I was really excited to see where Snoke’s storyline was going because I thought he was Darth Vader’s father. Remember in the Phantom Menace, when Qui Gon mentioned that something was odd about Anakin’s blood. He had more midichlorians that Master Yoda, who at that time was the strongest Jedi. And Anakin’s mother said there is no father. So, is Anakin’s mother lying, or was he conceived like Jesus Christ or Hercules?
There really is no cinematic scene that explains who Anakin’s father is? To be that powerful and have that many midichlorians isn’t something that happens by chance. Some super powerful being must be the father and when the sequel trilogies are all about family and heritage, it would’ve made sense to have an answer to who is the father of one of the most powerful Jedis in the galaxy.
Disney movies usually have messages of perseverance, working hard, and to keep on moving forward. Soul doesn’t do that. The message at the end of Soul is “you might not achieve your dreams, but appreciate every moment” which isn’t a good for young children and failing adults.
In Soul, the main character Joe Gardner doesn’t want to be stuck in an everyday routine. He wants to be a jazz concert musician and not just a music teacher. At the end, Joe finally gets his chance to be part of a popular jazz band, but realizes he’ll just be doing the same thing everyday and then gives it up for the vague message of “I don’t know what tomorrow will bring but I’m happy about it”.
What makes it worse, is that the band hired someone else for that night, but Joe insisted he’s the best person for that job and they told the other guy to leave. So, Joe got someone fired from the biggest moment of their life so he can achieve your dream, but then gave up on it when it wasn’t everything he wanted it to be.
This movie isn’t for the motivated dream chaser, its for the settler who can now justify their plain existence with the message of “I live life every day to the fullest” as they clock into their 9-5 or part time job talking about how they’re winning at life. Bad message Disney. Bad message.
Does Disney know what the word “Adventures” mean? Adventures, as in more than one? From what I read online, take that with a grain of salt, the original idea was supposed to be a series of shorts, but they decided to go with a feature length movie instead. Which begs the question of why didn’t they do a series?
This movie was ok, but it did have a lot going for it. Buck Wild is a very fun character and the Lost World environment can really bring in a lot of new ideas. Wild has all the qualities of an action hero. He is brave, adventurous, kind and smart.
I didn’t fall in love with Crash and Eddie of the Ice Age series, so having them tag along with Wild felt like a slap in the face for a very exciting character. If I wrote this, Wild wouldn’t have any interaction with the Ice Age cast. I would give Wild his own 15-20 time slot where he goes on his own adventures. Maybe have the main bad guy of the movie in the show, give him the same love interest and his own rag tag group of characters to play off of and you got a show.
It seemed like an extremely simple concept which would’ve worked out for Disney in many ways. Giving Wild his own story would’ve opened up a lot more merchandising and spin off opportunity, but Disney instead decided to stick Wild with 2 of the worst comic relief characters they could find and came out with a subpar product.
I understand the MCU is adding more diversity to their characters. Not just in gender and color, but in disabilities. In the Eternals and the Hawkeye TV show we saw a pair of deaf women Makkari and Maya Lopez. I don’t see the logic of the two women being deaf.
Let’s start with Makkari. She’s an Eternal, which is a superpowered being created by a celestial being. A celestial created her with superspeed and the inability to hear? Okay? Why? And worst of all, the character in the Eternals Phastos is their tech guy of the group, someone who can create anything. Phastos even made a machine that can trap and negate the powers of Ikaris. So, you’re telling me he couldn’t just make a hearing aid for Makkari?
I got into a very long argument online questioning logic of Makkari’s deafness. I argued that her being deaf is a hinderance to the group. Apparently, she can sense vibrations in people’s voices so she can tell what people are saying, but the group still needs to do sign language for her. Not only that, the group battles monsters. Which in a fight, having the ability to hear is kind of important? Also being able to comminate with your teammates is also important. So, besides checking off some diversity boxes, why would they make her deaf?
Now to Hawkeye. Lopez is one of the henchmen of the Kingpin, who is one of the riches most powerful crime bosses in the Marvel Universe. Lopez is deaf and also missing a leg. Oddly enough the actress is really deaf and is missing a leg, which is very impressive especially with all the fight scenes she’s in. mt issue is that disabilities like these shouldn’t exist in Marvel. Tony Stark built a time machine in a night; you’re telling me giving people the ability to hear and see is impossible? That Bucky has a vibraniam arm and the Kingpin can’t afford something like that for Lopez? That forcing fellow henchmen to learn sign language so they can communicate with Lopez was a better idea than just giving her the gadgets she needs or simply releasing her.
I know its nice to give actors and actresses who have a disability like this a chance to be on screen and most importantly look awesome on screen. Both women were incredible to watch. The fight scene was Ikaris was one of the best fights in the MCU and Lopez is reported to have her own spin off show called Echo (which ill get to another time) and was one of the best characters in the Hawkeye show.
I have no issue with the idea of having a character with such disabilities, but I just think in both situations it made little sense. What do you think about that?
It’s reported that DC is going to really make a Michael B Jordan led Superman-esk project where Jordan will be planning Val Zod, a Kryptonian who also escaped the destruction of his planet and came to Earth just like Superman. Well, Earth 2 but that doesn’t matter to me. Most of the negativity is race related, but my gripes are with the actual idea of making another Superman.
In the past few years, we’ve the Superman clones in Omni Man, Homelander and now Ikaris in the Eternals. DC also has Shazam, who is very similar to Superman and now a Black Adam movie where again we are dealing with a similar set of powers. Super strength, flight, cape, some kind of projectiles he shoots out. There are too many Supermen right now in movies and tv shows.
I would rather see Jordan play John Stewart, the Green Lantern. Or Captain Atom, sure he does check off some of Superman’s powers, but he’s different enough to not pull any parallels. Or if DC goes with the Snyderverse Jordan can play Orion, Darkseid’s son. Jordan can even play Steel. There are a lot of heroes in the DC universe that Jordan can play. I get that he wants to play Superman and from what I read he’s producing the movie and writing the script, I just feel like a Superman character was the wrong direction.
I hate being the smartest man in the world. To be constantly blessed and cursed knowledge. Like who should play the next James Bond going forward. After Bond died in No Time to Die, there has been a lot of speculation of who should take over the mantel going forward. Actors like Idris Elba, Henry Cavil, Tom Hardy and others have been rumored to be in the running, but I think I have the perfecting casting for the next James Bond. None of them.
I wouldn’t look to recast the role at all. Instead, I would continue the James Bond universe with the characters that are in it already and simply make new agents. I loved Lashana Lynch as Nomi in No Time to Die and think she should be made into 008 or something. Maybe then bring in the other rumored actors to help round out the world and bring 008 some teammates.
The role of James Bond is a very big role to fill and there is no good answer of who should fill the role. I think Daniel Craig was the best Bond. Mainly because it felt like his movies had continuity to them. The other previous Bond series didn’t really have weight to them. And with the Craig series, the events of Casino Royal impacted No Time To Die.
For the studio to go full reboot would mean we have to introduce the world again, recast all the characters again, are they going to redo the whole Spector organization? It just makes sense to continue the series with Nomi and maybe introduce other characters along the way, maybe expand the universe even more and have them go off on their own missions or series.
Right now, the world of Bond is perfectly laid out and recasting the iconic role won’t benefit the company at all. But what do you guys think? Should the role be recasted? Should Nomi continue to be the lead agent? Or are they going full reboot?
This review is kind of difficult for me. The Breaking Bad tv show ended almost 6 years before this movie came out and I don’t know who it’s made for. It doesn’t have the Breaking Bad feel to it and even though it has the same writing staff, they seem to forget the character they’re writing about.
Aaron Paul is a tremendous actor, but his best roles are as a costar rather than the clear lead, which isn’t a disrespect to his acting ability. Take Oscar winning actor Christopher Walken. Won an Oscar for best Supporting role in The Deer Hunter and earned a best Supporting Nomination for Catch Me If You Can. In fact, most of Walken’s iconic roles were as a supporting actor.
And Jesse Pinkman, played by Paul, is the kind of character who can take command of a scene or two but not a whole feature film. And the writers kept switching Jesse’s character when the plot fit it. Some scenes he has a deep Batman voice, being level headed and one step ahead in some scenes and in others he’s just kinda clueless. There was never an established voice for Jesse and the whole movie might’ve just been better as inserted scenes into the actual show to give it some more depth.
But lets just into the plot so you can see for yourself.
The movie starts off with Jesse and Mike Ehrmantraut….try saying that 3 times fast…it’s a nice quiet connecting scene where the two men discuss the idea of leaving the meth business and starting over. Mike explains that Alaska is nice. The scene then quickly transitions to Jesse minutes after the Breaking Bad series finale. Fresh out of a shootout and fleeing the police. He eventually finds safety at the house of his friends Stinky Pete and Cougar. Now I know that’s not their names, but when you wait 6 years between show and movie, I don’t have time to relearn everyone’s backstory. And that might be the biggest problem with the movie. So much time has passed that now I have to either rewatch the entire series or try to remember where everyone was at the finale. Also, characters look a lot different and I don’t remember if all these minor characters where in the actual show.
So Jesse hides the El Camino in the backyard and passes out for the night. He awakens in a panic, imagining that he is still captured by The Brotherhood, a name I had to look up again. Jesse takes a shower and shaves off his beard and hair, much to the dismay of Pete because when you’re being hunted by the police and others, its best to look like the only picture they have of you on file. This is Jesse being Jesse. Jesse trades cars with his friends and goes off to Todd’s apartment. Where he spends the entire night looking for Todd’s hidden stash of cash.
We are then shown a long and rather amazing flashback of Jesse helping out Todd, played by Jesse Plemons, get rid of a body. Since Todd looks a lot different since the TV show, I actually forgot all of their previous interactions and thought this was a new character entirely.
After the two bury the body in the desert, Jesse grabs Todd’s gun out of the car and for a brief moment I thought this is where Jesse gets away. Because why would you give up the gun to a guy who is clearly going to put you back in the cage or kill you, especially when you have such a distance between you two. Again, Jesse being Jesse.
We cut back to Jesse finally able to locate the money, but a pair of police officers, Casey and Neil, walk in and a standoff ensures. Jesse surrenders to them and he quickly learns they aren’t real police and are just looking for the same money Todd has stashed. How they know about Todd’s money, don’t know.
Jesse reveals to them he knows where it is and Jesse bargains with Neil into letting him take some of the money. Neil agrees and they part ways. Not before Jesse sees the van Neil is driving and remembers that Neil built his cage.
Jesse then drives to Ed Gaibraith’s vacuum shop. Now, for those who have photographic memories, this the man who helps people disappear and apparently Jesse owes him 125 thousand for a job that never happened. So it’s going to cost Jesse an additional 125 thousand on top of the first one to help him disappear. This might be the best scene of the entire movie and the most accurate to Jesse’s character.
Jesse is only $1,800 short and has to find a way to get it. He first calls his parents and pretends to ask them to pick him up somewhere, leaving the house empty for Jesse to rob. He doesn’t find money, but instead finds an old 22 caliber pistol.
Jesse then goes to the only other person who has money, Neil and Casey, who are in the middle of having a cocaine and hookers party. Jesse tries to appeal to Neil’s humility and simply asks for the money. Neil has a better idea, which I imagine is the result of cocaine and hookers. He wants to duel Jesse for the money. With assassin like precision, Jesse kills Neil. Casey then grabs for the gun and the two exchange bullets, Casey missing every shot and Jesse eventually hits him. Jesse blows the place up and drives away with the money.
The next scene is a flashback of Jesse and Walter White, played by Brian Cranston, as the two sit at a diner talking about life. A very great scene and feels perfectly written for Jesse and Walter. Then we get to the finale, Jesse wakes up in the back of a moving van driven by Ed and emerge in Alaska. Ed quizzes Jesse on his new identity. Jesse hands Ed a letter to send to Brock, who again I had to look up who that was. Jesse then drives off, quick flashback of his ex-girlfriend Jane and that’s the movie.
Was it good movie? Not at all. Like I said this more felt like filler scenes in the series rather than a standalone film. I felt like the writing of Jesse went in so many directions that it didn’t feel like the original character. Aside from a few short scenes, Jesse is unrecognizable in this movie. Jesse was never the “stand and fight type”. Instead of dueling Neil, it might’ve made more sense character wise for Jesse to rob the pimp outside the complex.
Jesse was never a big planner in the show. Sure, sometimes he did impress Walter with a great idea, but was never the brains of the group. At times Jesse didn’t even possess the best street smarts. The sheer fact that Walter kept Jesse around as long was because Walter didn’t have anyone else around. And Walter seemed to connect with Jesse more, maybe because Jesse was the cool one, someone that Walter wanted around. He liked teaching Jesse and watching him grow. Maybe Jesse was the son Walter never had, in the sense where he can have the father son relationship with Jesse and not spill over into his actual family life.
I wonder of this movie would be better if I didn’t watch the series before watching this? What do you guys think?
One of the biggest questions I had in Star Wars Rise of Skywalker, was why didn’t Palpatine groom his own child to be his successor? Rey Skywalker is the granddaughter of Palpatine and he spend so much effort trying to convert her to the dark side, so how did his own flesh and blood escape and more importantly why?
Besides the Death Star, there should be nothing in the galaxy as important as Palpatine’s only child. And I child like this I imagine would be groomed in Sith teachings for their entire life. And let’s say this child saw what the Empire really was and decided to escape, how powerful would this child be? Certainly, powerful enough to outrun the most powerful being in the galaxy for a long time and someone who shouldn’t be able to be stabbed to death so easily?
I was a big fan of the Blade movies. Well, the second one I really liked, mainly because it had the greatest actor in Hollywood Luke Goss who has graced our screens in projects like Hellboy 2, Interview with a Hitman, Tekken, and about 60 other things. But I digress.
The reason I’m nervous that the upcoming Blade movie is that Blade’s entire story is about killing vampires and the MCU doesn’t have any vampires in it. The MCU is a We and not a Me direction now where all the movies and shows coincide with each other to create one massive storyline.
Blade can’t JUST fight vampires in his MCU appearances because they can’t introduce vampires as the only thing Blade fights. Because we haven’t seen vampires before and the original Blade movies depict vampires as being around for hundreds of years and not a threat that just popped up one day.
I had the same issue with The Eternals, where somehow the Earth being a uterus for a celestial wasn’t noticed by anyone on Earth, including the Sorcerer Supreme, Agatha, Hydra, Shield or anyone else in the MCU. So, you can’t introduce vampires into the MCU and then try to explain away that they were always around and we just didn’t notice.
Remember in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, where Yondu was ousted from the Ravagers by breaking the sacred code? I find it weird that a coalition of murderous, thieving space pirates operate under a strict code of not kidnapping children.
World War Joe 