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Hate movie spoilers? Good! You'll get straight to the point, quick, and spoiler-free movie reviews to help you spend your time and money wisely on movies. I'll give you the Good, the Bad, the Reason, and the Rating about each movie. ***Please disable any popup blockers***

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

[Giveaway] Ant-Man And the Wasp Blu-Ray Contest



Here's your chance to win a FREE Blu-Ray copy of Ant-Man and the Wasp! Enter below for your chance to win! The winner will be emailed at the end of the contest.

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Ant-Man and the Wasp is available for purchase here:
-Amazon

Ant-Man and the Wasp Bonus Features

  • Director’s Intro by Peyton Reed: The talented creator behind some of Marvel Studios' funniest and most charming films will invite home audiences deeper into the world of Ant-Man and The Wasp.
  • Making-of Featurettes:
    • Back in the Ant Suit: Scott Lang - Hero and all-star dad Scott Lang keeps the laughs coming for the audience, cast and crew.
    • A Suit of Her Own: The Wasp – Highly trained Hope Van Dyne is now the Wasp. See how some of her craziest stunts and action-packed scenes were brought to life.
    • Subatomic Super Heroes: Hank & Janet – Hank Pym's wife Janet was lost in the quantum realm. Trace the legacy of these characters and the iconic actors who portray them.
    • Quantum Perspective: The VFX and Production Design of Ant-Man and The Wasp – Explore the movie’s visual effects and production design from a whole new viewpoint, in which every micro and macro detail counts.
  • Gag Reel and Outtakes: Audiences are treated to the hilarious quips that did not make the film as well as exclusive outtakes from Stan Lee and Tim Heidecker.
    • Gag Reel: Join in the fun with these outtakes from the set.
    • Stan Lee Outtakes: Stan Lee tries out a series of hilarious one-liners for the scene in which his car shrinks.
    • Tim Heidecker Outtakes: Check out Whale Boat Captain Daniel Goobler and his improvised whale-watching riffs.
  • Deleted Scenes (with commentary by Director Peyton Reed)
    • Worlds Upon Worlds: As Janet leads Hank through the surreal landscape of the quantum realm, they encounter an intelligent life form.
    • Sonny's on the Trail: On the hunt for Hank Pym and his lab, Sonny Burch and his henchmen check the security camera of a neighborhood bookstore.
  • Digital Exclusives:
    • 10 Years of Marvel Studios: The Art of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – See what it takes to bring the MCU to life, and the role concept artists play in bringing Super Heroes from comic book to screen.
    • Online Close-Up Magic University: This commercial will inspire you to expand your mind and maximize your full potential!
About the Movie:
As Scott Lang balances being both a Super Hero and a father, Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.

The Trailer:

Release Date: 6 July 2018 (USA)
Director: Peyton Reed
Writers: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers
Stars: Evangeline Lilly, Hannah John-Kamen, Walton Goggins

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Monday, October 15, 2018

Chicago: THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS Advance Screening Giveaway


Hey Chicago! Here's your chance to see The Nutcracker And The Four Realms early and FREE! Well E-Man's Movie Reviews and Walt Disney Motion Pictures are inviting you to a free advance screening of The Nutcracker And The Four Realms! These admit-two passes are first come, first serve. So be sure to arrive early and claim your pass quickly!

---CLICK HERE FOR THE SCREENING LINK ---


Screening Details:

Location
Downtown Chicago Theater

Date and Time
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
07:00 PM

The Nutcracker And The Four Realms Trailer:


About the Movie:

A young girl is transported into a magical world of gingerbread soldiers and an army of mice.

Release Date: Nov. 2nd 2018
Directors: Lasse Hallström, Joe Johnston
Writers: Ashleigh Powell
Stars: Mackenzie Foy, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren


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Friday, October 5, 2018

Review: Venom Is A Romantic Comedy That's Not Total Trash


The Trailer:

Video Review

The Good:

Let's jump right into Venom itself. I thought that the CGI for Venom was done well enough for the sake of this film. While it wasn't perfect, I thought it was a smart decision to mask the CGI in darker settings. Also, given the fact that Spider-Man could legally not be mentioned or involved in this movie, I thought this film did a good job of working around that. Venom's origin is still preserved as much as possible given the fact that it is an alien, but more importantly, it doesn't try to mimic or copy Spider-Man's abilities. I appreciated the fact that they allowed Venom to have his own set of abilities that are a bit more grounded and practical. Probably one of my favorite scenes are the San Francisco motorcycle chase scene.

I think it's fair to say that Tom Hardy stepped into this role and delivered a satisfying performance. I think his best moments have to be when he interacts with the symbiote Venom. For those of you who didn't know, Hardy also voiced the alien Venom too. The relationship between Hardy's Eddie Brock character and Venom have some funny moments throughout the film. In a sense they almost have an Odd Couple type of relationship except Hardy's body is the place of residence.

The Bad:

Well there's a lot to cover here so let's start with the biggest issue first. I think the main problem with Venom is the fact that it has very little consistency with the direction and tone. It's almost like the movie can't make up its mind as to whether it wants to be a horror, action flick or a slapstick comedy. I think a lot of this inconsistency comes in with what seemed like a lot of forced humor. At some points of the movie, you'd think you were watching a remake of Jim Carrey's the Mask or something. Don't get me wrong though. Some of the "crazy" moments between Brock and Venom are entertaining, but in regards to the movie as a whole, they simply didn't always gel very well. In my opinion, that falls on the shoulders of the director Ruben Fleischer. He was the director of Zombieland, and if you've seen that movie, then you can see a lot of similarities in Venom as well.

Now let me go back to the comedy in this movie. I understand that everyone will have their own sense of humor when it comes to comedy, but I'm just of the belief that timing and frequency matters when it comes to humor. For Venom, I thought that one of the weaknesses of the comedy was that they had Venom, the symbiote, talk a little too much. Venom acted like the comic relief in this film rather than being that terrifying alien menace he's typically been portrayed as. Just think of like when you go see a stand up comedian, and they say a funny joke, but then they keep running the same joke into the ground.

One thing that I also found troublesome was the character building in this movie. Eddie Brock's character felt rushed and under developed. I don't blame Tom Hardy for this at all, and instead I think this was more of a problem with the writing in this movie. Brock's character goes from being scared, to happy, to terrified, to mad, to whatever other emotional spectrum they wanted to randomly put him on. Basically, the problem is that his development didn't transition well given the many different situations he was put in. Brock isn't the only victim of the writing either; Venom is too. The symbiote goes through its own changes that also feel rushed and not properly earned.

Overall the CGI in this film isn't terrible, except for when you get to the final act of the film. Unfortunately this film commits the same problem that the Michael Bay Transformers movies did time and time again. The main villain in the film essentially looks exactly like Venom except slightly grayer. Not to mention, the fact that most of the movie is done with a night time setting, which makes it even harder to make out who's who during some big fight scenes.

One last thing, and I'll fully admit this is more of my own personal issue. I'm not a fan of the shift of direction in terms of the relationship that Brock has with the symbiote. For those of you familiar with the comic source material, we know that Brock and Venom bond through their hatred of Spider-Man. In this film, they take Brock and Venom's relationship down a different path. Just going off of what the film itself tries to setup with their relationship, it felt like I was watching some romantic comedy. That's not to imply that that there's anything sexual between Brock and Venom, but the way they act so buddy-buddy was just off given the character's traditional background. Again, since they can't use Spider-Man or any references to him, they replace that mutual bond with another commonality that Brock and Venom both share. Personally, I thought it was a cheap "Martha" moment, and I thought it was a pretty corny way to have these character connect. It was a very "lose-lose" situation.

The Reason:

Venom is going to be a lot of different things for different people. When people ask me what was this movie like, there's a couple of different ways I'd like to describe it. In one sense, it reminds me of Blade 3. You have some things in the movie that are entertaining, and then you're hit some with corny stuff that are kinda cringe worthy. In another sense, if we were to about the feel of the movie, I'd say its closest comparison has to be Suicide Squad. Take however you felt about Suicide Squad, and that's Venom. I used that as a comparison mainly because Suicide Squad was supposed to, and felt like it should've been rated R. However, both Suicide Squad and Venom pulled their punches and it's very noticeable. Also, both movies felt some unnecessary pressure to make their movies have that good ol' "Marvel fun" and forced comedy into the film when it wasn't necessary at all.

Now in terms of how this movie looks and works, I'd probably have to say that this film is a perfect combination of the movie Upgrade, Life, and a little bit of The Incredible Hulk. If you've seen Upgrade, then you've already seen 70% of Venom. Especially since Logan Marshall Green looks exactly like Tom Hardy.

I know the other question on many people's mind is whether or not this was better or worse than Spider-Man 3. I'll say that this version of Venom was way better than the Venom we saw in Spider-Man 3. I'll also say that Venom was a better movie than Spider-Man 3 too. But just keep in mind that that's a low bar.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Venom is not trash. It's not comparable to the most recent Fantastic Four or Catwoman as some have said on the internet. It does have a lot of problems, but even despite all that, there's still something there that can be appreciated in the film. There's still some entertainment that some people will enjoy. So with that, I recommend watching this more so as a matinee watch, and go in with low expectations too. By the way there are two post credit scenes so be sure to stay to the very end. I think I'd have to say that the last post credit scene was the best part of Venom, mainly because it had nothing to do with Venom. 

Are you excited to go see Venom? Let me know what you think about the movie when you get a chance to see it later. If enough people want to talk about it, maybe we can do a live video chat about it, and get into spoilers too. I'll see if I can get around to doing that maybe around this Sunday. Anyway let me know your thoughts on Venom in the comments below. I've got more reviews and videos to do for you all and until next time ill see you guys later. 

The Rating: 6.5/10

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