The Long Summer Hiatus

I feel like I shouldn't promise you anything right now, but on the off-hand chance that I actually do finish one of my projects or reviews, you can look forward to seeing them soon. I have almost completed filming of my first video review and in my off time I have been writing other reviews. So when I do start updating again, expect a lot of it, at least that is my hope.



and hopefully that is teaser enough for what I have coming
-The Guide

Still Alive

I must apologize for how long its been without an update. A lot has been going on the past two months I just haven't had the time to post anything. Alongside that I am still figuring out my new video format for my reviews. I just wanted everyone to know that I am still alive. I am currently in the middle of writing the following reviews: The Avengers, Dark Shadows, MIB3, Snow White and The Huntsman, and Prometheus. Expect to see these reviews within the next few weeks. I am also working on a few other videos at this time, but you'll find out about them when I get to them.
Thank you for staying with me this long
-The Guide

Happy 1 Year Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to me! I can’t believe it’s been one whole year since I’ve started reviewing as such I have an announcement to make.

Awesome right? I’ll be starting work on my new video reviews soon.
Thanks for reading
-The Guide to Geekdom

Let's Review: John Carter

I’m a big fan of Tarzan. I really loved the animated adaptation that Disney did and I even enjoyed the tv show that came out of that film, so when I heard that Disney was adapting another one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories, I was excited. I can’t say I knew anything about John Carter before I saw the first trailer, but I was more than willing to try the sci-fi epic by the same author of Tarzan. So was John Carter everything that I had hoped for? Let’s Review John Carter.

The Negative

This is a small complaint but one that I want to make note of. Around the middle of the film John comes to the realization that the planet he is standing on is actually Mars after talking with the Princess. It’s a really well done scene with the shock of being on another planet fully hits John as he gazes out at the moons in the sky. This scene probably would have had a better impact with the audience IF THEY HADN’T ALREADY TOLD US IT WAS MARS WITHIN THE FIRST FIVE SECONDS OF THE FILM! They literally tell us that the planet Barsoom is better known as Mars to us during the opening narration. This information would have been better found out alongside the main character that way we can all experience the same plot twist shock that he is, instead of knowing exactly where he is from the start and just getting a sense of ‘well it took him long enough to find out’. We should always find out information at the same time the main character does, we are following this character throughout the story we should know about as much as he does, don’t just blatantly tell us everything at the start of the film.

Now this is something I briefly mentioned in my last review but I’ll go into full detail here. I judge a film’s pacing based solely on if I check my watch or not. A good film should be able to hold my attention for the entire storyline, if I check my watch it usually means that the scene is going on way too long and should have been cut shorter. Unfortunately this was the case with John Carter as I found myself checking my watch a handful of times. These scenes don’t bring the film down but a little faster pace wouldn’t have hurt either.

The Positive

I absolutely loved this story. I read a good number of the reviews after I saw the film and a lot of complaints were directed at the preposterous story plot. John Carter is one of the first sci-fi stories to ever be created; I can accept that some of the ideas are a bit silly due to its age, like the fact that Mars has an entire empire of people living on it. I didn’t have a problem with the story because I never really felt the need poke holes in it. I was willing to accept that this all existed on Mars and that we haven't seen any of this before for whatever reason was necessary. Simply put I loved the concept of the film and was willing to put aside any questions of reality that might come up. I never question Pirates of the Caribbean’s more absurd plot points even though it is supposed to take place in reality, so I never really felt the need to question John Carter, Just enjoy the film for what it is.

Now part of the reason why I loved the concept was the villains. I really liked the idea of a group of super advanced aliens going around the galaxy leaching off of other world’s societies until their planet dies. They would basically live in luxury on a new world slowly directing the course of its history and then allowing it to die through war. The fact that the main alien villain had such an extensive knowledge of Earth culture and could tell where John was from just by sitting with him a while really felt like the ultimate threat. These aliens are in the last stages of killing Mars and are already have their sights set on Earth preparing for their takeover of another planet. These aliens can be anywhere at once and be anyone at any given time. They can sway a nation to go to war with the promises they whisper. They are an incredibly threat and I loved every second they were on the screen.

What truly made this film was the green Martians, The Tharks. Almost every scene with their leader, Tars Tarkas, had me dying from laughter. Willem Dafoe was able to pull of being a strong leader while at the same time being a little bit of an oddball character. They truly brought energy to the film that kept it going even in the slowest of scenes. I really wish the film had gone more in depth into the culture of the Tharks and what kind of role they played within the society of Barsoom overall.  

In Conclusion

I already know that this film received fairly bad reviews and performed poorly at the box office, personally I have absolutely no idea why. I loved every single second of this film. I honestly hope that hasn’t deterred Disney from making sequels of this film because I simply can’t get enough of it. I might even make it one of my top films of the year, that is how much I enjoyed this film. It’s definitely worth checking out. 4.2 out of 5.

Let's Review: The Hunger Games

I must say that I have never read this book series before, but the second I saw the first trailer, I knew I wanted to see this film. I of course wasn’t the only one who had this thought. For weeks I’ve heard chatter about this film and how many people were looking forward to it. When I sat down in the theater I realized that this was the first time I’ve been in a packed theater since the last Harry Potter film. So did this film live up to everyone’s and my own expectations? Let’s review The Hunger Games.

The Negative

I don’t usually complain about the length of movies. In most cases I find films usually accomplish everything they need to in the time allotted to them, but at 2 hours and 22 minutes The Hunger Games feels long. Maybe it’s the fact that we spend the majority of the film within the same forested area, but I found myself repeatedly looking at my watch. This isn’t to say that the film was boring; the problem is that some scenes had a tendency to drag on too long. I’d say that this film could have been cut by a half hour and it would have done just fine.

However, despite the fact the some scenes dragged on the real problem of the film is that the camera could not hold onto a shot for more than five seconds. This film was exceedingly jump-cut happy. The last fight scene in the film is a disorienting mess because the camera doesn’t want to focus on anything for more than a millisecond; even then it was too shaky to even make anything out. When situations like these come up, I always turn to Star Wars. You remember the scene where Luke Skywalker is standing on a hill looking out at the twin suns setting off in the distance? The reason that scene is so iconic isn’t because of how many angles we showed that scene, it works because it is an emotional pause in the film. We see that vast foreign distance that seems so far away and then we focus on Luke’s reaction, seeing in his eyes that look of desperation to be in a galaxy far far away. We get two shots in that one scene, and that is all we needed to get one of the most iconic moments in film. It’s a problem that too many film makers make these days. They believe that camera shots should be a jittery and energized as the action scenes they are filming.

The Positive

I really loved the concept of this film, the fact that such a horrifying subject such as children having to fight each other to the death because of food supplies and punishment has been turned into the latest and greatest television show on the planet really sold this concept for me. I liked how most of the film focused not on the battle, but on the fact that they needed to win over the viewers in order to get supplies from them so that they could survive. It was intriguing to see how politics and favor would key into survival. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when the main character’s trainer, Haymitch, sees her plight and decides to start playing the crowd for support in order to keep her alive. This battle had many sides to it, and each one needed to be played in order for them to survive it. It was this idea that made me love this film.

Jennifer Lawrence was amazing in this film as Katniss Everdeen. I swear someone should give her an award for this performance. She was able to perfectly pull off the harsh cold exterior while still being able to hold on to her humanity. Katniss wasn’t a walking stiff, she just didn’t relate well to others, and Lawrence pulled this off spectacularly. Her performance made this film work. Another actress I want to point out is Amandla Stenberg who played Rue. It is incredibly rare to find a child actress as competent as she was in this film. She seem like an actual little kid being put into this situation instead of the really stiff acting we usually get from kids.

In Conclusion

I believe that this film will go down as one of the better films this year. Personally I think if a little bit more care was put into the camera work it could have been the best. Though I think that the film truly succeeds in the way that all good films should, it has made me want to read the book where this magnificent story came from. 4 out of 5.

Let's Review: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

I won’t say I was the biggest fan of the first film. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying it was bad there were just a number of things that I felt were dragging it down from being a great film. So when I found out that a sequel was coming out, I was actually a bit surprised. I had thought that the general opinion of the first film agreed with my own and that it really wasn’t worth a sequel.

The thing is this film is half a sequel. Some of the events from the first film occurred, but I’m not entirely sure if all of them occurred. I got the idea that they were trying to build a new franchise from some of their choices but then there were these glaring issues like why would they hire Nic Cage back, if they were going to try and ignore the first film? The reason I’m explaining this now is because I don’t want to confuse you when I’m comparing the two films. So before I continue spouting off more negative thoughts, let’s review Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

The Negative

A big problem with this film is how they represented the Rider.  The way he acted and moved about was more akin to recent demon possession horror flicks. The Rider was more like an animal reacting to instincts and impulses rather than a competent character that was in full control of their actions. At one point I actually thought that the editors were just playing with their CGI model when Ghost Rider gets hit with a grenade and just spins in midair in the same spot for a few seconds. Surprisingly this rather bizarre performance becomes the benefit of the story when at the end he fully gains control of the Spirit of Vengeance and starts operating like a real person showing the progression of his character in the film. Unfortunately it’s these really disjointed moments that take away from every scene with the Rider and ruin the first two thirds of the film. Maybe if Johnny was shown to have even the slightest control over his powers at the start of the film it wouldn’t be as bad, but unfortunately that is not the direction they took it in.

Let’s talk briefly about one of the main antagonists, Blackout. This was an absolute complete waste of a good villain. I think it almost made me cry how pathetic they made his character. In the comics, Blackout was the arch nemesis of the 2^nd Ghost Rider. Blackout was a demonic vampire who had the ability to control perpetual darkness, which allowed him to avoid the sun which was his weakness. Ghost Rider and Blackout had many battles over the course of the book series, which even resulted in Blackout killing some of the Rider’s friends and family. No matter what the Rider did, he couldn’t find a way to finish off Blackout. So the Rider finally figures out a plan of attack. After an epic battle, the Rider chains Blackout to the top of the World Trade Center and then tortured him until dawn so that he was so weak he couldn’t stop the Sun from roasting him alive. This is probably one of the most epic villain deaths of all time in comics. In the film, he is a human thug for hire who is working for the devil to kidnap a kid, he gets killed early on and the devil grants him the powers in the hopes that he will be a match for the Rider. Unfortunately he still acts like a bum loser and gets killed when the Rider burns him and then runs him over with a car.    ……………………………absolutely one of the biggest wastes of a super villain I have ever seen.

Now tying back into the first film, Johnny makes a deal with Mephistopheles in order to save his father’s life. The new film plays out the deal making process differently, but essentially it is the same scene with the same characters. So my problem is…..why did they change Mephistopheles name to Roarke in the new film? Now this is such a minor thing and hardly worth complaining about, but it was a change that stuck with me throughout the entire film, questioning it every time it came up. Why did they change Mephistopheles’ name to Roarke? Did they lose the rights to Mephistopheles’ name? Did Roarke roll of the tongue better? I know this is such a minor complaint, but I really want to know. Why did they ever change his name to Roarke?

The Positive

One of the problems I had with the first film was how much the CGI for the Rider stood out. They did a really good job with the model…most of the time, but some of the time it was really glaringly obvious that what I was looking at was CGI and it looked awful. The character model for the Rider in this film was amazing. I was absolutely astonished at how real he looked. From the way the flames smoked and sputtered, to the way all of his clothing had a burning look to them, this rider was amazingly well put together. I honestly looked forward to seeing it despite the weird acting.

The truth is, that is exactly how the Rider should have looked in the first film. The Rider’s appearance and the use of his powers were exactly how they appear in the comics. I loved getting to see the Rider possessing new vehicles in order to dominate the battlefields and watching him use his chain to disintegrate the criminals into a ball of flame was like getting to watch the comic unfolding in real life. If only there wasn’t the insane acting, this could have made the entire film.

In Conclusion

This darker depiction of the Ghost Rider could have made this film amazing. Unfortunately, like the Rider, this film suffers from being too disjointed and over the top. The success of the film is that we have a really beautiful CGI model of the Rider which clearly they put a lot of work into, but the problem is that the model is put to completely waste by the bizarre mannerisms.  This really is a shame because the story and the characters really aren’t that bad, they’re just all over the place. If this film had just been a little more focused in its goals and had the Rider acting like a competent character, we could have seen another great Marvel movie. 2 out of 5.

Update: Jan 25

Hey Everybody, just want to do a small update. I’m going to be back in school so once again were going to have a shortage on posts. Trust me I am working on the ones I mentioned in my last update. I also wanted to do a shout out towards the request for the Top 10 Fantasy Films of the Past Decade. This was a request done by a good friend of mine, Melian-Alcarime. She is a fantastic artist and an amazing jewelry designer. Check out her store here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/taisirashop

and check out her deviant art page here:

http://melian-alcarime.deviantart.com/

I’m your Guide to Geekdom, thanks for reading.