My Favorite Summer Movies of 2015

My Top 10 favorite movies of Summer 2015:

1. Jurassic World - 71% (CinemaScore: A)
2. Ant-Man - 82% (CinemaScore: A)
3. Avengers: Age of Ultron - 75% (CinemaScore: A)
4. Inside Out - 98% (CinemaScore: A)
5. Minions - 56% (CinemaScore: A)
6. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - 93% (CinemaScore: A-)
7. Mad Max: Fury Road - 97% (CinemaScore: B+)
8. Pitch Perfect 2 - 65% (CinemaScore: A-)
9. Pixels - 18% (CinemaScore: B)
10. Terminator Genisys - 26% (CinemaScore: B+)


Note: These percentages indicate how positive the critical reviews are, according to rottentomatoes.com. To learn more about CinemaScore, enter http://www.cinemascore.com/.

Is It Too Late for the Sequel to Fox's 2015 Fantastic FLOP?

"Everything I've heard would indicate that the studio will move forward with a 'Fantastic Four' sequel. It may not make that original 2017 date, but they're definitely planning to make it." Uh, hate to break it to ya, Mr. Chris Aronson, but isn't it a little late for an UNFantastic Four sequel to this year's reboot that sadly FLOPPED -- both critically AND financially!? Why immediately make a sequel to a movie that is already about to have a $60 million write-off? That's like making a sequel to either Disney's John Carter ($284 m on a $250 m budget) or Warner Bros.' Battlefield Earth ($29.7 m on a $73 m budget), both of which are huge critical/box office failures! I mean, come on! While the movie is simply bad because of the behind-the-scenes fiasco and how director Josh Trank feels toward his experience filming it, it still doesn't change how unimpressed I am with his vision of the dark and gloomy take on "Marvel's First Family" that deserves a much better movie treatment (the only proper FF movie for me is Disney/Pixar's Oscar-winning animated film The Incredibles) after the total disappointment that is 2007's FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Even if Fox believes that they are "forever committed" to the Fantastic Four lore, too bad it's gonna suffer the same fate as Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 did (hence why we're no longer getting an Amazing Spider-Man 3 as planned). I'm sorry, but there is no "second chance" to develop another mediocre "Fantastic" Four movie even with "lessons learned" from such an awful attempt with a rehashable dark and gritty concept for most particular reboots. Neither is there any possibility that the yet-to-be-made/not made sequel will "redeem" the FF image. Don't see how you have any better ideas to retain the FF franchise as long as they have with X-Men. You can try something like putting the Fantastic Four in one of the X-Men movies like you've always wanted, but it's still uncertain if it's really gonna change our minds about how we feel towards the superheroes that can stretch, turn invisible, create fire, and clobbering stuff. That's why I signed in the petition to hopefully get you Fox studio execs through your thick skulls to just GIVE THE FANTASTIC FOUR BACK TO MARVEL already! And you had better hurry and reconsider the June 9th, 2017 date that you somehow made for the sequel BEFORE the 2015 movie even came out, because it will surely get clobbered (literally) at the box office big time by the likes of Star Wars: Episode VIII, Wonder Woman, Toy Story 4, and World War Z 2! But I will gladly wait for the Deadpool sequel ('pends if the 1st is a hit next February) to achieve that date!

Quick (but LONG) Review of 2015's 'Fantastic Four'

My worst fears have come true. This reboot truly is DOOMED. "Change is coming"? Give me a break. You think that after we were unsatisfied with the two Fantastic Four movies from 2005 to 2007, there would have been some miracle with the super-powered foursome. Shame that it couldn't live up to the REAL superhero blockbusters of 2015: Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. As much as found-footage superhero movie Chronicle was such a breakout hit in early 2012, Josh Trank's vision for a "David Croenenberg sci-fi horror type" of a superhero movie unfortunately didn't quite work for the more colorful heroes that can stretch, turn invisible, burst into flames, and get rocky or strong. The overall tone shouldn't be all dark and somber just because it "worked" in other fresher reboots since Batman Begins. It kinda makes the Fantastic Four lack any joyfulness and any feel that it's fun being a superhero! The flatlined, dreary atmosphere makes this 2015 reboot like Hulk 2003/Green Lantern 2011 bad when there is like too much quietness and all of that! But wait! Not only was the tone completely off for the team that should get along pretty well with the Avengers, the movie feels a bit... incomplete. It's no wonder the pacing is a bit completely forced the moment it shows the "one year later" caption. It has TOO MANY SCENES CUT OUT that would have properly developed the characters and the story! This is exactly what happened with The Last Airbender and Priest! You don't make the movies so abruptly short when they could have worked better as 2-hour long movies to provide a more coherent story! The third act of course could have had some proper changes to make it less anti-climatic! Guess that would explain the complications between Josh Trank and the studio when the reshoots were made. Was kinda hopin to see the Fantastic Four don their blue costumes like Miles Teller promised us! Ah. Guess he must've lied. Still want Ben/Thing to wear pants so that we don't mock his "nakedness". I highly recommend the Ultimate Fantastic Four comics, which the FAILED reboot was based on, more than what was brought to life on the big screen! Least they had a story despite the so-so illustrative comic book designs.

For the overall cast, they seemed pretty decent. But sadly, not for the four main characters. Miles Teller acts like he's not a worthy leader of the Fantastic Four. Since when did he just run off and then not come back to his friends after for a year just because the powers they were bestowed with are a "disease" to them? That should have been Ben Grimm's! And he calls himself "Mr. Fantastic". For the young Reed Richards, other than being scornfully dismissed by the teacher (voice of Homer Simpson, everybody!), I think there should have been more of those scenes where we see how he was treated by his father after trying out the interdimensional transporter prototype in the garage (like in the 1st Ultimate F4 comic book issue). Those of you who hated Ioan Gruffudd's REAL Mr. Fantastic (blame the mediocre script for the poor acting or the outdated stretching effects!) should reconsider their opinions! Kate Mara, prettier than she looks compared to her sister Rooney Mara or former Invisible Woman star (sex symbol is more like it) Jessica Alba, looked like she should've been promoted as Fantastic Four leader because of how bold she acts in her following scenes after receiving her invisibility/force field powers. And here is what I now call my least favorite F4 character of this so-called "superior reboot": Michael B. Jordan. No offense to non-racist purists, but I like Johnny Storm better when he is white, which truly makes it look like that Sue and Johnny ARE brother and sister, adopted or no! Making the Human Torch (name not said onscreen sadly) a black person feels completely... forced. He apparently lacked the hot shot maverick attitude that makes us like him more unlike how we feel towards Chris Evans, the REAL Human Torch. And one minute, he was feeling devastated as his newfound ability to go all flame on, then later he just immediately goes along with it like it was no problem. Completely forced. The "sibling" chemistry between Kate Mara and Michael Jordan (not the basketball player) doesn't strike me that they are related! Just like M Jordan doesn't appear to have a positive father-son bond with the monotone-voiced Dr. Franklin Storm, ANOTHER white character played by an "excellent" black actor! Again, it feels very forced unlike Michael Clarke Duncan's Kingpin, Idris Elba's Heimdall, and Kerry Washington's Alicia Masters! Reg E. Cathey, a good actor as he is, seems better off as a separate character specifically made for the movie. He may be a respectful (adoptive) father to Kate Mara's Sue Storm, but it's too bad that the way he speaks is not how I picture the REAL Dr. Franklin Storm in the comics, who I know cares so much of both Sue and Johnny. I feel like Jared Harris would have been a better Dr. Franklin Storm if Johnny Storm is changed back to white! And with him dead, there goes our only chance to see more of Cathey's Dr. Storm supporting the Fantastic Four along the way like his comic book counterpart does in the Ultimate comics! Among the quartet, Jamie Bell I feel deserve better! He feels like he's not part of the movie the way there is too much focus on Miles, Kate, Michael, and Toby in a few scenes prior to the interdimensional transportation experiment gone wrong part. I was so looking forward to more the Thing clobbering part, but instead of the said clobbering part that I was promised by the trailers, they were sadly only seen in the military footage after the abrupt "1 year later" transition. SERIOUSLY! With the excellent and more realistic motion-capture CGI on the Thing (in my opinion, way better than the obviously fake Thing makeup and costume worn by Michael Chiklis), there would have been a nice character arc for us to see Ben Grimm feeling tragic with his rocky form. And last but not least, Toby Kebbell as Dr. Doom. He is the one character I feel that Fox is NOT doing him justice besides Galactus! While he was not who I imagined him to be, least he was a lot more scary than the weak and miscast Julian McMahon. But I believe that this whole once-friend-now-enemy thing is getting old. He doesn't need to always be friends with the Fantastic Four and then get involved in their origin that involves them receiving their powers for the first time! Doesn't Fox understand that Doom is supposed to be the RULER OF LATVERIA instead of a young Latverian computer technician, once beloved by Dr. Franklin Storm, and having a crush on Susan Storm!? Then by the time he was brought back as the archenemy of the Fantastic Four that we know, his transition to a villain is obviously rushed without any buildup. And his evil motivations need to be much more clearer for us to admire him. Even if Dr. Doom was able to put up a fight with the four heroes unlike what Julian McMahon is SO BAD AT, he is unfortunately taken out too quickly! Come on Fox! You can't just introduce our favorite F4 villain and then kill him off immediately when there could have been at least some indication that should leave it open for his possible return as he is the most recurring villain of the Fantastic Four comics! This is exactly why Dr. Doom is better off in Marvel's hands if the Disney XD Ultimate Spider-Man/Avengers Assemble cartoons were able to use him!

And since this week's Fantastic Four failed to achieve the desired box office results like the studio had hoped, this is starting to feel like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 all over again. Maybe it was a bad idea to slate the June 2017 date for their yet-to-be-made sequel before the movie even came out this month! Despite Josh Trank wanting to make a "more edgier and grounded science fiction horror" Fantastic Four film, apparently his direction just doesn't satisfy us comic book fans. Regardless of his "unusual behavior" towards Fox for "meddling" with the movie based on his promising vision. Those of you who want Marvel's First Family to come back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe should hear this: Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson had this to say about these numbers: "While we're disappointed, we remain committed to these characters and we have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe." I'm sorry, what? Fox still wants to keep the Fantastic Four rights until the end of time no matter how disappointing their F4 movies are becoming!!? Uh uh! Don't think so! If the movie bombs, then there shouldn't be a sequel coming already! How about make the same kind of deal with Marvel that Sony made to allow Spider-Man join the Avengers while the former retains control over him! Forget mixing the freakish X-Men mutants and the well-loved Fantastic Four together in one big movie! Once Fox had done so, Marvel could finally do the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom, Silver Surfer, and Galactus done justice! The studio heads at Twentieth Century Fox should change their minds about permanently keeping the FF team away from Marvel!

My Reaction to the New Deadpool Movie Trailer

I've got to say, this is what us fans have been begging Fox to make a Deadpool movie to wipe away the tainted memory that is Weapon XI (who doesn't deserve Deadpool's name) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and yet for once, the studio finally got it right after the X-Men franchise was saved by last summer's Days of Future Past. Guess the highly-praised reception to the test footage at Comic-con really paid off! It looks like Deadpool will be Ryan Reynolds' first excellent comic book movie after flops like Blade: Trinity, Green Lantern, and R.I.P.D. All of this blood and gore (hopefully, my dad's ok with it) among the violent action in this "vulgar comedy" is just what we expect in Deadpool which harkens back to the part where Hit-Girl kills all of the bad guys in the apartment in the 1st Kick-Ass movie. I'm glad that it's actually going to be rated R instead of the watered down PG-13 rating which didn't work so well with the first Wolverine spin-off that was supposed to define what makes Wolverine a savage mutant. Thought that everything Ryan Reynolds says (including the Green Lantern reference) is pretty funny, as though the script was made by Deadpool fans. But is it just me, or was Colossus IN this Deadpool movie? Only he looks more comic book accurate than he was in X-Men 2-3 & DOFP. Not sure what his purpose was besides being the main connection point that Deadpool is "set in the X-Men universe", but it's great seeing that the big Russian metal-skinned mutant is getting the recognition he deserves! This'll no doubt make a lot of money like how Kingsman: The Secret Service earned over $400 million even for an R-rated comic book film since there's like a LOT of fans who love Deadpool in the Marvel comics. I am absolutely ready for 2016, and this Merc with the Mouth flick is among my anticipated films I look forward to see besides Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice!