fine as the blonde love interest for Bruce Wayne. Yeah her character had a bigger role than that but being the love interest is the reason for her character. Chris O'Donnell gave a pretty accurate portrayal of Robin. When I say accurate, I mean that it's exactly what you think Robin would be like. Take that any way you interpret it.

This is a completely different vision of Gotham. The city s decked out with classic cars, statues and colors; LOTS of colors. Even during the scenes that take place with the gangs in the slums of the city look like an Andy Warhol painting. The score is composed by Elliot Goldenthal and he composed a brand new theme. Even though it isn't Danny Elfman's theme it's still a great theme.

Final Report: Batman Forever is a cheesy, fun, entertaining, over-the-top popcorn flick that you'll either hate or enjoy.

Movie Review #18: Sunshine (2007)

It's always interesting when an Academy Award winning director other than Steven Spielberg or James Cameron tries their hand at science fiction.

Warning: This review will contain spoilers. If you haven't seen Sunshine, don't read this unless you really don't care about spoilers.

The story of Sunshine is that our sun is dying and it's up to a group of scientists and astronauts to travel to the sun and reignite it with a bomb the size of Manhattan island. It seems pretty straightforward, but they end up going off course and we all know that that NEVER ends well.

This movie surprised me. I knew that it would be gorgeous to look at, but I was impressed about the depth of the script and characters. I thought that they would just run into some problems when trying to reignite the sun. That does happen, but not in the way you'd expect it it happen. The characters are exactly what you'd expect a group of geniuses in space would be. You've got your central character played by Cillian Murphy, the guy with some common sense played by Chris Evans and the spineless second in command played by Troy Garity. Their characters are believable because wouldn't you be freaked out if you were in space and had cabin fever?

As I predicted, the visuals were stunningly original. They were visually striking and thrilling. There are multiple scenes that are not only thrilling, but I personally found them fairly disturbing. In one scene, Troy Garity gets sucked out into space and freezes to death. After freezing, his body drifts toward an antenna and his arm shatters. That scene disturbed me, and I loved it.

Final Report: Sunshine is original, creative, dark, disturbing, thrilling and gorgeous. What more do you want in a sci-fi movie?

Movie Review #17: The Lost Boys (1987)

What's this? A teen vampire movie that's actually great! What do you know! The 1980's actually got something right.

I just watched this movie for the first time on sunday and I fell in love with it. I don't think I would've given this movie any notice if it didn't have Kiefer Sutherland rocking a mullet that would make Brett Michaels jealous. The movie is about two brothers (Jason Patric and Corey Haim) who move to a new town. They soon believe that the town is inhabited by vampires. Typical stuff that happens when you move to a new town.

The vampire gang is led by none other than Jack Bauer himself. He was awesome, but his mullet was cooler than his personality. The other members in the gang were also cool even if their characters were underdeveloped. Another scene stealing character was Corey Feldman as one of the two Frog Brothers. The Frog Brothers are two guys that are the resident vampire killers. They were hysterical and had so many great lines. Jason Patric and Corey Haim were great as brothers. They were believable and funny. This film might be considered a horror movie or a comedy. It is a scary movie with more humor than horror. When watching this you will be unsure whether to laugh or be scared. It's an uneven mix of laughs and scares with mostly laughs. It's hard to believe that the man responsible for Batman and Robin directed this film! Way to go Joel Schumacher!

Final Report: The Lost Boys is fast-paced, funny, scary, and a quintessential 80's movie.

Movie Review #16: Batman Returns (1992)

After the massive success of Batman, Tim Burton returns as director and Michael Keaton returns as The Batman! I loved the first film because Jack Nicholson stole the show, but the Joker is out and The Penguin and Catwoman are in. The bird and the cat get to fight with the bat! How will this sequel fare?

In Batman Returns, The Penguin tries to take over Gotham City by winning over the people and turning them against The Batman with the help of a corrupt businessman played by Christopher Walken.

Batman Returns is a rare comic book sequel that is just as good, if not better, than the original. They went darker, creepier and more disturbing. That is how sequels should be. Take all of the elements of what made the first film great and do them even better.

Danny Elfman's score is fantastic per usual. The film had a vibe that reminds me of Nightmare Before Christmas. It was like Halloween during Christmas. It definitely felt that way with the Penguin's goons running around in wacky costumes destroying every street front shop.

This is also one of the few superhero flicks with two villains that actually works. They spread the character development evenly with the two. Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman was creepily awesome and seductive, and Danny DeVito as The Penguin is the textbook definition of perfect casting. If they make another Batman film with the Penguin as the lead villain, they won't be able to choose anyone better than DeVito! He's creepy, filthy, disturbing and was the bane of multiple nightmares during my childhood. This is one of DeVito's best performances and he should have been nominated for a Golden Globe. Christopher Walken plays the mayor and Christopher Walken plays Christoper Walken. You can't say it any better than that.

What I want to know is how they strapped all of those rockets on the backs of all those penguins? I wonder how long that took?....

Final Report: Batman Returns is one of those rare comic book sequels that is just as good as its predecessor.

Movie Review #15: Batman (1989)

Have you ever heard of the healing power of laughter? You will after watching this film.

Batman is one of my favorite films of all time because I grew up on this film. Even though The Dark Knight trilogy is vastly superior to the first four, this film has a special place in my heart. I won't even bother explaining the plot because let's face it, if you don't know Batman's story you've been living under a rock. So I'll just dive right in.

This was Tim Burton's third film after Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice. Both films are awesome and unique, but Batman showed that he can make an awesome action blockbuster. The visuals may look dated today, but the main characters hold up. Michael Keaton is the second best actor to play Batman. He both looks the part of Bruce Wayne and doesn't sound like he has throat cancer when he dons his cape and cowl. He's a better Batman than Bruce Wayne. Aside from looks, he's not a very believable Bruce Wayne.

Even though the film's title character is Batman/Bruce Wayne, the real star of the show is Jack Nicholson as The Joker. The film should have just been called Joker! I'm pretty sure that The Joker is in the movie more than Bruce Wayne is in the Batsuit. With the exception of Heath Ledger, no one could play a better Joker. Nicholson plays the Joker with the perfect mix of humor, creepiness and a hysterical laugh. He can be frying someone with a joy buzzer in one scene and dancing in a parade to Prince tracks in the other. You see what I mean? The weakest characters were Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent. I felt that they just included Dent to please the die-hard comic book fans but he was very underdeveloped. The same goes for Gordon. On IGN top 100 superheroes of all time, Commissioner Gordon is in the top 20. The fact such a great hero was so underused and underdeveloped was a missed attempt. The score is my favorite aspect of the film. Danny Elfman is my favorite composer and the them to the movie alone was a masterpiece!

Final Report: This movie not only redefined superheros movies, but also redefined what a great blockbuster and summer movie could and should be. Batman is exactly what I want in a superhero movie.

Television Review #2: Doctor Who Series 2

To all the people who were expecting a review yesterday, I say this. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. If you didn't get that then you haven't seen any Doctor Who season with David Tennant. If you don't even watch Doctor Who, then that's your fault.

The second series of Doctor Who is my personal favorite season. The adventures are action-packed and fun, the writing is superb and the cast has works well with each other. The cast remains the same with the exception of David Tennant.

When Christopher Eccleston regenerated into David Tennant, my hearts were broken. Eccleston was MY Doctor. He was the first Doctor I ever watched and no one could ever take his place as MY Doctor. I even said that I wouldn't watch Doctor Who again one Eccleston left. I not only continued watching but my love for this show flourished!

David Tennant is my favorite Doctor. Not only is he ridiculously good-looking, but his personality is the best. He can be lovable, funny, serious and everything that makes the Doctor great! I still have a special place in my hearts for Eccleston because he was the original for me and I have an emotional attachment with his Doctor.

This season also marked the return of Sarah Jane Smith. For all the non-Whovians out there, Sarah Jane Smith was a previous companion that traveled with the Doctor during the 1970's. She ended up getting her own spin-off show called the Sarah Jane Adventures. Like Captain Jack had Torchwood, Sarah Jane had the Sarah Jane Adventures. This season was also the season the Cybermen returned. The Cybermen are one of the most iconic villains in the shows history and they are one of the greatest threats the Doctor has ever encountered. So in short, they're pretty awesome. The two part season finale has one of the most intensely epic battles I've ever seen on TV and a heart(s) breaking finale that will leave you in tears unless you're a Cyberman.

Final Report: This is my favorite season of my favorite show of all time. Enough said.

Movie Review #14: Iron Man 3 (2013)

Even though I don't get out of school until June 6th, I say that summer is here. The movie season at least. For the second year in a row, a Marvel movie kicks off the summer. So how does this one fair?

In Iron Man 3, Tony Stark is dealing with anxiety after the events that happened in the Avengers. He can't sleep and is clearly still shaken up from the battle in New York. He can't get any time to relax and overcome those problems because there's a terrorist called the Mandarin played by Sir Ben Kingsley. He hacks the television airwaves to televise his threats and show his attacks. Once you see him in the first act, you see that he really means. business. He seems like a real threat because you'll never see him coming. I'll talk more about him later.

Now from the trailers, this movie looked like it was going to be a more serious Iron Man movie. It ended up being more serious, but also the funniest one of them all. It's a weird combination but it works for the most part. I was let down that it wasn't a darker movie, but they raised the stakes and the witty dialogue.

The characters are still likable. Downey is still great as Stark. Gwyneth Paltrow is adorable and lovable as Pepper. Don Cheadle is in this film much more than Iron Man 2 as War Machine. In this film they call him the Iron Patriot since the U.S. Government bought War Machine. It's not as cool of a name as War Machine and they make fun of that. I enjoyed that element. Guy Pearce is in the film as a scientist named Aldrich Killian. If his name doesn't sound menacing, his character is. He plays a villain so detestable that I actually felt sick watching him. So he was perfect in his role.

If you go into this film thinking it's a sequel to Iron Man 2, it isn't. It felt more like a follow-up to the Avengers. It's not a complaint, it's a compliment. This movie should have been titled Tony Stark because this movie focused more on the man behind the suit than the actual suit. Even though it was more like the Tony Stark show, there was a ton of awesome Iron Man action. More so than in the past two Iron Man movies combined. So we got both our Tony Stark and Iron Man fill. That is reason enough to see the film.

The biggest and only problem I had with this movie can't be explained without using spoilers, so I will try my best not to give anything away. During about half-way through the film, Stark meets the Mandarin and you learn something about him that you will either be okay with or like me and get angered by it. In short, The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 is like the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. You'll either hate it or not mind it. That's the best comparison I could come up with.

Final Report: Iron Man 3 kicks the summer of on a high note with a great story, awesome visuals and clever humor.

Movie Review #13: Dr. Horrible's Blog Sing-Along (2008)

Ok sure it's only 42 minutes and it isn't technically a movie, but it is a musical. So ignore the technicalities and just enjoy. The story is that Dr. Horrible is an aspiring super-villain who has to choose between defeating his enemy Captain Hammer or winning Penny, the girl of his dreams.

I was completely blown away watching this the first time. I thought that it would be cheesy and crude. This musical ended up giving great characters, hilarious dialogue, wonderful songs and a surprising amount of depth and emotion. Now if you go into this musical thinking it's going to be a comedy, it is until the last five minutes or so. That part will kill you. Aside from that it's hilarious.

The characters are some of the most likable characters ever created. Dr. Horrible may be the most lovable villain ever put on screen. Even though he's a villain who desires world domination, in reality he's a shy awkward white guy. When not rocking a suit, Neil Patrick Harris is the perfect awkward white guy. Felicia Day plays his love interest Penny and she's great. I am in love with Felicia Day so my opinion of her is obviously biased. She could play a rotting corpse and my love for her wouldn't change at all! Dr. Horrible's arch-enemy Captain Hammer is played by Nathan Fillion. He steals the show in just about every scene and song he's in. Yeah, Fillion can sing. Bet you never guessed that Captain Mal Reynolds could sing. I didn't guess that.

Some of the songs are more comedic, some are more dramatic, some are sad and some have a chorus of cowboys. In short, the soundtrack is flawless.

After finishing this, I was amazed how good it was. Then I looked who wrote the script, songs, produced, directed and created this. It was none other than Joss Whedon. It's official, Whedon can do anything. Anything.

Final Report: If you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Blog Sing-Along yet, I implore you to do so. It's on Netflix, it's shorter than an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation and you won't regret watching it. Another incredible addition to the ever growing Whedonverse.

Movie Review #12: The Muppets (2011)

My fourth favorite musical is mostly a family movie, but here's my logic: If it has more than two musical numbers, I think it's a musical. Therefore this is a musical.

With the exceptions of Batman Begins and Star Trek, this is the greatest reboot of all time.

When Disney announced that they were rebooting the Muppets, the first thought that went through my head was, Will anyone even care? Answer: I'd say so considering a sequel is due out next march. Now in the Muppets, the plot is exactly what you expect from a movie who's franchise has been on ice for over 15 years. They have to get the Muppets back together to save the Muppet Studios to raise 10 million dollars to buy it back from evil oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper). Seems simple enough right? Well it is pretty simple for a family movie considering most movies targeted at families have CGI and are in 3D. This movie has puppets, singing and dancing. I love it already.

The script is frequently clever and hilarious. I love how they play off the fact that the Muppets have been irrelevant for more than a decade. I found that hilarious. Since this is a Muppet movie, you know that there are going to be celebrity cameos. Some of the cameos range from Alan Arkin, Jack Black and Neil Patrick Harris. All of them are cute, funny and it just made me smile seeing all these big stars gather to be a part of a movie like this. No other movie can unite a bunch celebrities better than a Muppet movie. The musical numbers are catchy, infectious and down right enjoyable. The characters are charming and it is really good to see the Muppets again.

Final Report: With the exceptions of Batman Begins and Star Trek, this is the greatest reboot of all time. By the time this movie is over you will have a smile on your face.

Movie Review #11: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

My third favorite musical just might be even weirder than Sweeney Todd. I mean just look at the poster. The description tells you exactly what you're going into.

Little Shop of Horrors is the story of Seymour Krelborn, who's a nerdy florist who finds an amazing plant that's unlike any other. Seymour hopes that with this plant that he can find success and the love of his life.

Oddly enough, this is a remake of an early Roger Corman film from 1960. In 1986 years later, Frank Oz remade it and even though it was considered a box-office bomb, it gained a cult following and two Oscar nominations. Few low-grossing films can say that.

The title was rather misleading to me. I watched this movie without knowing anything about it, so the title Little Shop of Horrors made me think it would be scary (or at least scary like Gremlins). It turned out to be a musical satire with some unbelievable puppet work. That leads me to what I adored about this movie. The puppets blew my mind! I thought that I had seen it all when it came to puppets in movie. Well NOW I've seen it all. The fact that this was made in the late '80's astounded me even more. People who think puppets are lame clearly have seen this movie or Labyrinth. I really want to re-watch Labyrinth now.

The characters are likable and funny, especially Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborn. But the one who steals every scene he's in is Steve Martin as The Dentist. He portrayed dentists exactly how I think they are: Sadistic, Cruel and certifiably insane. I apologize to everyone in the orthodontia field. I'm just scared of dentists and this movie didn't help my fear. Aside from Steve Martin, there are quite a few other memorable cameo appearances from actors like Bill Murray, Christopher Guest and John Candy. Bill Murray was easily the funniest and weirdest. I'm not saying that that's a bad thing, it was just the most memorable.

All of the songs are so much fun. Especially the song that Seymour's plant, Audrey II sings. It's completely weird considering Audrey is voiced by Levi Stubbs who was a member of the Four Tops.

Final Report: Little Shop of Horrors is perhaps the weirdest musical of all time and one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen. And I wouldn't want it any other way.