James' Movie Blog

  The Spider-Man universe is a vast and complex multiverse full of opportunities. With this in mind, it does open up the possibilities for many other characters to shine on through. One of these is the mysterious Madame Web, a woman with super telekinesis and can see variations on the future. So, with the massive success of the prior Spider-Man films from Marvel, it would only make sense that the character would soon follow. And the result is, it's fine. “Madame Web” is the most fine interpretation of a Spider-Man character to date. Does it have problems? Of course it does. But with the stuff that's good, is good on its own accord. “Madame Web” tries to breath new life into a big universe concerning the Spider-Man universe, but it just comes off as a tangled mess. Set in New York, the story focuses on Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), a paramedic who has a near fatal accident, and can now view visions of the future. However, these little visions come at a cost: it more often th...

  Bees are an integral part of our world; without them, planet Earth would not flourish. They are fighters, for sure. But what happens when you use the bee metaphor in the case or real world scenarios? You would get the feature film “The Beekeeper”, an action film starring Jason Statham, written by Kurt Wimmer, and directed by David Ayer. The movie enjoys itself with its copious amounts of action in its hour and forty five minute runtime. Although, the film does have some issues that are quite noticeable, they do not hinder the overall experience whatsoever. “The Beekeeper” is an interesting concept with its title, and a decent action film that grabs your attention to the very end. The story centers on a man named Adam Clay (Statham), who enjoys taking care of bees for an elderly lady. One day, the woman gets scammed and commits suicide, leaving Adam all alone. But he's not alone. It turns out that Adam is what's known as a Beekeeper: a special forces agent that is tasked on f...

  Superheroes are usually meant for an older audience. But aiming for a much younger crowd, can be achieved, under the right circumstances. In fact, take a look at 2004's “The Incredibles”, a superhero feature that caters to both adults and kids at the same time. Naturally, many other studios wanted to cash in on this type of success, and thus, Sony tried their hardest to make a superhero feature called “Zoom” in the year 2006. The key word being tried. Because, what ultimately happened was that this movie failed miserably, both at the box office, and with the critics. Is this statement true? Why, yes, yes it is. “Zoom” is an absolute failure from start to finish. From awful acting, poor pacing, and worst of all, a bad script that is based on a book, “Zoom” doesn't work in any kind of sense. There is nothing redeemable that makes it good; this is easily one of the worst superhero films of all time. Whatever Sony was thinking to turn this into a franchise, “Zoom” just wasn't...

  In the 1960s, the Walt Disney company was trying to experiment with a lot of things. One of these projects was cutting down on their animation, and thanks to the xerography process, it made their 1961 feature “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” easier to animate. And while the animation is good for that film, it's not what people remember. What people do remember about that film is the villain: Cruella de Vil. And Disney took notice. The company managed to take the central image of that character, and make it one of the key selling points of the movie. And, naturally, Disney experimented by turning the character into live action. In 1996, they tried with somewhat disastrous results, but now, we have a full-blown movie dedicated to the character. So, how does “Cruella” stand out? It's good. Not great, but good enough to watch on the big screen. True, there are some moments that don't add up, but as a whole, the movie is quite good. “Cruella” is an interesting character study,...

When it comes to action films, one usually thinks of big explosions and lots of violent content from the United States of America. But not from Russia, where one would believe that a violent action movie can take place. Enter “Hardcore Henry”, a Russian production with an interesting twist: the whole thing is shot like a video game. More specifically, from a first person view. While the story, as well as some characters tend to fall off the radar, the action is definitely there. “Hardcore Henry” may be a stupid film, as well as a big gimmick with its concept, but one cannot deny that one will definitely have fun while watching the flick. The story has a man waking up in a lab, and learning that he has been genetically modified to become a cyborg. This man is named Henry, and he has no clue as to what's going on. Before Henry can get his voice recognized, the bad guys come in; Henry escapes and is on the run in Moscow. Henry then meets up with Jimmy (Sharlto Copley) who tel...

In the 1990s, there was a popular show called 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers', that was loosely based on a larger Japanese TV superhero genre that was going on at the time. However, in America, the show that we got was basically Japanese footage of powerful ninjas in colorful costumes fighting guys in rubber suits, and it ended with a giant robot killing a menacing monster. All of this was spliced together with an American teen high school comedy. Needless to say, the show became a huge hit, and a franchise was born that has lasted to this day. Now, while the show has seen many interpretations over the years, everyone knows what a Power Ranger is: A group of costumed teenagers fighting against the powers of evil. So much so, that Hollywood has tried making big screen adaptations, twice, with very mixed results from the critics and cult following from the fans. And now, Hollywood is trying to do the same thing again; this time having its own movie called “Power Rangers”....

It seems like the whole world has gone crazy. And what better way to get rid of craziness, then go to the movies? Movies are, in my opinion, a chance to escape from the horrors of the real world, and embrace a world of fiction and make believe. Unfortunately, “The Hunt” released through Universal and Blumhouse, is not one of those movies were the chance of escapism is present. There are some moments in the film that do stand out, but the main critical problem of the movie is that it doesn't know what side to choose. The film has a loose political agenda, but it is not executed well. While “The Hunt” does deliver some solid, and decent action, as well as some good humor, it falls short on what it's trying to accomplish in the long run. The story has a group of individuals waking up in a deserted area, having no idea of where they are. Upon opening a crate, they are rewarded with weapons, not knowing on how to use them. Suddenly, shots are ringing out, and they are now b...