Finding Dory is the sequel to Pixar's animated classic Finding Nemo, a film that lives in the hearts of 90's kids everywhere. Like any other child of the 90's, I went out to see Finding Dory back in June. I didn't keep my expectations too high and didn't expect Finding Dory to be better than the original. And was it? No, but Finding Dory is a beautifully animated film with a great voice cast and a strong story with the ending result of being nearly as great as the original.

THE GOOD

I loved how the film was able to build a connection right away to the original film as opposed to just starting of a time card signifying that time was passed. In the beginning, we see Dory as a baby who loses her parents and searches for them for years up to the point where she runs into Marlin, and the original film takes off from there. I loved this. Aside from the beginning, the film wonderfully executes a strong story and strong character development throughout the film for Dory, a character you would think couldn't be developed beyond comedic relief. But her character development is absolutely astounding. Marlin (while still overprotective but noticeably toned down a lot) and Nemo appropriately serve as supporting characters who don't try and steal the spotlight from Dory. We wonderful cameos from supporting characters and minor characters from the first film, including the post credit scenes where we see where Gil and his crew have ended up. The new characters who appear introductions felt natural and not shoehorned in, which was great. The animation is absolutely beautiful was a great experience to see in theaters (I saw the film 3D but I'd now kill to see this and Finding Nemo in IMAX). The film is also just as funny as the original with only a few of the jokes not landing and stellar voice casts nails their respective roles.

THE BAD

Baby Dory can get a little annoying at times and some of the film's jokes are iffy and don't land.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While only a handful of sequels have managed to outdo the original, there are also plenty of sequel's that manage to be just as good as the original and Finding Dory is one of them. As I said before it's not better than the original film but it's almost just as good. Finding Dory is definitely one of the best films of the year and I urge you to go and see it if you haven't already. While film currently doesn't exactly have the nostalgic appeal of the original, in the future, I feel like the film will be remembered just as well as the original. Regardless, the film is another hit that Pixar can add to it's list. I'll stop with the puns now.

FINAL RATING

9.5/10

PHENOMENAL 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is second film in the TMNT reboot series, a series that's been off to a mixed start. The first film had an over-glorification of April O'Neil (played by Megan Fox, a very odd casting choice but not awful), a ridiculously overpowered Shredder, a plot borrowed from The Amazing Spider-Man, and our title characters barely in their own film (just like the Godzilla reboot!). Not mention Michael Bay is attached to this series. Wippie. With all of that resulting in a film that was mediocre but with a very large box office return, the sequel only seemed to be a little bit in trouble. So how did sequel do? The pitchfork and torch club might come after me after I say but, oh well: I enjoyed Out Of The Shadows. A lot. A lot more than I probably should've. Out Of The Shadows is easily the second best turtles film. It's miles upon miles better than first film, with a good plot, an increased role from the turtles, a decreased role from April and Vernon, plenty of classic Turtles references, and overall a load fun, although it does suffer from some of the same problems as the first film.

THE GOOD

Unlike the first film, The Turtles are the main characters of this movie. We finally get a whole movie of them in action, unlike the first film where their barely there. Like last time, the turtles voice cast was stellar. The actors once nail their respective roles. April and Vernon's roles have dramatically reduced, and they are what they should be: supporting characters. Megan Fox, while still not the best choice, did a good job, as well Will Arnett as Vernon, who was once again hilarious. Stephen Armell did a great job as Casey Jones, even if this version a character is a bit different from the one in the comics and TV series. Brain Tee did a great job as The Shredder, who this time wasn't ridiculously overpowered like he was in the first film. Sheamus and Gary Anthony Williams STOLE THE SHOW as Bebop and Rocksteady. Those two nailed their roles. They were absolutely hilarious. Tyler Perry was also good as Baxter Stockman. The Shellraiser (or the Battleshell, it's never exactly stated what the Turtle's van is called here) was incredible. I loved every second of the chase scene. The Technodrome looked absolutely amazing, and final battle scene between the Turtles and the Kraang was amazing. Loved every second of that as well. I also loved the film's plot, and how it deals with the Turtles struggle to deal with who they are and how it affects them as a team. But aside from the seriousness, oh boy this film fun. It's jokes land and every battle scene always got me super excited. The classic Turtle references were also great as well.

THE BAD

Despite being a vast improvement over the first film, Out Of The Shadows still suffers from some of the same problems. Such as there still being many plot holes. Karai was beaten so ridiculously easy, when she's known to put up more than fight. The Shredder never did any direct fighting, which to me was disappointing, because seeing a more evenly matched Turtles and Shredder fight would've been great. Also when Chief Vincent says that they don't have to hide anymore since the saved the city, that was facepalm. It still doesn't matter if they saved city, the public's still not going to accept them.

FINAL THOUGHTS 

Out Of The Shadows stomps the first film in almost every single possible way. It's a load fun and action packed compete with a more developed story, better direction, stellar voice work, great work from the cast, reduced roles from April and Vernon, and overall  this film doesn't really feel like a Michael Bay film this time around aside from the explosions (neither of the films in this series were directed by Bay but the first one still felt like one). There's plenty here that Turtles fans and audiences will love here.

FINAL RATING

7.5/10

GOOD

Hardcore Henry is an action film that's shot entirely from a first-person perspective. For staff member Chris's birthday party this year, we all went to see it. Hardcore Henry seems to the first action movie of it's kind, a film that's shot entirely in first person. Even though the format is undeniably cool and fueled with action with some comedy thrown in, those don't really make up for the fact that the movie doesn't actually have a plot.

THE GOOD

Suicide Squad is the third and latest installment in the DC Extended Universe, a cinematic universe that can't seem to catch a break this year, or really since it's conception. After a small incident called Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice occurred back in March, Suicide Squad seemed to be the last hope for the DCEU to stop digging itself even further into the ground. Compared to Dawn Of Justice, Suicide Squad looked to a fun alternative to the disaster we saw back in March. However, with the many shake-up's in Warner and DC in the aftermath of Dawn Of Justice, Suicide Squad was effected. So, flash forward to now. Is Suicide Squad the saving grace the DCEU needs to stop itself from continuing to be a cinematic universe of mediocrity? Well, yes and no. Suicide Squad is by far the best film in DCEU, but that's still not saying a lot. Suicide Squad was a disappointment, and similar to the previous entry, one hell of a mess but nowhere the mess Dawn Of Justice was. Despite it's phenomenal acting, it's great soundtrack, and being entertaining as hell, the film lacks in the plot department, it's awful editing, deceptive marketing, and limited appearance Joker despite being overhyped by the film's marketing campaign.

THE GOOD 

The acting in the film was fantastic. Will Smith was great as Deadshot, Viola Davis was badass as Amanda Waller as well as Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg. Margot Robbie was phenomenal as Harley Quinn. It was unbelievable how good she was. She nailed every aspect of character. I can't wait to see more of her in future films. Jared Leto was amazing as the Joker and proved himself to be a worthy successor to the late Heath Ledger. It's shame many of his scenes were cut out of the film. I can't wait to him in more films as well. Jai Courtney was hilarious as Captain Boomerang, as well as Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc (although I thought his CG was awful). Jay Hernandez was great as El Diablo. All of Batman's scenes was GREAT. Ben Affleck proves once again to be a phenomenal Batman. I loved Flash's cameo as well, which actually came as a surprise to be as I thought it was only a rumor that he was in the film. After seeing the Justice Leauge trailer, I think Ezra Miller's going to be a great Flash. And we finally have DCEU film that doesn't have an unnecessary darky, gloomy, and humorless tone. Suicide Squad at times can be hilarious and for the first time in the DCEU, the jokes land. The tone of Suicide Squad is a nice change of pace from the previous installments. Despite it's problems, Suicide Squad is still incredibly entertaining and fun where it's needed (however it's not fun all the way through). On a side note, the soundtrack for the film was great. I love twenty one pilots's "Heathens", Skrillex & Rick Ross's "Purple Lamborghini", and Panic! At The Disco's cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

THE BAD

The plot for the film is rather weak and nothing really that special.  The film starts off strong in the first act but fizzes out by the second act. The film's editing as awful and cuts at the worst times and completely screws up the plot and plays music in scenes where the song doesn't really fit. The releastionship between the Joker and Harley Quinn was off putting here. Since when did the Joker start caring about Harley? Since when as he actually been in love with her? The releastionship between the Joker and Harley Quinn as orgininated in Batman: The Animated Series is that Harley is is in love and obsessed with the Joker. The Joker doesn't care about her and simply uses her for his schemes and is often abusive towards her. Now, no one really wants to see that last part on screen, but the Joker isn't in love with Harley and never has been. On an additional note, why the hell does Harley still have a phone to communicate with the Joker? You'd figure the police would've confiscated that. Speaking of the Joker, he's barely in this film, despite being so hyped up by the film's marketing. He has more screentime in Skrillex and Rick Ross's "Purple Lamborghini" music video than he probably did in the entire film. Jared Leto later on revealed that many of his scenes were cut from the film, which is a shame considering how great his Joker is. Killer Croc's CG was awful, but it doesn't take too much away from the character as I still found him funny. One of the main problems with the film is how much they under use the team members. The only team members who seem to be of any use are Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and eventually El Diablo. Slipknot is killed after being on screen for less than 30 seconds, while Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, and Katana are only useful for one or more scenes, beyond that there just comic relief (except Katana).

Enchantress was an awful villain who couldn't stop doing the twist and shimmy everytime she spoke. An element of Dawn Of Justice hit Enchantress here with the "this is hilarious but it's suppose to be serious" scenario. Enchantress doing the shimmy every time she spoke was hilarious. Enchantress's motives are never really explained either. It never explained why her and brother want to wipe out mankind other than the fact that humans don't bow down to them anymore and trapped them in a statue. There's no clear motive. At least in Dawn Of Justice, Lex Luthor had somewhat of a motive to turn Batman and Superman against each other. Enchantress has none. 

One of the worst things about Suicide Squad was it's deceptive marketing. I'm not going to go out and attempt to sue Warner and DC like that one redditor but I do agree, there was a lot of good stuff in the trailers that were cut out from the film. For example, where the hell was that awesome water scene from the trailer ("I'll have water." "That's a good idea honey")? Why was that cut out? As I mentioned earlier, Jared Leto stated many of scenes were cut out from the film. Apparently enough scenes were shot for an entire Joker movie according to Leto (which sounds pretty awesome to me). Why were these cut out? Especially since the film's marketing hype up the Joker so much and made it look like in the trailer that HE was the villain. Remember that scene in the trailer where the squad hears the Joker's laughter, Harley says "Oh no" and Deadshot says "Not good!"? That's nowhere to be found. Now, I kind of get why this was cut out (I mean, why would Harley be scared of The Joker approaching, unless they would've taken influence from Mad Love and have a briefly reformed Dr. Harleen Quinzel) but still. 

The worse thing for me is that Suicide Squad doesn't work as PG-13 film and would've worked a lot better as an R rated film, seeing that this a film about supervillains. With opening scenes of very proactive behavior from Harley Quinn (plus the strip club scene), some of the language I'm surprised you could away with PG-13, and the violence was definitely enough for an R rating. The film was definitely held back by the PG-13 rating and and just couldn't really make it work with the rating. Hey, but maybe we'll get another R-rated ultimate cut, because like with Dawn Of Justice, Suicide Squad needs an extended cut (in fact, Man Of Steel probably could've used one too). I see this becoming a trend in the DCEU and that's not a good thing. It shows you that DC and Warner can't get the film right the first time, and even the ultimate cut still doesn't entirely make things better (I heard the ultimate edition of Dawn Of Justice only fixes half of the film's problems).

FINAL THOUGHTS

Although Suicide Squad was disappointing and isn't exactly the savior the DCEU needed, I will say the critics are being a little too harsh on the film. As I said earlier, it's the best film in the DCEU, it's miles upon miles better than Dawn Of Justice, and it's not bad enough to join the list of the worst superhero movies of all time list, but it's still not a good film. It's not abysmal like how critics are describing it as but it's not good. Like with Dawn Of Justice, there's a good movie somewhere in there. You just have dig past the very noticeable studio interference, awful editing, and the weak story to find it. Unlike Dawn Of Justice, I do see myself watching Suicide Squad again, but as something on TV when nothing else is on or picking it up on DVD when it's on sale. *Sigh*. Well Wonder Woman, it's up to you. Save. This. Cinematic. Universe. I really don't want sit through another DC film that's a rushed attempt to compete with Marvel with the ending result of a film that's either awful, mediocre, or merely OK. But anyway, can't wait for that extended ultimate cut DC, because it's bound to happen at this point. Let's hope that can actually fix this film. Or only fix half of it's problems. Get it together you guys. 

FINAL RATING

6.5/10

OK

Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice is the second film in the DC Extended Universe, and I don't even know where to begin on this one. First things first, I should probably state that I'm Marvel fan. It's what I grew up with and I've always loved their characters more. However, I don't hate DC at all. I'm a huge fan of the DC Animated Universe (or the Timmverse or Diniverse as some call it) as well variety of their other animated series (Teen Titans, The Batman, Batman: The Brave and The Bold, Young Justice, etc), I've collected a ton of DC Comics, loved Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan's Batman films, the list goes on. I didn't want Batman v. Superman to fail. I was hoping it would be better than Man Of Steel (which, I thought Man Of Steel was OK). Our very own Christian Jusino (the DC officinato of CGYT) was excited to see the film, and managed to solidly convince everyone to give the film a chance and see it. And we did, and I wish we didn't. Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice was shockingly bad. Now, Batman v. Superman isn't worthy of joining the list of the worst comic book movies of all time. Anyone who places on a list next to Schumacher's Batman films, Catwoman, Supergirl, Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, FAN4STIC, etc. is insane. But it's still not a good film. Batman v. Superman is one hell of a mess complete with an incoherent plot, a unnecessary dark, gloomy, and humorless tone, a complete misunderstanding of our two title heroes.

THE GOOD

Ben Affleck proved everyone wrong with his portrayal of Batman. Affleck is the best Batman we've ever seen on screen. Almost everything about Affleck's Batman was great. His Bruce Wayne felt like Bruce Wayne. Henry Cavill once again was great as Superman. Gal Gadot was phenomenal as Wonder Woman (even though she spends nearly the entire movie as Diana Prince). Jeremy Iron's is the best Alfred we've seen on screen, and it's a shame he didn't get enough screentime. The visual effects in the film were undeniably stellar . If there's one thing Synder can deliver, it's the visual effects. Every scene with Batman fighting was spectacular. The new Batmobile is badass. The entire car chase scene was absolutely stunning. The plot regarding the mass public indifference view on Superman, I thought was a good idea, but would've been executed a lot better if we're just a sequel to Man Of Steel. I enjoyed the scenes in the Daily Planet as well as Clark Kent trying to convince Perry White that they should be covering Batman instead of just focusing on local news. I also enjoyed the banter between Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne (until Lex Luthor showed up). The fight between Batman and Superman, while short was awesome. See the two duke it out on screen was stunning. The fight sequence between Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman taking on Doomsday was fantastic as well (despite Doomsday's bad CGI).

THE BAD

Oh boy. Where do I begin. The entire first half of the movie is complete garbage. The pacing is awful and there is absolutely no plot progression. Nothing happens. The overall plot is completely incoherent. It constantly bounces from sub-plot to sub-plot and constantly leaves you confused. Jesse Eisenberg was awful as Lex Luthor. I don't care if he was Lex himself or Lex's son, he was infuriatingly awful. I'm not saying Jesse Eisenberg is a bad actor but dear god was that a miscast on DC and Warner's part. Every scene Lex was in I just wanted to be over immediately. Once again, the unnecessary dark, gloomy, humorless tone that plagued Man Of Steel is back for Batman v. Superman. And once again, it just doesn't work for our lead characters. It still doesn't work for Superman, nor does it work for Wonder Woman. The only character it works for is Batman, because he's a dark character. Now there are some jokes in the movie but they either don't land or only worth half a chuckle. And there's parts of the film that's suppose to completely serious but end up being absolutely hilarious. Yes, I'm talking about the Martha scene. We all cracked up upon seeing that.  DC fans will not hear the end of the scene for a very long time, no matter how much they try and defend it. Doomsday (although the battle is pretty awesome) could've been cut entirely and his CG was awful. He didn't need to be here. Remember when I said earlier about how the public indifference view on Superman would've a great idea if was executed properly? This storyline would've been great if Dawn Of Justice was a sole sequel to Man Of Steel and not crammed in with three other storylines. The movies drags on at times and feels like it has multiple endings. Every time you think the movie is going to end, there's another scene. Also the Justice Leauge is set up through an email. With everyone's logos on the attachments. Nuff said. 

One of the biggest problems with Dawn Of Justice was the misunderstanding of the two title characters. Superman, the man who once stood for hope and optimism, is a complete dick in this movie, which was why I was all for Batman just killing him. Superman constantly mopes arounds and complains about his job as if it were a chore and constantly wonders why he even bothers to continue on. That doesn't sound like Superman. On top of being a dick, Superman is also a gigantic hypocrite in this movie. He threatens Batman to hang it up because he disapproves of his dark brand of justice and criticizes him for collateral damage he causes. Let's not forget Superman obliterated his entire city at the end of Man Of Steel. As for Batman, he kills. A lot. Let's stop right here. We all know Batman has a famous no killing policy. Yes it been broken before? Yes. Has he killed in other movies before? Yes. But it's never been on this large of a scale before. Dream sequence or not, he was gunning people down. I get that the DCEU Batman is based of Frank Miller's version where he's supposed be more violent, but this leads to many unanswered questions. Such as if Batman is killing criminals, then why the hell is the Joker still alive? Or really any of his villains. In a further action out of character, Batman doesn't really attempt to find out what Superman is actually about, he immediately goes by the idiotic logic that "If there's even a 1% chance he's our enemy, we have to take it as an absolute certainty" and attempts to take on Superman, and believes that 1% chance of Superman plotting against the earth. That scene where the two first meet, could've been them talking things out, attempting to find out what they're both about, but no. It wouldn't really be Batman v. Superman then unless that scene ended in an argument between the two (which also could've worked).

The biggest downfall of Dawn Of Justice was the fact that this was a massive catch-up movie, which is why the Justice Leauge is set up through an email and this movie bites off a lot more than can chew. The problem with DC is that they're trying so hard to catch up with Marvel that they're not putting quality in their films. Batman v. Superman could've easily been two or three films but instead in was crammed into one in an attempt to get to Justice Leauge faster. I don't why DC is so concerned with catching up with Marvel. They're five years ahead and 13 films deep. It's going to be a while before DC actually catches up to Marvel. By efficiently overloading the movies just to try to get to where they are is foolish on their end, which is Dawn Of Justice was so bad. DC fans can say all they want about how they can't copy Marvel's format of having standalone movies first building up to a team up film. This is the only way for a successful cinematic universe that doesn't feel rushed. DC needs to go back to their mentality back in the early 2000's, where they weren't concerned with competing with Marvel, but putting out a good film for their fans and themselves after the survived suicide attempt that was Batman & Robin, which is a reason why Nolan's trilogy prevailed. He wasn't concerned with what Marvel was doing at the time. I don't care how long it takes, as long as we get a good movie in the end like with Nolan's trilogy, I'd be fine. But not a rushed attempt to catch up and compete with Marvel.

Batman: The Killing Joke is the latest entry in the DC Universe Animated Originals series. It's an adaptation of Alan Moore's famous graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke. The hype for this film was real. With The Killing Joke's leacy, Kevin Conroy back as the Bat and Mark Hamill stepping out his Joker retirement to voice the clown prince of crime in this adaption, all on top of an R rating. So much hype that Warner Bros. teamed up with Fathom Events for a one night only theater screening. Staff member Chris and I went to this screening at our Carmike (first Fathom event either of us has ever been to). I was excited to see this famous graphic novel adapted to the big screen, excited to to one night show for really any special film, and also it's nice to see a 2D animated feature on the big screen. There's a lot of backlash against the film currently for the added prologue and a scene in that prologue but does that really destroy the entire film? Batman: The Killing Joke is a great film with or without the prologue. It's action packed, it's jokes land, beautifully animated, and stellar voice work from the actors.

THE GOOD

In my opinion, the prologue is no where near as bad as how people are describing it online. I enjoyed the added on opening story with Paris Franz, the nephew of one of the biggest crime lords in Gotham Francesco Franz, who has an obsession with Batgirl. Was it necessary? No, but I still enjoyed it. This part of film didn't destroy the entire film for me. As for the second half of the film, it is a beat for beat take of the graphic novel. The faithfulness the the graphic novel is absolutely stunning. The animation was great and once again the voice work from the actors were stellar. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill kill it as always as Batman and the Joker. Tara Strong was great as Batgirl, as was John DiMaggio, Ray Wise, etc.

THE BAD

Despite enjoying the first half, it adds nothing to graphic novel portion of the film, and was unnecessary. It also doesn't exactly blend well the actual Killing Joke portion of the film. It feels like a completely seperate film (a film that could've been great for another DCAU/Batman: The Animated Series film, still for the older audience though). And yeah, the sex scene was unnecessary. Didn't need to be there. 

As a side note, the main controversy surrounds the releastionship between Batman and Batgirl. I feel like a lot people are acting a romantic releastionship between the two has never happened before. It has. In the DCAU (DC Animated Universe, also known as the Timmverse or the Diniverse), the two had a romantic releastionship later on. It's talked about in Batman Beyond, and there's a scene in Batman: Mystery Of The Batwoman that implies their releastionship, which is why I said earlier this first half if expanded would've been great for the DCAU. Now, this is just one universe, and in the comics the two share a father/daughter relationship, but let's not keep pretending that this has never happened before.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Killing Joke isn't the best entry in the DC Universe Animated Originals series (Batman: Under The Red Hood is the best one in my opinion) and this a still a great adaption despite its prologue not meshing well with the adaption. But it's still a damn good Batman flick and I encourage you to all see it. I hope DC teams up with Fathom more often in the future. DC also seriously needs to get some of their animation writers behind their live actions. It's would probably improve the DCEU a whole lot.

FINAL RATING