"The Jungle Book" movie review

"The Jungle Book" is directed by Jon Favreau and tells the story of Mawgli. Mawgli is a young boy who was raised by wolves in the jungle and is now being hunted by Shere Khan, the tiger who wants to kill Mawgli because he isn't an actual animal. So, Mawgli is taken from the Jungle to the man village by his father figure, who is a black panther, named Bagheera. This movie was really intense. I am not kidding, this movie was meant to PG-13, but it is actually PG. Be careful of what age group you take to this movie because, parents, get ready to wash your kid's sheets because there will be bed wetting after this movie. The lowest age I would take to this movie is eight years old. 

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Let's talk about the character of Mawgli, played by newcomer Neel Sethi. As far as child actors go, this kid was amazing. The only flaw with him was that there were some points in the movie where he would be looking at an animal and not know where he is looking because every animal in this movie is CGI. That was the only thing wrong with him. Everything else he did in this movie was really good. 

The CGI in this movie is astounding. You never can tell if it is fake or not, even though you always know it is. It tricks you sometimes, and my friend that I saw this movie with said, "Is this real and they just computerized their mouths?" None of this movie was shot on location. I think that this movie is extremely visually pleasing. 

The shining star of this movie, however, is Bill Murray as Baloo. He is so freaking hysterical at the right moments, and serious at the right moments. His comedic timing is perfect, and there are scenes where he will make small subtle adult jokes and it is so funny. 

*PARENTS PLEASE PAY ATTENTION* 

The reason I said that you should take that age group to see this move, is because there are some very scary scenes. There are many jump scares that you never know are coming and those scares can be genuinely scary. There is also a scene towards the end where there is a forest fire and Mawgli makes a tiger fall off a tree into the fire. The tiger dies and is burned alive and after he hits the ground, his ashes explode into the air. There is also a scene where a tiger throws a wolf off of a cliff. So be weary of this movie.

​My Grade: A 

"Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice" movie review

I have seen this movie twice. I know. It's sad. 

"Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice" is directed by Zack Snyder and tells the story of the long awaited battle of Batman and Superman. Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) witnesses the events in "Man of Steel" where Superman (Henry Cavill) causes so much destruction to Metropolis. Wayne sets off for a path for revenge because Superman killed thousands of Wayne's employee's and friends. This movie was such a crushing disappointment. I have been looking forward to this movie ever since it was announced that the script was in development. Yet, the script was the weakest part of this movie. Most of this movie is just exposition and random scenes of crimes to keep going over the fact that Batman and Superman are in fact superheros. Also, Jesse Eisenberg was one of the worst casting choices I have ever seen next to George Clooney as Batman in "Batman and Robin". That's how much I didn't like him. That is all I am going to say that isn't spoilery. 

*SPOILERS AHEAD*







Lois Lane was one of the weakest parts of the movie. Don't get me wrong, I think Amy Adams is an amazing actress. I liked her in "American Hustle", "Enchanted", and "The Muppets". However, in this movie along with "Man of Steel" did not like her. More so her character, because she goes back and forth between being the damsel in distress to trying super hard to be a badass, then back to being a damsel in distress. 

Most of this movie is exposition. I saw this movie once and fell asleep because this movie bored me out of my mind. I just went to see it again with my friend Brianna and we agreed on almost everything about this movie. There was not enough action for a comic book movie. This movie is two and a half hours long and about seventy-five percent exposition.

There was also kind of an over reliance on two things, CGI and jump scares. The CGI for the most part is pretty average for a comic book movie, but when Doomsday is introduced, the CGI was starting to go down hill. There are also way to many intended jump scared with the giant bat and the explosions and all of the other crap like that. 

The ending with Superman dying is so stupid. If they wanted to kill him off, then he should've stayed dead when he was nuked when he was in space. It would have been a lot better if they found him dead after trying to take down Doomsday which would've created a very good battle between Wonderwoman, Batman, and Doomsday. 

Overall, I am just hoping that the new Batman movie, Wonder Woman movie, and the Justice League movie are a lot better. I feel bad for anyone who liked this movie, and for anyone, like me, who didn't like it and had to sit through it. 



Grade: D

"Star Wars Episode I : The Phantom Menace" movie review

 I will be starting monthly reviews of all of the Star Wars films until "Rouge One" is released in December. Also, (embarrassingly) I will be posting reviews for the movie on my YouTube. So, this is going to be a non-spoiler review and the review on my YouTube channel will be a completely spoiler filled review. 

So this is the first installment in the completely disappointing Star Wars prequel trilogy. This movie was written and directed by George Lucas and stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Jake Lloyd. It tells the story of Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi as they try to protect Queen Amidala from the Trade Federation and they pick up many different people on the way. 

This is my least favorite of the entire Star Wars saga. It has the weakest dialouge, no character development, and some of the most obvious CGI ever. The green screen wasn't as bad as Attack of the Clones but, everything else was bad. 

Many people say that they were looking forward to just seeing Anakin turn to the dark side, but they need to get the other stuff out of the way like how Obi-Wan met him and how he fell in love with Luke and Leia's mother. 

I know this was a very short review but I think that this needed to be short because my YouTube review is twenty minutes long. 

​My Grade:C-

"Heathers" movie review

"Heathers" is directed by Michael Lehmann and stars Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. It is about a girl named Veronica who is a part of her school's most popular clique, the Heathers. Most people would kill to get in that group, but Veronica will kill just to get out. When she meets a boy named J.D., she is introduced to the world of murder, sex, and domestic violence. J.D. tries to influence Veronica to kill all of the cool people in their high school, but she sets out on a plot to stop him. This might sound really weird, but this movie is so funny, and it succeeds at being a dark comedy. It is also my new favorite 80s teen movie. I originally thought I wasn't going to like it, but I turned out loving it. I am also really excited to see the musical live over this summer as Academy Players puts on their teen production of the musical. I am going to say that this is one my new favorite movies of all time, and that is kind of a far stretch. 

My Grade : A+