Creed

The Rocky movies have had a long and timeless career of bringing peoples’ emotions into the ring and beating the hell out of them. Despite technically being a spin-off, Creed is no different. Expertly directed by Ryan Coogler, Creed is just as worthy to take over the heavy weight boxing superstar franchise as its protagonist Adonis Creed is to take up the mantle of champ from not only the aged Rocky Balboa, but from the memory of his deceased father Apollo Creed.

Creed succeeds in much the same way the original Rocky film did in that not a single second or word is wasted. There isn’t a scrap of fat anywhere. It’s a lean, mean, tight movie that constantly pulls back in on the driving force of Adonis’s saga: creed. Belief. But it isn’t just a simple “believe in yourself” cat poster ideal that Adonis strives towards. This film goes so much deeper than that, exploring the psyche of a young man desperate to grow, succeed, and break past his own self-doubts.

Of course this isn’t just Michael B. Jordan’s show, Sylvester Stallone also returns as a world-weary Rocky Balboa who has his own fight to take on as he steps into the role of mentor for his late rival’s son. I’m happy to see that if he actually tries, Stallone can still be a phenomenal performer and he does indeed knock it right out the park. No joke, this might just be strongest Rocky performance ever put to film. A real palpable melancholy permeates every one of Balboa’s actions and words. His time has come and pass, and now it’s someone else’s time. Jordan and Stallone work very well off each other and I eagerly await them furthering the relationship in whatever sequel they have planned.

Creed is a perfect execution of the passing of the torch that I hope others learn from as we edge further into an era of legacy. 

 Score: A+

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Experimentation can often lead to powerfully triumphant results that no one expected to occur from the outset, while also leading towards results blowing up entirely in your face. All the effort in the world can’t prepare for those truly daring experiments, so sometimes you have to luck your to the end. That is what Rogue One: A Star Wars Story feels like on the whole. Something that took risks, gambled with a franchise bigger than sliced bread, and flew haphazardly by the seat of its pants towards an end result that is somewhat like an elegantly-crafted fork folded in on itself: beautiful to look at and appreciate, but with an ultimately wrong-ended point.

Rogue One takes place in the days leading up to the events of the original Star Wars film, A New Hope. A ragtag team of rebel spies and commandos band together to locate and steal the plans for the Empire’s newest, and painfully un-focus tested, superweapon: the Death Star. It’s an adventure that will span the underbelly of the Galaxy Far, Far Away and will have our new heroes test the limits of their morality, daring, and willingness to die for a desperate cause.

On the whole, director Gareth Edwards’s entry into the franchise hits all the beats any fan of the franchise wants hit. There are lots of little and large callbacks and connections to the original trilogy and the wider universe, every new concept and idea introduced adds to the franchise tapestry without taking any of it away, and there’s blue milk. Because there should always be blue milk. Sometimes this does become uncomfortable, such as when they begin to puppeteer the computer-generated corpse of Peter Cushing around like a dead rat marionette theater, but on the whole it’s all unobtrusive.

The central cast does its part to bring new dimension to this universe, but not that much depth. While a good sense of each character is gained, there isn’t enough time given to any one character to make them a truly fleshed-out individual. Each one does bring his or her own new concept to the table; like the morally-bankrupt rebel spy, the semi-Force sensitive martial artist, or even the put-upon Imperial middle manager, but not much is done to bring these roles to their full potential. We’re left with archetypes that have faint shadows of individuality.

The climax is therefore left lacking a strong emotional punch when your entire main cast consists of strangers you hardly know. But other than that, the final half of Rogue One, compared the first half’s slow burn, is phenomenal. Epic space battles and heated ground combat that rivals any other kind of combat in the genre. This climax does what it can to bring as much emotional catharsis as possible, but without those strong character connections, it doesn’t do much more than offer a parade of sensory spectacle. It’s fine, it all works within itself, but for what this story was trying to be I expected a lot more from it. The movie wanted me to care about these people and their plight, but it doesn't do all that much to make me connected to them as people.

Of course none of these pieces, for better or worse, work on their own. There’s so much left unexplained and cut off from view that it can do nothing but confuse anyone not at least somewhat familiar with lazer swords and the aforementioned blue milk. As a deep fan of this universe, Rogue One drifts uneasily between disappointment and mild enjoyment for me. I truly wanted to love this movie, but the execution just left a lot to be desired.

Score: C

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Harry Potter has become such a monolithic and divisive franchise at this point that it’s difficult for me to come to a solid conclusion on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I have been a fan of the books for most of my life, beginning when my teacher read them to my first grade class. “Nostalgic” doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel about this world. But despite that, I still believe Fantastic Beasts is a universally good movie, if a bit lopsided.

Taking place in 1926, the movie follows the misadventures of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), his non-magical acquaintance Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), disgraced magical cop Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), and her telepathic sister Queenie (Alison Sudol). Scamander is an eccentric, introverted magizoologist (like a regular zoologist, but for magical animals, obviously) from England recently arrived in New York with a mysterious enchanted suitcase and an even more mysterious agenda. He is quickly swept up in the local controversies, all revolving around recent attacks by a mysterious creature that threatens to put the magical and non-magical communities at war with one another, and must navigate the tense American magical landscape in order to save himself, his allies, the city of New York, and his animal companions from harm.

Now. If that sounds a little bit busy and unfocused to you, that’s because it is. Fantastic Beasts has a serious issue with structure. The entire first act consists of set-ups and leads that are so scattered, it’s difficult to piece together exactly why anything we’re seeing is important on any level. Act two and three manage to bring them closer and to a unified end, respectively, but that rocky start did not do the film any favors. Couple that with the fact that movie is unconcerned with explaining anything about this world (it assumes if you’re here, you’re already familiar with Harry Potter to a degree), and you get something that threatens to be nigh-incomprehensible.

There is, however, a key element that manages to save the film from its huge, glaring structural issue: the characters. This is a fun, well-rounded group of people that draw you in with completely relatable personal desires, as well as the brilliant subtleties the actors convey throughout. A stand-out performer is hard to pinpoint, but there are several candidates.

Starting from the top is Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander. Redmayne’s quiet eccentricity is a refreshing change of pace for the usually boisterous eccentric hero we see in this sort of film. And that reserved energy lends itself to allow for a greater sharing of the spotlight. The non-magical Jacob Kowalski played by Dan Fogler threatens to steal every scene he’s in with his lovable nervous enthusiasm at everything magical going on around him. And Katharine Waterson and Alison Sudol both bring in equally enjoyable performances that nicely round out the leading quartet. This is much more of an ensemble piece and the movie benefits greatly from the sharing of character importance.

The effects are nicely implemented, if overdone at times. While you may not totally believe in the creatures themselves, you certainly believe Scamander’s connection to them. Emotional connection and chemistry are a vital part of this movie's DNA and it’s these strong factor that pulls everything together.

Fantastic Beasts may not have been as fantastic as I would have liked, but it still managed to wrap up admirably and provide solid entertainment throughout. Coming from a lifelong fan of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, I was reasonably pleased and patiently await the next chapter in this era of the saga. And I think anyone could be too, to an extent.

Score: B

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange is a brave first step into a much stranger world for Marvel. These movies have, up until this point, been mostly concerned with the realm of super-science and only the occasional tangent into the fantastical. But now we have full-on, uncensored, uncut magic in this world and it is beyond wonder.

Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is one of the world’s most gifted neurosurgeons. Like most god-tier doctors, he’s arrogant, brash, and overly concerned with his own reputation. All that changes when he gets into a car crash (don’t text and drive, kids) and completely destroys the nerves in his hands, ending his career as a surgeon. Strange seeks out any remedy he can find, but Western medicine fails him. So he heads East in search of healing. Instead, he finds the ancient mystical temple of Kamar-Taj and becomes the student of an immortal sorcerer known only as the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). While learning the ways of magic and re-learning everything he thinks about the world, he’ll team up with other powerful sorcerers (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong), combat agents of the extra-dimensional warlord Dormammu, and save the world from the forces of darkness. The doctor is in.

Seizing the imagination when it comes to magic can be a tricky act to pull-off, but Doctor Strange manages it in spades. Pulling inspiration from Steve Ditko’s original art from the comics, the visuals and world of Doctor Strange are mind-boggling. Space is warped and time becomes bendable as we accompany Strange on his journey through psychedelic dimensions and mirrored worlds. The colors and vibrant unreality challenges the mind not to understand, but to give up trying to understand. That is the true beauty of this movie.

From the get-go, we are told that this world of magic is not always going to make sense. And that’s perfectly fine. Science and natural world beg to be understood. But this is the unnatural world. Trying to understand it is like trying to understand the filmography of Nicholas Cage. There’s no point to it because at some point you’ll learn of a new element that breaks down everything you once knew about how the world should work. It is the perfect counter-point to the science of the MCU thus far.

The cast does an overall serviceable job in getting to the heart of this world. Benedict Cumberbatch brought his usual bold energy to the role of Strange and this proves to be one of the few times where ravenous, fan-driven casting succeeds.

Rachel McAdams as Strange’s hospital colleague was the weakest link in the chain, having very little to do in the film. Her role as his connection to humanity was firmly established and implemented well enough, but the added romantic element wasn’t necessary. I did appreciate where it was left off during their final encounter.

Mads Mikkelsen’s Kaecilius managed to rise above the usual lackluster crop of villains seen in these movies, but just barely. For a movie like this, where the world and visual spectacle are the real stars, the role of the villain is secondary. Kaecilius is effective, nothing more, nothing less. And that’s all he has to be.

All in all, Doctor Strange is an above average entry into the Marvel canon with an astounding visual eye and enough likable characters to warrant multiple repeated viewings.

Score: B+

Voltron: Legendary Defender

For the uninitiated, Voltron: Defender of the Universe is a classic giant robot show from the 80's about five pilots who defend the universe (duh) from the evil space empire of King Zarkon. They fly giant color-coordinated robots lions that combine to form a cool, giant robot with a cool, giant sword; the titular Voltron.

The 80's Voltron cartoon was light, simple, and fun. It doesn't hold up nowadays, but the appeal can be seen. And given that Voltron is one of the grand-daddies of color-coordinated robot team shows, I wouldn't dream of besmirching its good name. There's been several continuations over the years; sequel series, comics, and the like, but none of it ever had the same sort of punch the original had in terms of dedication and semi-quality.

Voltron: Legendary Defender has changed that.

In the future, five pilots are gathered together by an ancient magic princess and the forces of destiny to save the universe from the evil empire of Zarkon. These pilots are Shiro, the leader fresh from an escape from alien captivity; Keith, a fierce and headstrong combat ace; Lance, a goofy self-styled ladies man; Hunk, a caring and motion sick engineer; and Pidge, the tech-savvy youngster of the group. Together, along with Princess Allura and her advisor Coran, they must overcome their personal struggles to rise and become the legendary defender of the universe: Voltron.

Legendary Defender is a Netflix exclusive and come to us from Lauren Montgomery, Joaquim Dos Santos, and Tim Hedrick who were all deeply involved in the production of animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel The Legend of Korra. Along with them comes Studio Mir, the Korean animation house that worked on both series. The quality and prestige of these talents shows in every level of production. This is a true successor to the Avatar legacy and worthy to be within the same animation family as both series.

The art design and animation are crisp and fluid, highly reminiscent of where's Korra ended up by the end of its run. Lighting and colors making the whole universe vibrant and exotic. The melding of 2D and 3D animation is masterful and doesn't detract from the world in the slightest. One would be hard-pressed to find a current better looking animated series on any platform.

Some shortcuts were taken, however. Certain scenes feel like bits are missing. It's nothing to ruin the overall flow. Often the narrative with take a leap which causes an occasional "okay, I guess we're here now," sort of jump. Attached to that is a noticeable ill-treatment of time. The viewer definitely has to take liberties with how fast each scene is moving in comparison to the others judging by how often they match-up in the most awkward of ways. However, these are only hiccups in an overall solid output.

Story-wise, the plots from episode-to-episode and even the overall narrative feel tired. If anyone's ever watched a sci-fi, fantasy, or drama show with some gray hair on it, these stories will feel all to familiar. They're well-told versions of these stories, but nothing new is done. The saving grace comes from character.

Even though we only get to see them for the span of a single hour-long special and ten normal-length episodes, this is a surprisingly well-realized  cast of characters. The production team has taken the basics of who these people are from the original series and truly remastered and fleshed them out. Certain new twists to certain characters are added that are pulled-off remarkably well. The character of Shiro has also been reworked entirely, given the original was a comedically over-the-top Norwegian stereotype and no I am not kidding that was an actual thing.

The cast, front-lined by of The Walking Dead's Steven Yuen, Adventure Time's Jeremy Shada, Kimberly Brooks, and Josh Keaton, all do a remarkable job and breathe palpable life into these people. From this short introduction, I definitely want to see more of these people and their adventures. This is only the first season, after all. Other shows don't get nearly this much done in the same amount of time. Even Korra didn't have this strong of a first season.

But if there is one huge, glaring fault, it's the ending. Legendary Defender ends on one of the most frustrating cliffhangers in recent memory, cutting off right in the middle of an action scene. There was a way for them to leave the story on a relatively stable note, and then save the set-up for the cliffhanger for the next (presumed) season, and it's difficult to understand why the production staff decided to take it in the direction they did. I suppose it does create a rabid froth for more Voltron. So a second season is guaranteed by fan reaction, but I don't think they had to stoop to that level for support.

On a final note, the music is incredible. It's reminiscent of 80's synth in the best possible way. Each scene is accented by its majesty and I desire that soundtrack greatly.

This type of show obviously isn't for everyone. Some will scoff at it from outset, which is fine by them. But there's real heart, dedication, and quality being put forth here. This is the show for all current competitors to attempt to beat as far as I'm concerned.

And it's a must-watch for fans of the Avatar shows. This will scratch that itch, trust me. It may not do it to the extent that you want it to, but it'll help alleviate the pain until something new comes from that world of the Four Nations.

As someone who has never cared about Voltron beyond that one breakdancing Robot Chicken parody, I'm glad to have another amazing realm of science-fiction to love. This a fun, crazy magical space opera with lovable characters, engaging action, and a plot with a great deal of future potential.

I look forward to what comes in the future.

Score: A-

X-Men: Apocalypse

X-Men: Apocalypse is fine. It's actually quite commendable just how fine it ends up being. At times it even revels in being just fine. Which is, of course, fine. If that's the bar you want to set for yourself, you can do a hell of a lot worse than fine. The fact that Apocalypse manages to be just fine is a godsend and the best anyone could hope for with Bryan Singer once again at the wheel.

The man isn't a bad director. In fact, he's perfectly fine. Which has been the problem with the entire X-Men franchise to this point. Even the ones we considered good way back in the dark days before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, those being the original X-Men and X2, just don't measure up to First Class or even Days of Future Past. And those only manage to be more than fine because Matthew Vaughn directed one and Singer picked up the sloppy seconds for the other. Now the influence of fresh blood has long since been squeezed out and we are once again back to the status quo of X-Men movies which are just fine. This is, as I said, perfectly fine, but the X-Men can be so much more than what Bryan Singer can manage.

At any rate: X-Men: Apocalypse. It's 1983 and all the returning cast members look like they've only aged about two years in an eleven year time-span since Days of Future Past (funny that). Charles Xavier has opened and established his School for Gifted Youngsters proper just in time for lazer-eyed Cyclops to enroll and meet telekinetic psychic extraordinaire Jean Grey, the super-smart super-strong Beast, the awkwardly adorable Nightcrawler, God Mode speedster Quicksilver, and Jennifer Lawrence who is trying her best to still care about being in an X-Men movie.

While the youngsters are meeting and greeting, Apocalypse, our big bad for the evening, has awoken from his ten thousand years of slumber. And now that he's free, it's time to conquer Earth. He gathers around him four Horsepeople (both men and women because even ancient Egyptian mutants respect gender equality) to guard him as he sets out to do all kinds of mean things. The Solid Gold Apocalypse Dancers includes Magneto (fresh from the deaths of his family and looking to vent all kinds of emotions), Storm (who is never actually called "Storm" therefore finally completing the circle of never actually being referred to by her proper name of Ororo Munroe, and now just doesn't have a name at all), Psylocke (somehow ending up as the most comics-accurate character in the entire film for some reason), and Angel (who is also in the movie). Now it's up to the mutant teenagers with attitude to put a stop to all the nasty world-conquering business.

The best thing Apocalypse has going for it is that it doesn't ruin anything and it never makes you glance at your watch. It's the point of being fine that I keep coming back to. All of the X-Men we know and love are depicted as they are supposed to be. There's nothing more to them, no substance, no defined arcs or depth, but they're fine. At no point did I ever think to myself "They've ruined him/her for all time!" But there's also no point I ever thought that they did anything of note with any of them. The worst off are Apocalypse's Horsepeople, who all look to have very interesting lives and personalities, but those aspects are snuffed out once they become a part of his goon squad. Except for Michael Fassbender's Magneto, but that's just Michael Fassbender. He makes everyone look far, FAR worse by comparison.

Notably the costumes the characters wear at the absolute end of the film are phenomenal, but for the majority we're stuck with civilian clothes are all-black pseudo-armor. I'll never understand Singer's fetish for this kind of gear, but hopefully this'll be the last we ever see of it.

Quicksilver is given another impressive slo-mo sequence, this one taking place during an explosion and getting their speedster bang for the speedster buck. But there's far too much jumping around making it less coherent and impressive than the one in Days of Future Past. Still nice and quirky, but it's been done better.

Also, Wolverine shows up. He's the best there is at what he does, and what he does is run around half-naked covered in stupid future tech looking very upset and stabs mall cops. There's nothing else to it and the sequence itself only exists to pad out the run time, but it's always good to see Hugh Jackman doing things. It's also especially good to see Wolverine get a little bloody for once.

Yet, nothing that happens is of any substance. There's just too many balls in the air. There's the young and familiar X-Men to establish, Mystique has to do her thing, Magneto has to do something because apparently he always has to be around even if he has NOTHING TO DO, Apocalypse has to be the villain, the Horsepeople have to do their things, and prom is, as always, tomorrow. Yet, just one month ago Captain America: Civil War managed to perform a similar juggling act and pulled it off magnificently so really the problem here is the direction.

Apocalypse strives to be something more, but ends up being fine. It does nothing, doesn't reveal a new dimension of these characters, and brings nothing new to the table of superhero cinema. But it also doesn't fail. Everything is by-the-books superhero fun, without anything to spice up the formula. Hopefully, for the next one, someone new is allowed to breath life into this franchise. I'm tired of mediocre X-Men films. They deserve so much better than this.

Score: C-

Overwatch

Blizzard was gracious enough to allow Battle.Net users free access to their newest IP Overwatch for a limited time last week, so I spent a whole lot of time playing it. However, I haven't had the best relationship with Blizzard as of late. Despite the impressive showings of Diablo III and StarCraft II, World of Warcraft only continues to disappoint me. I grew to love the series thanks to Wacraft III and I thought I liked WoW for the longest time. But then I came to the conclusion that I kind of hate WoW. It sterilizes the universe and the MMO formula just isn't for me.

Hearing about them making something new didn't really excite me. I didn't want to waste my time or risk falling in love with something that just going to be ruined down the line by a worthless MMO component. But then I started reading more about the world of Overwatch and then I got my filthy mitts on the game itself. Now I think I'm willing to open my heart to Blizzard again. Because apparently I'm the videogame audience equivalent of an abused spouse.

Overwatch is what you'd get if Marvel Comics and Street Fighter had a baby that was raised by Team Fortress 2. By that I mean its cast of playable heroes has the multi-cultural cartoon energy of the Street Fighter games, the down-home relatable attitude of the Marvel universe superheroes, and a more rewarding version of the Team Fortress 2 class-based shooter gameplay.

The world of Overwatch is one of advance technology. Robots are second-class citizens, people with cybernetic parts are common, and all kinds of wacky scientific experiments go on all the time. The central story that informs upon the game is about an international peacekeeping organization of what are essentially superheroes. A few years ago this peacekeeping force was disbanded due to an as-of-yet unexplained controversy. However, recent events involving terrorist attacks and assassinations have led many of these heroes to come out of their exile, band together, and defend the world once again. The game itself has nothing to do with this plot, but we'll get to that later.

Each character follows a classic archetype (the super soldier, the femme fatale, cyborg ninja, cowboy, ape scientist, etc.), but they have their own unique twist and backstory that builds a much more engaging universe to set the stage for these arena battles. Every single one of them is well-realized, designed, and unique. They're actual people with their own quirks and faults. More surprising is the fact that out of a cast of almost two dozen individuals, only one of them can be considered "evil," and even that's a stretch of the definition.

Take Tracer, the lovely young English lady pictured above, for example. She was a pilot until a test flight with an experimental jet went wrong (as they often do). Because it was an experimental teleporting jet and some of that time travel juice got onto her, Tracer is forced to wear that special blue chest piece to keep herself locked into the regular timeline or else she'll phase in and out of reality. But it also allows her to teleport a short distance and reverse her own timeline a few seconds. Tracer was the youngest member of Overwatch at the time it was disbanded and the first to sign back up when the bricks start to hit the fan. She's quick, energetic, and playful, but also annoying in that way Spider-Man constantly pesters his foes. Each cast member has a similarly well-rounded origin story and charcateritics that builds a world of endearing adventure.

The actual game of Overwatch takes these interesting people, and has them all murder each other in fast-paced, frantic team shooter madness. The player chooses one hero from the roster and in a team of five other players must accomplish an objective specific to each randomly selected map (either transporting a vehicle through a city or maintaining a hold on a specific area for a certain amount of time). The heroes each fulfill a role of offense, defense, support, and tank. Ideally, each team selects certain heroes from each category to beat the other team's selection of heroes and win the game. You're also allowed to switch to any hero you want during each match, allowing a great deal of freedom in strategizing your approach to whatever obstacles the other team throws your way. The result is something shockingly well-balanced and a hell of a lot of fun.

There's snipers for the impersonal types, damage-dealing bruisers for those who like the greet the day by punching it in the face, tricky mid-range fighters, healers if you just want to lend a helping hand, and even good old Tracer for the person who enjoys jumping deep into enemy territory, annoying the hell out of the opposing team, and jumping away. A game with this many variables shouldn't work, and yet it does. Blizzard has done as astounding job making sure every character has their own strengths and weaknesses to ensure a game that allows for endless excitement.

There were also other game, such as one you can personally tailor for matches against friends, against computer-controlled bots, and one where your hero is randomly selected for you. However, I wish there were more game types available for the main quickplay mode. Overwatch forgoes the standard team deathmatch so the game stays focused on strategy rather than mindless killing, but I still miss it. There is an option to allow for skirmishes while you're waiting to be placed in a game server, but it's just not the same. Plus it feels like there could be more game types than just "king of the hill" and "move the cart," but this was the beta. The final game will hopefully have more types at launch, or some time down the line.

A unique special touch that I enjoyed immensely is the play of the game. At the end of each match, the game with show you the most impressive player feat of the match (sometimes a kill streak or a bold resurrection of allies). Or at least it should. The algorithm Blizzard uses to detect just what counts as impressive isn't perfect and you'll occasionally get some plays that loosely define "impressive" at best, and curb-stomp that word into un-meaning at worst. But, once again, this is the beta, so hopefully the final game will have the ducks sorted into tighter rows.

Despite these shortcomings, Overwatch, even in its beta form, is very impressive. And with a forty dollar price tag for the most basic version, it's practically a steal. If you've never tried one of these kinds of shooters before, Overwatch is the one to get into. You'll never find a more unique, vibrant arena shooter experience. At least, just going by the beta anyway.

Even thought this was just the beta, I'm still going to score it. When the final game comes out, I'll revisit this article and decide if this score needs updating. Until then, consider this a tentative score.

Score: 8/10