May Recommendation: The Mask of Zorro

 

                                I know that I've said many things about how horrible the summer movie season has been for quite some time but, with my latest May Recommendation this year I now need to add more reasons as to how the summer movie season has gone down the crapper. A lot of people don't remember Zorro, for which I can't blame them because of how young and naïve they are, so I'll give a short brief history, Zorro was created in the early 20th century and was a bit of mix of both western style of cowboy and swashbuckler (basically a 18th century Batman), he's been portrayed a lot in the earlier films and TV shows by some famous actors but the way I remembered Zorro was from a 90's TV show that I'd sometimes watch at my step-grandmother's house, as a kid I heard about this film coming out I was excited but wasn't allowed to watch it for many reasons, though forced to watch it via cable TV. And through the years the movie itself seems forgotten to me until I was reminded through the old trailers on YouTube and realized I need to re-watch this movie and this amazing moreover brought a smile to my face.

                                After being imprisoned for 20 years, Zorro aka Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins) receives word that his old enemy, Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson), has returned. Don Diego and trains an aimless drunk Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas) to be his successor. Meanwhile, Montero who has secretly raised Diego's daughter (Catherine Zeta-Jones), as his own, hatches a plot to rob California of its gold.

                                I will say there's a huge difference between movies that came out in the 90's to now and granted there were a lot of duds in the nineties but there was at least a variety of some great summer movies to watch that were not all just remakes, sequels and Disney superhero movies and animated movies that look so overrated. With summer movies between 2020 and now there's just only one film worth seeing and the others are just pure crap and the way I can tell is through the trailer and knowing that every movie is nothing but remakes, superheroes and animated films that are again overrated. Though yes, The Mask of Zorro is an essentially a remake to the past Zorro films but what separates this amazing film from the rest is predecessors, is that it pays tribute to the swashbuckling films from the past furthermore the action sequences were more exciting to watch, and you really can't take your eyes off the screen, they were just so exciting compared to like the Princess Bride for example. But what also makes the film great is that for a two hour and sixteen-minute movie, the story itself goes from point A to point B and point C, in a quick but right pace and doesn't fool around with extending so much of the scenes. I can't really go on with talking about the actors if I don't give some great nods to the legendary sword master Bob Anderson, and for a lot of those who haven't heard of him he started out as an Olympic swordsman in the 1950's then later fought Errol Flynn in a film and after that he began his film career as a sword master in great films like the Star Wars Trilogy (he also was Darth Vader in the lightsaber fights), Lord of the Rings Trilogy as well as the original Highlander, The Princess Bride, the first Pirates of the Caribbean for which leads us to the Mask of Zorro. And upon my research I thought it was interesting that he trained his actors rigorously as well as Antonio Banderas who trained him for ten hours a day for two months, along with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones. And the fact that he passed away ten years ago, really brings a tear to my heart because Anderson was the true soul behind the swashbuckling genre. No question director Martin Campbell does a fantastic job with action movies for which is why he directed this great film via Goldeneye as well as Casino Royale but the most important director we should also talk about, is Robert Rodriguez who I had no clue was intended to direct Mask of Zorro before he dropped out and Martin Campbell took over, but what made his part so important was that he was responsible in casting his fellow movie star Antonio Banderas as the lead role as Zorro. Speaking of the lead actor we should star with talking about Antonio Banderas, as a teenager I've always remembered him as El Mariachi in Robert Rodriguez's movies Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico but no question his best performance without a doubt is Zorro and to be truthful and honest there will never be an actor like that can portray Zorro like Banderas did. What's awesome about Sir Anthony Hopkins as an actor and the respect you have for him was that through the course of his movie career towards 98, he was always known for his dramatic roles but when he took this role, he was enthusiastic in wanting to do an action movie like this. The other thing in what makes this movie awesome is that they do a great job in disguising some the supporting actors who are portraying 19th century Californian noblemen, like Hopkins does a fantastic job with acquiring the accent but the great casting, was Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie who is yes is technically from England (mostly Wales) but as presence on screen and her ability to have her character be a strong woman and not a typical damsel in distress, she was really exceptional at that. The other most important part to what makes a great action/adventure movie is that you have the perfect villains in the movie for which you despise the moment you lay eyes on them furthermore get to know them more once you close to the mid and final acts of the film, and both actors Stuart Wilson and Matt Letscher do such a fantastic job playing bad guys that you do not like the moment you lay eyes on them and these two need some good recommendation for their performances. I will mark this movie as one of the greatest summer movies of all time and truly one of the most exciting movies I've ever seen. Moreover, if you ever want to know what makes a great action movie this is one of the many great examples of what you need to put out when it comes for the summer movie season. Great movie from start to finish, and of course would recommend this to everyone and most importantly if you ever want to distract your kids from any movies that are coming out now this would be a great choice to have your kids watch.

        

                                        

I Know and Still Know What You Did Last Summer

 

                            If you ever wanted to take a trip down 90's memory lane, we’ll have I got just the movies for you. In all honesty I can't go into details as to why, I decided to watch these two movies but to be truthful it's kind of hilarious re-watching these movies and know just how awful they are at that same time. So, the title of this review is I know and still know what you did last summer, because I don't feel like wanting to do separate reviews and talk about each topic so I'm going to squeeze both movies together to save much of my sanity. As far as I can remember I believe it was the second film that I was introduced too and I knew that I wouldn't watch these films but as fate would have it, or a strange way of fate I picked up the book to I Know What you did Last Summer and then my Mom allowed me to watch it, but then as time went on the film itself really got lost in the mix until now, for which I have so many questions in terms of choices and why they would make these choices for the movie, despite the fact that this film was already made.

                            To sum up the movies is basically this, the first film a group of friend’s sorts of kill someone and to avoid going to the police they decide to get rid of the body, but for some bizarre reasons the guy wasn't dead but instead of not going to the police and tell them that a group of kids ran him over, thought that he was dead then decided to put me in the water. He decides to haunt them and stalk them I guess till he picked the right time to kill them, for which really, I don't get it either but unfortunately the second film doesn't really add up either because they won a trip to the ruff parts of the Bahamas and the same lunacy repeats itself. 

                            In fairness these movies were created at the time of Scream's success of the teen slasher genre, unfortunately it really didn't capture the success of what Scream had they honesty just try to make a teen slasher film that really doesn't make sense on its own. The only difference these two movies have is that the first film you can see the potential in trying to fix this film despite it being made and turning it into a good movie while the second movie I don't know why they needed to make a sequel. I think the main problem of what I have with the first movie is that, the four kids kill the guy who would soon to be the killer that stalks him, but what doesn't make sense to me is why he couldn't just go to the police after being dumped in the shore side of the ocean and report to the police and say that these four kids ran me over, thought that I was dead then proceeded to throw me in the shore side of the ocean, but no he decides to stalk them furthermore make them believe that he was someone else. For which doesn't make any sense at all, I mean wouldn't it make more sense that he had a son? And when the son found out that his father died, he goes on this revenge mission and seeks out the four teens and punishes them, for which yeah at the time people who made this film were too afraid to blame teenagers but now it’s really doesn't age well. Now re-watching these two films I will have to admit that Jennifer Love Hewitt was still gorgeous in these movies and sure she was kind of representing a Neve Campbell look alike but what she always was the girl next door for me in ways I can't explain. When you make a scary movie like spoof the worst thing you can do is try to make the dialogue and scares be funny, what makes films like I know what you did last summer great is that its deliberately trying to be scary, and the best way I can explain why these two films are a guilty pleasure is to present a top five reasons why. The first of course was storyline as we already pointed out in the first film, but when we get to like the second film they get this bizarre prank call for which we in a sense don't know at that time but we can tell just because they got the answer wrong furthermore won a trip to the Bahamas, for which I can understand that maybe in the late 90's you can make prank calls mainly because the answering machine maybe, well yeah they were invented but I guess Brandy and Jenny couldn't afford one, either way I'm still wondering how the killer could get the tickets for them, but in the end who knows. The acting is well meh, but really the stand out actors when it comes to playing douche bags is both Ryan Phillipe and well actually Ryan Phillipe was actually the best actor to play a douche bag in the first movie sure I could comment Mekhi Phifer as well but it’s nothing compared to Phillipe playing a huge douche in the late 90's I mean that man was every 90's douche that you can't stomach nor cared if he lived or died and really after watching the first film I couldn't stop laughing at how desperate he was trying to act as playing so schmuck-ish. I was surprised with some actors in each of the movies especially Johnny Galecki aka Dr. Leonard Hofstadter (I'll let you do the math) for which I was a little on the surprised side because I didn't expect him to be in this movie, in fairness because he was so famous for that one role you just forget his past work that he did. The other actor I had in OMG face brewing, and this was the second film, and that certain actor was Jack Black who posed as a pot smoker with a Jamaican hair wig that looked so horrible even, I couldn't stop laughing at. The third thing in what makes these films so laughable is the jump scares and honestly I don't know if they were trying to be scary or being funny because some of these jump scares are like the killer is obviously trying to mess with his victims by making them think their crazy, is really on the one percent scale of not so scary at all to then being so confused of how he cleans up the mess in such a hurry, and most importantly I strongly doubt a fisherman's hook can cut through locks of hair, sorry not sorry I just can't believe that to ever happen especially in this decade, I should also point out that a killer walking while chasing their victims is defiantly not in the realm of scary, sure it was fine in the 1978 Halloween movie but this is the late 90's lets kick it up a notch, for f**k's sake Wes Craven's ghost face killer was always running into something and we can believe that to be scary because how else are you going to avoid a psycho killer. Now we can talk about logic but I'm starting to have my brain feel like a fried egg, so I'm going to quickly explain it in the best way possible, and for starters let’s start it off with the killer in the movie at the time I would say that yeah, a guy dressed up in fisherman's rain gear with a hook for a murder weapon would be a little on the scary side almost like the ghost face killer where it's not in a sense scary but once he starts running after you yeah that's horrifying, but the fact that the killer looks like an angry New York Islanders fan (look up retro Islanders logo) just seems a bit on the I wouldn't be so scared but if he attacked me I'd grab the pump shotgun and blow him away till there's not ammo type scared. Also I just don't see anything intimidating with a captain hook for a weapon especially when your cutting someone's hair just to for scares, even when Hewitt discovers a bodies and then seconds later after she leaves their not there moreover the spot is very clean, almost causes my brain to melt because really if I'm a killer and leaving body's around to scare people and then having the limited time to clean all of that shit up before coming back I just can't wrap around that concept, hell I would of have to be close by and then open the trunk get all of that s**t out moreover leave it niece and clean uh, that's just way to much work. And finally the reveal of both the killer and his son kind of bothers me because really and keep in mind that we talked about this earlier but I really find it odd that the villain of the whole movie was a man that indeed got ran over by the kids, who was yes banged up in terms of injuries then gets dumped near the shore lines of the ocean but yet mysteriously gets out, BUT DOESN'T GO TO THE HOSPITAL AND GET TREATMENT FOR HIS INJURIES THEN PROCEEDS TO CALL THE POLICE ABOUT THE FOUR KIDS? NOW PLEASE SOMEONE STOP ME FROM ESPLAINING THIS EVEN FURTHER BECAUSE NOW I'M FEELING LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS. And I'm not going to any further details about his kid because just thinking about it is hurting my brain so will just leave it at that. In a strong sense we can see the potential of the first I know what you did last summer movie to be a good success if you just change some minor details it can be better even though it's already been made, the sequel not so much because I really don't know how the producers were able to look at this and think that this was passible hell, I would look at the script and say "Didn't we say all we needed to say about I know what you did last summer? Must we make a sequel?" I sometimes feel like movie producers are like wall street brokers sure one steals money and ruin lives, while the other makes movies and dreams become reality, but deep down I feel like they're both on drugs in order to make these kinds of movies happen. Yes these movies are a train wreck but they’re a good train wreck and I would defiantly recommend it for s**t's and giggles although I would hold off on buying these movie and say if it’s on a streaming service and its free I would watch them, also I believe the two movies are about to leave by the end of this month on Netflix so, yeah just wait, just wait it's truly not a huge rush.   

     

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

 

                             Well believe it ladies and gentlemen the impossible has happened, I'm officially bored of Superhero films. And after watching one of the Phase Four of the MCU films it just confirmed everything I feel when it comes to everything, I know of Superhero films now, and this is gapping the films from after Avengers: Endgame to the present. To be brutally honest it’s kind of ironic how the sequel to Doctor Strange is entitled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where my Multiverse of Madness is watching every predictable movie with its clichés then hearing everyone in the whole world complain about the politics running this country even though it’s really the social media that's being responsible for everyone's stupidity. Now if you don't get that whole concept, KILL YOURSELF. So, let’s get right into Doctor Strange. 

                            Dr. Steven Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) casts a forbidden spell that opens a portal to the Multiverse. However, a threat emerges that maybe too for his allies to handle.

                            I can admit that yeah after Avengers Endgame, I wasn't all interested with any of upcoming MCU after Endgame but to be honest I didn't realize how insanely bad it was going to be while after seeing the first two episodes of WandaVision then I slowly began to realize that I now, am officially bored of watching Superhero films. For many reasons why, is basically when you see one great superhero film you've seen them all and to be truthful there really aren't any of the remaining Avenger's that I cared for over the years’ worth caring for. Though yeah there was a recent Black Widow movie with Scar Jo and Jeromy Renner had his own Hawkeye series but, in all honesty, I wasn't all interested with the latest Black Widow movie mainly because she died and this was set after the events of Civil War so it had nothing to do with anything and Hawkeye well, I'm just going to say that I'm lazy and there's so much to watch on TV.  Now granted I do like Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange and as always he does a great job playing the Sorcerer/Martial Arts Master and to be brutally honest the actors in the film really have nothing to do with it being insanely boring and stupid at the same time, it's really the writer Michael Waldron and director Sam Rami who are responsible for making this film so obnoxiously bad, and will start off with Waldron whom I've never heard of until I looked him up and saw the he created the Marvel Show Loki (convenient) but he also written an episode from Rick and Morty, for which now after hearing this I would think this guy should of stayed a bit longer on Rick and Morty to hone his craft a bit more because what he just written for this sequel to Doctor Strange Multiverse adventures wasn't all impressive and obviously this was written but also looked over the shoulder by high powered producers so we can also put that in as a reason for the film's badness but furthermore you can introduce characters and surprised guest stars in the movie (for which I'm going to spoil it, John Krasinski is Mr. Fantastic and Patrick Stewart reprise's his role as Professor X, AGAIN) but I still wouldn't care so much for them because I was never interested with them to begin with, also having Patrick Stewart reappearing as Charles Xavier is bad/lazy writing. And here's one of the many reasons why Marvel is just unoriginal when it comes to creating their own universe because DC Comics who has Infinite Earths in their world, so did the publishers at Marvel when they heard about that, was like well shit we need to create our universe too, which explains a lot if that's the case because I'm reaching the conclusion that Marvel just likes being lazy when it comes to creating superhero's. In all honesty, I don't think Sam Rami did anything new with the movie either though he claims he used a lot of horror elements with the film but I'm sorry I can see the jump scares come a mile away and they weren't even scary it's like trying to scare me with Evil Dead effects, and let’s not forget that this was the same guy who directed two really good Spider-Man films but then half assed the final installment so, deep down the man really lost his way when it comes to making a good quality superhero film. Deep down I would say honestly that all my years of training have led to this breaking point of finally getting sick of anything Superhero-ish, because there all the same nothing's new and exciting anymore furthermore it just gets way to predictable when you've seen so many Superhero films you begin to realize that not even the studios are trying anything new anymore. But, in truth if your kids are still into the Marvel Cinematic Universe don't stop them from going but as a grown man's perspective, I have to say I'm officially tired of all things Superhero. 

  

Mother's Day Recommendation: A League of their Own

 

                                            I know that we're passed Mother's Day but honestly the movie I picked for my recommendation for Mother's Day was in all fairness a test of my movie watching experience. For many reasons it's been a long time since I've watched this movie and there were a lot of jokes I remember and now watching it I was like "eh not as funny as I remembered". But then the film itself becomes more interesting when we reach to second and third act and I soon realize that, despite its unnatural flaws the film alone is still a good movie to watch. A League of their Own is one of my mom’s favorite baseball films to watch, and I always remember watching this film as a kid just like Field of Dreams, but unlike Field of Dreams this film has a lot of adult humor that was in a sense funny but then didn't seem all that funny when you haven't seen it a long time. Directed by Penny Marshall who directed such films like Big and The Preachers Wife and is also related to famous (kind of) director Garry Marshall. Also starring Tom Hanks and Geena Davis along with Madonna back when she was much attractive and Rosie O'Donnell who use to be funny? Anyway, lets skip the talking and get right into A League of their Own.

                                           As America's stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall). Competitive sisters Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty) spar with each other, scout Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz) and a grumpy has-been coach Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) on their way to fame. 

                                           A side from the slow first act that it has, the movie itself is still worth seeing especially having kids now to watch this movie as well, because as we all know when it comes to schools, they never teach you anything with history like this. And if I can add any bright side to what makes this film still great, is that it's a lost part of American history that everyone needs to see for the wider audience because this is the only film out there that focuses so much on the Girls Baseball league that helped during the WW II, when some of the famous ballplayers like Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. Now, the last time I watched this I believe I was watching with other people at a lecture discussion class some time maybe 2010, so watching the movie now I slowly began to realize how slow of the first act was and how some of the jokes weren't great as I once remembered them growing up furthermore it also made me realize how awful Jon Lovitz was when it came to comedic actors, granted this guy was a SNL alum but as we all should know SNL actors don't transition well when it comes to movies, example Adam Sandler. And I'm not going to lie getting through Lovitz part was rough to watch, probably another thing to gripe about was Garry Marshall as the so-called founder of the Girls Baseball league who I found is acting bad enough to try and get through for which explains why all of his films were so bad, though he didn't act in his films just made them unwatchable. Some of the comedic jokes I do remember in the movie didn't stand the test of time sure there were some ha-ha moments that were funny but re-watching some of the jokes now just made my water taste funny for some odd reason. Now that being said if you push through the boring part of the first act, the second and third act gets more interesting especially the sister relationship between Geena Davis and Lori Petty and the two of them do such a great job playing a sibling rivalry on the field of Baseball but at the end still love each other, and the same goes with Tom Hanks who at first is overrated in his comedic work in the film but when he gets to his back story and his respect for his players he actually does a fantastic job in his role even when he's trying to persuade Geena Davis character to stay and play baseball. I now, truly understand my mom's love for this movie it’s really at its peak a heartwarming movie from start to finish and does have some adult humor to go along with. So, despite its flaws I still recommend watching A League of their Own and to all youngsters now for some good education on sports history. And in closing I wish everyone a Happy belated Mother’s Day, and to all mothers out there.

           

10 year Anniversary of Pitch Perfect

 

                                While researching films that came out in the year 2012, I began to realize that it was a better year for movies in general and there's a good list to prove it. And our first 10-year Anniversary film is, surprisingly one of the few movies that my sister got me into watching and I actually do thank her for that, but I'm not going to tell her that in person, for many reasons she did force me to watch Twilight in the theaters. I will say after watching this great musical comedy, Pitch Perfect still stands the test of time moreover is you want to know what the statistics are when it comes to making a great female ensemble cast this is one of first of many great examples in what makes a hilarious fun ride. Also, now granted people are going to take offense to this but I would also rank this as one of the top five best musicals.

                               College student Beca (Anna Kendrick) knows she does not want to be part of a clique, but that's where she finds herself after arriving at her new school. Thrust in among mean gals, nice gals, and just plain weird gals, Beca finds that only thing they have in common is how well they sing together. She takes the women of the group out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and into a world of harmonic combinations in a fight to the top of college music coemptions.

                              I would say in all female lead comedies is there sometimes predictable and you can tell where the joke is going at times and they seem less funny, or the actress claim to be funny but when you watch their movies, they honestly don't bring their A game at all. But with this movie and what still makes it great is that there were a lot of things that I never expected to have when it comes to a comedy like this, such as the ridiculous side characters to some of the best one liner and all of that combined it makes it so funny, you can't stop laughing for unexpected reasons. I give a small shout out to Anna Kendrick who does a great job playing a girl who’s always the typical shut out who doesn't get involved with society but in the end turns out to be loving the whole world of Acapella, also I completely forgot how cute she is in the movie too, for which I'm a dude so sue me. Now granted there's a lot of side characters that are amazing in the movie such as Adam DeVine who’s amazing playing a sort of Acapella bro type character for which also has a great scene with Rebel Wilson who I admit steals the entire movie and personally I believe is the reasons why this movie still stands the test of time. Britany Snow, whom I've heard from John Tucker must Die though granted haven't seen I also thought did a great job playing a friend and believer to Kendrick's character for which also does great comedic work when it comes to the two combined. I will say that this hands down is one of the best musicals I've seen and there's really not a whole lot that still stands the test of time but this one is a great comedy from start to finish and in all honesty if your trying to look for movie statistics on what makes a great female lead this film alone is a great example of that, from the great characters and the ridiculous jokes that are still funny especially after ten years of existence. So, please do yourselves a favor and check this great movie out.