Creed II

Creed II - 130 min - PG13

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Creed, it was a great way to bring a new spin on the old Rocky Movies.  When I heard they were going to do a sequel I admit I was excited but also a tad scared. I find rarely do the sequels stack up to the original.

Creed II continues the journey and ties in some of the lore of the previous films.  Some advice for Studios and filmmakers. If you have more good story to tell you need to do a sequel, if you see the first one made money and you have no story, DON'T DO A SEQUEL.  Creed II has a lot of great engaging character development to tell.

Read my review here at BlackFlix.

Fantastic Four (2015)

Fantastic Four (2015) - 90 min - PG13

There seems to be a lot of hate heading toward the Fantastic Four, and for good reason. It's yet another shallow reboot attempt that's sole purpose is to keep ahold of a copyright. This time they take a crack at the Marvel Ultimate version of the FF story. We have to trudge through another long-winded origin story instead of dropping us off into the action. Director Josh Trank previously impressed me with his work on Chronicle. He needs to go back to that franchise and leave Fox to hoarding the unsold Fantastic Four paraphernalia. I bet the studio heads are all wondering why this one didn't work. I am guessing it’s because instead of letting talented people do what they do best they figured that as they are paying for it they need to have creative control as well. 

I am going to list all of the good things about this film.

If we are going for the Ultimate look then the casting was spot on. A younger cast looks like they walked off a set of a CW series. Miles Teller does a great Reed Richards. Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan bring the Storms to life quite well. Jamie Bell has a moody take on The Thing, dark but well played. The Doom is brought to life by Toby Kebbell and is dag-nasty evil in this telling of the fab four.

The set design was really wonderful. The other dimension and the labs look great. The costumes were basic but I think as an origin film they didn't need to get into the whole blue spandex thing, at least not yet.

and... that's it....the end of my list of what they hit the mark on.

There were other good performances with the Reg E. Cathy playing Dr. Storm, Johnny and Sue’s father. Even more impressive because they had to work with a completely flat and lifeless story. It takes too long to explain how Ben and Reed are friends when we can really just take it on faith that they are friends. That time could have been better spent.

The company Dr. Storm work for seems to be a front for a shadow organization. The dimensional portal that the team has made is up and working and the company seems bent on getting NASA Involved in doing jumps to another dimension. Before they hand over the machine the young intrepid scientists decide to go on a jump of their own. Things go drastically wrong, and Victor Von Doom gets left behind. The remaining three get spirited away to an Area 51 esque military base. Reed Richards escapes and starts to try and find a cure for the effects of the journey to the other dimension. Ben, Sue and Johnny are left behind and start working for the shadow group.

Like the earlier film the “heroes” are not doing anything heroic. They are only cleaning up their own mess. If they hadn't used the machine they wouldn't have created Doom. If they hadn't brought Doom back to try and save him, he wouldn't have created a wormhole that ate a town. When they finally put an end to Dr. Doom’s diabolical scheme, the government agency that was using them as black ops team is now sucking up to them. They are given a secluded high tech lab to run even more dubious experiments in. With all the damage these folks have done, I wouldn't be so quick to give them more ammunition. It’s easy to look heroic when you’re cleaning up a huge mess that you created. Come to think of it my son may be taking this tack when he is bragging about cleaning his room.  

Doctor Doom is a very dark bad guy that has no care for human life. He goes through the military base exploding heads. His rationale being that humanity ruined this world and he can make his world a better one. I don't know if I am a fan of the eco-warrior vein they have him written in.

Josh Trank is better than this film. He has shown that given space to work he can do a very compelling hero movie. His first film was really strong storytelling despite the cliched “found footage” aspect. I get the feeling that he was brought in to breathe life into this franchise that is on its last legs. But instead of the studio heads giving him resources to do what he does best, he was hampered by the “Old Studio” formula where every executive thinks they should have creative control over things. They should have really just stepped back and let the talented people work.

What leads me to think that non-creative people had a hand in the downfall of this film? It could be the fact that the studio required a reshoot after Trank had finished the film.  Sue’s wig is a dead giveaway that time has passed and she has moved on to a new hairstyle. The pacing is completely off in the film. There was a huge uproar about the leaked information about the original Dr. Doom and the nerd sphere pressured the studio so they changed the story to fit the desires of the fandom.

You can tell by the way Fox Studios cranks out a Fantastic Four movie just before their rights to the material expires that they aren’t interested in making this a great franchise. They are just trying to keep the copyright and the subsequent merchandising revenue. In the long run it would be more profitable for them to sell the rights back to Marvel and have something to show for it instead of trying to fake their way through a story.

Some studios never learn.

Chronicle

Chronicle – 84 min – PG13

I imagine stories of super powers have been with us from the time of the cave man. They would tell stories of one cave man so powerful he can kill seven mammoths with just one blow. Fast forward to today and this review of an origin story of how three boys gain super powers and struggle to deal with this new reality. This movie examines the adage “power corrupts” in a social experiment that gives three people of various backgrounds the same power and we see what happens to them. Wow, that sounds like a bad Candid Camera set up. Having super powers is a new hot topic in film and television. This version, however, is great as they keep it focused on how the people deal with the change more than the powers. I had problems with the choice of hand-held camera footage, but I am going to give this movie a green light for the power of its story.

Andrew (Dane DeHaan) has a camera and he is going to film his life as a teenager. He is in high school and kind of a loner. His only friend is his cousin Matt (Alex Russell). Matt convinces Andrew that he needs to get out more and experience life. They go to a rave and meet up with Steve (Michael B. Jordan), the popular kid in school. They stumble upon something odd in the woods that gives them unusual powers. Because Andrew is recording his entire life we see all of the experiments they do with their new-found powers.

This story is a very new perspective on a story that has been told in TV and Comic books. Yes, it’s all fantasy, but the real elements are what really make this an interesting story. Because they all come from different backgrounds they all have different ways of dealing with the stress. While their powers grow they also have to deal with teenager life problems. As a former teenager and the father of one, I know how much a teen has to deal with without adding all of the stress of super powers.

It was very interesting to see how they make choices based on what they were dealing with. Max Landis wrote the screenplay and has a really great sense of how to blend the real and imaginary to create this universe.

This is Josh Trank’s first director credit. He did a great job with making this story feel real. The only issues I have with this movie is the hand held camera and the story telling from other cameras point of view. The “found footage” like quality of the film does nothing for me. It is really a distraction because we can’t get any footage that is not from some standing camera someplace in the movie. The beginning of the film where Andrew is packing around a camera this works but towards the end when the action is wrapping up it loses the cool factor and ends up being a distraction. This move is 90% win if they would have rethought the camera gimmick I think it would have worked on all levels for me.

Spoiler Warning!! This Area is Kryptonite to some movie fans, Be Careful!!!

I thought that having Ashley Hinshaw as another student video blogger was incredibly convenient to get a second cut away shot when you needed it. When you are outside of Andrew’s vicinity and need to have other story elements added using her character is one way to still keep the hand held camera gimmick going and still give you more room for other stories. She seemed underused as a performer in this film and I look forward to seeing what she has to offer other films.

When Andrew started to hover, his camera was also another great way to expand your view. We now have the ability to do a Two Shot from a hand held camera without having to explain why someone is walking around two people have a conversation.

This is Matt’s origin story. We have a focus on one person that really is just the catalyst of why the new hero takes up the mantle of doing right with his powers and with finding out what happened. Everything led up to the last moment when we have the last good bye from him to Andrew.


I usually end on question for you to think about, I am going to finish off with a plea. Max, Josh; please for the love of god and everything holy, please, please , please; no matter how much money the studios offer you or how they might tempt you, do NOT, I repeat DO NOT, make a sequel.

This movie is good as it is. We the viewers do not need to see a sequel. When you hit that high note walk off stage. I am reminded of many films that were a good idea once and they were ruined by their sequels. Cough….Cough Blues Brothers 2000 Cough. Do something Hollywood has forgotten about, be original.