"Finding Dory" | MOVIE REVIEW

I think we can all agree that Pixar has finally redeemed themselves after giving us Cars 2. Agreed? Agreed.

After, what was it, like 13 years, Pixar finally gives us the sequel to Finding Nemo in Finding Dory and it stars Ellen Degeneres as Dory. I'm not gonna lie - initially, I thought this idea wasn't gonna work, and that it was gonna be very so-so. And I was wrong; I actually really liked this movie.

"Ghostbusters" | MOVIE REVIEW

Hahahahaha ha... ha... ha... Oh, boy.

Paul Feig and friends present...

So, Ghosbusters was directed by Paul Feig and stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon and is a full-on reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise. Now, this movie has been neck deep in controversy ever since it was announced and the folks behind this movie just rode on that bandwagon an labeled everyone who wasn't planning on seeing this movie a misogynist.

"Central Intelligence" | MOVIE REVIEW

I know what you're all asking, and I'mma set things straight: this is better than Cop Out.

Central Intelligence is a buddy-cop (sorta) movie starring Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, but it's really more of a Kevin Hart movie than it is the Hart-and-Johnson movie the marketing campaign made it out to be. And, based on the marketing campaign, I expected this movie to do one of two things: entertain me or irritate me. To no one's surprise, it did both.

"X-Men: Apocalypse" | MOVIE REVIEW

Everything Brett Ratnor built fell and, from the ashes of that world, Bryan Singer built a better one.

X-Men: Apocalypse is the most recent installment in the new X-Men saga, and is the fourth X-Men movie directed by Bryan Singer. So, basically, what happens in this movie is sort-of a fast forward from the events that took place in Days of Future Past. But, for the most part, you don't really feel as if the movies are connected.

Let's talk about the new "Ghostbusters" | THOUGHT TRAIN

I didn't wanna have to talk about this until I saw the movie, but with all the articles and newsbits and TV spots that've been popping up everywhere lately, I feel like something needs to be addressed. So, here it goes...

I hate the campaign behind this movie.

STAR WARS: The Hunt Begins - Chapter II

Hey, guys! I finally got around to posting the second chapter in my Star Wars story and I'm super-stoked to share it all with you, my adoring public.

And, like I mentioned in my the previous chapter of my story, this is my own work and does contain minor spoilers for Star Wars: the Force Awakens. So, if you haven't seen that yet (really?), you might wanna avoid this for now. And this is also subject to change when the other movies in the new trilogy come out. So, stay tuned.

Now that all that's out of the way, I now present to you...

CHAPTER II.

"Warcraft" | MOVIE REVIEW

Mainstream critics have been s***ting on this movie, but is it actually as bad as everyone says it is?

 

Warcraft was directed by Duncan Jones (the director of Moon and Source Code – which are movies I still have oddly not seen) and is the film adaptation of the very first Warcraft game, Warcraft I: Humans and Orcs. That being said, this is technically a video game movie, and video game movies don’t exactly have a history of being well-received by critics. I haven’t enjoyed too many of them, myself, with Prince of Persia being the only notable exception. So, how does the Warcraft movie hold up?

"Captain America: Civil War" | MOVIE REVIEW

Better a couple of months late than never, right?

So, Captain America: Civil War is the second Captain America movie directed by the Russo brothers and stars, well, the Avengers (minus Thor and the Hulk). If you've seen the trailers, then you'll know what this movie is about (actually, it's sort-of like general knowledge at this point to know the basic premise of this movie). That being said, I think this is Marvel's best movie since the first Avengers.

"10 Cloverfield Lane" | MOVIE REVIEW

DISCLAIMER: This movie does not involve giant monsters and copious amounts of shaky cam.

10 Cloverfield Lane is director Dan Trachtenberg’s first full-length feature and is one of the most intense movies I’ve seen in a while. It stars Jon Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jon Gallagher Jr., and… no one else, really. It’s a really small movie, and I found it to be really refreshing.

"The Jungle Book" | MOVIE REVIEW

Hey, I have another review for you and it is for…

So, The Jungle Book is the 2016 live-action version of the Disney classic from a number of years back and is directed by Jon Favreau and has a cast that is absolutely studded with stars. And, unlike many of the other live-action versions of Disney classics, this one was actually pretty good. It was actually really great.

"Kung Fu Panda 3" | MOVIE REVIEW

Hey, guys! I know I’ve been gone for, what was it, like a month or two now? I’ve been super busy with exams, and then a summer job, and then multiple vacations. In short, I’ve had my hands full and I haven’t had as much time to write as I’d like. But now I’m here to give you a new, really quick review of...

Incidentally, I have several more of these that will be coming out over the course of the past couple of days.

So, Kung Fu Panda 3 is the third installment (if you haven’t already guessed) of the Kung Fu Panda series. When it comes to animated movie series (that aren’t Toy Story), the third installment is usually where the series feels like it starts to drag along unnecessarily. However, that isn’t the case with Kung Fu Panda 3.

"Wherever You Go" by Sublime | THE GALACTIC MIXTAPE

Taken from the 2015 album "Sirens", "Wherever You Go" is a delightfully catchy ska/reggae track from what is perhaps the most polarizing groups in the genre, Sublime With Rome.

"Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" | MOVIE REVIEW

Well... I sure as hell was excited for this one.

It took a while, but hey, we finally have a movie where Superman and Batman punch the living s**t out of each other on the big screen, and ever since this movie was announced, the hype for it was insane. Every casting choice and announcement made about its production was met with a lot of internet buzz, and for good reason. I mean, in what other live-action movie does Batman kick Superman’s teeth in and vice-versa?

Like many other people, I was excited for this movie. I’m a pretty big fan of Batman as a character, and I liked Man of Steel quite a lot. That being said, I went into this movie looking for a good time. And did I get it?

Yeah, I did, actually.

"Gods of Egypt" | MOVIE REVIEW

Wait, no. Something's not right. I'll just fix that.

There we go!

"Zootopia" | MOVIE REVIEW

Personally, I haven't been impressed by any Disney animation since Wreck-It Ralph. That's not to say any of the movies that came out in that after Wreck-It Ralph was bad - it was just that nothing was hitting the bar for me. And now, Disney's put out another animated feature to try to maintain their current good run of form, and that is Zootopia. Is it good?

No, it isn't.

It's f***ing great, that's what it is.

STAR WARS: The Hunt Begins - Chapter I

HEY, GUYS! What's good? Today, I'm gonna be sharing something very special with all of you, my beloved fans, and it's got something to do with Star Wars because I'm a devoted fan.

So, ever since I saw The Force Awakens, I started writing this little story with some new characters and using my understanding of some of the other factions in the movie. Ultimately, it takes place in the same world and the story will undergo some changes as the new trilogy goes on, but, for now, this is what we're gonna work with, 'cause I'm devoted that way.

"Deadpool" | MOVIE REVIEW

I don't think anyone thought they would ever lived to see the day a Marvel movie would be given a hard R-rating, but here we are. We have Deadpool - or, as I like to call it, Proper Movie Marketing 101. Now let's dive into it!

So, Deadpool was directed by Tim Miller and stars Ryan Reynolds as the merc with a mouth. And, to get things out of the way, this movie is not a superhero movie. But, wait, Rafa - this is a Marvel movie! Yes, it is, but if you're the least bit familiar with the comics, you'd know that Deadpool is, by all means, an anti-hero.

"Metroid: The Sky Calls" | MOVIE REVIEW

It isn't very often that you come across a cinematic gem on YouTube, but, believe me, they're out there. A lot of these happen to be fan-made adaptations of video games or old TV shows, and what makes these really cool is the fat they're all fan-made. You can feel the passion and the effort they put into these movies, and it's always nice to see.

Such is the case of Metroid: The Sky Calls, a short film directed by Sam Balcomb and based on the Metroid video games. And, like a lot of the really cool fan films on YouTube, it's very apparent that the director and the production team put a lot of effort into this film and were very passionate about making this film. So, props to them for that.

"The Revenant" | MOVIE REVIEW

Just a side note before I get into this review - this movie is rated R-16 where I'm from (which means you can't watch it if you aren't 16 or older), and the security guard at the auditorium asked how old I was. It made me feel young again, which was nice. Now, to the review!

So, The Revenant is a Western(ish) survival film directed by Alejandro Gonzales Iñarríttu and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and Domhnall Gleeson and is one of the most intense cinematic experiences I can say I've ever had. I mean, when you watch someone get mauled by a 700-plus pound Grizzly bear, you'd want that person to live.

Underneath that fluffy and cuddly exterior is a monster waiting to kill you.

"The Fifth Wave" | MOVIE REVIEW

They almost had it. Almost.

I don't know exactly what the balls went on during the conceptualization process of this film, but whatever happened, I'm sure there was some form of dysfunction behind the scenes. And I say this, because The Fifth Wave had a lot of potential to be a gripping alien invasion thriller. What we got instead was, um...

Yeah.

A "Totally Spies" Movie?! | HERE'S AN IDEA

I don't know how or why the idea dawned on me the other week (I'm pretty sure it had something to do with my obsession with Emma Roberts), but I thought to myself, "Hey, what if we had a Totally Spies live-action movie?"

I lingered on the thought for a while - probably longer than I should have - and I said, "I can come up with a pretty okay Totally Spies movie." I mean, I've watched the show (I'm a guy - we love that show) and followed it almost religiously, and I think I'm well-versed enough in the lore to know how this world works.

My ALL-NEW Movie Grading System!!

Over time, I kinda realized I found the whole 1-to-10 way of rating movies kinda bored me - and that I lalso might have been too lenient (but that's beside the point). So, I decided (after having been inspired by a particular YouTuber) to devise a new one through which I will grade the movies I decide to review.

And so, I present to you my new grading system, starting with the lowest of them all...