I Kill Giants | MOVIE REVIEW

Apparently Chris Columbus produced this one, meaning this is the first time in years that something he’s been a part of, didn’t turn out to be an absolute dumpster fire. Credit where credit’s due.

I Kill Giants was directed by Anders Walter and stars Madison Wolfe, Zoe Saldana, Imogen Poots, and Sydney Wade. What it is, basically, is a fantasy story about a kid - without much of a real place in the world - who, with the help of some monsters, is forced to come to terms with a really difficult part in her life. Now, if you’re thinking that this sounds very familiar, that’s because it probably does, and it did to me. This movie felt very reminiscent of A Monster Calls - except, in this case, it’s more like A Monster Comes.

7 picks for who should direct the "Terminator" reboot

As many of you have (presumably) heard, James Cameron himself said that he would be producing what should be a reboot of the Terminator series. You might be thinking that this would be unnecessary or that we don't need more reboots, and, while I do understand those concerns, I think it's a good thing. I mean, really, do we want Genisys to be the last movie in the franchise? Do we really want to have the Terminator saga end on a note that sour?

Think about that for a second, I'll give you some time.

So far, it's been announced that a reboot was going to happen, and that Tim Miller's name is floating around as the project's attached director. Production's set to start in October this year, with Arnold himself saying that the project was underway.

Even though Miller is already slated to direcg, that got me thinking. While Miller himself isn't such a bad choice to direct, I've thought up a list of a bunch of other dudes that I, personally, would like to see breathe some life back into a series that just hasn't felt alive since the second movie. And so, here are my...

For this list, I've made the selection based on several criteria (e.g. previous films, strengths as directors, respect for source material, and directing ability), but the underlying basis was whether or not a director's style would blend well with the Terminator property. And I say this because, like I said in my last Percy Jackson movie rant, a director's style and strengths should align with the movie's concept. For example, having Michael Bay direct a Harry Potter movie would be a stupid idea because Michael Bay's strengths certainly don't play to what a Harry Potter movie should be.

Mute | MOVIE REVIEW

I gotta say, Meekus has come a long way since being an orange-mocha frappuccino-drinking male model, to be honest. I'm proud of the guy. I really am.

Mute was directed by Duncan Jones (Warcraft, Moon) - who also happens to be David Bowie's son - and stars Alexander Skarsgard, Paul Rudd, and Justin Theroux. It's also a sci-fi, cyberpunk, noir film, not too unlike Blade Runner - in fact, visually, it did remind me a lot of Blade Runner, but that's not so much a bad thing as it is kind of unavoidable when making cyberpunk anything.

I'm gonna keep it vague here, since I don't wanna spoil anything in case you were planning on catching it, but the plot revolves around Leo (played by Alexander Skarsgard), who is mute, and his quest to unravel a mystery.

What I Want to See in Amazon's "Lord of the Rings" Series

Okay, so as you all might've heard, Amazon secured - what was it - a multi-million dollar deal to turn The Lord of the Rings into a TV series spanning multiple seasons. If that raises some red flags and sets off countless alarms in your head, I don't blame you; that was my initial reaction upon first hearing the news, as well. Despite what many headlines would have you believe, this isn't - in any way, shape, or form - a reboot of the cinematic masterpiece that is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but rather the coverage of events that take place in between LotR and The Hobbit. That probably won't set too many people at ease (myself included), but, at the very least, I find it to be an interesting prospect. So, with that out of the way, allow me to talk about...

Just to be clear, my ass is still squarely on the fence about this. I can't imagine anyone thinking that this would've been a good idea, and I'm even more baffled as to why no one's trying to tackle any of the events in The Silmarillion with this project. But, by and large, I'm cynical about this idea. As a life-long fan of LotR, however, I feel personally obligated to talk about this.

As of now, nothing else about the show has been confirmed, other than that it's happening, that the events in the show take place in between LotR and The Hobbit, and that it's set to be the most expensive one ever. No one's been cast, brought on board to be part of the writing team, tasked to direct, nada, zip, zilch. Since there's nothing in the way for me to talk about in that department, I'll instead talk about the things I want to see from the series, as far as creative and narrative approaches go.

Black Panther | MOVIE REVIEW

I'm not gonna lie, throughout this movie, I was crossing my fingers - hoping - for one of the characters to yell, "WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?" at someone. That would've been fantastic, honestly. It's a missed opportunity if ever there was one.

Black Panther was directed by Ryan Coogler (who did Creed, which I absolutely loved) and stars Chadwick Boseman, Lupita N'yongo, Michael B. Jordan, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman, and Forrest Whittaker, among a number of other people. As you already know, this film is the 18th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and takes place right after the events of Captain America: Civil War. This follows the story of T'Challa and the things he does following the capture of Helmut Zemo, and dabbles a lot in his return to Wakanda.

Personally, I was hyped for this movie, but not for the reasons that most other people were. The reason I was excited to see this was because Ryan Coogler was at the helm, and he had done Creed, which was one of my personal favorite films of the past decade. Many other people who had worked on Creed, such as Michael B. Jordan and composer Ludwig Gorannsson, were also brought on board to help, and that got me excited.