What Is Wrong With These Summer 2017 Films?

As if last year wasn't bad enough. Can't believe that the only successful blockbuster movies this summer are Wonder Woman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming, which are mostly superhero flicks at the start of each summer month! The most successful animated title is, you guessed it, Despicable Me 3 which I didn't feel hyped to see even after #2 following my first though underwhelming viewing of Minions. The losers? Among them are mostly franchise fatiguers, which includes Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Pixar's Cars 3 (despite being much better than the inferior and Pixar's first "lemon" Cars 2), Alien: Covenant (the needless prequel to the original Alien films and follow-up to the confusing Prometheus, which I'm glad I did not plan to see), and worst of all... Transformers: The Last Knight! There's even some laughable box office bombs, which is exactly as I predicted, like King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Then there's The Emoji Movie, which breaks the all-time record for being one of the worst-reviewed animated films of all time. Except that it still made decent money despite almost having a 0% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Thankfully, I skipped seeing that like I have with Tom Cruise's The Mummy. Speaking of which, The Mummy is the one that had trouble deciding what it wants to be, whether as a typical by-the-numbers action film or as a "horror" movie part of some cinematic universe that Universal thinks is a good idea to have classic horror monster icons appear in the modern day world and be played by aged-out motion picture stars like Dwayne Johnson, Johnny Depp, and Channing Tatum when they were a lot scarier in the oldies. That's the problem I now have with setting up cinematic universes!

I mean come on, what in the world has this come down to? Besides Spider-Man: Homecoming, Transformers: The Last Knight was like my highly-anticipated summer 2017 movie. But based on the box office figures and the critical word-of-mouth, I knew that I couldn't rely on some brilliant Writers' Room that acts as though things are going to change for the better for this already critically blasted action-packed yet tiresome movie franchise that is bringing in nearly $4 billion. To think that by not bringing in some of the most hated elements (Tessa, Shane, "Transformium", etc.) from the 2014 predecessor Age of Extinction except bringing back Lennox, Simmons, police car Decepticon Barricade and making Megatron back to his traditional and more powerful self, The Last Knight was going to bring back what we missed so much from 1-3. But to no avail, like Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Batman v Superman, it absolutely failed on so many levels by being too easily attached to the usual stuff that we now know have officially gone too far! In what should have been a franchise game-changer like Fast Five, TF5 instead relies on cutting back to very unlikeable humans like the Tony Hale Physics Engineer, not being very consistent with the even messier timeline full of previously established events from the first four films that clearly doesn't know where the whole "secret history of Transformers" events explained by Anthony Hopkins will fit in, not using the Autobot and Decepticon characters in an effective manner other than for cheap fan service (namely Dinobots that have an even worse amount of screentime than Jared Leto's Joker), as well as not being clear on what the main focus was when you have TRF hunting down both Autobot and Decepticon alike, Knights protecting the Staff of Merlin from Quintessa, some secret society covering up the hidden presence of Transformers, Optimus Prime became corrupted and almost killed Bumblebee which is all that "Nemesis Prime" does after encountering Quintessa on Cybertron, and the coming of the chaos bringer Unicron who is clearly Earth itself! As I look at the box office performance of this fifth installment, I wasn't so sure if The Last Knight deserves to be seen as canon with the first three films along with what I thought for sure was the weakest Transformers film of all time (the one with the final act set in Hong Kong) despite being mostly intrigued by the more interesting robots like Hot Rod and Cogman. It's like maybe Paramount should never have thought about making more films to expand the storyline left by Dark of the Moon, which I now believe is where the story should have ended so that we don't have to go through with all the confusing Transformer-affected history stuff and the humans (minus caring ones like Mark Wahlberg) hating the Autobots that is just becoming ridiculous! A shame that the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film made MORE MONEY (luckily with more than $790 million worldwide including $172 million stateside) than the official "franchise-killer" of the Transformers movies. At least that one was more fun and not very confusing for me. And even though there's a Bumblebee spin-off movie already on the way ('til next December to be exact), I'm not so sure how such an unfortunate box office outcome from TF5 is going to affect the future of the entire Transformers franchise, and whether or not the studio is still keen on making a direct continuation to TLK already set for release in June 28th 2019?
I was kind of hoping that aside from arriving on the first opening day of Pandora: The World of Avatar in Disney's Animal Kingdom and going a cruise trip with my family throughout the European countries like St. Petersburg and Finland, this summer would have been completely free of wasteful financially failed sequels like Independence Day: Resurgence and Alice Through the Looking Glass, since I got to see what could have been a welcome return to the once-proud blockbuster franchises (Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney/Pixar's Cars). Especially if one of them was the most despised blockbuster franchise (Transformers). Unfortunately, only the superhero ones (both Marvel and DC) made it out unscathed by what is now going to be known as the "franchise fatigue curse." Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 are both tied as my favorite summer flicks of this year.

Apes together strong!

It's Morphin' Time!

On the non-superhero side, my favorite summer movie of 2017 would have to be War for the Planet of the Apes. And if it has to be an action-packed movie, even though it didn't come out in the summer or is no longer in theaters, my other favorite summer movie would have to be Power Rangers which I now see it as a movie worth viewing for fans and those wanting it to start a new movie franchise thanks to its DVD/Blu-ray sales since June 27th despite its mediocre global take of $142 million. Still, I hope, and I mean it, that next summer will be a lot more fun since there's Avengers: Infinity War coming up unless fans aren't too bored with the formulaic Marvel stuff! But for now, let us focus on our back-to-school plans. 'Cause I'm going to be heading back to George Mason tomorrow!

My Favorite Movies of Summer 2017

My Top 9 (for the first time ever) favorite[-ish] movies of Summer 2017:

1. Wonder Woman - 93% (CinemaScore: A)
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - 83% (CinemaScore: A)
3. War for the Planet of the Apes - 93% (CinemaScore: A-)
4. Transformers: The Last Knight - 16% (CinemaScore: B+)
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming - 92% (CinemaScore: A)
6. Cars 3 - 68% (CinemaScore: A)
7. Despicable Me 3 - 60% (CinemaScore: A-)
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales - 29% (CinemaScore: A-)
9. Dunkirk - 92% (CinemaScore: A-)




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

Pre-Summer 2017 Recap

Wow! I cannot believe it! I finally finished spring semester at George Mason University, by getting ALL A's in Advanced Painting I, Writing/Editing Sound for Game Design, Web Design & Usability, and Intro to Game Design classes for the finals! For a minute, I thought that I was gonna get a somewhat-ok outcome in one of my courses like the sound for game design class where I struggled with the Unreal Engine software that allows users to create graphics and build video game levels when working in a group. Luckily, I had a little vocal support from my mom, Jessica Machado, and of course my old psychiatrist Karen Wells. And the teachers like Prof. Matt Nolan, Andrew Sweeney, and Patricia Kruep were actually being nice to me and appreciated me for all the hard work and effort that I have given.

Since late April to early May, I have been practicing hard with my job coach Elizabeth Graviano at ServiceSource for my job interview with the Office of Elections internship that I have been applying to for the summer. On May 22nd, mom took me to the Fairfax County Government Center where I would begin my first job interview with Jill Clark, Gary Scott and Mary Lee. But then as it turns out, they didn't ask me some questions that I have been desperately preparing myself for. They were acting so nice by simply informing me of what I might do now that I am accepted to the internship.  The questions that I was able to ask them was what are the next steps in the process as well as what kind of duties that I may be given when working there. When the conversation ended, I thanked them for such a pleasant meeting and letting me know that my background will be of great help to their goals in managing the local elections for the government and applying my graphic design skills to assist in transcribing and transferring data and graphics. While working at an internship to gain some professional job experience might be new for me since working as a volunteer at Fairfax Education Association, I believe that I will have a good time serving the internship for the summer.

Speaking of summer, time to talk about what movies that I have seen so far as summer begins and my time at George Mason for the Spring ends! I have just seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 twice, first time was with my mom and the second time was with my sister who has just arrived back from Notre Dame to spend some quality time with the Mayuga family for the summer! Now for Guardians, I thought in my opinion that I enjoyed it more than the first one since I appreciated it for retaining the same colorful visuals and laugh-out-loud humor done by director James Gunn, as well as the fact that the soundtrack is much more enjoyable thanks to the "Awesome Mix Vol. 2" songs Peter Quill would enjoy listening to, particularly during the opening scene with Baby Groot! But I also like that the sequel fleshes out the characters we've barely known from the predecessor, especially Yondu and Nebula! What's also shocking, when it comes to sequels being more compelling than the first one since Empire Strikes Back, was that we learn that Peter Quill's father Ego is SPOILER..... actually the main villain and the reason why Quill's mother died from cancer at the start of the first film! Because of that unexpected twist, it makes the Yondu character and his death more meaningful and that he is truly the father Quill deserved even if he's a no-good greedy blue-skinned mercenary. I would definitely be expecting things to get better in the still-going-strong Marvel Cinematic Universe before the impending Infinity War next year!

As I await for my first time working at an internship until June 12th, I would deal with some incoming changes when spending time in the Mayuga's house. My sister has just gotten her first job and started attending to George Mason University, which is where I was at since 2014! During the Memorial Day weekend, we would head to Orlando, Florida where we would stay at a hotel on a nice and warm yet hot weather. The reason for such a relaxing visit was to enter the place that will surely change everything: Pandora. As many people would recall, Pandora is the name of the indigenous but dangerous alien planet filled with unique creatures (Banshees, Great Leonopteryx, Thanator, Direhorses, Sturmbeests, you name it!) including the blue cat-like natives called the Na'vi. Now, Pandora is a planet seen in James Cameron's $2 billion blockbuster phenomenon Avatar, which my mom thinks is overrated which is true but not without its visually-stunning moments and some spectacular action scenes. It is an attraction located in the Disney Animal Kingdom theme park. Except that for the first timers, there would be some very LONG lines that takes about 2-3 hours entering in the rides to see what our experience in Pandora would be like compared to what we've seen in the movie. What makes the Pandora attraction more intriguing was that at night, everything would glow in the dark, or as I would call it according to the part in the movie where Jake Sully first met Neytiri: bioluminescence. I was glad that I got to see it for myself on the first opening day after spending my fun time with my sister at Universal Studios Orlando! Perhaps the sequels (the first of the four will be released in December 2020) that James Cameron has working hard on for such a long time might be worth waiting and may not suffer the same way that the 6-year gap did to Alice Through the Looking Glass compared to its 2010 Tim Burton predecessor that earned $1 billion.

While the state of the world is pretty much in shambles due to reports that the terrorist attacks have occurred in London which made opinions on President Donald Trump and the government worsened, I tried to look at the brighter side waiting for what does the Office of Elections internship has in stores for me. As June begins, I would prepare myself for what is to come. When I watched Wonder Woman with my sister, it would appear that my initial doubts were wrong all along. The first live-action female DC superhero movie is a much better DCEU experience than Man of Steel, Batman v Superman (no matter which version) and Suicide Squad combined! I never expected Wonder Woman to finally end up a great DC movie after it was thought to be a "discombobulated mess"! I hope that this astounding success will bring some encouragement to a lot of fans to expect the same for Justice League, which I can only hope will truly redeem the DC characters despite suffering the loss of a great one (specifically Superman). But there's only one word that comes to mind now that summer is finally here: Transformers. It seems that the promotional marketing and the toys for Transformers: The Last Knight is somehow improving, and may be attempting to prove to the fandom that it was going to be a major improvement over Age of Extinction, the sequel that I now know is what turned moviegoers and fans away from the action-packed robot-fighting franchise that made me a huge fan of Transformers since 2007. While I am relieved that the return of familiar faces such as Megatron and the mention of references from any of the five films will mean that it might somehow bring back what I know is the reason why the first live-action Transformers film is my favorite movie of all time, I am unsure if it'll be enough to regain some fans to restore the studio's desire to start their own cinematic universe despite AOE suffering a major dip in domestic grosses (even with $1 billion thanks to China) and critical ratings. If Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (which I thought was entertaining and so much better than On Stranger Tides) from what was considered to be the "worst Memorial Day weekend" indicates something, and when it comes to being the fifth installment of the franchise that people believed should have retired no matter what exciting moments it may have, I fear that what if The Last Knight might not achieve the same amount of success as any of the four predecessors, with or without some much-needed support from the international countries that the studio appears to be making it lean on to more than the Americans. What I truly want is that it would be more like the first film where everything was so simple and more fun, and that the characters were more likable instead of always treating each other like dirt (especially the Autobots that deserve the same love as the Avengers and the Justice League)! Even if I may have to see the day AFTER it was released since I have work and that my family and I are getting ready to head for Philadelphia to visit our old friends from Vancouver. I hope that Summer 2017 will be better than last year, despite the bad stuff happening in the world we now live in!

Regretful Throwback Review of 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation'

First The Amazing Spider-Man 2, then Transformers: Age of Extinction, and now this? Man, I hate it when I have to keep re-evaluating poorly-reviewed movies that I thought I "enjoyed"! Pretty soon, the DCEU Suicide Squad movie might be next! I remember the time when I discovered the updates and the trailer of what I can expect from the sequel, well technically more of a "soft reboot," to the action-packed yet maligned G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, I thought that it would finally please some fans and put aside this whole debacle about how wrongfully handled the once popular G.I. Joe characters are by instead making them an international task force and being too reliant on sci-fi technology like Delta-6 Accelerator suits, sonic cannons, and the cheap but wicked holograms. I have yet to see the Best Buy-exclusive Extended Cut Blu-ray again at home (if I want to) now that I finished watching The Rise of Cobra in my basement, but from what I saw which I can really recall without having to wait, I knew almost every part that makes me wonder if Retaliation was the live-action G.I. Joe movie we deserve no matter how "better" it was than the predecessor that was released (coincidentally due to being made by Hasbro) in the same year as Michael Bay's awfully-upsetting Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

As the G.I. Joe: Retaliation (whether theatrical or extended) movie starts, it was starting to become obvious that it was gonna feel different from The Rise of Cobra given the more militaristic tone and less dumb-but-fun sci-fi campiness. While retaining Duke, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow (spoiler alert, he's alive no questions asked!), Cobra Commander and Zartan (in the guise as the U.S. President), gone were the popularly recognizable G.I. Joe characters such as Scarlett, General Hawk, Breaker, Baroness, and of course Destro (not counting his useless cameo). Erasing them from the clean slate, we got newbies like Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson!), Lady Jaye, Flint, "original G.I. Joe" Joe Colton (Bruce Willis, everyone!), and Jinx (Elektra from Season 2 of Marvel/Netflix's Daredevil). And if I remember correctly, despite some claims that Retaliation was "better than The Rise of Cobra," there was that one particular moment that will surely upset a lot of fans...

DUKE DIES!

That's right, folks. Because Channing Tatum claimed that he "hated" the first G.I. Joe movie that he did, he wanted his character to be killed off. The first time it happened, well almost, was in the 1987 animated movie but due to fan complaints at the Optimus Prime death in the 1986 Transformers cartoon film, they made Duke simply "went into a coma." But 26 years later, this time Duke is now seemingly dead for real! It was at that moment since then, that G.I. Joe: Retaliation has been plagued by a lot of hate for killing off a very popular G.I. Joe character like Duke even though nobody likes Channing Tatum's acting ability despite his screentime with Dwayne Johnson's Roadblock being considered as one of the major highlights and his success with 21 Jump Street! Now that I think about it, what's the point of having him around during the first 30 minutes of this so-called "sequel" and boom! he's dead without so much as giving him a proper pay-off?
So the plot of said sequel was about the remaining Joes (Roadblock, Lady Jaye, and Flint) being forced on the run and framed by "President Zartan" as public enemies of the United States, similar to that of The A-Team and The Hub's short-lived G.I. Joe: Renegades animated show, it was becoming less of a direct sequel but more of a standalone movie even with some direct ties with the 2009 predecessor, which I'm okay with yet unsure of. The only good parts were the action scenes with Snake Eyes and his archenemy-later-turned-ally Storm Shadow, such as SS breaking Cobra Commander out of prison in Germany (but leaving Destro behind because of course, no Christopher Eccleston - WASTED!) and the kick-ass mountain fight between Snake Eyes & Jinx and the Red Ninjas. With those sweet ninja fight scenes like that, and the way that they at least corrected the Cobra Commander look, I just don't quite understand why G.I. Joe: Retaliation was such a big deal for people, especially the fans, to complain about even though the new director was a die-hard G.I. Joe fan! However, since time went on and still we never got the third G.I. Joe movie like we were promised despite grossing over $375 million, I am now starting to wonder if they were right all along. While the over-the-top explosive action was fun to watch, it's still too bad that perhaps the only way it would feel like a G.I. Joe movie is if none of the characters were either killed off like Duke, disappeared with no explanation like the missing ROC characters, or lazily abandoned like Destro in favor of newcomers that will be hard to easily recognize. And I'd hate to say this, but while it is more of a sci-fi super spy movie and less of a military-themed war movie, as well mishandling the Cobra villains like Destro and the Baroness, at least seeing the Joes in action in The Rise of Cobra felt like the G.I. Joe team we were meant to see on the big screen and actually had that "Yo Joe!" and "Knowing is Half the Battle" feeling instead of ending up as a generic and formulaic Fast & Furious-styled wannabe! Plus, mediocre acting aside, at least Channing Tatum had a more expanded main character role and arc in which we see how Duke would do what a soldier would have done when in battle, and that's to never leave a man behind (especially his good friend Ripcord)!

Ever since the Hasbro Cinematic Universe was announced with the writers' room already prepared in the wake of the oh-so successful Transformers Writers' Room and upon learning that a G.I. Joe 3 will only be made when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson isn't too busy with films like the upcoming 2017 titles Baywatch and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, I was starting to worry that instead of getting a continuation to tie up some loose ends left by the 2013 follow-up, there may have to be a complete (you guessed it) REBOOT from scratch (by taking a more "millennial approach") to better tie with other lesser known non-Transformers Hasbro properties without making the continuity so confusing when using events established in the first two G.I. Joe films! Like everyone's gonna care about a cinematic universe of G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., ROM the Spaceknight, Visionaries, and Micronauts since they were unsurprisingly outdated and forgotten! Which means that we will no longer get to see Roadblock and the reinstated G.I. Joe team hunt down Cobra Commander and bring him to justice for what happened to Duke! How unfortunate.
With Paramount Pictures already suffering from financial disappointments and failures last year (TMNT: Out of the Shadows, Zoolander 2, Star Trek Beyond, Ben-Hur) and the box office misfire of the belated sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass, maybe it is far too late to be getting a direct sequel to the two G.I. Joe films, whose total worldwide box office combined is below the 2007 Transformers movie's $709 million gross. It's no wonder that after 2013, we hardly see any more G.I. Joe toys in several stores.

Even though I am more of a Transformers fan, as of now, I feel like binge-watching (not through Netflix or DirectTV sadly) the entire 1980's G.I. Joe cartoon, just to see how Hollywood, especially Stephen Sommers and Jon Chu (whose Jem and the Holograms movie is now a massive plagiaristic failure after an abrupt 1-week theatrical run!), should do the G.I. Joe vs. Cobra action done right! At least the cartoon made them act like REAL AMERICAN HEROES!

Cue the theme song! YO JOE!

Quick Review of 2017's 'Beauty and the Beast'

Twenty-six years ago, Beauty and the Beast was the first movie that I remember seeing during my birth. At first, I was quite concerned that despite the enchanting trailers promising to be what made the 1991 version a Disney masterpiece, it was said that neither were the characters living up to the original selves through acting and singing and that politically-forced themes such as feminism and a gay character almost hurt the latest live-action film of the "tale as old as time" based on the initial 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I was hoping that it would be in the 80-90% range like 2015's Cinderella and last year's The Jungle Book. However, as I look up on the early reviews on Facebook and learning that it was the "fastest-selling family film on Fandango" and the box office projections being $120-150 million or more, as well as listening to the memorable songs on the soundtrack that was already up on iTunes and YouTube, I was now starting to feel confident that it might be the Disney film worth being brought to life through live-action scenes and CGI-animation the same way as my other favorite childhood Disney classic The Jungle Book. Today, I finally got to see it at AMC Tysons Corner with mom and dad and what I have to say is "wow!" Sure that the animated film is way more than popular than the one that I've been waiting to see since last year, but at least it still retained the same story without changing it so much like what Maleficent did, despite not keeping parts that we were so used to!
Emma Watson, my celebrity crush from Harry Potter, is just so stunningly beautiful as the main heroine Belle no matter what others say about her "wooden acting" or her "autotuned singing." While different from Paige O'Hara's Belle character, Emma Watson proved me right by making Belle such a brave and strong girl and was actually able to smile in some situations that really cheered her up even when being held prisoner by the Beast in the enchanted castle! Aside from the so-called uncanny valley of the motion-capture facial look, Dan Stevens really did an outstanding job making the Beast more tragically human on the outside despite his monstrous appearance and for his song "Evermore" when he regretfully allowed Belle to head to town to save her father. The best part are the enchanted objects that were also cursed by a spell that turned the Prince into a horrible Beast: Lumiere (Ewan McGregor), Cogsworth (Ian McKellen), Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson), and Chip (newcomer Nathan Mack)! The part where Lumiere sings "Be Our Guest" was just as visually amazing, no maybe even more, than the animated version, and really demonstrated Ewan McGregor's singing ability! But I was more amazed with Emma Thompson's Beauty and the Beast song during Belle and the Beast's ballroom dance, which was on par with Angela Lansbury! I only wished that the Ariana Grande/John Legend version of that timeless song is more like how it sounded in the second trailer 2 months ago, which while they had talent, can't outmatch Celine Dion (was brought back for the newly-written "How Does the Moment Last Forever?" song) and Peabo Bryson's! Luke Evans and Josh Gad have also proven to be great as Gaston and LeFou, as does Kevin Kline's Maurice who was actually able to stand up to himself despite being deemed by the village townsfolk as insane for raving about the Beast! I also like that there was some depth in Belle and the Beast's backstories, along with the Enchantress' expanded role as a mysterious woman named "Agathe"!
After seeing the bloody but tearful Wolverine swan song Logan with my dad two weeks ago, maybe 2017 might be off to a good start even while I was getting to complete my web design and advanced painting assignments from George Mason and trying to apply for job internships by meeting with my office counselors to discuss my possible job recommendations. I was glad that flaws aside, this year's Beauty and the Beast was finally able to live up to my expectations that it really was as the Rotten Tomatoes consensus would say, "a faithful yet fresh retelling that honors its beloved source material."
The second most anticipated film that I'm now looking forward to see, while anxious for a possible miracle to cleanse my stress and concerns, is Michael Bay's Transformers: The Last Knight. I am happy that the latest Beauty and the Beast movie is an enchanting and charming experience in my spring break! If only my sister Christine could have seen that! Thank you Disney, Bill Condon (you are forgiven for The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn Pts 1-2), and the rest of the cast for bringing the timeless romantic fairy tale story to life!

The 2017 Academy Award Winners!

The winners of my "favorite categories" at the 89th Academy Awards ceremony from last night are...!

Best Picture

• Arrival
• Fences
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hell or High Water
• Hidden Figures
• La La Land
• Lion
• Manchester by the Sea
• Moonlight

Best Director

• Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)
• Hacksaw Ridge (Mel Gibson)
• La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
• Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
• Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)

Best Actor

• Manchester by the Sea (Casey Affleck)
• Hacksaw Ridge (Andrew Garfield)
• La La Land (Ryan Gosling)
• Captain Fantastic (Viggo Mortensen)
• Fences (Denzel Washington)

Best Actress

• Elle (Isabelle Huppert)
• Loving (Ruth Negga)
• Jackie (Natalie Portman)
• La La Land (Emma Stone)
• Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep)

Best Supporting Actor

• Moonlight (Mahershala Ali)
• Hell or High Water (Jeff Bridges)
• Manchester by the Sea (Lucas Hedges)
• Lion (Dev Patel)
• Nocturnal Animals (Michael Shannon)

Best Supporting Actress

• Fences (Viola Davis)
• Moonlight (Naomie Harris)
• Lion (Nicole Kidman)
• Hidden Figures (Octavia Spencer)
• Manchester by the Sea (Michelle Williams)

Best Original Screenplay

• Hell or High Water
• La La Land
• The Lobster
• Manchester by the Sea
• 20th Century Women

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Arrival
• Fences
• Hidden Figures
• Lion
• Moonlight

Best Animated Feature

• Kubo and the Two Strings 
• Moana
• My Life as a Zucchini
• The Red Turtle
• Zootopia

Best Production Design

• Arrival
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Hail, Caesar!
• La La Land
• Passengers

Best Costume Design

• Allied
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Florence Foster Jenkins
• Jackie
• La La Land

Best Cinematography

• Arrival
• La La Land
• Lion
• Moonlight
• Silence

Best Film Editing

• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hell or High Water
• La La Land
• Moonlight

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• A Man Called Ove
• Star Trek Beyond
• Suicide Squad

Best Original Score

• Jackie (Mica Levi)
• La La Land (Justin Hurwitz)
• Lion (Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka)
• Moonlight (Nicholas Britell)
• Passengers (Thomas Newman)

Best Original Song

• La La Land ("Audition (The Fools Who Dream)")
• Trolls ("Can't Stop the Feeling!")
• La La Land ("City of Stars")
• Jim: The James Foley Story ("The Empty Chair")
• Moana ("How Far I'll Go")

Best Visual Effects

• Deepwater Horizon
• Doctor Strange
• The Jungle Book
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Best Sound Mixing

• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Best Sound Editing

• Arrival
• Deepwater Horizon
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Sully

Beauty and the Beast: The Best Movie of 2017?

Following the start of spring semester at George Mason, I had always hoped that things would get better than last year. This week on Monday night, the second Beauty and the Beast trailer went online, and I was so excited that I clicked on the link to view it on the ComingSoon.net web article to see what else I can expect from the live-action version of the 1991 Disney animated classic.

As always, Emma Watson never fails to impress me with her beautiful accent which made me feel absolutely sure that she will deliver an enchanted performance as Belle like Lily James did as Cinderella. But by the time the theme song was heard, I was left with nothing but full of nostalgic happiness. From what I've learned about this new take from bringing back the original music and songs written by Alan Menken, along with the still-and-always faithful elements and the memorable scenes and exact quotes that everybody will surely notice when compared with the traditionally-animated film, it is possible that this year's Beauty and the Beast might be the biggest movie of 2017 until Star Wars: The Last Jedi! Hard to believe that Ariana Grande and John Legend would actually pull off singing such a timeless and magical song as Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson have!

While different as they may be from how we used to remember, I know that Emma Watson (Belle), Dan Stevens (The Beast), Ewan McGregor (Lumiere), Ian McKellen (Cogsworth), Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts), Luke Evans (Gaston), Josh Gad (Lefou), and Kevin Kline (Maurice) will do an astounding job and bring back what made Beauty and the Beast a huge masterpiece in Disney history! The same way that last year's The Jungle Book have successfully achieved (aside from being a $966 million hit) by bringing our favorite lovable characters to life as anything but cartoon characters! I can only hope that Emma Watson will impress me with her singing voice in her musical number scenes and deliver the same kind of feeling we got from Paige O'Hara, as does the "Be Our Guest" sequence sung by Ewan McGregor's Lumiere! This will certainly be an enchanted tale as old as time once Spring Break begins in 2 months! I can't stop thinking about what my experience in seeing the first movie I've seen from my childbirth more than 25 years ago will be like when brought to life by live-action movie stars as opposed to the stars of the Broadway Musical Theatre! Emma Watson will always look so beautiful to me whether in her pink Yule Ball dress or in her gorgeous yellow dress! Bring it on!

The 2017 Oscar Nominations Are In!

While I am back at George Mason for my spring semester this year and hoping things will be much better than last year, here are my favorite Oscar nomination categories announced this week.

Which one of the 2016 movies will win an Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year? Will it be...?

• Arrival (8 nominations)
• Fences (4 nominations)
• Hacksaw Ridge (6 nominations)
• Hell or High Water (4 nominations)
• Hidden Figures (3 nominations)
• La La Land (14 nominations)
• Lion (6 nominations)
• Manchester by the Sea (6 nominations)
• Moonlight (8 nominations)

Best Director?

• Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)
• Hacksaw Ridge (Mel Gibson)
• La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
• Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
• Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)

Best Actor?

• Manchester by the Sea (Casey Affleck)
• Hacksaw Ridge (Andrew Garfield)
• La La Land (Ryan Gosling)
• Captain Fantastic (Viggo Mortensen)
• Fences (Denzel Washington)

Best Actress?

• Elle (Isabelle Huppert)
• Loving (Ruth Negga)
• Jackie (Natalie Portman)
• La La Land (Emma Stone)
• Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep)

Best Supporting Actor?

• Moonlight (Mahershala Ali)
• Hell or High Water (Jeff Bridges)
• Manchester by the Sea (Lucas Hedges)
• Lion (Dev Patel)
• Nocturnal Animals (Michael Shannon)

Best Supporting Actress?

• Fences (Viola Davis)
• Moonlight (Naomie Harris)
• Lion (Nicole Kidman)
• Hidden Figures (Octavia Spencer)
• Manchester by the Sea (Michelle Williams)

Best Original Screenplay?

• Hell or High Water
• La La Land
• The Lobster
• Manchester by the Sea
• 20th Century Women

Best Adapted Screenplay?

• Arrival
• Fences
• Hidden Figures
• Lion
• Moonlight

Best Animated Feature?

• Kubo and the Two Strings 
• Moana
• My Life as a Zucchini
• The Red Turtle
• Zootopia

Best Production Design?

• Arrival
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Hail, Caesar!
• La La Land
• Passengers

Best Costume Design?

• Allied
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Florence Foster Jenkins
• Jackie
• La La Land

Best Cinematography?

• Arrival
• La La Land
• Lion
• Moonlight
• Silence

Best Film Editing?

• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hell or High Water
• La La Land
• Moonlight

Best Makeup and Hairstyling?

• A Man Called Ove
• Star Trek Beyond
• Suicide Squad

Best Original Score?

• Jackie (Mica Levi)
• La La Land (Justin Hurwitz)
• Lion (Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka)
• Moonlight (Nicholas Britell)
• Passengers (Thomas Newman)

Best Original Song?

• La La Land ("Audition (The Fools Who Dream)")
• Trolls ("Can't Stop the Feeling!")
• La La Land ("City of Stars")
• Jim: The James Foley Story ("The Empty Chair")
• Moana ("How Far I'll Go")

Best Visual Effects?

• Deepwater Horizon
• Doctor Strange
• The Jungle Book
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Best Sound Mixing?

• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Best Sound Editing?

• Arrival
• Deepwater Horizon
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Sully

Tune in to find out during ABC's 89th Annual Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 26th. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel!

An Apologetic Analysis of Spider-Man 3

So here are where, in what is now 2017. Call me a traitor, but I've just seen Spider-Man 3 like twice before and during my winter vacation in Amsterdam and Berlin with my parents and my sister. Not only will it be the 10th anniversary of Sam Raimi's final Spider-Man film in 4 months, but it is also the year where we finally have the first Spider-Man movie to be under the Marvel Cinematic Universe banner (while Sony still retains the movie distribution rights to the character) to hopefully achieve the success that the Amazing Spider-Man films have failed at.
Following my first viewing at The Amazing Spider-Man 2 after completing my spring semester at NOVA college, I thought for sure that it was gonna be better and actually wipe away the bad taste of Spider-Man 3 like the first film (the 2012 reboot starring Andrew Garfield) thanks to a couple of things that I know has plagued pretty much everything that was well-remembered in the first two films. But after learning that its $709 million gross didn't satisfy Sony and that plans for an Amazing Spider-Man 3 and its spin-offs were put on hold until the Sony-Marvel deal a year later, I was very upset with it and I even blamed Spider-Man 3 for being so bad (as most people would say) that a reboot had to happen before next thing they know, the studio had no confidence that they were gonna make a direct follow-up happen immediately. Since then I've been coming up on comments on sites like YouTube saying stuff like "the trilogy is better than ASM" and "I would watch Spider-Man 3 over Amazing Spider-Man". After seeing how the time-traveling in X-Men: Days of Future Past retconned all of the events that leads to the futuristic war with the deadly Sentinels, including the disastrous and anti-climatic X-Men: The Last Stand, I became so obsessed to finding which of the sequels/follow-ups that were so bad or very forgettable (Spider-Man 3 was one of the them) I would declare them as non-existent which would spare the more enjoyable ones from being tainted. After all, we all dislike the Emo Peter Parker moments as well as the Uncle Ben death Sandman retcon and Topher Grace playing Venom, don't we? But while I was getting pretty annoyed by the whole "Spider-Man 3 is better than Amazing Spider-Man" this and that, I came upon the unexpected source claiming that the novelization was better than the movie because it fleshes out the characters' motivations and contains some missing scenes that can be found in the Spider-Man 3.1 extended cut that fans have been petitioning for. But I didn't believe a single word of them, so I desperately searched for more evidence of what makes Spider-Man 3 better than the Amazing Spider-Man movies and if it truly plagued the greatness of 1 and 2 like it happened before with the original X-Men films. When I finished up reading the Spider-Man 3 novel that I got for Christmas in TWO DAYS, I discovered that there are a lot of pages with several written lines that may help clarify the ridiculous amount of plot holes that I know are what made SM3 the most disliked installment in the trilogy such as the frail butler telling Harry the truth about Norman Osborn's death two movies too late, the purpose with the random demolecularization machine that turned Flint Marko into Sandman, Mary Jane's bitchy attitude including why she didn't bother telling Peter that Harry made her broke up with him to "save his life" at the bridge, and whether or not the Sandman retcon diminishes the entire reason that Peter Parker became Spider-Man since the first film as much as Sam Raimi did it to incorporate the forgiveness moral and connect Sandman to Peter's life. I underlined phrases and sentences in the book that I find most helpful in assuring me that not every character in Spider-Man 3 were entirely stupid nor are their subplots really unnecessary when it comes to "too many characters." At first, I wasn't convinced if that'll be enough to make it far from the worst movie that everybody thought it was before the ASM films. But when I thought about the other blockbuster threequels that were not everybody's favorites while still having moments fun to watch and were decent enough to conclude their trilogies, such as X-Men: Apocalypse and Iron Man 3, I realized that maybe I was being too hard on Spider-Man 3 after all. I mean, I know that minus the Venom and Gwen Stacy characters, everything in that are all conceived by Sam Raimi himself before having a difficult relationship with the studio which resulted in the cancellation of Spider-Man 4. Plus, it did have some pretty spectacular moments, like Spider-Man saving Gwen from the building wrecked by a malfunctioning crane, his fights with Sandman, and Spidey and New Goblin working together to battle Sandman and Venom, that at least felt like they share with Spider-Man 1 and 2 in a more cohesive way unlike the ones where Andrew Garfield take on the Lizard, Electro, and the too-little-too-late Green Goblin and the Rhino. While we didn't get a Spider-Man 4 as planned, at least the critically-mixed trilogy closure didn't resort itself to too much sequel-teasing which would require whatever amount of money it needs to recoup its very expensive budget based on the word-of-mouth. Perhaps I was a little too focused on the "what it could have been" scenario to hopefully make Spider-Man 3 not much of a depressing trilogy ending like I thought, given that it came out a year after the disappointing X-Men 3 which was so bad that Bryan Singer had to be brought back for DOFP to undo the mistakes that the Brett Ratner-directed threequel made. Because there do appear to be some fans wanting a 3.1 cut which is right now 10 years too long, I think the only way that Spider-Man 3 would be an acceptable entry in the trilogy without being too bothered by the noticeable flaws is if they'd only excised or fast-forward parts that I know almost hurt our most beloved web-slinging hero and future Avenger, including the Emo Parker dancing scenes and the very painful-to-hear lines like "How's the pie? So good," and "Look at Goblin Jr. Are you gonna cry?" And if it is to be less depressing conclusion to the trilogy and end on a worthy note like Return of the Jedi and The Dark Knight Rises, I would totally add a final swing scene to complete the pattern that was clearly been used in 1 and 2 that Raimi and the studio somehow didn't bother putting in after going through a lot of craziness of stuff that they know that not everything has to be "bigger and better" (especially the rehashed Pete/MJ relationship problems and Peter being so melodramatic that he is clearly not how we want to see Spider-Man acting that way). It's just that I feel like the "Go get 'em, tiger" ending in Spider-Man 2 is the happy ending and the conclusion to Peter's difficult journey of balancing his normal life and his superhero gig we so rightfully deserve! Heck, the novelization that I read even ended with Spider-Man swinging through the buildings with Mary Jane in his arms despite suffering a tragic loss that is their best friend Harry Osborn who died saving Peter from Venom's "carnage"! Now THAT would have been a great way to end the trilogy (if they really filmed that scene) than just have Peter and M.J. dance slowly together in the jazz club! When I read the part where Peter thought about still continuing his Spider-Man mantle when he learned that he was not directly responsible (like he told Aunt May in SM2) for his uncle's death since it was Sandman who (though, accidentally) shot him, which lessens the impact that works effectively well in the first film in the same way as the comic book if that retcon didn't happen, I thought that perhaps it wasn't really such a pointless change after all when I think about Joker being the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents in Tim Burton's Batman and Two-Face's role in the death of Dick Grayson's family in Batman Forever, which I don't mind if that's the way it's gonna be when it comes to comic book movies being different from the comics that they were based on. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a perfect example of that. And if Jesse Eisenberg's over-the-top take on Lex Luthor, Jr. and the Cave Troll lookalike Doomsday in Batman v Superman taught me something, maybe I should accept Topher Grace's portrayal of Eddie Brock (now matter how shoehorned he is as Venom) if Sam Raimi wanted an anti-Peter Parker, if only that I would block that goofy teeth makeup of his every time he unmasks to speak out of my head. I still think that the animated shows handled Venom with great ease to really make him a huge (and I mean HUGE!) threat to Peter and all that he has hold dear to him! And that we could have had more of the Black-Suited Spider-Man action like the trailers had promised instead of going through more of the Emo Parker nonsense!
That doesn't mean that I "like" Spider-Man 3. I still see it as my least favorite Spider-Man film, just not in a "so bad I want to erase it from my mind" attitude, the same way like I feel towards god-awful films like Shyamalan's The Last Airbender and Battlefield Earth. If a Spider-Man 3.1 version does get released sometime in the future, then it might be the next Alien 3 Assembly Cut which is of course a third installment of the series that was considered inferior to the excellent previous 2 predecessors while greatly improved by a number of added scenes that better fleshes out underdeveloped characters. I am so glad that I asked my sister that I would like a Spider-Man 3 novelization book from Amazon for Christmas. Right now, the REAL #1 worst movie in the world for me is:.... (drum roll) Fant-4-stic! Fox, and even Josh Trank, should never have made the Fantastic Four so dark and mopey! So I guess as Peter would say to Flint: "I forgive you."


I pray that Spider-Man: Homecoming will overcome the fatigue-ish Amazing Spider-Man problems and be exactly what made Spider-Man our favorite Marvel superhero of all time since 2004's Spider-Man 2! And even if it's not Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield, whose franchise will now stay unfinished and forgotten thanks to its poor box office returns and lukewarm response while the former's trilogy will be frequently remembered for launching the golden age of superhero movies, there can be no doubt that Tom Holland will do a much better job and prove that he is the Spider-Man we truly deserve in the still-going-strong Marvel Cinematic Universe!