Katie Goes To The Movies

My name is Katie and I like to go to the movies. I review movies and comics on WatchPlayRead.com. These are my reviews.

[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: Exodus: Gods and Kings

Title: Exodus: Gods and Kings

Director: Ridley Scott

Screenwriter: Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine, and Steven Zaillian

Principal Cast: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton. John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Maria Valverde, Sigourney Weaver, and Ben Kingsley

Oh me, oh my, where do I begin? I have a lot of ground to cover with this movie which has been extremely high profile since its conception. At first everyone was on board with a modern re-telling of the tale of Moses. The Ten Commandments came out in 1956 and the animated movie The Prince of Egypt came out in 1998. A lot has changed technology wise since then, so I can understand a studio thinking it was a good idea to tell this familiar story again. Then they announced Ridley Scott as director and suddenly people were excited because they all have pleasant memories of Blade Runner and Alien, but have conveniently forgotten Prometheus and Robin Hood. Scott was a reason to get excited, but the backlash didn’t start until they announced a cast containing a striking amount of white actors for a movie that is taking place in the middle east. The studio, cast and crew have been trying to excuse this, but the spectre of racism was hanging over Exodus: Gods and KIngs before it even had a release date. The movie was walking into theaters with an arrow in each knee.

Exodus: Gods and Kings is a failure with a bloated runtime, miscast actors, and so dull and dry that I felt like I just wandered through a desert for forty years.

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[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: Top Five

Title: Top Five

Director: Chris Rock

Screenwriter: Chris Rock

Principal Cast: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, Kevin Hart, and Tracy Morgan

As I mentioned in my Horrible Bosses 2 review I have a very specific sense of humor. When it comes to humor I tend to prefer dark comedies or play on words, but I’m also the person that says “that’s what she said” and “phrasing boom!” jokes all the time. However, when I saw the trailer for Top Five I had a bad feeling that this wasn’t going to be a movie that appealed to my sense of humor. There have been plenty of times that a movie has surprised me, though, so I try to go into everything with as open of a mind as possible. Maybe the trailer just showcased all of the “lowest hanging fruit” jokes to try and appeal to that audience?

Top Five is a perfect example what a thirteen year old boy thinks adult humor consists of, which is a lot of swearing and lewd sex acts instead of actual jokes.

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[katesmovies]

Let’s Sit Around the Camp Fire and Talk About Lumberjanes

Lumberjanes is a series written by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis with art by Brooke Allen that any scout, former or current, of any age will adore.

Lumberjanes #1-#8

WRITER: Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis  (ginger-haze and ohheygrace)

ARTIST: Brooke Allen  (brookeallen)

COLORIST: Maarta Laiho

LETTERER: Aubrey Aiese

PUBLISHER: Boom! Studios

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[katesmovies]

Support The Leading Ladies of Marvel Comics

About ten months ago I submitted an article to another website that never got published called ‘Supporting The Leading Ladies Of Comics’. It was about how Marvel was creating a lot of female led books that needed our support because, if we didn’t, we were going to continue to see books with the same three white guys. It seems that my call to arms should have found a home somewhere because most of those female lead books are not doing that well. She-Hulk and Elektra have both been canceled while Storm is well on her way to getting canceled. The only reason Captain Marvel hasn’t been canceled is because of the movie announcement (and, to quote my editor, ‘the Carol Corps would burn Marvel to the ground’). Those same three white guys I was talking about don’t look the same as they did back in February, but the female lead books in Marvel are in trouble.

Now, allow me to preface that not all of the books that are being lead by the ladies are doing badly. Black Widow and Ms. Marvel continue to have strong sales along with the all female X-Men team. However, two female lead books have hit the chopping with one on the way and another saved by having a movie tie in. This is a problem and one that we, as comic fans, need to try and figure out.

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[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: The Homesman

Title: The Homesman

Director: Tommy Lee Jones

Screenwriter: Tommy Lee Jones (screenplay), Kieran Fitzgerald (screenplay), Wesley A. Oliver (screenplay), and Glendon Swarthout (novel)

Principal Cast (voices): Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter, Grace Gummer, James Spader, and Meryl Streep

There are times that defining a piece of media by its genre can be detrimental. There are times that the entire purpose of a piece of media is to subvert the genre that it resides. However, there are some genres where the definition gives you a better idea of what to expect. If a movie is being billed as a “romance”, then you know what you’re going to get. That doesn’t mean that all horror movies are going to be the same, but it does help you decide if a movie is going to be something you’ll like. The Western is a genre that is not as common as it used to be, and because of that sometimes people go into Westerns with the wrong expectations. I truly believe a little background knowledge on the genre will determine whether or not someone will enjoy The Homesman.

The Homesman has a haunting soundtrack and a terrific cast, but a story that is supposed to be about the lives of women seems to be supplanted by Tommy Lee Jones’ George Briggs.

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[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: Penguins of Madagascar

Title: Penguins of Madagascar

Director: Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith

Screenwriter: John Aboud (screenplay), Michael Colton (screenplay), Eric Darnell (characters), Tom McGrath (characters), and Brandon Sawyer (screenplay)

Principal Cast (voices): Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Conrad Vernon, John Malkovich, and Benedict Cumberbatch

The Madagascar movies are an interesting series to look at. They aren’t the best movies but they are very marketable and have made a lot of money. They have made enough money that we’ve arrived at the point where a franchise can spin off from itself. The Penguins in the movies are often cited as the highlights of the movies, but there are plenty of incidences where a beloved side character gets their own movie and it completely falls apart. Now animated movies are a little different because they don’t have the audience projection that comes with action movies. However, I was still leery of Penguins of Madagascar because it looked like the perfect example of a lazy studio cash-in. I have been surprised by stranger things, though, and have witnessed excellent movies come out of worse circumstances.

Penguins of Madagascar is absolutely the lazy cash-in I thought it was, but it is well made with enough jokes that kids will love it and the adults will get a few laughs in as well.

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[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: Horrible Bosses 2

Title: Horrible Bosses 2

Director: Sean Anders

Screenwriter: Sean Anders (screenplay), John Morris (screenplay), Jonathan M. Goldstein (story), John Francis Daley (story), Sean Anders, John Morris (story), and Michael Markowitz (characters)

Principal Cast: Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, and Christoph Waltz

I have a very specific sense of humor. This might stem from the fact that I work the graveyard shift and something else to do with a love affinity with play on words and puns. That doesn’t mean I don’t find humor that can be considered crude or dumb funny, it’s just that nine times out of ten I tend not to fall into that particular market. I can’t remember anything that happened in the first Horrible Bosses movie, only that they were trying to make it seem very funny that Jennifer Aniston got most of the cruder lines. However, I wasn’t expecting much from the sequel.

Aside from the occasional rape joke Horrible Bosses 2 is only notable with how forgettable it is.

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[katesmovies]

Avengers & X-Men: Axis #5: Not Even A Little New Reader Friendly

Avengers & X-Men: Axis #5, by writer Rick Remender and artist Terry Dodson, might be one of the least new reader friendly events in years that makes so little sense even seasoned fans might not understand what is going on.

Avengers & X-Men: Axis #5

WRITER: Rick Remender

ARTIST: Terry Dodson

COLORIST: Laura Martin and Matt Milla

LETTERER: Chris Eliopoulos

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

RELEASE DATE: November 12, 2014

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[katesmovies]

Deadpool's Art of War #2: Deadpool Is Tricking The Entire Marvel Universe Into War For A Book Deal

Deadpool’s Art of War #2, written by Peter David and illustrated by Scott Koblish, continues the tale of how Deadpool plans to sell lots of copies of his version of The Art of War by making sure the entire world is at war when it gets released.

Deadpool’s Art Of War #2

WRITER: Peter David

ARTIST: Scott Koblish

COLORIST: Val Staples

LETTERER: VC’s Joe Sabino

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

RELEASE DATE: November 5, 2014

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[katesmovies]

Terrible Lizard #1: There Is Nothing Terrible About This New Comic From Oni Press

Terrible Lizard #1, written by Cullen Bunn and art by Drew Moss, tells the heartwarming story of a young girl and her pet; a tyrannosaurus rex accidentally brought to her time through a temporal displacement experiment.

Terrible Lizard #1

WRITER: Cullen Bunn

ARTIST: Drew Moss

COLORIST: Ryan Hill

PUBLISHER: Oni Press

RELEASE DATE: November 5, 2014

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[katesmovies]

Edge of the Spider-Verse #2: Gwen Stacy Is Going To Be Marvels New Leading Lady

The Edge of the Spider-Verse miniseries features alternate universe one-shots on the Spider-Man mythology and issue #2, written by Jason Latour with art by Robbi Rodriguez, we meet Gwen Stacy: Spider-Woman

Edge of the Spider-Verse #2

WRITER: Jason Latour

ARTIST: Robbi Rodriguez

COLORIST: Rico Renzi

LETTERER: VC’s Clayton Cowles

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2014 (1st Printing) and October 29, 2014 (2nd Printing)

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[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: Interstellar

Title: Interstellar

Director: Christopher Nolan

Screenwriter: Jonathan Nolan (written by) and Christopher Nolan (written by)

Principal Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Wes Bently, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, Casey Afleck, Michael Caine,and David Gyasi

One of the things that I consider a perk of the digital age is that everyone seems to care a little more about science. The popularity of a show like Cosmos and little websites like iflscience.com make me think that people are interested in science. Now, other people think this isn’t a good. We have people quoting research they don’t quite understand, and while I don’t approve of that I do think that we can only survive as a species as long as people continue to ask questions. I believe that learning and the desire to learn is the very thing that is going to continue to advance the human race. The science behind space travel and how accurate everything was is one of the reasons I was really looking forward to Interstellar. Aside from the fact that Inception is one of my favorite movies and I tend to enjoy Christopher Nolan movies, I liked the idea behind traveling to different planets to try and save the human race. However, like a lot of movies this year, this one has also had a lot of hype and I’ve been let down a lot.

Interstellar reaches for the stars when it comes to ambition, but falls short with an overly long running time, awkward pacing, and sound design that causes the entire picture to become a muddled mess.

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2.5/4

[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: Big Hero 6

Title: Big Hero 6

Director: Don Hall and Chris Williams

Screenwriter: Don Hall (story), Jordan Roberts (story), Robert L. Baird, Daniel Gerson (screenplay), Jordan Roberts (screenplay), Duncan Rouleau (based on the comic by), Steven T. Seagle (based on the comic by), and Paul Briggs (head of story)

Principal Cast (voices): Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Jamie Chung, T.J. Miller, Genesis Rodriguez, and Damon Wayans Jr.

I’m truly a kid at heart and there hasn’t been a better time to be one than right now. Culture has latched onto anything that was popular with children thirty years ago to sell back to adults and hook an entirely new generation. Hobbies like collecting comic books or playing video games that were once shunned are now so mainstream that no one bats an eye when you’re in your late twenties and still doing these things. However, with the good comes the bad. I got to see The Avengers and the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but I’ve also had to sit through four Transformers movies that were awful. So I tend to be leery when it comes to kids stuff, because good source material does not equal a good movie. See: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle this year or don’t because it’s terrible. When I first saw the trailers for Big Hero 6, though, I felt pretty optimistic. I’ve been a Disney fan my entire life, and Marvel hasn’t let me down yet, so it quickly climbed to the top of my anticipated list.

Big Hero 6 is funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking in the best possible way, with movies that are truly for the entire family.

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4/4 stars

[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: The Theory of Everything

Title: The Theory of Everything

Director: James Marsh

Screenwriter: Anthony McCarten (screenplay) and Jane Hawking (book “Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen”)

Principal Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, David Thewlis, Charlie Cox, Harry Llyod, and Simon McBurney

This is going to be another film where I have a hard time figuring out how to word exactly how I feel. The Theory of Everything is getting a lot of positive buzz, and people are saying that Eddie Redmayne is probably going to either win or get a lot of awards this coming winter. However, I have very specific feelings when it comes to biopic movies and their place in popular culture, so despite all of the positive buzz, I was more than a little leery. I find Professor Hawking to be a fascinating person, and I don’t know that much about his life, so I was eager to know more; but there was a spectre that hung over this movie that was hard to ignore. I tried to have as open a mind as possible, or to at least adjust my expectations.

The Theory of Everything is a well acted biopic about one of the greatest minds, but fails to be anything more than Oscar bait.

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3/4 stars

[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Title: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Screenwriter: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo

Principal Cast: Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Amy Ryan, and Andrea Riseborough

I’ve been sitting here for the better part of an hour trying to come up with a good way of framing my thoughts for Birdman or (The Unexpected Ignorance of Virtue) (or just Birdman for the sake of this review). This might be another moment for me when everyone else sees one thing and I see another. Or maybe not. This is proving to be a difficult review to write, because I’ve been looking forward to Birdman for months and all of the buzz surrounding it has been very positive. I should have known better than to listen to all the hype because just clouds your expectations to the point where I almost wish I could have walked into Birdman without knowing a thing about it.

Birdman is a masterfully and beautifully acted film that is so proud of its own existence that it ends up hurting the movie as a whole.

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3/4 stars

[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: Nightcrawler

Title: Nightcrawler

Director Dan Gilroy

Screenwriter: Dan Gilroy

Principal Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, and Riz Ahmed

There is a rather large argument happening in certain sections of the Internet at the moment. It’s called “Gamer Gate” and it’s something I’m not really going to get into because I like not having people sending me death threats over social media. However, one of the main things going on in this argument is the concept of ethics in gaming journalism. I bring this up because it came up while I was eavesdropping on a conversation between two other film critics while waiting for my screening of Nightcrawler to start. The idea of ethics within journalism, whether it be print, television, or the Internet, is always going to be a topic of conversation, i.e.the concept of going beyond the accepted standards of behavior and how we should approach it as our culture’s moral compass continues to evolve.

Nightcrawler is an intense and fascinating look into the concept of ethics within journalism, helmed by an outstandingly eerie performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.

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4/4 stars

[katesmovies]

Katie Goes To The Movies: John Wick

I'm really happy to say that I've joined the team of WatchPlayRead as a film and comic contributor. I'm really excited about taking this step and thank them for the opportunity to write on a different level. I'll still post some of my reviews here with links to the full reviews on the site. Thanks for the support!

Title: John Wick

Director: David Leitch and Chad Stahelski

Screenwriter: Derek Kolstad

Principal Cast: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Defoe, Dean Winters, and Adrianne Palicki

The old saying is ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ which is pretty fair but not entirely accurate. A cover is there to peak your interest so if you’re looking at a bad poster then at best you’re dealing with someone who approved terrible graphic design. When I saw the poster for John Wick I had one of those ‘don’t judge’ moments. It wasn’t until I read the summary that my eyes nearly rolled straight out of my skull. Did we really need another movie like this? And why does it seem like ‘wife’ has been replaced with ‘dog’? My first thought was ‘oh my god it’s Taken but with a dog’ which sounds so dumb I was expecting to come out of the screening less fifteen IQ points.

John Wick has one of the dumbest sounding stories ever but between strong action scenes and a surprising sense of humor it’s a fun example of exactly what it wants to be.

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3.5/4 stars