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Free State of Jones (Video)

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Independence Day: Resurgence (Video)

Independence Day: Resurgence is a sequel to the 1996 White House exploding classic. Is it good enough to be considered a worthy sequel?

Warcraft (Video)

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Alice Through The Looking Glass (Video)

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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Spoilers)

On paper the movie seems like it would be amazing, but unfortunately some of the directors choices and possibly the studio intervention hold it back from being the Batman vs Superman movie we all deserve.

Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! 
Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! 
You've Been Warned!

Grade: Matinee Showing

My spoiler reviews are a little scattered toward specific details of the movie. There honestly is very little structure. If you desire to better understand why I gave the movie the grade I did, please read the No Spoilers Review. If you feel I am nitpicking in this Spoiler review, yo're right, just deal with it.

The Awesome:

+ Batman! BATMAN! FREAKING BATMAN! That one time when Batman was driving the Batmobile grapples a car, swings it to hit an object and launches it onto another enemy vehicle. OH MY GOODNESS! Or... or the time when he's saving Martha Kent... ahhhhh! Taking out bad guys. Grappling a wood box into a guys face. AHHHH! Amazing!

+ Wonder Woman! Lasso of truth! Bracelets of Submission! Standing toe to toe with Doomsday! I honestly can't wait for the Wonder Woman movie because she is officially amazing!

The Ehhh:

~ Mopey Superman... again. Superman is a beacon of hope. I understand that some people find that boring, but when you have brooding Batman, Superman acts as a  foil to help push the story along and give the Justice League a moral compass much like Captain America in the Avengers (I may have just committed DC movie review Taboo, bring it on). Not only that, why the heck was he standing on a mountain talking to Johnathan Kent?

~ So... what was Lex Luthor's plan and motivation? I was able to deduce that he wanted Batman and Superman to fight... and that's about as far as I've gotten. Please someone fill me in. And don't use deleted scenes, there were no deleted scenes in the movie (Ergo "deleted") so you can't use those to justify motivation.

~ The Senator. I don't even remember or care to look up who played her. It was a completely forgettable plot point that could have been so much more interesting if they didn't freaking blow up the capital. Speaking of the Capital being blown up, could you hear the price is right losing horn when Superman is shown surrounded by fire... I think I heard it.

~ Lois Lane... what happened to you? You use to be such a bad a**. Even in Man of Steel you were able to take on Zod's men in the space ship or shoot down the kryptonian terraformer machine from a plane. Why are you getting captured in Africa now? You seem to serve no purpose other than given Superman a reason to return from his moping.

~ Superman's death. I honestly didn't care. He already "died" once after the atom bomb blew up. He then came back to life after feeling the warm sun on his face. Why wouldn't I think he can't come back again? Honestly, I still would have killed him, but this is how I would have done it... 1) Bomb blows up Superman and Doomsday. 2) They both fall to earth. 3) Bodies roll away from each other with Superman on left and Doomsday on right. 4) Doomsday gets up... charges/becomes more rocky. 5) Superman strains to move. 6) Doomsday sees that Superman survived and pounds on Superman till he's dead. 7) Batman and Wonder Woman have to use the spear to kill Doomsday and of course they succeed. I realize that is only a slight change, but by having Superman already "die" and come back 5 seconds later makes death feel useless.

The Ugh-ly:

- Don't throw away the spear! Lois you're an idot! Granted... hindsight is 20-20 and she didn't know she would need the spear again. But why throw it into... a well... maybe. If she was truly worried about it hurting Superman in the future, you think she would have hid it away so that someone else won't find it. Then you freaking almost drowned! Ugh... you are absolutely completely pointless to the plot.

- The first hour and 45 minutes. What was even going on? Who cared? There was no character development, just moping around and searching for some Portuguese guy. The movie honestly could have started with Batman turning on the Batsignal and it still would have made the same amount of sense.

- Terrible editing. Within about 20 minutes of actual time (from when Batman and Superman fight to Wonder Woman's reveal) this is what happened in Wonder Woman's story line. 1) Wonder Woman is out on the town wearing a white gown and sees the electricity coming off of the spaceship. 2) She is sitting at home in a robe looking at meta-human files. 3) She is now walking into a plane (for some reason) and sees that Doomsday has appeared. 4) She lands in front of Batman right before he become Bat-b-cued. Now... I know she's super and all and can do amazing things. By why the change of location and wardrobe between every scene. Couldn't she have just been at home... What was the point. Sometimes I give movies leniency because movie time is different than real time, but since we were literally seeing them fight inter-cut with those scenes, we know about how long it was.

- More terrible editing. 1) Superman's funeral. Bruce is talking to Diana about building the Justice League while Lois scoops up soil in her hand. 2) Cut to Lex in prison. Lights flicker. Batman is seen behind him.. that scene happens. 3) Shot of painting in Daddy Luthor's office. 4) Cut to Lois dropping sand on Clark's coffin. Now... this is the nitpicking I mentioned. I realize that these events aren't chronological. But it is just bad editing to jump around timelines like that. When it is done in other movies, let say Pulp Fiction, it is to strategically reveal character traits, plot points or motivations. In BvS it is just lazy.

- Martha! You mean the only reason why we had to sit through Batman's origin again? So that they could stop fighting when Batman realized that their mom's share the same name? It just doesn't make sense.

Overview:

I really hope that the 3 hour extended cut. I'm hoping that plot points are fleshed out more so that motivations can be realized as I think the movie intended.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (No Spoilers)

On paper the movie seems like it would be amazing, but unfortunately some of the directors choices and possibly the studio intervention hold it back from being the Batman vs Superman movie we all deserve.

The Good:

+ Zack Snyder knows how to make a beautifully shot sequences. There are moments in the film when the camera pans over gorgeously rendered CGI environments that an make you stop and look in awe. Snyder also knows how to direct an action scene. Often during quick cuts in a fight the audience can become lost as to characters positions in the fight. This leads to viewers not having any freaking clue as to what is going on (see almost any Michael Bay movie). However, Snyder can show big action set pieces with every piece being perfectly choreographed and depicted.

+ Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman is perfect. You can tell that he loves the character and wants to due the beloved character justice. The only bad thing that I can say about Batman is that I didn't see enough of him. There are some other... umm... liberties that are taken with the Batman character that some die hard fans might find against character, but that honestly doesn't bother me too much, although I do believe it should and could have been handled differently.

+ Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman steals every scene she is in. If BvS did only did one thing, it was make me extremely excited for the Wonder Woman movie to be released in 2017.

The Ehhh:

~ Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman has a great Superman in him. However, because of the lack of a great script and directing, I fear that we may never see him tap into the potential I know he has.

~ Motivations. The only characters motivations that seem completely fleshed out are Batman's. Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor seems to be more lost than the Joker usually is and Superman is too busy moping around to ever figure out what he is even trying to accomplish.

~ Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I put him in the Ehhh section for a few reasons. I feel that a modern day young Lex Luthor could potentially behave much like young internet CEO's. However, I think it was taken way too far over one way. More balance could have made for an interesting Lex.

The Ugh-ly:

- The script/screen play/story board. When action is present in the movie it excels, but where there is simply dialog, the movie falls apart. BvS feels like multiple distinct movies with no thread to tie them together. While the plot is building, character's motivations become muddled, their actions are confusing and sometimes you just don't know what the heck is going on.

- Bloated plots. There are so many plots that could have been completely taken out of the movie. You can feel how Zack Snyder had a vision for a Man of Steel sequel that completely became over stuffed when the studio came to him with a desire to throw in more plot points to set up future movies. Basically BvS has the same basic problems that both Iron Man 2 and The Amazing Spider-man 2 had.

- Some comic book knowledge helps. I do read a fair share of comics. However, the average moviegoer will be lost a few point. Luckily those points aren't necessarily plot relevant, but why include them at all if they don't move the plot along?

Overview:

If you enjoy a spectacle then about 45 minutes of this movie is for you. See it during a matinee showtime to save some money but still get the theater experience.

Grade: Matinee Showing