In Defense of The Fantastic Four(s)

Yes guys, I'm going to defend the new Fantastic Four movie as well as defending the previous ones starring the current Captain America and a super hot Jessica Alba circa 2005-2007. Don't leave. Please. Hear me out. Okay?


Let's start from the past, shall we?
Take a look at Fantastic Four (2005), directed by Tim Story who made that American Taxi with Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah. Starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis. It currently stands at 5.7 on imdb, hated by most fans, but has a place in my heart and eventually made profit during its run. Okay, guys, in those years DC still owns the movie game. Batman Begins was just released about a month before. It was a new kind of gritty summer blockbuster back then. So, Fantastic Four is super campy, super fun, mindless, pretty much straight forward--the good guys are fun and the bad guys are bad. I haven't watched it again for almost five years at least, so give me a break. I wouldn't want to ruin those memories.

this used to be the coolest thing on the internet, ppl

Fast-forward two years later, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was released. Two months prior, the super talky, less action-y Spider-Man 3 was released. So, advantage is once again with Fantastic Four 2. Before, The Avengers, before this cinematic universe stuff boomed, this campily self aware franchise had the first cross over film ever. It was a bit darker than the first one, thanks to the-getting-darker Harry Potter films and Batman Begins of course.

Fast-forward to now, 2015. The trailer for The Fantastic Four (or is it Fant4stic?) is finally here. I'm all with Fox here. Hiring Josh Trank of Chronicle, hiring Miles Teller of Whiplash, Kate Mara of House of Cards, Michael B Jordan of Fruitvale Station and Jamie Bell of Billy Elliot--four of the best young actors, keeping it secret. Now, about keeping the secrets, people, do you want all your movies spoiled before they come out? Do you want to watch Fight Club for the first time knowing that Edward Norton and Brad Pitt are actually one person? Do you want to watch Gone Girl for the first time knowing that Amazing Amy is a psychopathic bitch who frames her husband? We live in a highly dangerous spoiler culture now. I mean, do you really want your secret spoiled for Star Wars 7, have your expectations so high just to be disappointed by a single name: Kylo Ren. Or that Kevin Feige confirms roster change in Avengers: Age of Ultron? Hello? Spoiler alert? Or all those things about Batman v Superman? Fuck you people who staked out outside of movie sets with your tele-lens camera or just a shit iPhone, selling those infos to the click-hungry movie blogs. I'm going to paraphrase Reverend Book and say, there's a special hell for people who talk in cinemas and people who spoils movies before they're released. I personally feel pity to the actors/actresses who promote their passion projects, just to be asked whether they could spill some secrets about their superhero movies. Okay, rant ends here.

omg, darknesssss. scarryyyyy

Back to Fant4stic, the trailer hits all the right notes. Frankly, compared to Marvel's own Ant-Man, this looks better. Edgar Wright is a big thing to lose. And people, it doesn't mean that a production is in trouble just because we haven't seen anything from the film SIX MONTHS before its release date. Ant-Man is more troubled I believe, and that's why they're releasing a trailer so soon to construct this reality that everything's alright there. While Fox was bullied to release this trailer. Maybe Fox wants to pull a Beyonce and just release the movie without any promotional material. Who knows? Also, I see people complaining about the dark tone of the film. To those people I say go back to the fucking fifties! We don't live in that landscape anymore. Blame Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Cuaron and Jason Bourne. Write your messages to them, sign it, go jerk-off to your comic books. Comic book fandoms are the hardest to please although YA fandoms are the grossest because they make filthy fan-fics, fan accounts on Instagram and those other YA-fandom-things they do. If you want the campy version, go watch the film from 2005 that you all loathe. The new trailer for Fant4stic is amazing, and I went back to the 2005 version trailer seeing people in the comments that said that the 2005 trailer is better. Well aren't you guys fucking hypocrites?

And what disgusts me the most are the racists. We now have a black Stormtrooper! We now have a black Johnny Storm! Tyrese Gibson is running for Green Lantern! 12 Years a Slave won last year's Best Picture! FREAKING DEAL WITH IT. You guys didn't complain when a black person directed those two perfectly okay and acceptable Fantastic Four movies!

You go forward Fant4stic! You will always have my support! Although you will have my fullest support if you write the title as The Fantastic Four.

Biopic Quadruple Hit

The year is 2015. I had a great run for the first four cinema-going in this year. Prepare for it. Bam! American Sniper. Bam! The Imitation Game. Bam! The Theory of Everything. Bam! Unbroken. I know right. I almost got into A Most Violent Year too in Paris but I've too much restraint. I wrote this post in Japan (yes, I got back from Milan), this was supposed to be written during my last days there but man, the emotions and the fun of Milan got into me and I don't want to spend the last days there writing this post. Now, I'm jetlagged and it's the perfect time to do this (while internally crying longing for my favorite Milanese pizza and gelato, taking short walks to see the Duomo). I miss it so much.

American Sniper
The movie was released in Milan on New Year's Day. It was an amazing true story that maybe people outside of the US has never even heard of. Directed by Hollywood vet Clint Eastwood starring the now three time nominee Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, America's best sniper. In also a sterling performance, Sienna Miller as Chris Kyle's wife. It was a thrilling movie, filled with confident direction and great performances. However for a true story, it felt too dramatized, like there's a real villain and all. But it was a honorable service for Kyle's stellar achievement for America. And yes, I noticed that dead-looking baby but I didn't expect it would be a doll. Nevertheless, I personally found it more exciting and thought-provoking than The Hurt Locker. American Sniper: rated 3.5/4

The Imitation Game
Another Best Pic nom, directed by Morten Tyldum and starring Benedict Cumberbatch (how did they manage to collect these strangely named people?). The film is another biopic and the first one here about a great Brit. Played by the more-than-able Benedict Cumberbatch, this film is the story about Alan Turing who helped the British Intelligence cracked the Nazi Enigma code, which then helped the Allies ended the war. Also back in the great films' limelight, Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke. Rounding up the cast are Ozymandias and Tom Branson. The film is a very well made film, but it is very safe. Trust me guys, Cumberbatch is not in his full mode here, see Sherlock for more of his talent show-off. While I'm quite content with Turing's relationship with Clarke, I felt something missing between Turing and his team. Among the film reviewed in this post, The Imitation Game is the one that made the most creative decisions, making it strayed the furthest from the fact. But when you see this film, you'll love the cast, the theme by Alexandre Desplat and most of all, Keira Knightley's super strong performance. The Imitation Game: rated 3.5/4

The Theory of Everything
Another Brit biopic about great men with great women behind them. Aesthetically, this film is the most pleasing among the four. It looks beautiful. It has Eddie Redmayne in his high game. Portraying Stephen Hawking is incredibly hard. Felicity Jones is also amazing as Jane Hawking. While the film doesnt delve too much on Hawking's science and achievements, it explored his personal life to its fullest. It is beautifully shot, masterfully directed by James Marsh, charged by powerful performance--especially by Eddie Redmayne's Oscar-bound performance, and ear-pleasing courtesy of Johann Johannsson's amazing score. I'd say among the four reviewed here in this post, this movie is the best. The only thing is, this film might come out too soon. The Theory of Everything: rated 4/4

Unbroken
The buzz surrounding this film is wrong. It shouldn't focus on 'the second feature directed by Angelina Jolie'. The film is about one of the most amazing survival story by a person with incredible milestones in his life. The book might be more powerful, because the film focuses on the wrong part of his life. His survival story might be even more wholly amazing when told in its entirety. The film failed to made us care about Louis Zamperini's achievement. Played by the powerful rising star Jack O'Connell, Zamperini is portrayed greatly yet the story doesn't make the character that great. It is ably directed by Angelina Jolie though and beautifully shot by master cinematographer Roger Deakins. The casting is great for the exception of Miyavi as The Bird. He's so out of place here and it irritates me the most, he's not a good actor too, sorry. Unbroken: rated 3/4

Next up
should be Exodus: Gods & Kings but it might not happen.
if it doesn't happen then, the next post would be Indonesia-based.

Thursday Morning with Chris Pine, JJ Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron

Another year, another award-season. Another year, I'm writing this again. Unlike last year's predictable season, this year is so tight. We have so many great films coming at the same time. We have films keeping momentum from last March, from Cannes, from Sundance. Crazy right? This year marks a history for the Academy for announcing every category. Usually it's just the heavyweight categories, but now all of them. Hence the three presenters. JJ Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron announced the ones that were usually just posted online, while Chris Pine with Academy prez Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced the aforementioned heavyweights. In a surprising move, I watched five out of eight Best Picture noms this year. YEAH EUROPE! Anyway, these are some of the snubs and surprises this year.

SNUBS:
- Biggest one for me is The Lego Movie for Best Animated Film. It's definitely way better than any of the nominees.
- Roger Ebert's doc Life Itself 
- Selma in many categories like Best Director for Ava DuVernay and Best Actor for David Oyelowo
- No Emily Blunt for Best Actress!
- Mr. Turner in four categories and that's neither Best Actor nor Best Director
- James Marsh as Best Director for The Theory of Everything
- JAKE GYLLENHAAL as that creepy unblinking guy in Nightcrawler
- No Jessica Chastain in Best Supporting Actress for A Most Violent Year
- Yeah, no A Most Violent Year at all
- Tim Burton's Big Eyes in any category

SURPRISES
- So much love for Whiplash including Best fucking Picture for 29-year-old Damien Chazelle!
- Bradley Cooper for Best Actor
- Marion Cotillard for Best Actress! She robbed Emily Blunt for sure.
- Steve Carell is back in the game!
- Unbroken got quite a few too
- Bennett Miller as Best Director
- Inherent Vice gets some love so that's great. MOTTO PANEKEKU!
- American Sniper has 6 noms. That's quite a lot.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier is nominated? I'd choose Godzilla over that tho.

Stray observation:
It's clear now that The Hobbit series is way lower in quality than The Lord of the Rings. LOTR scored 17 wins out of 30 Oscar noms, while The Hobbit won 0 out of SEVEN noms.

In conclusion,
It's nine versus nine for Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel
Eight for The Imitation Game
Six for American Sniper and Boyhood
Five for Interstellar, Whiplash, Foxcatcher and The Theory of Everything

Early serious prediction (most likely to happen)
Best Picture: Boyhood
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne
Best Actress: Julianne Moore
Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette
Best Director: Richard Linklater

Ideal and happy and fun prediction (unlikely to happen)
Best Picture: Boyhood
Best Actor: Michael Keaton
Best Actress: Felicity Jones
Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons and Ethan Hawke (in a rare tie)
Best Supporting Actress: Keira Knightley
Best Director: Wes Anderson

Next post
Reviews of four Oscar nominated films! I'll give you clues:
The Hangover
Sherlock Holmes
My Week with Marilyn
Mrs. Pitt

Benvenuto 2015!

Happy New Year! Tanti auguri for youu my readers--who I don't actually believe exist (please say hi if you are tho). New Year's annual post is here! You know the drill: bold titles mean must watches and unmarked means negotiable. This year is what I called back on January 2014 as the mega monster movie year and this is the main course, you know the over-priced lamb chop grill served with fresh salad. 2014 was child's play, it was the corn soup you could easily buy at the super market. As this analogy is getting confusing and incomprehensible, let's just start the list. Like it has been for six years now (man, I have no life), award-season films won't be on this because usually their dates are set only months before release. In 2014, the only award-season film I had was Unbroken. Yeah, not even Boyhood. In fact, I did not know Selma existed until early December 2014. On with the show!

JANUARY
- Taken 3 with Liam Neeson and director Olivier Megaton
- Blackhat with Chris Hemsworth and director Michael Mann
- Mortdecai with Johnny Depp and director David Koepp

FEBRUARY
- Jupiter Ascending with Channing Tatum and directors The Wachowskis
- Seventh Son with Jeff Bridges and director Sergey Bodrov
- Fifty Shades of Grey with Jamie Dornan and director Sam Taylor-Johnson
- Kingsman: The Secret Service with Colin Firth and director Matthew Vaughn
- The Last 5 Years with Anna Kendrick and director Richard LaGravanese
- Focus with Will Smith and director Glenn Ficarra & John Requa

MARCH
- Chappie with Hugh Jackman and director Neil Blomkamp
- The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with Judi Dench and director John Madden
- Cinderella with Cate Blanchett and director Kenneth Branagh
- In the Heart of the Sea with Chris Hemsworth and director Ron Howard
- Insurgent with Shailene Woodley and director Robert Schwentke
- The Gunman with Sean Penn and director Pierre Morel

APRIL
- Furious 7 with Vin Diesel and director James Wan
- The Age of Adaline with Blake Lively and director Lee Toland Krieger
- Rock the Kasbah with Bruce Willis and director Barry Levinson

MAY
- Avengers: Age of Ultron with Robert Downey Jr. and director Joss Whedon
- Mad Max: Fury Road with Tom Hardy and director George Miller
- Pitch Perfect 2 with Anna Kendrick and director Elizabeth Banks
- Spy with Jason Statham and director Paul Feig
- Tomorrowland with George Clooney and director Brad Bird

JUNE
- Insidious Chapter 3 with Dermot Mulroney and director Leigh Whannell
- Jurassic World with Chris Pratt and director Colin Trevorrow
- Inside Out with Amy Poehler (voice) and director Pete Docter
- Ted 2 with Mark Wahlberg and director Seth MacFarlane

JULY
- Terminator Genisys with Emilia Clarke and director Alan Taylor
- Ant-Man with Paul Rudd and director Peyton Reed
- Pan with Hugh Jackman and director Joe Wright
- Trainwreck with Amy Schumer and director Judd Apatow
- Grimsby with Sacha Baron Cohen and director Louis Leterrier
- Pixels with Kevin James and director Chris Columbus
- Self/Less with Ryan Reynolds and director Tarsem Singh

AUGUST
- The Fantastic Four with Miles Teller and director Josh Trank
- Masterminds with Zach Galifianakis and director Jared Hess
- The Man from UNCLE with Henry Cavill and director Guy Ritchie
- Criminal with Ryan Reynolds and director Ariel Vromen
- Hitman: Agent 47 with Rupert Friend and director Aleksander Bach
- Regression with Ethan Hawke and director Alejandro Amenabar

SEPTEMBER
- Jane Got A Gun with Natalie Portman and director Gavin O'Connor
- Triple Nine with Woody Harrelson and director John Hillcoat
- The Visit with M. Night Shyamalan!
- Black Mass with Johnny Depp and director Scott Cooper
- Everest with Jake Gyllenhaal and director Baltasar Kormakur
- The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials with Dylan O'Brien and director Wes Ball
- The Intern with Anne Hathaway and director Nancy Meyers

OCTOBER
- Victor Frankenstein with Daniel Radcliffe and director Paul McGuigan
- London Has Fallen with Gerard Butler and director Babak Najafi
- The Walk with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Robert Zemeckis
- The Jungle Book with Idris Elba and director Jon Favreau
- Crimson Peak with Charlie Hunnam and director Guillermo Del Toro
- St. James Place with Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg
- The Last Witch Hunter with Vin Diesel and director Breck Eisner

NOVEMBER
- Spectre with Daniel Craig and director Sam Mendes
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 with Jennifer Lawrence and director Francis Lawrence
- The Good Dinosaur with Bill Hader (voice) and director Peter Sohn
- The Martian with Jessica Chastain and director Ridley Scott
- Midnight Special with Michael Shannon and director Jeff Nichols

DECEMBER
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens with Mark Hamill and director JJ Abrams
- Joy with Jennifer Lawrence and director David O Russell
- Mission: Impossible 5 with Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie
- The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Holy shit. There actually films I forgot existed in production. Like Spielberg's St. James Place or Inarritu's The Revenant. The summer's not as wild as I expected but there's a lot of great films all year round. Look at that strangely crowded September and the holiday season is even crazier than summer! Summer has got many comedies too! Jason Statham and Melissa McCarthy in one movie together! It's gonna be a crazy year. And I hope it's the year when Johnny Depp makes a redemption (maybe not with Mortdecai, but with Black Mass) But there are also unnecessary remakes of Point Break and Poltergeist. Anyways, time to list my top 10++ anticipated films!

10. Jurassic World - it was on top three but I'd still give it a go.
9. Mad Max: Fury Road - my world is FIRE
8. Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur - Pixar's double trouble
7. St. James Place - Spielberg's back!
6. The Martian and Crimson Peak - Chastain with two amazing directors and actors
5. Mission: Impossible 5  - Tom Cruise fan
4. Spectre - Bond fan
3. Tomorrowland - Brad Bird is our new JJ Abrams
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron - it actually looks waay better than the last one
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - because it will be number one