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!

Quick Review of 'Ant-Man'

I have to say, I'm actually impressed with this latest Ant-Man movie! Better than my viewing with Avengers: Age of Ultron (not a bad movie, though) in my opinion! Just like last summer's Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man has proven to be a very entertaining non-Avenger Marvel movie even with a strange concept of a hero who can shrink himself the size of an ant and battle enemies with the horde of ants at his command! And it looks like that it turned to be a pretty good film even without Edgar Wright as their director! I never knew that Paul Rudd, as the goofball master criminal thief Scott Lang, could really pull it off as our new Ant-Man even though Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas, should have been the main Ant-Man like he was in the comics. But Scott's daughter Cassie Lang is just the CUTEST THING I see in Ant-Man! "Daddy, is that you?" Awww.
Every time I see young Hank Pym in the flashbacks, makes me wish that Marvel would at least consider making a prequel about how he first developed the Pym Particles and his discovery on the "Quantum Realm" (or the Microverse), and see more of the partnership/relationship between the original Ant-Man and the Wasp, A.K.A. Janet van Dyne (on screen together for the first time even for just a few minutes)! Though I was a bit sad to see what happen to poor Jan when she sacrificed her life to save Hank while sabotaging the Soviet rocket. But because Scott was able to survive being in the Quantum Realm for so long after defeating Yellowjacket, I was relieved to learn that Jan may in fact be still alive. Now that, I would love to see the original Wasp (perhaps Catherine Zeta-Jones, married to Michael Douglas in real life, can play her) again or witness Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Hank & Janet's daughter, in action as the new Wasp!
Michael Peña of course is the one actor who absolutely STOLE THE MOVIE. He makes me laugh SO HARD everytime he says some hilarious stuff that don't make sense but nonetheless nailed it without taking it too serious! Gotta give thanks to Paul Rudd, Adam Mackay and Edgar Wright for giving the humorous feel to the script that was rewritten a couple of times ever since Bring It On director Peyton Reed came in to helm what almost became "Marvel's first flop"! I thought it was pretty funny the way that everytime we see Ant-Man and Yellowjacket fight, we would see them from our normal size perspective like it wasn't as loud or violent when they're pretty tiny as though they are harmless insects. Love the Thomas the Tank Engine gag, though! Hahahaha!
I sure hope that because of the excellent word-of-mouth, there may have to be plans of telling more of the story of Ant-Man despite his sequel not among the line of Phase 3 movies. With the post-credits scene, I am so pumped up for next May's Captain America: Civil War, the start of Phase 3 (with all the films leading up to the Russo Brothers' Avengers: Infinity War)!

Finished My English Online Course at Summer Semester!

This week has been pretty lucky for me! Last night, I finally submitted my last and final English 302 assignment via GMU Blackboard website! After weeks of challenging essays and lectures during the course of this summer semester, I am so happy to have completed my written papers! I should thank mom and my sister Christine for all the help they have given me! Thank you Prof. Dean Taciuch for being a respectful online teacher for us English students! Moving on to the next semester after weeks of a relaxing summer!

Quick Review of 'Hulk'

In Nick Nolte's words, "Take it back! It's not stopping! Take it back!" That's right, TAKE THIS MOVIE BACK FROM US! I don't care what these sissy YouTubers think of 2003's Hulk being "better than The Incredible Hulk," but it is SO BORING, SO DULL AND WAY TOO LONG!!!
Ang Lee may have been a good director for hits like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi, but he's just not the right director for the giant green-ragin behemoth. As much as we think that the psychological plot of Bruce/Hulk's anger is "important to the character," it's too bad that Ang Lee delved into it too deeply in a convoluted way! THERE WAS JUST NOT ENOUGH EXCITING ACTION! I hate it when the Hulk fights main bad guys at night (like the badly-CGI Hulk-Dogs) with NO LIGHTING! They were just too dark and hard to tell the good and bad guys apart! No wonder it failed to domestically earn back the $137 million budget after achieving a B- CinemaScore grade from audiences more than 10 years ago! The pacing is so slow and there was just TOO MUCH POINTLESSLY-LONG QUIET CONVERSATIONS! And what's worse, the comic book-style transitioning is TOO DISTRACTING throughout the entire 2-hr long film! I know Ang Lee is trying to make it a "comic book movie," but it only became ridiculously stale and ruins the pacing and flow of every scene in a stupid way.
"Stronger than 2008/Avengers Hulk" or not, but the CGI on this 2003 version of the Hulk, or "Shrulk", is just so fake and too smoothly-detailed or fat to make him look like a fearful green monster! He also didn't say "Hulk Smash!" other than "Puny human" and "TAKE IT ALLLLL!!!!" Don't blame how "weak" Ed Norton's Hulk (way more realistic and better-detailed!) was handled in the reboot when maybe it was just done to ensure that he isn't too "overpowered"! And that the Abomination (Tim Roth), who was much stronger than the Hulk in the comics, will have a chance to initially overwhelm him before Hulk would gain the upper hand in the end. People should know that at least his strength has gotten better in 2012's The Avengers since he's the same Hulk (but different actor) from his own solo Hulk reboot! Eric Bana is just too monotone and emotionless for us to sympathize with, nor does he even act like a scientist who runs gamma radiation tests. For he is clearly the one who's a lot more angry than the Hulk since he doesn't seem to be worried or desperate enough about preventing himself from endangering everyone like he does in the comics. All of the characters, other than <3 Jennifer Connelly <3 (although her face can be at times too wooden like Kristen Stewart's), are so unlikeable! Especially Josh Lucas as douchebag Glenn Talbot, who clearly does not act like a real major but more of a stalker of Betty Ross (unlike his FAR SUPERIOR Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. counterpart) and has the worst yet hilarious death scene ever! While Sam Elliott (also appeared in Ghost Rider) did good as General "T-Bolt" Ross, William Hurt's reason of his hatred towards Bruce/Hulk made a lot more sense than simply hating him for being the son of David Banner. Speaking of whom, Nick Nolte's insane father of Bruce Banner unfortunately is the character I do not care about! I don't care about his ties to the Hulk's origins (nanomeds and genetic blah blah blah kind of stuff) for the sake of developing more of the "anger issues"! His motivations and his obsessive experimentations on starfishes, reptiles and monkeys didn't quite make sense to me. And his acting became over-the-top once he goes crazy with all the yelling (Bruce's GOOOOOOOOO!!!!! included) and his subtle mock yelling! I don't think that he was an inspiring Hulk villain once he was turned into Absorbing Man (Carl Creel from the comics and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) or whatever when he absorb things like electricity (Zzzax-style), rock and water before turning into a giant gamma cloud! Now that is just plain weird.
Overall... THE CAST IS A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT! Can't people who "didn't enjoy Incredible Hulk" not understand that!!?? I'm glad that Marvel and Universal rebooted the Hulk franchise with a movie that strongly ties to the Avengers! I could almost imagine the disappointing reactions from the Avengers stars like Robert Downey, Jr. and especially Mark Ruffalo when they see this not-so-incredible Hulk film! You don't need the serious tone, then take it too far, to make a Hulk movie! What really defines the Hulk is a perfect balance of fun-filled comic book action and tragic (but not too tragic!) suspenseful thriller to make it more faithful to the cheerful tones of Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-Man! So don't bother seeing Hulk and then next seeing The Incredible Hulk (a total reboot, not a direct continuation) even if they're 5 years apart from each other. Bruce saving Harper from gamma exposure is not enough to make the audience be first introduced to how the Hulk came to be for the first time on the big screen thanks to a very FLAT-written script made for Ang Lee.
Like Spider-Man 3, the well-composed soundtrack (by Spider-Man 1-2 composer Danny Elfman) and the "excellent" action scenes (the tank and helicopter desert scenes until the abruptly-short San Francisco rampage, and the South America ending) does not outweigh the negative flaws that were frequently found! No matter how many times I view this on DVD, the end result remains to be the same disappointing mess that I already know. This 2003 Hulk adaptation does NOT deserve a much bigger praise than the more comic book-faithful Incredible Hulk, which is officially canon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with no disregard even with a so-so $263 million worldwide gross! And don't even think about making me angry with your positive comments saying that the Ang Lee movie has a "better story than in the 08 reboot"! Because you wouldn't like me when I'm VERY angry.