Fall/Winter movies 2019

As I did last year, I wanted to take the time to talk about some of the releases that are coming out the rest of the year, some I am really looking forward to, others I have a little interest in either seeing or seeing how they turn out, so I will give each movie a rating based on how excited I am for it. Now keep in mind that this list won't reflect all the movies coming out, there may be some on this list that are on here but I may not end up seeing but I have my eye on them, waiting to see how they turn out, enjoy this list.


Ad Astra (September 20) - Anticipation Level: Ecstatic
Thoughts: I heard about this movie last year, all I knew was that it was a space movie and there was Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones. I became very interested in seeing a trailer. When the trailers finally dropped, my expectations for the movie really grew as I couldn't help but get vibes of 2001, Interstellar, and Gravity. These are all movies I enjoy and I hope that this movie delivers, regardless, I will be seeing this on IMAX during opening weekend.

Abominable (September 27) - Anticipation Level: Medium
Thoughts: I have this down because this is created by DreamWorks. There are times they release great movies, like the How To Train Your Dragon movies. I saw one trailer and it looks intriguing enough for me to be on the lookout for, it could be a fun story that if done just right, so I will wait to see what the reviews say when I see them

Joker (October 4) - Anticipation Level: Medium
Thoughts: Yes, this is more likely on everyone's anticipated list, and it's not hard to see why, but this is not on mine. Yes, I like Batman, and yes I like the Joker, I think the Joker is an iconic villain. However, I really like the fact that his origin story is a mystery. I hear this movie has great buzz towards it, so I am curious on how this turns out.

Gemini Man (October 11) - Anticipation Level: High
Thoughts: Earlier this year, we got very impressive de-aging effects in Captain Marvel with Samuel L Jackson looking like he was taken from 1995 and filmed for the movie. Based off the trailers for this, the younger version of Will Smith looks like he came from 1990 and shot in our day. The action sequences in the 2nd trailer look rather good. This is on my radar to see when it comes out.

Addams Family (October 11) - Anticipation Level: Medium
Thoughts: Okay, so maybe medium anticipation is a little high here, but I am kind of curious about this. It is always nice to get a family friendly halloween movie, and with that Are You Afraid of the Dark movie not happening anymore since it's a TV series reboot instead, this might do. Good voice talent attached, so I hope it's at least enjoyable.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (October 18) - Anticipation Level: Low
Thoughts: I liked the first Maleficent movie, it wasn't a favorite, but it had a decent story and the visuals were very nice to look at. I don't see a reason for this to happen, plus when Disney did a sequel to their live action remakes lately (Alice and the Looking Glass), it wasn't very good. This could surprise me and I might like it, I will wait for the reviews and maybe check it out.

Zombieland: Double Tap (October 18) - Anticipation Level: Medium
Thoughts: The first one a decade ago was a ton of fun, I got plenty of laughs out of it. When I saw the trailer for the new one, I don't think it got me on board as others, but I certainly hope that it was just a trailer I wasn't very impressed with but the movie puts a big grin on my face. The fact they brought the cast back is a big win.

JoJo Rabbit (October 18) - Anticipation Level: Medium
Thoughts: What an interesting idea, a really bizarre one from Taika Waititi. Basically this kid has Adolf Hitler as an imaginary friend in the time period where he was rising to power. I am sitting here and wonder if it's worth checking out and if the idea is justifiable. I am uncertain at this time if I will see it or not.

Terminator: Dark Fate (November 1) - Anticipation Level: Low
Thoughts: I really like the first Terminator movie and the second to me is a masterpiece. So why is this low, well the sequels afterwards weren't all that great, I enjoyed Salvation more than the other 2 sequels that followed Terminator 2: Judgement Day. But after Genisys, I was just turned off towards the franchise as a whole. Could this save the series, I will wait to see.

Midway (November 8) - Anticipation Level: Medium
Thoughts: To me, this almost looks like it could be a Michael Bay movie, a big blockbuster take on a big historical event, the action sequences look really good in the trailer, but will the emotional story match the big set pieces. Director Roland Emmerich is a hit or miss for me, I really liked Independence Day and Stargate and The Day After Tomorrow, but I didn't really care for White House Down, or Independence Day Resurgence at all. I am intrigued enough to keep an eye on it and see how it turns out.

Charlie's Angels (November 15) - Anticipation Level: Low
Thoughts: We had an adaptation of the movie based on the TV show back in 2000, I really enjoyed it and also the sequel that came a few years after that, yes they were cheesy but enjoyable. So far, the trailers we got haven't really got me interested. But they have Naomi Scott as one of the angels and I think she could be good here as she has been doing really good so far, I guess we will have to wait and see.

Ford V Ferrari (November 15) - Anticipation Level: High
Thoughts: One sport I really like is racing, and I think car racing is pretty cool. I also think this movie has a ton of great talent, from director James Mangold who directed Logan a couple of years ago, and then actors Matt Damon and Christian Bale. With all this in mind, this movie really has my interest and I look forward to checking it out when it comes out, plus it got very good reviews recently.

Frozen 2 (November 22) - Anticipation Level: Medium
Thoughts: Do you remember Frozen back in 2013? If you don't, then I would be surprised and would think that you have been living under a rock. Actually if you haven't heard of it, you must have been living under a rock these last 6 years as I feel Frozen has almost been everywhere. I think the movie is pretty good, the hard part is I feel it's been everywhere to the point I have become exhausted of it. Personally I would rather have a sequel to Tangled instead, or Big Hero 6. That being said, the trailers have gotten my interest and I plan to check this out.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (November 22) - Anticipation Level: Ecstatic
Thoughts: Last year we got a great documentary based on the life of Fred Rogers. I watched an episode of Mister Rogers Neighborhood here and there as a kid, but it wasn't one of those I would watch consistently but there are certain sequences that stood out and were iconic, seeing his values help shape the show was really cool. I am very curious how this portrayal will turn out, I am sure Tom Hanks will do a great job, but I am curious where they will focus the story. Regardless I look forward to seeing this.

Knives Out (November 27) - Anticipation Level: Ecstatic
Thoughts: Regardless of how you feel about The Last Jedi, you got to admit that this looks very entertaining, and kind of has vibes of Clue released back in 1985. I remember hearing this movie being worked on late last year, and it kind of caught my attention. So far, the reviews for this have been outstanding. I look forward to checking this out when it comes out. Also, it looks like another role that Daniel Craig will have a blast playing.

The Aeronauts (December 6) - Anticipation Level: Medium
Thoughts: I only discovered this movie recently. So far my anticipation is medium since I don't know a whole lot about it, but the trailer looked kind of nice. I think this might have a very limited theatrical release but this is suppose to debut on Amazon Prime two weeks afterwards so if this has very good buzz, I will probably check it out on Prime when it debuts there.

A Hidden Life (December 13) - Anticipation Level: Medium
Thoughts: My only exposure to this is one trailer, but I have to admit that based off the trailer, many of the shots featured in the movie are very gorgeous, and just off that I want to check out this movie. It is directed by Terrace Malick who has been known to doing gorgeous looking movies but the story tends to be a bit experimental, so we will see how the movie is. I remember seeing Tree of Life years ago.

Jumanji: The Next Level (December 13) - Anticipation Level: High
Thoughts: When I first heard about this sequel, I was a little concerned as the 2017 original sequel was a surprise movie that Christmas. I was concerned with this sequel until I saw the trailer and then my concerns were washed away and I got plenty of laughs. Dwayne Johnson as Danny DeVito and Kevin Hart as Danny Glover, I am pumped for this.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (December 20) - Anticipation Level: Ecstatic
Thoughts: There are many that aren't a fan of The Last Jedi two years ago, I personally really liked it, it was gorgeously shot, but I can understand the concerns behind it, and I agree that it has it's problems. Regardless, my excitement hasn't diminished for Episode 9. What adds is that JJ Abrams is back in the director's chair. I really liked The Force Awakens as that re-ignited my interest in more Star Wars movies which I wasn't too keen on after the prequels. So with that in mind, I am excited to see what we get with this last movie, plus this is suppose to be the last movie in the Skywalker saga, and I hear that JJ Abrams plans to tie all the movies together, so if this fails, it will fail with glory and ambition in my books. Regardless of the outcome, I can't wait till December 20th.

Cats (December 20) - Anticipation Level: Low
Thoughts: Are you scared? No worries, so am I, these cats look kind of freaky. There is a great cast behind it, from Rebel Wilson to Judi Dench to Idris Elba, and the director has done some pretty good movies before, so I am hoping that we get a decent movie here. Anyway, even if not, we will at least get an interesting freak show here.

1917 (December 25) - Anticipation Level: Ecstatic
Thoughts: I did not know about this movie until I saw Hobbs and Shaw and we got the teaser trailer for this, and I was just stunned by how great this movie looks. There seems to be a great cast as well, and the director is the same one that did Skyfall, so this one has my full attention. Count me in on Christmas Day for this.

Spies in Disguise (December 25) - Anticipation Level: High
Thoughts: Will Smith and Tom Holland lending voices in an animated movie, yeah sure. What gets me is that the characters they play seem to fit who I would envision them as, so for that reason I am really looking forward to seeing this movie. This could be a fun movie to watch on Christmas, so I hope this delivers and doesn't crash and burn.


So these are the movies I am aware of, with many I am very excited for, and some that might gain my interest based on how they are received. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the year turns out for movies. When I can, I will try to do review posts on some of these movies. Stay tuned.

Summer 2019 Review

We have come to the end of another summer full of movies. There were a few that were amazing, some that were good, and a few that were disappointments. Today I am going to take the time to rank the movies I saw this summer and how they all fit in to the categories below.

Top 5 of the Summer

1. Avengers Endgame - I don't think this is a surprise to anyone, but if this a surprise for you...umm well SURPRISE. This movie was a mind blowing experience with so many great surprises and wonderful moments that range from laugh out loud to heart warming. What was so great was that this movie was basically kept under wraps, some predicted a few things but not the whole movie, which made the experience a very pleasant surprise. We live in a world today where it feels like everything is given away in the previews. I am so glad everyone went to great lengths to keep this under wraps and beg not to spoil the movie, at least until opening weekend. This was the epic comic book movie I didn't know I really wanted and the movie that I didn't know would be possible but I am extremely grateful we have.

2. Toy Story 4 - When I heard about a 4th Toy Story being made, I thought why, the 3rd ended perfectly that I felt we didn't need one. But this came out and I saw it and I was very surprised on how well this continued the story for these characters, and how this gave a great conclusion to Woody's story. This felt like a nice adventure movie with plenty of laughs, especially from Duck and Bunny, and Duke Kaboom. The one that gave me the biggest laugh (besides from Duck and Bunny's plans to get the keys) is when Buttercup suggests to frame the dad so he goes to jail. I still think Toy Story 3 is the best, but this proved that the Toy Story world can continue with a great movie.

3. Yesterday - How would you react if you woke up one day and your favorite band disappeared from off the face of the earth? You remember the music but no one else knows what the disappeared band is. This concept is brought up in this movie as one aspiring musician decides to take this as an opportunity to present the music as his own. This is a very entertaining and original idea. The actor also does a great job at performing the songs. One of my favorite bands is U2, if they disappeared, don't turn to me to bring the music back since I am not very good with performing music.

4. Spider Man: Far From Home - After an epic adventure in Avengers Endgame, it's hard to imagine where the MCU could go, but this movie gives us a world on what would happen after the events of Endgame. As well, this was a nice palette cleanser. We get a very compelling villain with Mysterio. There is one sequence that was really mind blowing visually, talking about it in detail would be a huge spoiler, so I will just say it's mind blowing and hope you get to check it out as soon as possible, it is amazing what special effects can do these days. There are plenty of surprises, and after the movie was over I wanted to rewatch the movie with the new angle I was given.

5. The Farewell - A movie I heard about but never bother looking up a trailer for, but I heard nothing but great things about, and so I went to see it and this movie was really good. This had a story that made me think about what I would do in that scenario. For those that don't know, it's about a woman who has her grandma get diagnosed with cancer and the family chooses not to tell the grandma about it, and this is supposedly how China culture functions. This had some good laughs here and there, and great performances, especially from Awkwafina, who I have known from comedies, so it was good to see her attempt something a little more serious.


Other great movies

Hobbs and Shaw - Somehow after 8 movies, I have become a fan of the Fast and Furious movies. I did not care for the first few movies, I say the 5th movie was when things got very interesting. So we are with this spin off, and this movie was a blast to watch. Even the few cameo additions really added to the fun. Even if you aren't a fan of the series but enjoy dumb action movies, you will have a ton of fun watching this and don't have to see the other movies to enjoy it.

Detective Pikachu - I didn't grow up as a fan of Pokemon, I did watch some of the episodes of the first season and was aware of the games. Each trailer I saw for this just painted a very fun movie, and that's what I got when I saw the movie, a very fun movie where the world that was created was just fun to explore. Plus, Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu, that was perfect casting.


Enjoyable

Aladdin - This was a movie I had no anticipation to see whatsoever, if you review my list of anticipated movies, I included Lion King and Dumbo, but not this at all. I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would, this was one of the biggest surprises of the summer. Yeah, we didn't need this movie, but I feel they handled this movie very well. Props to casting Will Smith as the Genie and allowing him to put his own spin on the character instead of trying to personate what Robin Williams had done before.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - To properly enjoy this movie, watch it on the big screen, I understand this isn't in theaters anymore, I mean watching it on a big screen TV or projector screen. This is a movie that was made to be experienced on the biggest screen possible, even on your biggest TV you have at home, and a very good home theater set up. I saw this on the IMAX screen and many of the shots of the movie were so epic, and the monster fights were enhanced by experiencing it in that way. Also, don't go in expecting a deep story, just go in for awesome monster fights and you will have a fun time.

Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark - I don't have many experiences with the books this movie is based on. I might have heard a couple of the stories, but I don't have a strong connection to the stories. I went because I had a few friends that invited me to join, and I was curious enough to check it out. I ended up enjoying the movie more than I expected to. This had the right amount of scares for me. I was entertained, and this could end up as one of those movies that I might put on my list of movies during the Halloween season.


Watch once, then move on

The Lion King (2019) - Let's describe this movie as the photorealistic version of Lion King. It is suppose to be live action, but since it's done on a computer it's basically animated but it's animated in a way it's suppose to represent real life, so I consider it photorealistic. I didn't have high expectations, but I did have hopes that this would be more different than it turned out to be. The big disappointment for me was this was a movie was done better in traditional animation, and I understand the reason, the creators were trying to trying to go for a realistic approach, and since lions don't show emotion in real life, they didn't emote here and that became a distraction for me. However, the visuals were still incredible, and the story is still good. This was just one of those I wished they did something a little more different with, kind of like Aladdin.

Men In Black International - Ever since I saw the trailer in December, I was excited for this, it looked like it was going to be a fun movie, I ended up being really disappointed with it. However, once we got past the first half of the movie, it got better and I enjoyed it more than the first half, so I walked away with a smile on my face at the end of the movie. However it wasn't enough for me to make this a repeat watch, which is sad because the first movie is one I can watch quite a bit and also the third one as well.

47 Meters Down Uncaged - This should probably be in the major disappointments below, but the thing is, I wasn't disappointed...because I had no expectations going in at all. Did this excel my expectations then? No. But I certainly got plenty of laughs out of this, one could almost say this was one of the best unintentional comedies I saw this summer. The decisions made were kind of baffling. But hey, you want a dumb shark movie and want stupid unintentional laughs, this movie is perfect, but I would wait for Netflix.


Major disappointments

Dark Phoenix - I really think they should have ended the Fox X-Men saga with Logan, that was a perfect ending, also, X-Men Apocalypse ended the prequel trilogy just fine, we didn't need a continuation. So with all this in mind, I had no expectations when I saw the first trailer debut last year. My expectations didn't grow overtime, but I decided to see it regardless. Even with no expectations, I was surprisingly disappointed because I realized there was potential with the movie and it could have been somewhat fixed with a different director and made different choices.


So these are the movies that I saw this summer. There are some I didn't see this summer that I would like to check out soon, and if they blow my expectations away, I might include them on my top 10 at the end of the year. Anyway, I will be back later with a list of my most anticipated movies of the rest of the year. See you soon.

Tenet teaser - a nice treat

I went to see Hobbs and Shaw last Thursday when it opened and it was a ton of fun. But I got one surprise that I wasn’t expecting, a teaser for Christopher Nolan’s next movie, Tenet. It was about a minute and only gave glimpses of the movie and not enough to put together a narrative or to give us an idea of what kind of movie to expect, but the vibe of the trailer reminded me of the teaser for Inception which debuted about 11 months before the movie came out. This teaser was a special treat and gave me a nice taste of what to expect and I can’t wait for the full course meal next year.

After the debut of the teaser, I realized I didn’t find it online earlier that day, or afterwards at the time of writing this. I don’t get as excited about seeing teasers or trailers on the big screen because I can find them online or there are so many that I tend to think “not another one”, but this was a treat. It also got me thinking that it would be cool to make the teaser and/or trailer available in theaters first before dropping them online. I don’t think this needs to be the case for every movie, but certain ones. What do you think? 

Toy Story 4 - Excited or concerned?

Nine years ago, we were given Toy Story 3, the conclusion to a great trilogy that was part of our lives for 15 years, the first movie was a phenomenon, as it was the first computer animated feature length film, then the second one was a great follow up, and then the third gave a fantastic conclusion to this great trilogy....or so we thought. I don't remember when it was announced, but soon we found out that there would be a Toy Story 4. My first reaction was why, we had a great conclusion and we don't need a follow up, I was guessing that they had success with the shorts that featured Woody and the gang in Bonnie's house, so my thought was that they wanted to capitalize on that success and make another one, my initial thought was that they wanted more money, and of course that would be the reason for most of these movies in the film industry, but then I wondered if they had another reason behind it, I didn't think about that until recently.

Each time I see a trailer for the new Toy Story movie, there was nothing that really got me excited to see it, it seemed like a movie that was created just to get more cash for Pixar and that was it, it seemed like a new adventure with no real reason to continue the series. So that is the trailers, but then I started looking into the articles that talked about the movie where they interviewed the principle actors of the main characters, mainly Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. I first read that Tim Allen got emotional when he came in to record the final scene for the movie, he said it was tough for him to get through. At this time, I have no clue what that exactly means. Not too long ago, there was another article where Tom Hanks talked about being warned by Tim Allen about recording the final scene and how it was a tough one, and Tom Hanks admitted it was tough for him to get through. Based on this, it sounds like it's more than just the realization that this would be the last time these characters would be playing these iconic characters, but that there was more to this final scene. The next piece I heard is that when Toy Story 4 was proposed, many shot it down because there was already a conclusion to the series, and then it was stated that Toy Story 3 was a conclusion to Andy's story, but that they should do a conclusion to Woody's story.

So with all this in mind, am I excited or concerned? I prefer to say that I am intrigued. I heard reports that this was suppose to come out a while back so it appears that they took their time to get this right, so I think it's safe to assume that this movie will probably surprise us. Either way, I will go see this opening weekend and will try to share my impressions of it as soon as I can.

Personal Ranking of the X-Men movies

My experience with the X-Men movies has been a very interesting ride to say the least. There are some I really like, and others that I thought were alright, and a couple that are just painful to watch. With the last X-Men movie coming out under the Fox name, I thought now would be an appropriate time to do a personal ranking of all the X-Men movies under the Fox name, this is going to include the Wolverine movies. I will not be including the Deadpool movies on this list as I have not seen them. So here is my ranking:

9. X-Men Origins Wolverine - This may be the last on many personal rankings, or at the least near the bottom. I was looking forward to this, I was kind of excited to see the origins of Wolverine and get a solo movie of this X-Men favorite. I saw it before everyone else got to see it, and I was really disappointed with the final result. I haven't rewatched this in years, but I may rewatch it at some point to see how it is after all these years.

8. X-Men: The Last Stand - I didn't get to see this in theaters, but caught it on video many months later. I heard about the main demises, so I already wasn't too excited going in, and also I remember the scope of X2 being really impressive, and this just felt like a weak conclusion compared to what we got in the last entry. There were a few pluses, one of them being Kelsey Grammar as Beast. 

7. X-Men Apocalypse - At the time of writing, I have not seen this since theaters, I enjoyed it when I saw it but for some reason, this one never really got me excited in the X-Men franchise, maybe it was because I got more invested in the MCU at that point, but I wasn't disappointed because I didn't get too excited by the trailers either, so it was a movie that kind of came and went for me. However, I really liked the Quicksilver sequence in the middle of the movie, and there were some cool moments here and there. 

6. The Wolverine - This is another movie I saw the trailers for and I didn't get too excited for, so I wasn't expecting anything, but then I saw it and I was kind of surprised by it. Yes it dragged in certain areas and there were issues with the story, but this was a visually interesting movie and a very interesting experience that I really appreciated it. I just really liked the atmosphere that this movie presented, and I also liked how it handled the relationship between Logan and Jean. Yes, there are other ones that I appreciate more, but this one has a unique place for me and I enjoy re-experiencing here and there.

5. X-Men - The first X-Men movie we ever got, I was familiar with the cartoon series from the 90s, though I did not watch it faithfully, but I saw a few episodes, so I was familiar with the world of X-Men because of the series, and a few video games I played as well, so I was looking forward to this for that reason, and this was very entertaining. I got to admit that rewatching it all these years later, some parts are dated, but what sticks out is how small this movie feels compared to all the other movies we got later on, that is the crazy part for me. I also felt that the people cast fit their roles well, especially Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, and definitely Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

4. X-Men First Class - When I saw the first trailer, I thought that this was it, this was the movie that would end the X-Men series, at this would tank and it would be done with, I wasn't impressed with X-Men 3 or X-Men Origins Wolverine, so I thought the series was through. I then heard the reviews were good and then I ended up seeing it and I was very surprised, and not only that, this is one of those movies that I am able to rewatch. It continues to be very entertaining and the story very well crafted. This movie is the biggest surprise in the series, and the connections that were established here really brought an interesting perspective on the original trilogy.

3. Logan - This one was very intriguing to me. I heard that this would be the very last time that Hugh Jackman would play the role of Wolverine, so for that reason I was very intrigued on how they would handle the ending to such a favorite character. I have only seen this once, but I really appreciate the smaller scale story that this one had, I also really like the atmosphere that this movie presented for all that viewed it, kind of that feeling of being a western almost. It was very well shot and very well written. This may be on the top of almost everyone's list, but there are three that had more of an impact than this one did, but this doesn't dismiss this one from being extremely well crafted.

2. X2: X-Men United - Ever since the release of the first movie, I was looking forward to the sequel and where things would go next. This movie was before the establishment of the MCU, so sequels to comic book movies were still in an early stage, but I had high hopes for this, with people comparing that this could be the next Empire Strikes Back, and in many ways it was, it really expanded on everything that was established in the first movie, and also gave us new threads on where things could go next. This felt like a bigger movie than the first one which made things more exciting. 

1. X-Men: Days of Future Past - As I learned more about this movie, my anticipation grew, it was going to include the cast from the original X-Men trilogy, and the cast from X-Men First Class, it would involve time travel, and Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men movies was coming back, I was excited for this. This movie delivered in what I was hoping for in this, an epic story with lots to take in and appreciate. In my opinion, this movie takes the best of everything and gives us a good story and many exciting moments and great interactions. It also gave me moments that I didn't know I wanted, like the sequence with Quicksilver. This is easily my favorite in the X-Men series under Fox.

With Dark Phoenix coming out, I have been uncertain on what to think of it, but with it being the last with this iteration of characters (with the exception of Wolverine since he already got his conclusion), I am very interested in how they wrap up the story, I have heard not so pleasant things from early screenings and all, but I want to wait till the movie comes out before casting judgement. 

Big surprise, Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance trailer arrives

As you are all aware, I am a fan of The Dark Crystal, the world created for that movie has always fascinated me, and I have enjoyed revisiting it over the years. I have also been reading the sequel comic book series and also started reading the prequel novels. So yeah I have been furthering the world more recently. I have been looking forward to the Netflix series Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance for a while now, and I have been awaiting for information on the series, images, anything. I got on Facebook this morning and I found the poster, and it was a jaw dropping poster.

I figured with the drop of the poster we would get a trailer soon, figured maybe tomorrow, but I got on YouTube shortly afterwards and found the trailer, I immediately checked it out and I was blown away by how gorgeous and amazing the trailer is. I saw photos that helped establish how close the feel is to the original. I figured they would get the feel right and that it would be good, didn’t know that it would be this spectacular. I didn’t take into account how the technology had advanced. The imagery was beautiful and the creation of the puppets are amazing and I really like how with this series they are using practical work to make this possible instead of relying solely on digital, I love digital work but there is always something special with practical effects, altogether I was simply blown away. Waiting for three months for this to arrive will be tough but it will be worth it.

Top 10 Favorite Moments of Avengers Endgame

We have hit the end of an era in the MCU. This was my most anticipated movie ever since I saw the end of Avengers Infinity War, I mean seriously, I wasn't the only one in that boat. I was hoping for a time machine to get to the future to watch this, but I waited for the movie the way of the natural course, watching videos of theories of what could happen, and enjoyed a couple of new really good MCU movies beforehand. But we finally got here, and it was amazing. I was blown away.

Now before I continue forward, I must give a SPOILER WARNING, as there are many that have still not seen it yet. So if you have not seen the movie, please don't read ahead.


Last chance.


Okay, now what I want to do is share my favorite moments from the movie, so I will do a top 10 of what my favorite moments from the movie were.

10. Roadey and Nebula watch Starlord dancing to "Come and Get Your Love" - The opening sequence of Guardians of the Galaxy with Starlord dance to "Come and Get Your Love" playing on his Walkman was a ton of fun to watch, but this takes it to the point that, what if someone was watching him dance without hearing the music, and that's what happens here, and the best part was the comment made by Roadey, "So....he's an idiot." and Nebula simply replies, "Yes". It took a favorite moment and gave us a different viewpoint and it gave us a hilarious moment.

9. Professor Hulk brings everyone back - This wasn't an expected part for me, I was expecting something to go wrong during this moment, so this was kind of tense in that way, plus of how it was built up. There is a great call back to the first Captain America movie that was nice, and also the comment from Hulk that he was made for this, how the many choices beforehand prepared him for this. I also like how after the snap, everything felt peaceful realizing that it worked after not being very sure, a big pay off for the heroes that only got bigger, but of course we have the insanity occur after the nice peaceful moment.

8. Thor talks about the Reality Stone when trying to get the stones back in time - I got to admit, I was shocked at the appearance of fat Thor, but I got a kick out of him in the movie. His funniest scene was when he was trying to talk about the reality stone back during the events of Thor The Dark World, and when he brought up the dark elves and his old girlfriend Jane, and just how he reacted to all of it, and everyone's reaction to his telling of the events as if they knew the train was about to crash, that was priceless.

7. Nebula gets Tony Stark on the chair when he falls asleep -This is a very small and quick moment, but something I appreciated and something I didn't think I would see from a character like Nebula. Nebula wasn't really one of my favorite characters when the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie debuted back in 2014, but over time, she became more intriguing, but I really liked when her and Tony bonded while on the Benatar, but that moment when she sees Tony on the floor sleeping, so she picks him up and sets him on the chair, just seeing her grow to that point was great.

6. Hawkeye gives the Time Travel device a test run - We have hit that moment where Hawkeye has lost hope, and refuses to think there is any left for him. At this moment, they need to test the time machine to see if it will work for the Avengers big journey to retrieve the stones from the past. Hawkeye agrees to test the machine, I don't know if he was expecting it to work or not. I put this on for two reasons, first because the visual of traveling through time for the first time was pretty cool, but also, to see Hawkeye in one sense be taken from a place of hopelessness and despair that occurred moments prior when he killed the Yakuza to being transported back to his home in the past where there is that warm feeling of home. It is a very brief moment but it helps establish hope back into his life. This place has a nice feeling of warmth and comfort since we were introduced to it back in Avengers Age of Ultron, so making that return (even though we were at it at the beginning of the movie) was very comforting, plus it was cool to see the time machine officially work for the first time and see how the Avengers would travel in time.

5. "I am....Iron Man" - This is a line that shocked me the most in the first Iron Man movie, the one that started the whole MCU. The one line that blew my expectations away and really got me interested in the sequel. Anyway, it was clever to use this line when Tony Stark uses the Infinity Stones to snap away the army of Thanos. It was a nice call back to the first movie, and it showed how much of a hero that Tony Stark has grown into throughout the series. If you remember in the first Avengers movie, Captain America made the comment that Tony wasn't the hero that would make the sacrifice play, and at that moment he really wasn't the type of hero that would, he kind of did at the end of that movie, but there was chances of survival then, at that moment when he put the Infinity Stones on his hand getting ready to snap, he knew right then and there that there would be no chance of him surviving, but he realized he had to make the sacrifice for his family and friends. Tony is a character that has really grown and it was great to see this, though him dying was still very sad.

4. Thor with his Mom - If any hero in the movie that really had a ton of guilt for what happened, it was Thor, he chose to spend time making Thanos suffer for killing his friend and brother instead of just killing him off by going for the head or even just cutting off his arm. Realizing his failure and his many losses and his guilt, Thor made the biggest change within the 5 year time jump, and it made sense. Thor returns to 2013 where him and Rocket retrieve the Reality Stone (aka liquid). This is where Thor runs into his mom and has a nice conversation with her. This conversation has a nice impact on Thor who has lost his way and helped bring him back on the path. She has a nice quote that  says, "A measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are." This was a nice little moment, how heroes have someone that they turn to for help and that we aren't all on our own and need to work together and need to help one another.

3. Captain America gets his happy ending - Captain America at the end of the movies goes on a journey to return the Infinity Stones, and Mjoinir back to their proper places. After completing the mission, he decides to return to his time to be with Peggy Carter. Yes, as the directors explained, this created a new branch in time (alternate reality) where he needed to jump from that alternate reality back to the original time line to meet with Falcon, but I want to focus on the payoff and not the science behind the ending, there are discussions where they talk about the science and how it works here, and I can share some of those later on. However, what really matters here is that Captain America got his big payoff, his happy ending by being with Peggy Carter, he always carried that compass with Peggy's picture in it throughout the series, this was his moral compass, one that would help keep him on the right path, we even see him with it at the beginning of Avengers Endgame as they are getting ready to fight Thanos and take back the gauntlet, the one where they fail, and you can tell it has a ton of meaning for him, and this kept him on the path of helping people, someone that he truly admired, his supposed lost hope, until the way for him to go back in time arrived. Also, this was a moment where they passed on the shield to Falcon which was a nice passing of the torch.

2. Captain America wields Thor's hammer Mjoinir - This moment was kind of hinted back in Avengers Age of Ultron, when everyone was trying to lift Mjoinir and were unable to move it in any way. When it comes to Captain America lifting the hammer, he is able to budge it slightly, and the shot then focuses on Thor who has a very worried look on his face. Could have Captain America lifted Mjoinir at that moment? I don't really know, I have heard discussions where he wasn't completely worthy because of hiding the truth of Bucky from Tony, to where he could have but chose not to lift it up completely. He stops pretty early so who knows, but if he could, Thor would not have been ready for the idea that someone either than him could lift it, but I think some of his experiences, like Hela crushing Mjoinir in Thor Ragnarok, probably helped to prepare him to accept the fact that Captain America was worthy. This was one moment that really got me cheering and it was so great to see this moment happen, and it was a great moment to rewatch each time. This was a great payoff moment and so great to see Captain America really use the power of Thor to knock down Thanos. This would be my top moment if it wasn't for one other that was so grand.

So before I give my favorite moment, I am going to give a few more favorites that didn't make my top 10 but were still awesome:
-Hulk seeing his past self in 2012
-Scott Lang talk about the idea of Time Travel to Steve and Natasha.
-Tony Stark cracks the code of Time Travel and his moment with his daughter after that
-Scott Lang blows one of the test runs for time travel
-Tony Stark and Scott Lang fail getting the tesseract from 2012

1. The gathering of everyone for the big battle - The moment was kind of set up not too long before, but you have the beginning of the battle where Thanos is fighting between Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. After Thanos knocked them down, he sends in his massive army to take out the three Avengers and to wipe out the planet. You get Captain America with his broken shield ready to fight them on till his last breathe, and then you get Falcon on Cap's radio, "on your left" (nice callback to Winter Soldier), and slowly the portals open and a bunch of the heroes that were gone start to come back and everyone walks in, everyone from Black Panther to the Guardians of the Galaxy to the Wasp, to even Howard the Duck. The massive scope of this one shot was just amazing and it was great to see everyone come together. I went into the movie thinking that there was no way they could top the battles in Infinity War, and I was blown away at that moment and realized that they were going to top that battle in a very massive way. I reflect on that one line from Nick Fury in the first Iron Man end credit scene where he says, "You have become part of a bigger universe, you just don't know it yet." I didn't know how massive things would get but it was great to see all that happen, all that build up really paying off in a way I didn't think would occur. Seeing everyone battle and take down Thanos's army was awesome, to see everyone use their abilities and just that entire battle was amazing, but the coming together is what really stood out for me.

So those are my top 10 favorite moments. It was really hard to narrow it to 10 as this movie has a lot of amazing moments. This movie was worth the hype and as you can see by the box office numbers, it was worth it. I will update my personal ranking of the MCU movies soon.

SPOILER TALK - Avengers Endgame: Theory on One Line in Final Scene

This has been on my mind since the second viewing of the movie Avengers Endgame and I really wanted to share this theory. Keep in mind that this is just a theory and is not confirmed at all, and could have holes in it, but the idea sounded nice that I wanted to share it. Also, this will definitely go into SPOILERS, so don’t read below unless you have seen the movie.

Last chance....

When Captain America is about to go through time to return the stones to where they got them, Bruce is getting the time machine going and then made the mention that he really tried to bring Natasha back and that he really misses her. I would like to take this time to focus on that line, “I really tried to bring her back.”

As you remember, when they first gather all the Infinity Stones on the Iron Man glove, and Bruce agrees to put on the glove and snap the fingers, and right after that he passes out from exhaustion. I would like to take that moment and recall back to Thanos’s experience when he snapped his fingers at the end of Infinity War, once he did so, he was transported to the Soul World where he had his exchange with little Gamora, it lasted about a minute and then was brought back to that moment after he snapped his fingers, and it appears at that moment that no time passed. 

With all this in mind, it is very possible that Bruce had a very similar experience and we were not shown it. When Bruce snapped his fingers, he could have been transported to the Soul World, and found Natasha and they could have had a moment together and Bruce could have asked her to come with him, and she could have stated that she couldn’t go with him, and that she loved him and would miss him, something like that, and then cut back to where he passes out.

Keep in mind, this is just a theory, but it would make sense. Anyway, what are your thoughts? I will be sharing more of my favorite moments from the movie soon.

Avengers Endgame review

Just as I stated, I would provide a review on Avengers Endgame after I saw it. I am going to be going spoiler free as there is a lot that happens that I don't want to ruin anything, so this won't be very long for that reason. First off, kudos to the marketing team for not revealing everything.

The word I would use to describe the movie is amazing, it is epic, maybe a good way to describe it is amazingly epic. This movie felt like one big payoff over the last 11 years of Marvel movies. This movie felt like the end of an era of the MCU, and also allowed a new one to begin. I really don't want to say much else at this time as I worry that anything I could say could reveal a little too much, but this movie is epic, and it is one that you should see ASAP, even this weekend if you can still get tickets. I will do a spoiler filled review soon, but I think I want to give at least one more week before I share more of my thoughts on the movie. As far as where I would place it, I want to see it at least a couple of more times and think about that.

The Road to Endgame

This is it, we have made it to the concluding chapter of this era in the MCU. I will be seeing Avengers Endgame on tonight at 6:00 PM, and I am so excited, this is like waiting for Christmas to come. It continues to get harder to wait, but I can't wait to see what happens. Anyway, in preparation for the final chapter of the Infinity Saga (as Kevin Feige has called it), I went back and rewatched all the movies, including seeing Captain Marvel in theaters. I felt it was time to take the list I made last year and update it, including adding Avengers Infinity War, Ant Man and the Wasp, and Captain Marvel into the list.

21. Thor: The Dark World – This and Iron Man 2 kind of switch out between one another, but I went ahead and put this one at the bottom because this had aspects that just did not work for me. I find Darci to be pretty annoying, a villain that was forgettable (yeah, I am aware of the criticism of the villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be the weaker aspect of the movies, but this one could have been way better), and a romance that was fell flat. I have to admit, I did not mind the romance between Thor and Jane Foster in the first one, but this one just made me wish that they would split the couple apart, which thankfully they did. I also felt there were issues with the pacing. That said, I still like the visuals and the moments between Thor and Loki were great, I also like what we get when we explore Asgard.

20. Iron Man 2 – The sequel to the one that started it all, unfortunately it was not the movie that we were hoping for. There were a ton of pacing issues, much like Thor The Dark World. As well, a villain that could have been really cool, and just seem to lose his momentum as the movie progressed. This became a movie that was focused more on world building instead of focusing on the main story, but at the same time, it was understandable and I can still forgive them for that, plus we got a cool introduction to Black Widow, and Justin Hammer by Sam Rockwell was a fun addition to the cast. So yeah, there were a ton of problems, but I had more fun with it this time around then when I tried to watch it again three years ago.

19. The Incredible Hulk – I don’t mind this one as much as other people do. I have seen lists on Facebook where people are gearing for Infinity War and this has become the entry that has been neglected or disregarded, and the reasons I completely understand. I got to admit though, this was still an entertaining movie when it came out, and Edward Norton’s take on Bruce Banner was pretty solid. The final fight between Hulk and Abomination were pretty cool, and some of the moments of humor were nice, obviously there has been much better use of humor in later movies, but the jokes they used were pretty good here. I don’t consider this a complete misfire at all.

18. Iron Man 3 – We could totally go into the biggest pet peeve of the movie, the villain, the one that actually came off as amazing in the trailer, and then…..yeah, if you have seen the movie, you know the reveal, but in case you haven’t seen it, I won’t ruin it here. With that out of the way, watching this again was nice to see the character of Tony Stark develop in this one. His experience of saving the world in The Avengers left him with PTSD. Maybe the fault was that expectations were high after the first Avengers movie and also the fact we were hoping this would make up for Iron Man 2. 

17. Thor – Until 2011, the only superheroes we got for the still small Marvel Cinematic Universe was Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. I was not familiar with Thor as I never read the comics growing up, or new much about any of the superheroes unless a movie came out of them, so going into this I wasn’t too sure what to expect. It was a solid movie, I really liked the production design and also the score that accompanied the movie. It was a solid entry.

16. Avengers: Age of Ultron – Following up on the first Avengers has to be a difficult task to complete, as you can tell, this didn’t make my top 10 in Marvel movies, but honkestly, I wouldn’t scratch this off in any way, it was very entertaining and I actually enjoyed the villain in this. This has a ton of aspects that I thrillingly enjoyed. Also featured one of my blink and you’ll miss moments that made me laugh. So yes, this is flawed, but ton of great moments that make this one that I can put on and just watch for fun. 

15. Captain America: The First Avenger – This was not anticipated at all by me, but the trailers did kind of spark my interest, but I wasn’t too sure what to make of it going in, but this was a movie that really surprised me. I really enjoyed the World War 2 setting with sci-fi elements thrown into the mix, kind of had that vibe of The Rocketeer. Also features one of my favorite villains, not because of motives, but just because of the design and the performance.

14. Captain Marvel - One of the newest heroes to be introduced into the MCU. I have heard much about the character and how awesome she is, so I was looking forward to her solo movie, and I really enjoyed it. The big highlights were the 90s setting, I have very fond memories of the 90s, as that was where I did a lot of my growing up. Also, it was fun seeing all these little Easter eggs that connected throughout the MCU, and of course Goose the Cat (or Flirkin). I am also impressed with how they de-aged Samuel L Jackson and it really looked like they took him from the 90s and brought him here to film the movie. This movie is a ton of fun to watch. 

13. Spider Man Homecoming – Andrew Garfield’s turn as Spider Man kind of decreased my interest in another Spider Man movie, not because I thought he was a bad actor, but just the direction and everything about that reboot series, so yet we got another reboot, but they made the right choices with the rebooted character, in particular Spidey’s story in his first solo movie, which is to ditch the origin story and focus on his growth in this Avengers world. Also, this movie featured a twist that shocked me and the rest of the theater when we all first saw it. The approach to this movie was very entertaining, and still holds up now.

12. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – This features one of my favorite opening credit sequences. Seriously, if you aren’t at least smiling at that sequence, then I don’t know what to say. I have talked much about this already so I won’t go too much into it, but this movie was a ton of fun to watch and re-watching it in preparation for Endgame, I found myself just having a blast. Also, when I first watched the movie in the theater, during the first 20 minutes I was laughing so hard that I thought I was going to pass out.

11. Ant Man and the Wasp - After the release of Infinity War, I was looking forward to this, one of the reasons was to see what Ant Man was up to, but mainly because I recalled that article I read that featured Evangeline Lilly back in late 2017 where she talked about the role this movie would play in the MCU moving forward, and I figured this would help shed light on potential solutions for the next Avengers movie, so yes I was anticipating this, read my post on thoughts after Infinity War for more on my theories regarding this. I got a very fun movie with plenty of laughs, and also had some really cool tech and gave us more of a look into the Quantum Realm and the possibilities it gave us. Also, Luis and the truth serum.

10. Doctor Strange – I remember everyone talking about how excited they were for Doctor Strange, and once again, someone that doesn’t read comic book, I didn’t get the fascination when hearing about the character, that was until I saw the trailer, and what this would introduce to the MCU. This has the most inventive special effects for a movie, yeah we have The Matrix and Inception with similar effects, but that doesn’t diminish the wonder I feel when seeing these things on the screen. Actually, this featured the best use of 3D in a very long time. 

9. Ant Man – This movie ended up on my top 10 of 2015, it was a surprise to me as I wasn’t thinking there would be much out of it. My mind was still gearing towards Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. They introduced Guardians of the Galaxy, but I felt this was when they really started to crank out the more obscure characters and try to see how they would be received. This really delivered in so many ways. I really enjoyed the concept of the film, which was a heist movie with superhero elements. You can never go wrong with the use of Michael Pena’s character.

8. Captain America: Civil War – I don’t know where to start with this, this was a movie that featured so much, and the buildup of the universe is what made this entry worth it, and featured many things that made me think, like which side would I put myself on. Also, it introduced me to a character that I immediately became excited to see a solo movie for, that was Black Panther. What came before it is what made me emotionally invested, how were these characters going to come out of this, what would result. Yes, this featured the most forgettable villain, but for this movie I feel that was okay because the movie wasn’t about the villain but about the conflict and how everyone became challenged because of this conflict. Yeah, I have another Captain America movie that beat this even though this was excellent.

7. Black Panther – I already said it, I was looking forward to Black Panther’s solo movie after his debut in Captain America: Civil War. The world of Wakanda was breathtaking, and just awesome to look at, and is another example of how amazing the world building for the MCU really was. It also featured very intriguing characters that you would like to see solo movies for. This features a very good music score and a very good message. This felt like a very unique solo movie. If you asked me if I thought this would become so popular that it would become number three in the all time box office in the US, I wouldn’t have believed you. 

6. Thor Ragnarok – As you can tell, the Thor movies weren’t among my favorites in the MCU, at least until this one came out. This was the movie that got me more invested in the character and really enjoyed the adventure that he was on. Everything about this felt very fresh thanks to the director. Everything about this movie was very unique. Also, the ending was a bit of a surprise for me as I didn’t think it was going to end the way it did. But everything about this movie was just a blast to watch. A part of me wants to find the original script and read it to see what was scripted and what was improvised. 

5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – After Iron Man 3 and Thor The Dark World in 2013, I figured I had the direction on where everything was going heading into Avengers Age of Ultron. Not only did this prove me wrong, but it managed to destroy any possible idea I may have had. This was a movie that really surprised me in so many ways, first off by the action, by the direction and by the story. I never thought about the idea of SHIELD becoming corrupt from the inside. The first Captain America movie was a solid entry, but the sequel went from a fun adventure movie to a political thriller, even made me think about what I would do in these kind of situations. Yes, Civil War was excellent, and I juggled as to which one I liked more between this and Civil War, but in the end I liked this one more as this one surprised me way more as to what to expect.

4. Iron Man – The one that started it all, still among one of my favorites. I went in not expecting anything, and walking out being blown away. As you can read in my last post, I did not find out about the end credit sequence till about a couple of weeks later. Here is a question for everyone, when and how did you discover the end credit sequence? This movie had great action, and gave us a lot of cool attitude, and I also really enjoyed the soundtrack to this. This was a great set up and we didn’t even know how big things would go from there, but the fact they started off right is what makes this excellent.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy – Up to this point, the only Marvel movies we had were about Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. This was the first time that they featured any other Marvel characters, and there were probably many that didn’t know what to expect going in. I went in the first weekend because it was a Marvel movie but also the idea behind it really caught my eye, kind of reminded me of a Star Wars movie. Did they expect this to be the hit that it became to be? So many questions, but this was the first time we were introduced to new characters and were not featured any of the bigger known characters. Actually, this was a group of heroes that were not very well known, but I don’t count as I said many times before, I didn’t read the comics growing up. But this became a big hit and blew many away, myself included, and not only that, it is one of those that you can rewatch again and again just because.

2. Avengers Infinity War - This was my most anticipated movie last year and I even wondered at times if they would pull it off, let alone it be something that I would want to rewatch quite a bit. This is one of those movies, despite the dark ending, that I can rewatch quite a bit. Seeing all the characters come together (minus a few) and see them interact with one another was like a dream come true. I also keep thinking how gorgeous the visuals of the movie look, obviously from the CG work on the movie, but also the colors of many of the shots in space, especially when they go to Nidavellir to make Thor's new weapon, the colors and the scope of the place are just amazing. All the locations in space they go to are just amazing. This movie features many awesome action sequences and many moments where you want to cheer, I still remember the moment where Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive in Wakanda, and just getting very excited at that moment. This is a movie that I find many awesome things each time I rewatch it.

1. The Avengers – This is my favorite Marvel movie at this moment, but of course we will have to see where Endgame falls on this list after the movie comes out. We had many superhero movies before, but this was the first time that we had this kind of movie where you combined superheroes from other movies. This was something that was not done before, and that was what made this exciting. Not only that, it was an incredibly entertaining movie, with tons of laughs. I was among those that was concerned with them replacing Edward Norton with Mark Ruffalo, as I enjoyed Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, but Mark Ruffalo did a great job. What made this work was we had a director that knew how to make each character interaction work, every laugh worked because of this. I enjoyed coming back to the theater each time I could to see this because of how entertaining it was. I still enjoy going back to rewatch it. Yes, the MCU has gotten so much bigger and has grown so much since the Avengers first assembled here, but there is something so perfect about this outing that it still stays on the top of my list after all these years. And this is something I can rewatch quite a bit.

I am stoked to see Avengers Endgame tonight. Once I see it, I will share brief thoughts on the movie that night, but I will keep it spoiler free, and then will go into more details on the movie a week or two later. 

Alita Battle Angel review

Warning: May contain potential spoilers

This was suppose to come out last July, and then it was delayed till December, and then it was delayed again till February, so I began to go from very interested to very concerned. However I decided I wanted to give it a shot, so I got into a special screening on Thursday, and I got to admit that I really enjoyed it. I want to address the main attraction of the movie, and that’s the visuals, and wow were the visuals were incredible. The world that was created for this movie was just spectacular, and were captivating. A part of me wishes I could jump into the screen and wonder around this world, that’s how cool it was. 

Next part that was amazing in the movie was the action, the action was so cool. One of the highlights was the Motorball sequences, besides movies, another favorite past time activity for me is Rollerblading, so that was cool to see that here. All the other action sequences were cool as well and that added to the amazing visuals. 

I was also invested in the main character of the movie, Alita, she was very intriguing and I enjoyed learning about her and cared what happened to her. There was a moment where something happens to a supporting character, and while I didn’t care for this supporting character, I did care about how she felt and that affected me more than what happened to this supporting character, it is a spoiler so I am trying to veer away from the details, but I am willing to go into this movie after this it comes out. I liked some of the other supporting characters like Christopher Waltz’s character who was the scientist that helped find Alita.

How was the story, I thought it was fine, there is a lot of world building and there is definitely a fair amount of setting up for future installments. It didn’t bug me that much, and I kind of hope they do get enough to make a sequel as I would like to see what happens. Let me put it this way, the main character was so interesting that it helped drive the story for me, there were flaws but you can tell there was a ton of effort put into the movie that I really appreciated it.

I look forward to seeing the movie again when it officially comes out in theaters. If you want to see this or are interested, I recommend checking it out in IMAX, it is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible to get the biggest experience.

19 Anticipated movies of 2019

Now that we are in 2019, it's time to talk about the movies I am most excited to see this year. I decided to do 19 of them because it is 2019 after all. So here is the countdown.



19. Knives Out – I don’t know too much about it, but it is directed by Rian Johnson, who decided to do this while waiting to direct his own Star Wars trilogy, it sounds like a small film but the idea of him filming it and getting it released when they only announced it a few months ago has me intrigued, and he also managed to get James Bond to come aboard.

18. Hobbs and Shaw – I never thought we would get these kind of movies out of the first Fast and Furious movie back in 2001, I figured maybe one sequel or two, and that was it, now this is the first spin off for characters that didn’t debut till much later. I don’t know too much yet, but we got Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. Also, we get the actress who played the White Widow in Mission Impossible Fallout.

17. Other Side of Heaven 2 – This is a sequel to a movie that came out in 2001, it is about an Elder (Elder John H Groberg) that serves a mission in Tonga and his experiences there. This movie sees John H Groberg return to Tonga many years later with his family. The movie looks really good based on the trailer we got, so naturally I am intrigued to see the story continue. This is based on real events.

16. Missing Link – Laika is one of those studios that I keep an eye on and when they release a new movie, I am there to go see it. This looks to be funny, and I really hope that delivers the same kind of magic that has occurred in the other movies by the studio. They have a great cast.

15. Shazaam – While the track record for DC isn’t very strong, they are working to go a new route. If you have seen the trailers for this, you can tell that this is going to go for the fun and goofy side of things. This looks ridiculous and I am excited to see how this all turns out.

14. Are You Afraid of the Dark – I don’t know anything about this, except it’s being made by Nickelodeon. This is based on a show that debuted on Nickelodeon in the early 90s. I watched this show every so often and was very intrigued by it, so I am very intrigued on how this will turn out. We will see what to expect when we get a trailer.

13. Artemis Fowl – For the record, I have not read any of the books, so I don’t know too much about it. I did have a few friends explain the premise, and I have seen the trailer, and it does have my interest peaked, I am just hoping this turns out better than A Wrinkle in Time.

12. Lion King – Jon Favreau returns to Disney to direct another live action remake. They have a great cast and the trailer looks great. I don’t know if this will be a beat to beat remake or if they will try to do something different with the story, but we will find out this summer.

11. Dumbo – I first heard about this back in 2014, and I didn’t think much about it after the announcement, but then we got the first trailer and my interest grew, and it grew more with the second trailer. Yes, I placed this above the other live action remakes, and mainly because this one has me the most intrigued to see how they pull it off.

10. Spider Man Far From Home – This will be the first movie in Phase Four of the MCU (though I heard they would be doing away with phases), but this is supposedly taking place minutes after Avengers Endgame. I look forward to see how they continue to develop Spider Man in his next adventure.

9. Men In Black International – I am going to honest, I wasn’t really into the idea of a spin-off of the Men In Black series, even though they got great leads in the movie, but then I saw the first trailer a couple of weeks ago, and my excitement grew. This just looks like it will be a ton of fun, I just hope they don’t mess it up.

8. Detective Pikachu – I am not a big fan of the Pokemon series, I did watch a bit of the show during it’s first season when it debuted in 1998, but after that year Digimon debuted and I ended up watching that more. However, I saw the trailer last month, and for some reason, this looks like this could be a lot of fun, it also features many of the Pokemon I am more familiar with when I saw the show during the first season. Movies based on video games don’t have a great record, but I am hoping this turns that around.

7. Lego Movie 2 – One of the biggest surprises in 2014, The Lego Movie was a blast with a very good message at the end, and the animation was very unique. The next question is how do they continue the story after the first one. Well, there is a lot of great possibilities on how it will continue. All the characters were fun, I enjoyed playing with Legos as a kid, so I very curious on how this will turn out next month. Since they took years to get this released, I am thinking they took time to give us another great story.

6. Godzilla King of the Monsters – I enjoyed the new Godzilla movie that came out in 2014, and I did like Kong Skull Island when it came out two years ago. The trailers that we got recently really caught my eye, as it features epic monsters. This movie feels like it could be big. Please don’t let this one be a disappointment. 

5. Glass – Spoiler alert, I was in the theater seeing Split at the end of January in 2017, and it was a good movie, good performances and everything, and then at the end of the movie, they revealed the big twist, it took place in the same universe as Unbreakable. When I got home from work that night (I was working nights at the time), I rented Unbreakable to rewatch it to catch little connections, it revamped my interest in a movie I had not seen in years, and they are giving us a sequel to Unbreakable and the trailers look great. I look forward to see how this story continues.

4. Captain Marvel – I first learned about Captain Marvel back in 2016, I think it was when they announced the movie. The trailers give us a glimpse of the world of Shield in the 90s when Nick Fury was younger as well as Phil Coulson. This has a sense of coolness every time I watch these trailers. I just like the vibe that these trailers gives. Another plus is that after this movie, we will get Avengers Endgame about a month and a half after. I really think a lot what happens here will help give big hints as to what will happen in the next Avengers movie.

3. How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World – First thing I want to bring up is the fact that this trilogy has started at the beginning of this decade and will end with the close of this decade, let that sink in. The first one was a big surprise for me, along with others that experienced it back in 2010, and I also really liked the second one as well. This was a movie that was delayed a few times, but I think the delays mean they took the time to get the story right to conclude this trilogy, and I look forward to seeing how they wrap up the story. I also heard that tissues might be needed.

2. Star Wars Episode 9 – Let me start off with this, I did like The Last Jedi, I don’t think it was a masterpiece, and I probably put it a little too high on my top 10 list for 2017, but I still really enjoyed it despite it’s issues, and I am still very intrigued what will happen next. I have been a big fan of Star Wars for a long time, and have enjoyed going back to the galaxy far, far away, even if the movies were flawed. Also, I was a big fan of The Force Awakens in 2015 when it arrived, and with them bringing back JJ Abrams to direct this final installment for this sequel trilogy, I am very curious on where we go from here. Questions on who Rey’s parents are is the least of my focus, but more of my focus is how you conclude not only this trilogy, but all the previous trilogies as well, give one big epic conclusion, that is what my interest will be with this last installment. Yes, there will be other Star Wars movies down the road, but this is suppose to mark the end of the Skywalker saga.

1. Avengers Endgame – I have a feeling that this is not a surprise to anyone, and in fact, I am certain that this is the most anticipated movie for everyone this year, and if you have seen the ending of Avengers Infinity War, it isn’t hard to see why. Not only that, this is a movie that is suppose to wrap up the stories of the MCU in the last decade, and also help spring the MCU into new territories that we haven’t explored yet. There are so many rumors and speculations on what will happen in this epic movie, they range from time travel to alternate dimensions, in fact, I should put together my own theories on what I think will occur because many have already done so. The plot has been tightly under wraps, and I am very thankful for that, because how often do we get a movie where we don’t know too much on what will occur before going in. I am unbelievably pumped for this movie.

Top 10 of 2018

With another year over, it is time to reflect on my personal top 10 of the year. Keep in mind, this list does not reflect what everyone is thinking, but is my own favorites, and also I have not seen everything this year, so with all that in mind, let’s get started.

10. Searching – Picking the number 10 was really hard, as there are so many great movies I saw that could go here, but I decided to go with this movie. We have had found footage movies for a long time, and there are some that were well done and entertaining and intriguing to watch. However, I haven’t really had any that had an emotional impact on me, until this one. How this movie was crafted and put together, I was drawn in on the mystery of the movie and at those moments I thought I had it figured out, I learned I didn’t and it kept me on my toes. I won’t reveal the reveals at the end, but this movie left me satisfied.

9. First Man – For the longest time, I enjoyed movies that deal with space travel, even the ones that were super cheesy. This was on my radar because of the director and because of the subject matter. I am not familiar with the struggles of getting to the moon, except for the fact that they did make it to the moon. It was very intriguing to see the struggles on what it took to get there, including an aspect that I just didn’t think about beforehand, and that is the families that had to sit there wondering if their husbands would survive the trip. It really kept me interested, and I also got to see this on IMAX and when they make it to the moon, it was really breathtaking. Also, when I got home, I ended up watching Apollo 13.

8. Bumblebee – I was done with the Transformers movies after The Last Knight, I am certain others were done way before that though. When I first heard of the Bumblebee spinoff, I didn’t think too much about it, except it might be nice. However, once I learned who the director was, my intrigue grew. I was really surprised by the movie we got when I got to see it, the phrase I kept using was this movie had heart, and it really did, you really cared about the characters, and you could see Bumblebee’s emotional responses and could really feel for him. This was a big shock compared to the other ones. The action in the first 10 minutes is excellent, and in my opinion, along with the opinions of others, is the best in the series. But also, it took everything and simplified it and really gave us a story that mattered. Yes, there are similarities to ET and The Iron Giant, but I was really invested and really liked the movie a lot. It also had a great sountrack.

7. Ralph Breaks the Internet – This was a highly anticipated movie for me, and I was wondering if this would deliver. This delivered in a different way than I was anticipating, so this didn’t have the video game characters that I would have liked, but it did have great jokes in regards to the internet and how it’s used these days, and it also gave a great story and really focused on the development of the main characters. I was really surprised at the direction these characters went, and just how complicated things can get. Yes, a lot of the things in regards to the internet will more likely be out of date in the coming years, but the aspects of friendship that are presented in this move will not.

6. Won’t You Be My Neighbor – I kept hearing about this movie so I decided to check it out and see how it is. I was really surprised, I remember watching aspects of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, but I don’t remember too much beyond that, but watching this documentary made me appreciate the person that he was and the positive interactions that he strived to make with the children around him. This gave us a great perspective on the goals of the man and his show, if there came times I didn’t think much about his decisions when making the show, I would just reflect on this movie and realize what he was striving to do and doing very simple things that made the difference for all who would tune in and watch the show.

5. A Quiet Place – One of the more original movies of the year, A Quiet Place deals with monsters on Earth that are able to find people through sounds, and so this family learns to survive by staying very quiet, they learn to sign and they learn to be very quiet to avoid making any sound whatsoever. I am not someone that likes to go to horror movies, but this one I chose to make an exception because I was hearing very good things. The experience of being in the theater was very interesting, and it was a pretty busy theater, but within the first 15 minutes, when the family was getting around, you could hear the audience attempting to be very quiet, and that included trying not to make loud noises with their food or how they eat. This was a unique movie in the story it told and how it presented itself, and I found many cool things even after my first viewing.

4. Paddington 2 – Back in 2015, we were treated to a family movie called Paddington that I had no desire to see but then it got good reviews and so I decided to go see it, and I was really surprised by it. A sequel came out early in 2018, and I thought it wouldn’t reach the heights of the first as it was years since I saw it, and wow was I wrong. This movie was a great movie and I was spending time trying to recommend this movie to people as it featured so much good. Let me explain by what I mean by so much good, the main character attempts to find the good in those around him and attempts to try to do good that essentially brings out the good in others, how the small acts of an individual can make a difference in the community and how being there for those you love can bring people together and help do good for those in return, to see good happen to everyone in this movie. This is a family movie I strongly recommend checking out.

3. Mission Impossible Fallout – Just when you think that a sixth entry couldn’t be amazing, we are treated with Mission Impossible Fallout. The first trailer caught my attention in February and I knew I wanted to see it on the biggest screen possible, and then I was surprised to find myself really invested in the movie. First off the attempt to do the action sequences on location instead of green screen, where we are taken for these action set pieces is mind-blowing, and the cinematography was just stunning. Not only that, but it felt like the story was very intriguing, yes the action is the main focus here but I felt they tried to give us a good story and characters that you are drawn in on what happens. This was so much fun to watch and I continue to enjoy watching it.

2. Spider Man Into The Spiderverse – This is the Spider Man movie I didn’t know I wanted. The first teaser debuted in December of 2017 and I knew I wanted to see it, I didn’t know if it would hold up beyond the visuals, and I am glad to say that it totally it. Not only does it feature the most stunning and unique animation, it also features a great story and characters where you are really invested on what will happen to the characters and how they will make it out. There are so many different versions of Spider Man that you think it would collapse on itself, but it doesn’t even do that, every character’s involvement plays a role and makes the experience more rewarding, in fact, you will want to see their own movies afterwards, even Spider Ham. This is the most unique movie I have seen in a while, and I heard they spent time trying to get the animation right so it could look as great as it did, and I am so glad they spent that time trying to get the look right, I hope to see more of this kind of movie in the future.

1. Avengers Infinity War – This was my most anticipated movie of the summer and it just blew me out of the water, and it features the most gut punching ending that you would expect. That ending is the reason why Avengers Endgame is the most anticipated movie of 2019, but with all that aside, this movie earns my top spot for my personal top 10 for so much more. First off, the amount of characters in this movie, everyone’s favorite heroes (except for Ant Man and Hawkeye) play a role in this movie, from big to small, and seeing everyone come together from different franchises was just awesome, Iron Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy working together was great, and even the little moments where Rocket approaches Bucky about the arm, just how everything is balanced in such a big epic movie is amazing and well worth the price of admission. As well, this movie features a very compelling villain, Thanos, who steals the show whenever he is on screen. The technology that aids the storytelling has come along so far and it’s amazing to see the payoff here. It’s awesome to think where we were 10 years ago with the MCU and now where we are at, this movie is one big payoff. Can’t wait to see how Avengers Endgame wraps everything up.

That is my personal top 10 of 2018, I hope that you enjoyed, and I look forward to sharing more with you in 2019.