Most Anticipated Movies of 2020(What's Left of it Anyway)

I know, I know, I should've released this at the beginning of the year but it's never too late to state what I think are going to be the best movies of the year especially when there's so much year left! Given that a lot of movie theaters are closed for the time being a lot of these movies might spill over into 2021 but if I make a 2021 list I'll mention the movies that were initially supposed to come out this year.

With Bad Boys for Life, Dolittle, Birds of Prey, and The Invisible Man in my back pocket and plenty of months to go here is my list, from 10 to 1, of the movies I can't wait to see this year:

Honorable Mentions: Mulan, Black Widow, Antebellum, Candyman, The King's Man, and West Side Story.

10. In the Heights, Lin Manuel-Miranda - I love a good musical and Lin has delivered on musicals in the past so I'm excited to see what he does here. The only issue is that this will be going up against Steven Spielberg's 'West Side Story', which may spell trouble for this movie because WSS is a beloved story with a beloved director at the helm. I can't wait to see how this war of the musicals turns out.

9.  Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Josh Greenbaum - If you've seen this trailer then you know why this is on my list. If you haven't then you're for a fun time.

8. Morbius, Daniel Espinosa - I'm interested in this movie because I can't wait see how badly they mess it up. Jared Leto isn't a good actor, Oscar be damned, and I'm looking forward to the lackluster reviews.

7. Coming to America, Craig Brewer - 32 Years after the original, Eddie Murphy and Aresenio Hall team up for round 2 with this follow-up to the original comedy. All I can expect is some good laughs and pray for a good story and good dialogue.

6. The Witches, Robert Zemeckis - If you haven't seen the original 1990 "The Witches" with Anjelica Huston then go watch it right now. It was very well done for its time and I'm looking forward to this remake which stars Anne Hathaway as the "Grand High Witch". This may be more of a nostalgia draw for me but I hope everyone who sees it on my recommendation enjoys it.

5.  Eternals, Chloe Zhao - I don't quite know what to make of this movie as yet but I know I can rely on Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige to give me a competent story with some awesome visuals.

4. No Time To Die, Cary Fukanaga - I'm not the biggest fan of Cary Fukanaga (Look up the
"creative differences" that caused him to lose the Director's chair on "It") but I'm a huge fan of Daniel Craig and the beautiful Lashanna Lynch. It's an all-star cast and despite the release date being pushed back I'm still all in.

3. Wonder Woman 1984, Patty Jenkins - After the initial success of Wonder Woman and the subsequent failure of The Justice League, Wonder Woman 1984 seems like a breath of fresh air, one that's been a long time coming. Hopefully Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot can deliver a good movie but i have faith in them.

2. Dune, Denis Villenueve - If I said that I was super excited about this movie that would still be an understatement. It has it all; Denis Villenueve, Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Jason Mamoa,  and to top it all of Hans Zimmer is doing the score. The amazing source material also means the story is going to be awesome. I literally cannot wait until the end of the year for this one.

1. Tenet, Christopher Nolan - This should come as no surprise. Memento, The Dark Knight, and Inception all speak for themselves from a film-making perspective and based on what I've seen so far in the Tenet trailers I know this is going to be a good movie. John David Washington and Robert Pattinson have staring roles in this film so I already know the acting is going to be amazing. This is a movie that I'm anticipating the most. Period.

Please comment below with your most anticipated movies!

The Invisible Man: Universal, Your Savior is Here!

    

Hot Take

I wasn't sure what to expect walking into "The Invisible Man" but walking out I was blown away by just how good this movie actually was. $20 plus tax well spent! Universal's attempt at their monster universe initially floundered before it got a chance to fly(i.e. "The Mummy") but "The Invisible Man" was a breath of fresh air into the cinematic universe the studio eventually hopes to build. Now I'm not sure where the Universal 'Monster Universe' is headed after this but if the other movies that are slated for production, Bride of Frankenstein being amongst them, follow the path of "The Invisible Man" and not that of "The Mummy" then I'd say that the Monster Universe might not be dead yet.

Long-story short, "The Invisible Man" is a superb movie with great acting, a great score, great cinematography, and a great director at the helm. Leigh Whannell kills it with this installment and I find this movie quite similar to Jordan Peele's "Get Out" and I can't wait to see what Whannell does next. The comparison to "Get Out" in my mind has less to do with the narrative being told and more about the way the story and the movie are crafted. The establishing shots present in this movie are breathtaking and force you to focus on multiple segments of the screen as you painstakingly search for the titular invisible man. Whannell will often times display a wide shot of a particular part of the room and the empty room paired with the eerie score will put you on edge and you'll be holding your breath waiting for something to happen, but by no means is the movie ever uninteresting or boring.

Elisabeth Moss shines as the star of this movie and without her amazing performance I can very easily see "The Invisible Man" falling apart. Her acting grounds the movie and makes it believable and she sells herself as a protagonist by being intelligent whereas typical protagonists in her position might not have made the same decisions she did. Her body acting is impeccable and shows that she's very deserving of her Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

Aldis Hodge and Storm Reid are perfect and more importantly believable as the father-daughter pair and also are an emotional focal point of the movie along with Elisabeth Moss.

Oliver-Jackson Cohen who plays the spurned ex-boyfriend is thrilling for the short amount of time he is actually on-screen and he really sells the part of being an over-whelming force of nature that you feel the need to get away from.

All in all the acting across the board is sublime.

Cold Take

The pacing is off in a few places, sometimes even a bit slow, especially in the beginning and there is one scene in particular that comes to mind at about the mid-way point but the movie makes up for it in spades later on. The action ratchets up so much and so quickly towards the end of the movie that you might find yourself missing the slower points of the movie which give the actors the chance to flex their acting chops.

Also some of the tension is dissolved when you do some deep thinking about certain aspects of the movie but I suggest you suspend your disbelief because after all it is a movie.

My Take

I absolutely enjoyed this movie and I'll be seeing it at least twice more while its still in theaters. Go see it and let me know what you think! 

Captain Marvel: Marvel Shoots, She Scores!

Sitting 
at a whooping $910 million dollars worldwide at the box office it’s no stretch of the imagination to say that Captain Marvel is another big win for Marvel. It’ll easily cross 1 billion dollars and I think it’s safe to say that the MCU is pretty much infallible now. But is that a good thing? Lets discuss that in another blog post.

For right now let’s talk about Brie Larson shines as Carol Danvers where she gives a performance that showed her in a more charming light than trailers and internet personalities originally suggested.

With a strong $150+ million opening, its clear that audiences had an initial interest in the movie and a strong week to week hold shows that that interest is perpetual. 

Now here’s the million dollar question: did I like it? While I can see why this particular movie wouldn’t be someone’s favorite blockbuster by Marvel I quite enjoyed the performances. Brie Larson does well as Carol Danvers but she’s only as good as her directors and while Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck try their best they can’t quite crack the character. Hopefully going forward a more seasoned director can let Brie’s natural acting ability shine through.

The supporting cast does more than its fair share of helping the movie go along, most notably a spectacular assist from Samuel L. Jackson as a young Nick Fury. His interactions with Brie and Goose the cat give the movie a light-hearted feel as well as some hilarious moments.

Lashanna Lynch as Maria Rambeau is essentially the emotional center of the movie and her heartfelt moments with Brie really ground the movie and shows what each woman lost after Carol disappeared. And the movie even hints at a future for Monica Rambeau who as the comic book character, Photon, is a huge part of the lore. Akira Akbar as Monica Rambeau delivers a delightful performance that makes you want to see more of her and knowing Kevin Feige I’m sure there’s a lot more to come.

Ben Mendelsohn is increasingly becoming one of my favorite actors as he delivers another layered and nuanced performance as the Skrull, Talos. The Skrulls are a supercool race of shape-shifting aliens who can turn themselves into anyone they happen to see and they don’t particularly like Flerkins. What’s a Flerkin you might ask? Watch the movie and you’ll see what I mean.

None of this takes away from the fact that Brie Larson does a good, but muted perfect as Carol Danvers and the movie does a slow buildup to the reveal of her true powers and let me just say that when she cuts loose she cuts loose! Upon the discovery of her newfound strength the movie kicks up a notch as both the audience Carol discovers what she can really do. And boy is it cathartic to watch. Not only does it give you a gauge as to how strong she is but it also shows why Nick Fury would want to call her in as a last resort. She’s the REAL muscle of the MCU. 

All in all, even though Captain Marvel isn’t my favorite Marvel movie date it’s definitely a fun time and I’ll be re-watching it as Avengers: Endgame looms in the distance.

My verdict? 3 Gold Stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Venom: Does Sony’s Spider-Man-Less Venom Movie Deliver?

Fresh vs. Rotten

Boasting a 32% Critic score and an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes I think it's safe to say that Venom was a home-run with the average moviegoer but a swing and a miss with critics.

Oddly enough this isn't a very rare occurrence as there have been quite a few times where audiences and critics have disagreed on whether a movie was good or not with two of the most notable instances being with Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl where audiences scored the movie higher than critics did. The good thing is that a high audience score can only bode well for Venoms' box office success as positive word of mouth amongst average moviegoers often boosts a movies' financial success.

Box Office Numbers

The official weekend numbers haven't been finalized as yet but even as I'm typing this right now Box Office Mojo lists Venom as having a $32 million Friday opening and a projected $70 to $80 million dollar opening weekend which is $20 million more than the original tracking which had Venom coming in at $50 to $60 million opening weekend. Cha-Ching!I can't imagine a world where the executives at Sony aren't immediately green-lighting a sequel especially since Venom's titular star, Tom Hardy, is signed on for another two Venom movies which was a smart move on Sony's part.

My Take

Venom definitely wasn't on my list of the top movies I wanted to see in 2018 and with all the critic reviews basically declaring Venom D.O.A. I didn't bother getting my hopes up about this movie and I expected to leave the theatre disappointed.

And disappointed I was because I let uppity Hollywood critics fool me into thinking I wouldn't like this movie. And I didn't like it. I loved it!

Venom was hilarious, action-packed, and a great time at the movies.

Did it have the best plot? No.

The best dialogue? Nope.

The best CGI? Hell no.

But for what it was, a B-level comic book movie about an alien Symbiote that has come to earth and is using a reporter as its' host, it definitely delivered and I had a great time.

Venom definitely isn't for everyone so if you aren't a huge fan of the superhero/anti-hero genre then you might not enjoy it but if you have an open mind and are looking for a semi-vulgar, laugh out loud, comic book movie about a parasite(Venom doesn't like to be called that FYI) that likes to eat people then Venom is the movie for you.

Next week I'll be reviewing a movie that I've been waiting to see ever since I saw the first trailer and hopefully it's not a Bad Time as the name suggests. Look out for my next post on Saturday at 6pm ET!

-Kay G.

#themovieacademic 

The Movie Academic is Here!

I've finally done it!

For the longest time I've thought about making a movie blog where I review the best, the worst, and the downright weirdest movies that I have the pleasure of watching and right as the Summer movie season came to an end I decided to bite the bullet and here we are! I welcome you to indulge the cinephile in me and share your thoughts and ideas as well! Look forward to my first movie blog post which will be about a recent movie release that seemingly came out of nowhere and ate up the competition. *wink, wink*

I plan to make a post whenever I see a new movie which should be about once or maybe twice a week! Don't forget to follow and share this blog with your friends!