DB Reviews- Ready Player One

Image from Ain't It Cool News. 

Hello! It's me, DB and I'm back to bring you my review of Ready Player One, the newest Steven Spielberg movie that's in theaters as of this post! WARNING: SPOILERS ARE HERE! 

This film's plot is centered in 2045, where people from around the globe are leaving reality and heading into the OASIS, a multi-player world where people can escape and be whoever they want! There, 3 challenges have been made by one of the creators of OAISIS (who has passed on). The first was a race, the 2nd was to play through the movie The Shining (even with the blood gush and the twins) and the 3rd was to play Adventure on the Atari 2600. 

One kid, Wade Watts (aka Parzival in the game), had to play all those challenges and get the secret gold easter egg before the company Innovative Online Industries (aka IOI, though it looked like 101 in the film). He forms the High Five clan with a few other players, all of which he meets both online and in the real world and he falls in love with them. 

I liked the story because it was simple. Hero goes on a grand adventure, falls in love and defeats the bad guys. Simple and easy to follow was this story! BTW, this movie was based off a story itself (a book). 

Tye Sheridan (from The Tree Of Life) played Wade. I thought he did a good job as the hero of this massive online world! His character seemed to have a lot of pop culture knowledge and I thought he brought that knowledge to the big screen well! 

Olivia Cooke played Samatha Cook, aka Art3mus. I could see her doing more love interest roles like the one she did in this movie. She did a good job in this role. 

Simon Pegg (of Mission: Impossible fame) played Ogden Morrow, aka The Curator. His role as Curator certainly fooled me, because he used a different voice. 

The special effects were off the chart! My favorite challenge was the race, the 1st challenge. That race had all sorts of special effects going on! I think that could be made into a for real 3D ride at any theme park, even Universal! The only problem I had with it was (and this is me personally) there was no Mario character to use a Mario Kart in the race! There wasn't even a Mario character at all in the movie, just the mention of MarioKart! 

Speaking of famous video game character, there were a lot of them and a lot of pop culture characters in this movie too! Also, it wasn't just the characters that were used. It was cars, spaceships, anything used to travel in any series that became a pop culture hit. I know Steven Spielberg must have friends in high places because he needed the rights to probably most of these characters to use them. Batman, The Iron Giant, Mobile Suit Gundam and even Marvin The Martian had cameos as playable avatars in this film! 

Plus, there was a good amount of nostalga in this film! When someone ordered pizza at the beginning, the pizza came in a metal box containing the old school Pizza Hut logo! Now that was cool! Also, the Atari 2600 video game system was featured in this film! The only way to see those nowadays is to buy one at a yard sale or have someone show you theirs! 

The game Adventure, the 3rd challenge, featured a secret that players had to find in order to complete the challenge. That secret is a REAL secret, or was a real secret when the game first came out for the Atari 2600. I studied that online. Not only was it a real egg, it was the 1st easter egg ever in a video game! (Thanks, mom). 

Mr. Spielberg did a good job directing this film. I would put this film up on the top tier of his all time greats, like JAWS or Jurassic Park. He good the pop culture down to a science! 

Overall, this was a well made movie! The action was fantastic and the special effects put this movie over the top in a good way! My review: This movie is BETTER THAN "JAWS"! Nice work, Mr. Spielberg! Now that's saying something! 

Thanks for reading! BTW, the Delorean from Back to the Future and the Batmobile from the 1966 Batman series (that starred Adam West and Burt Ward) were both in this movie! 

DB Reviews- The Greatest Showman

Image from Pinterest

Ladies and gentlemen, kids of all ages, welcome to my latest review! It's me, DB and I'm happy to bring you my review of The Greatest Showman, starring Marvel Cinamatic Universe legend Huge Jackman! WARNING: SPOILERS! If you haven't seen this film yet and you don't want to be spoiled, then please go see the film before you continue reading this post! 

The movie is a story of how Phineas Barnum (aka P.T. Barnum) went from rags to riches. He was mistreated as a boy, but fell in love and ultimate became The Greatest Showman on Earth!

Huge Jackman was fantastic as P. T. himself! This isn't his first Hollywood movie musical gig (that honor belongs to Les Miserables), but he definitely nailed it in this one! I thought his singing voice was pretty good too! Grammy nom? Idk, but we'll see! He traded in his adamantium claws for a singing voice!

Zac Efron was good in this film too, playing Barnum's partner Carlyle, a composite character who is based off of Barnum's real life partner, Bailey (hence the name of the circus). I'm happy to see Efron back in a musical. I think Efron is better in musicals then in adult comedies. The musical film is Efron's genre, I think. Did he do better in this musical then he did in Disney's High School Musical? Not much. I think he was a little better in HSM, but this role was really close!

Efron isn't the only Disney graduate to appear in this film! Zendaya, of Shake it Up fame, was in this too! I like her voice. Her acting was good, but her voice is one that teen girls and boys will eat up, if they haven't already! I think Efron and Zendaya's duet "Rewrite The Stars" will be played on every teen radio station for years to come. I think it will definitely be heard on Radio Disney too! I like that song! I thought it was well done! It was different to see Efron singing a duet with someone other then his HSM sweetheart!

Speaking of songs, the music was phenomenal! I liked "Rewrite The Stars" and "This is Me". This version of "This Is Me" is a different, more serious song! I say that because "This Is Me" was a song title that was used in the Camp Rock series. But this version was far different! I hope the song wins at the Oscars!

The actors who portrayed the circus acts (along with Zendaya) were good. The bearded woman had a great voice!

I also liked Loren Allred's (who played the singing voice for Jenny Lynn, played by Rebecca Ferguson) "Never Enough" was good!

The sets were great, the costumes were great and even Paul Sparks, who played the guy from the Herald (the New York one, not the Boston one) was a great criticizer in the film!

Overall, I give this film a 5 STAR PERFORMANCE! I think, wait, I know you all should go see this film! You will love it!

Thanks for reading!

DB Reviews- The Post

Image from IMDB

Hello and welcome to my review of The Post! It's me, DB! WARNING: SPOILERS! 

This film takes place around the start of the 1970s, just a few years after the Vietnam War. In this film, The Washington Post, led by America's first woman publisher Kathrine Graham (played by Meryl Streep), is in a race against the New York Times to publish previously top secret government papers that expose US Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson of lying to the people about the War. She teams up with her editor Ben Bradley (played by Tom Hanks) to bring forth the truth, while risking their careers at the same time! 

That's the story in a nutshell. I thought the story was not bad at all. It can be followed easily once you get what's going on. I like it! 

The movie had an all star cast, let by Streep and Hanks. Meryl Streep plays Mrs. Kathrine Graham, a widowed publisher of The Washington Post, America's first! I thought she was good in this kind of role, since's it's a far cry from her role in Mamma Mia! She has played serious roles before, so this was nothing new to her. Best Actress nod? I don't know, but let's see what the Academy thinks. 

Tom Hanks protrayed Ben Bradley, the editor of the Post. Like Streep, Hanks has the power to play mutiple roles and perform well at them! This role isn't my favorite Hanks character (that honor belongs to Woody and Sully), but he was OK at this one. This character reminded me of the newspaper editor from the Superman franchise. 

Steven Spielgberg directed this film. I give him 2 thumbs up for this one! Will it be as memorable as his other classics, like JAWS, ET or Jurassic Park? I don't know, but it's close! I'd root for him if he got the nod for Best Director in next year's Oscars. 

John Williams, of Star Wars fame, scored the film. Pairing Williams with Spielgberg is like pairing peanut butter with jelly. They just click! I think they might be besties, since Williams also scored Spielberg's other classics, like Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. 

I've always loved the sets of films that take place around the 60s or 70s. This one is no different! Seeing the classic cars, the buildings the way the looked during that time and the clothes! Speaking of the clothes, I have to give a thumbs up to the costume department! I like what the workers at the printing press of the Post wore, especially the hats! I also liked Streep's and Hank's costumes; I thought they looked very businesslike! Best Costume design nod? That's a definite yes! 

Overall, I give this film 4 out of 5 stars. The only negative that I had was that some of the characters smoked. I don't like smoking at all! My review: A PULITZER PRIZE WINNER! Thanks for reading! 

By the way, if you didn't know this, the Vietnam War was a costly war, one of which that didn't go in our favor. Will this movie change your opinion on JFK, Johnson or Truman? That's for you to decide! 

DB Reviews- Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Image from StarWars.com

Hello everyone! It's me, DB, back with another AWESOME movie review! This time, I review the latest movie in the Star Wars franchise, The Last Jedi! WARNING: THIS REVIEW DOES CONTAINS SPOILERS! PLEASE SEE THIS MOVIE BEFORE YOU READ MY REVIEW!

The First Order has the Resistance on the run! They've been tracking the Resistance through hyperspace! Now, it's up to Rey to bring the hero Luke Skywalker back to restore balance to the universe! Plus, we learn how Kylo Ren (aka Ben Solo) joined the Dark Side! Also, we learned that a bomber ship can destroy a HUGE Empire ship!

That's our story in a nutshell! I think the writers did a good job with the script, making twists and turns while keeping the story going in the Star Wars universe, a story that started back in the 70s with Episode 4!

Adam Driver does a great job as the villain that replaced (but isn't as strong as) Darth Vader, Kylo Ren! He had me thinking that he was going to defect to the Resistance for a good minute! He makes the Kylo Ren character convincing! Will he get a nod for Best Supporting Actor? Maybe. Will he get a nod for Best Villain? Probably. I'd say he has a better chance at Best Villain. I wished he kept the mask, though!

Mark Hamill came back to reprise one of the most famous characters in Star Wars and motion pictures history, Luke Skywalker! He definitely aged and so did his character! I think that Luke was better in Episode 4 then in this, but I am glad that he came back to help the Resistance! He even pulled an Obi-Wan Knobi when he let Kylo Ren take him down, a nod to Episode 4, of course! Plus, I'm glad he went back to his old Luke hairstyle from the original films during the final battle with Ren!

Sadly, this film marked the last one for Carrie Fisher, the original Princess Leia! I would put Leia on my Top 10 list of favorite Star Wars characters. I think that LucasFilms (the folks who made all the Star Wars films, including this one) should've dedicated this film to her. Her character was looking after her people of the Resistance (yes, I've said that word a lot in this review), even when they were depleted. For those of you that don't know yet, Carrie Fisher passed away after the making of this film. Rest in peace, Ms. Fisher! You will definitely be missed!

I also like Finn, played by John Boyega. His acting was good and his character knew a thing or two about the ships in the First Order! I also like Daisy Ridley's Rey, the newest Jedi! She can kick some serious butt with her weapons! Plus, Yoda was in this! I like Yoda and his voice actor, Frank Oz!

The score was fantastic, definitely up to Star Wars par! John Williams did a great job scoring this film! His scoring is the most famous pieces of music in motion picture history! I think the score can be found on CD, so I definitely (yep, that word again) think you should go buy it!

The action was up to Star Wars par too! Not much Jedi fights (save for the final scene), but lots of stuff got blown up! I like when stuff gets blown up in the movies, unless it's good guy stuff.

So overall, we've got a great story, some great acting, some great music and great action! To me, that's a recipe for a fantastic movie! My review: 2 LIGHTSABERS UP! If you're reading this and you work for LucasFilms or Disney, you may put that review on the DVD or Blu-Ray of this film. I'm definitely buying this film when it comes out to Blu-Ray or digital! Oh, and Benicio del Toro, The Collector from the Marvel Universe, was in this film!

DB Reviews- Thor: Ragnarok

Image from IMDB

Hello all! It's me, DB and I'm back after a while to bring you another review! I give you my review of Thor: Ragnarok, the 3rd installment of the Thor franchise. WARNING: THIS REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS! 

In this film, Thor returns to Asgard to find out that his brother Loki told the people of Asgard about him being a "hero".  After seeing through Loki's tricks, Thor, with Loki, goes in search of his father Odin. They find him just before he passes on. We then are introduced to the main villainess of the story, Hela, who intends to rule Asgard. She breaks Thor hammer, thus sending him to a far away planet, where he meets up with The Hulk and a former Valkyrie and they team up to stop Hela!

I thought that this film was a good film. The story can be confusing at times, with so many twists and turns in it,. But it does get up to it's eventual goal. 

Chris Hemsworth reprises his role as Thor, God of Thunder. I think Marvel made a good choice in casting Hemsworth for this role. He's lived up to the Thor hype so far. He has the language and humor of Thor down pat! I also liked his new look in this film. It makes him look like a more modern Thor. However, I also still like the long, wavy hair. Thank you, Stan Lee, for that haircut! 

Mark Ruffalo reprises his Avengers role as the Hulk. I like that Marvel is continuing to add other heroes to films in different franchises. They did that with Spider-Man: Homecoming and now they've done it in this film as well. I think Ruffalo makes a pretty good Hulk. I'm glad they added in more lines for the Hulk to say in this film. Plus, I felt that this Hulk's voice was better then Ed Norton's version's voice. 

Tom Hiddleston is back as Loki, the god of mischief and Thor's brother. I feel like this role is the role in which Hiddleston will be remembered by, like Christopher Reeve's Superman or Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter. Once people see him, they'll think "That's Loki". Hiddleston's Loki is pretty good. He's got the Loki lingo down! 

Cate Blanchett did a fantastic job as Hela! I liked her attitude with the character. She was definitely a Marvel Villainess! I also liked her costume. It reminded me of Maleificent from Sleeping Beauty. 

The special effects were great. I thought that Thor's glowing eyes were cool, yet creepy at the same time, just like WWE's The Undertaker. The action was pretty solid, too! 

I felt that when Thor faced the Hulk in that planet that was run by Jeff Goldblum, that fight was more like a promo for Marvel's Contest of Champions mobile game. I would've given that game physical product placement instead of doing a fight like this. 

Overall, I enjoyed this film. My review: 4 HAMMERS UP! Thanks for reading! 

DB Reviews- Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Image from Rotten Tomatoes

Hey all! It's me, DB, once again! I'm bringing you yet another cool movie review! This time, I review the classic sci-fi hit Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This movie is celebrating it's 40th anniversary this year! WARNING: DON'T READ THIS BLOG BEFORE YOU SEE THIS MOVIE! THIS BLOG CONTAINS SPOILERS! 

I did mention that this is a sci-fi, but I think this movie had a little bit of everything in it! It had some horror scenes, adventure scenes, even a little bit of comedy! I think that everyone should see this movie! If you're a horror fan, sci-fi fan or whatever fan, you should see this! 

I loved the India scenes! I thought they were well shot! The use of the sand effect in the beginning of the movie  was good. The singing in the middle of the film was ok too. 

I didn't like Richard Dreyfuss's character in the beginning. I didn't like the way he treated his family in this film. But, his character was the hard working man who had his life changed when he first saw a UFO! The change was definitely needed! 

That was the basic story and I like stories like that. They're easy to follow. Mr. Spielberg did a good job writing this one! 

I LOVED THE FINALE! The finale with the HUGE spaceship (bigger width wise then Independence Day's ship) was a cool light show! This is a scene that could definitely be done as a show in a major theme park. Perhaps Universal Studios could do a show like this! (They do have a ride based off of Spielberg's hit ET, so why not do one of Close Encounters?) 

The score was good too. John Williams (yep, that guy that did the Star Wars score) was brought on to score this film. I liked that fact that he did an entire song based off of just 5 notes. These 5 notes would bring him more fame and are 5 of the most recognized notes in Hollywood history! I like John William's work as a whole, not for just this film, but for the other films he did too, like Star Wars! 

The person I mentioned before is none other than Mr. Steven Spielberg himself! He directed this film. You know him as the guy behind Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, JAWS and ET! This was one of his 1st films as a director and we know he would have a legendary career at doing just that! In  my opinion: You should get this guy to direct your film! He is fantastic! I like this and a couple other movies that he did (Raiders and ET). 

Overall, this was a fantastic film! The story was easy to follow, the scenes were great (especially India) and Mr. Spielberg added a bit of everything to this film, from horror to action to sci fi, etc! My review of this film (for those of you who are working on the Blu-Ray release of this film, you can use this line) is: THIS IS INDEPENDENCE DAY BEFORE INDEPENDENCE DAY! It was THAT DARN GOOD! Thanks for reading! 

Happy 40th, Close Encounters! 

DB Reviews- Ducktales 2017 reboot

Hello all you Disney Duck fans out there! It's me, DB and I'm back to bring you another review!

Image from Screen Rant

As you can probably tell, I'm doing a review for the 2017 reboot of Ducktales, Disney's classic TV show where Scrooge McDuck, his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, ace pilot Launchpad (before he worked for Darkwing) and Webby go on grand adventures in search of treasure or just to escape or stop the diabolical doings of many classic villains like Magica Despell, The Beagle Boys and Flinthart Glomgold! 

Let me get a negative thing about this series out of my chest. I think that this series needed the original voice actors from the hit show back in the early 90s. Back then, this show was a Disney Afternoon staple! I loved this show back then! The voice actors from the original version of this show gave each character their own personalities. Each of these actors became famous for portraying each character. The voice actors on the new reboot? I don't think they're quite as good as the original actors, with the exception of Donald. The person that did Donald's voice did a real good job! He sounded just like the classic Donald that we know and love! 

With that out of the way, I have to say I like this reboot. It's not bad at all! Each episode has a story that's easy to follow and has action scenes, which is a must for a Ducktales show! Some parts of each episode are based off of the original early 90s series and other parts are based off the comic book stories, especially those created by Disney duck legend Carl Barks! 

The easter eggs featured in the 1st episode were really neat! The animators made all sorts of references to the classic version of this series as well as references to the other HUGE MEGA hits of the Disney Afternoon era! Some of the eggs included: The lamp from Ducktales The Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (which is a film that I definitely enjoyed when I was younger) and the robot with the 3 lights on it's head, which is a reference to the classic version of this series. Dewey even mentioned Cape Susette, where Baloo, Kit, Mrs. Rebecca Cunningham and Molly reside in the series Talespin (a series that I highly recommend you to see! It's out on DVD now!). Also, the men in the meeting with Scrooge mention St. Canard, the home of the "terror that flaps in the night" himself, Darkwing Duck (which is another great series!). Also, the Junior Woodchucks were mentioned in episode 1! 

I noticed that the creative team behind this version of the series changed a few things around. They made Mrs. Beakley and Webby into totally different characters compared to their classic 90s counterparts. Mrs. Beakley is more serious in this version of the series then she was in the 90s version and Webby is more adventurous! I think that some fans of this show might find Webby's more adventurous side appealing. They might say that this version of her is better then her 90s version, though the animators did make a reference to the 90s version by pinning Webby's doll to the wall. Also, Huey is the only one of the nephews wearing a hat in this version, though each nephew's respective color is still the same. I remember that all 3 of the nephews wore hats in the original series. Do I like the new Webby and Mrs. Beakley? Yeah, though I like the new Webby better. However, I don't think I saw a Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers reference. I think they should do one of those in a future episode. 

I could see this series getting a good 4 or 5 seasons on Disney XD! Perhaps even 6! I think that they should put Gyro Gearloose and Gizmoduck in future episodes! Also, I think that they should make more Disney Afternoon references! Perhaps they could have Darkwing or Chip and Dale or maybe even Bonkers make cameo appearances. 

So overall, I like this reboot! The original is still 10x better, but still! I think you should see an episode or two of this reboot. Also, I think that Disney should look into rebooting more of their Disney Afternoon series, like Darkwing Duck. They have to get Jim Cummings (Darkwing's voice) back for that reboot! I'd love that! 

One more thing. I even liked the new version of the main title song in this series (even though it was only in episode 1). I've always loved Disney music and this is one song I like a lot! My review: I give this series a "WOO-OO"! 

"You might solve a mystery, or rewrite history! Ducktales!"