Released: October 2018

Director: Doug Murphy

Rated R

Run Time: 90 Minutes

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Genre: Fantasy/Horror

Cast:
Matt Ryan: John Constantine
Damian O’Hare: Chas Chandler
Laura Bailey: Asa The Healer
Emily O’Brien: Renee Chandler
Jim Meskimen: Beroul
Rick D. Wasserman: Mictlantecuhtli

Can somebody explain something to me?  How is it that Marvel Studios, one of the biggest movie studios acquired by Disney, can have some of the most amazing live-action films ever made, but their animated offerings are rather forgettable?  Yet, on the flip-side of the coin, DC and Warner Bros, have had some issues with their live-action films over the past few years, but have mostly outstanding animated films.  Seems like an odd reversal, don’t you think?  I recently reviewed The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen a day or so ago and those were pretty damn good.  Not only that, DC’s animated Suicide Squad was a hell of a lot better than the live-action film that came out a couple years ago.  It seems to me that DC’s live-action offerings over the past 7 years, with the exceptions of Wonder Woman and Aquaman, have met with failure, both critically and at the box-office.  Their attempt at creating a universe like Marvel’s MCU is pretty much dead in the water at this point, but I’ll discuss that in a different post.  With that said, Warner Bros and their animation studio have taken some pretty serious risks by going to some really dark territory in animated films such Justice League Dark and Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay.  I’ve seen some pretty dark comic book movies, and of the animated variety, but I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like Constantine: City of Demons.

In City of Demons, we meet John Constantine, a master magician and expert on the occult.  He’s also very good at solving magic-related situations.  He’s also a broken man, who smokes and drinks himself to sleep every night because of a tragic event in his past.  A little bit of this past catches up with him as his old friend, Chas Chandler seeks his help.  Chas’s daughter is in a coma, but Chas believes that something supernatural caused it, so he enlists the reluctant aid of Constantine to help his daughter.  As it turns out, the child’s soul is missing.  In order to locate the child’s soul, Constantine calls on Asa the Healer to look after the child, while he and Chas go to Los Angeles to find answers.  I love movies that have a really dark tone.  It makes for a more interesting event.  The Dark Knight from 2008 was one of the darkest mainstream comic book movies ever to be released and it had an amazing story.  It was very dark, and so was the animated Justice League Dark film, but Constantine: City of Demons is grim-dark.  City of Demons started out as an animated web-series and was shown on the CW network, but it was recently released as full-feature on Blu-Ray and DVD.  While I love dark stories, City of Demons goes to some extremely dark and bleak places.  While I wouldn’t necessarily say that all the film’s risks paid off, but most of them did.  Because City of Demons started out as a series, there are moments here and there that seem to drag a little bit with a lot of exposition.  But the overall story is really good and engaging, and it has you in its grip from beginning to end, and boy what an ending that is, but I’m not going to spoil it for you.  You’ll have to see it for yourself.

City of Demons is a grisly movie.  This has to be one of the goriest animated movies I’ve seen in years.  It’s certainly the bloodiest that DC has put out.  While DC may have been antsy about putting in extreme violence in their live-action films, they don’t seem to have any self-control when it comes to their animated movies.  This is a violent movie.  It’s not just the gore, however.  There is a lot of graphically disturbing imagery that I wouldn’t have expected from an animated picture.  There is a moment when Constantine is invited to go to a “party” hosted by a nasty demon.  I won’t describe what takes place, but it really feels like walking into an animated Hellraiser film.  While the genre tag above says fantasy/horror, make no mistake about it:  City of Demons is a horror movie, through and through.  The action in the film is spectacular, but it is very ghastly.  It gets brutal, and the fact that it’s animated makes the violence more exaggerated and horrific.  They do stuff in this movie that you normally don’t see in a mainstream horror flick.  I’m not saying its a bad thing, but I AM saying that this is not a kid’s movie, whatsoever, and it’s certainly not a film for people with weak stomachs.

City of Demons wouldn’t work as well as it does if it didn’t have strong characters.  There is some really good characterizations and motivations that you see throughout the film.  The character of Chas feels like a real person who wants to save his little girl, while Asa the Healer seems like one of those demons that doesn’t seem to behave like what you would think a demon would behave like.  The main villain of the film is a legless, bull-horned demon that is as savage as he is manipulative.  John Constantine is one of those characters that not many people know about, but he is definitely very interesting regardless.  This guy is a full-blown alcoholic and damaged individual, but I would imagine you would be too if you knew you were responsible for an innocent child getting sent to Hell for eternity.  Like I said, this movie goes to some really dark territory.  The performances are fantastic all around with Matt Ryan reprising his role as Constantine.  This marks the third time that Mr. Ryan has taken the role, with Justice League Dark and the live-action series of Constantine.  His character isn’t a nice guy, but he does come around eventually to do the right thing.

The art-style of Constantine: City of Demons is very similar to that of previous animated features from DC, but I think it really works here.  It actually allows the imagery on screen to be that much more disturbing and violent.  The level of detail is amazing, even in the more…..gruesome moments it brings the whole world to terrifying life.  The creature designs are incredible, especially the ancient Aztec god that Constantine summons.  Again, this is not going to be a movie for everyone, as there are certain images here that could be a little too much for some people.  I do have some gripes with the film, though.  For one, the pacing seems to drag a little bit in the middle, and while I appreciate exposition, there’s a little too much.  There’s a phrase in the film industry that people need to understand: Show, don’t tell.  If there’s a character moment that the film-makers want the audience to understand, you don’t need words to explain it.  Show it to them; trust them to figure it out on their own.  More often than not, they will.  Trust the audience, that’s all I’m saying.

Overall, though, I think Constantine: City of Demons is really good.  Again, it’s not going to be for everyone, but for those that like this style of story-telling and the dark nature of Constantine and his world, there’s a lot this movie has to offer.  Just be aware that this movie has some serious bite to it.  It’s definitely worth checking out.

My Final Recommendation: Don’t summon demons.  It never ends well.  9/10.

WARNING:  THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS!!

Released: Death of Superman – July 2018; Reign of the Supermen – January 2019

Directors: Jake Castorena, Sam Liu

Rated PG-13

Run Time: Death – 81 Minutes; Reign – 87 Minutes

Distributor: Warner Bros./Warner Animation/DC

Genre: Action/Adventure/Animated

Cast:
Jerry O’Connell: Superman/Clark Kent
Rebecca Romijn: Lois Lane
Rainn Wilson: Lex Luthor
Rosario Dawson: Wonder Woman
Nathan Fillion: Green Lantern
Jason O’Mara: Batman

In the comic book world, everybody knows who Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman are.  They are basically the Holy Trinity of comic book superheroes.  Superman was from the planet Krypton, with Wonder Woman being an Amazon princess, and Batman essentially being the only normal human out of the three, albeit extremely rich and intelligent.  Over the years, more and more superheroes were introduced like Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, The Flash, Captain Marvel/Shazam, and the Green Arrow.  This was mostly before Marvel Comics entered the picture.  These characters became iconic over the decades.  Everybody knew that Batman was just a human being amongst gods, essentially.  Everybody knew that Wonder Woman was not just a pretty face, and everybody knew that Superman was the face of DC comics.  He’s basically that company’s mascot.  So….what happens when you take the comic book industry’s most iconic figure since the 1930s and you kill him?  You piss off a lot of people, that’s what.

The Death of Superman follows Superman/Clark Kent as he tries to reveal to his girlfriend Lois Lane that he’s Superman, while Lex Luthor continues to plot against the Man of Steel.  Meanwhile, an asteroid smashes into a satellite and spaceship killing everyone on board.  The asteroid slams into the ocean unleashing a vicious beast that only lives to kill, Doomsday.  Making its way across the United States, the Justice League are forced into a confrontation with the beast only to be nearly killed by the monster.  Superman finally intervenes and fights Doomsday in an epic battle.  He succeeds, but at the cost of his own life.  Reign of the Supermen picks up 6 months after the devastating battle when four mysterious beings show up, all claiming to be Superman.  Back in 1992, DC Comics released what would become one of the most infamous and controversial comic book series of all time, The Death of Superman.  The reception to the story was one of shock, sadness, and ultimately anger.  It was a huge risk for DC to do something like this to a character that had been around for 60 years at the time.  It was something that was all over the news.  It pissed people off, but it allowed people to see what a world would be like without Superman.  It was an incredibly powerful story that actually impressed the creator of Superman, Jerry Siegel.  It was risky and the fight between Doomsday and Superman has left an indelible mark on the comic book industry.  While some of the elements of the story were kind of cut from these animated films, the core of the story is intact.  There have been attempts to bring this particular story to life, namely the animated feature, Superman: Doomsday and Zack Snyder’s Batman V. Superman film a couple years back.  I really enjoyed both films, but neither one really did the story any justice(pun intended).  The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen animated films do a much better job at getting the story across than the movies I just mentioned.  Now, why am I reviewing both films in one post?  Well, each film is half of an over-arching story, so when you watch them back-to-back, you are essentially watching a full film.  While I think that The Death of Superman could have worked as a live-action film series, the animated films are actually the best way to go, because Warner Bros really botched the Batman V. Superman and Justice League live action films.  If you enjoyed the actual story, these films are a really good way of condensing a massive series into two and a half hours.

There have been some changes in the film from the original comics.  For one, Doomsday comes from outer-space, instead of escaping from an underground bunker.  When Doomsday takes on the Justice League, there are superheroes that don’t show up, like the Blue Beetle.  Not only that, Jonathan Kent, Superman’s adopted father takes his son’s death much harder in the comics than he does in the animated film, so much so that he has a heart attack and dies.  When the four Supermen show up, they eventually take on Mongol after he obliterates The Flash’s home city.  There’s a lot of condensing that Death and Reign had to do in order to get the films down to a more watchable level and I think they did an admirable job doing so.  They also get quite a bit right.  While the fight between the Justice League and Doomsday was pretty much one-sided, Superman’s encounter with the monster was far more brutal.  The animation is so good that you can actually FEEL the impact of the punches that these two titans throw at each other.  Despite the short run time, the first film actually gets us to really connect with the characters and when the final battle reaches its conclusion, the audience is left reeling.  I was honestly getting a bit emotional, and that hasn’t happened to me from a DC movie in years.  The second film actually does a pretty good job of throwing all the Supermen into the mix, giving each incarnation a bit of screen time.  I was also surprised at how not annoying Superboy was.  There is some really good characterization in these films that make you care about them.  Story-wise, I think The Death of Superman is the stronger film, at least emotionally and in terms of pacing.  That’s not to say that Reign of the Supermen is a bad film.  Not at all, but there are elements of the second film that just seem bizarre.  Replacing Mongol with Darkseid actually made a lot more sense, especially given the direction the live-action films were heading.  While he’s still more of a background villain in this film, Darkseid’s presence is nonetheless welcome.

The art-style of these films is pretty interesting.  I’m not saying it’s the greatest, but it does give each character a very unique look and style.  Everyone looks exactly how they are supposed to look and the explosions and action are top-notch.  I barely saw a use of actual CGI in these films, so they really have kind of an old-school look to them.  It’s a similar style that previous DC animated films have adopted with great effect.  The voice-acting is superb.  Jerry O’Connell is actually pretty good as Superman.  He definitely has that real confident no-nonsense tone that Superman needs.  Rebecca Romijn really gives Lois Lane a solid emotional core that makes her far more relatable.  Nathan Fillion plays Green Lantern, because of course he does.  Fillion is one of those actors that’s really good at anything he does, regardless of how good or bad the project might be.  If there’s a real weak link in these films, it’s Rainn Wilson as Lex Luthor.  Don’t get me wrong, the character is well-written, but Wilson’s performance is very weak in my opinion.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I just don’t feel that Wilson can really deliver the suave menace that Lex should convey.  The character is extremely intelligent and arrogant at the same time, but Wilson doesn’t really get it right.

The Death of Superman has become one of the most iconic and controversial comic book stories of all time.  There’s no getting around it.  The influence that it had is still being felt in comic books today, whether it’s Marvel or DC.  It was an incredibly ground-breaking story that took Superman and the Justice League in a new direction.  While there have been stories that deal with the death of other characters, none have had the same impact as The Death of Superman.  Zack Snyder’s attempt to bring this story to the big screen came to a screeching halt when Batman V. Superman and Justice League failed to perform at the box-office.  I think a live-action adaptation of the story CAN be done right, if Warner Bros. and DC can get the right film-makers behind it.  As it stands, however, The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen are probably going to be the best adaptations of the story for the time being.  I would honestly check these films out if you were disappointed with Zack Snyder and Warner Bros’ live-action films.

My Final Recommendation:
The Death of Superman: 9.5/10
Reign of the Supermen: 8.5/10

I was thinking long and hard today about whether or not I should give my thoughts on last night’s Oscars.  I haven’t watched any of these awards shows in years.  It’s not that I find them arbitrary.  They serve an actual purpose, not just for entertainment, but for legitimate recognition within the industry.  That being said, I normally don’t pay attention to the Academy Awards, because I often strongly disagree with a lot of the nomination and the selection of the winners.  I understand that the votes are made by “professionals” with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences(AMPAS), but the Academy has had a reputation for mostly ignoring films in certain genres like science fiction, fantasy and horror.  Every once in a while you will see a sci-fi or fantasy film get nominated, but even more rare than that is when a movie in those genres gets an actual award.  Take James Cameron’s Aliens for example.  It actually won two Oscars:  One for Best Visual Effects and one for Sound Effects Editing.  It was also nominated for 5 additional Oscars including Best Actress in a Leading Role, which was Sigourney Weaver.  Another example is The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, which won 11 Oscars including Best Director, Best Picture, Best Music, and Best Film Editing.  I love it when films like these win, because it shows that even fantasy and science fiction can have powerhouse movies that deserve serious recognition.  But aside from maybe a handful of films, the Academy generally only looks at films in the comedy and drama categories.  I wasn’t going to pay attention to anything that the Oscars were nominating for last year, except for the fact that last year had some of the best films in any category.  So, what I’m going to for this post is go over some of the nominations and winners that took home an award last night.  Be aware that I haven’t seen all these movies, so I won’t be commenting on them at all.

Let’s start with Best Song.  The nominees were: “Shallow” from A Star is Born, “All the Stars” from Black Panther, “I’ll Fight” from RBG, “The Place Were Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns, and “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.  The winner, unsurprisingly to me at least, went to Lady Gaga and “Shallow” from A Star is Born.  This one didn’t surprise me, because it was a damn good song from an excellent film.  A duet with Bradley Cooper, “Shallow” is an incredibly powerful and uplifting song that really defines the relationship between the two lead characters in the film.  I’ve had that song on repeat for quite some time, it’s that good.  I completely underestimated Lady Gaga’s talents as a musician.  That woman is a force to be reckoned with.  She’s definitely got my attention now:

I’m going to briefly discuss Best Actress, as I only saw one movie in the category.  Lady Gaga ultimately didn’t win the nomination, but for someone whose first lead role landed her a nomination, that speaks volumes about Gaga and her talents as an entertainer.  She went above and beyond to play Ally in A Star is Born, going so far as to strip away all the make-up and costumes and reverting to her natural brown hair color.  Lady Gaga just crushed it playing a character that had all but given up on her dreams of being a singer.  Not only that, she had legitimate chemistry with Bradley Cooper, who also starred in and directed the film.  After the first two musical numbers, I fell in love with the movie.  While Lady Gaga is definitely a musician first, I’m going to be paying attention to her acting career as well.  She’s definitely got it where it counts.

I never would have thought it possible for a Marvel film to win any kind of award from the Academy, let alone be nominated, but this surprised the hell out of me.  Last year’s Black Panther was nominated not for one but SEVEN awards, taking home three of them.  This is a huge first for ANY Marvel film, and I’m glad it was Black Panther that secured at least three awards.  What this shows to me is that the Academy is finally opening themselves to see what comic book movies can offer.  Black Panther brought home awards for Best Original Score, Best Production Design, and Best Costume Design.  The costumes in Black Panther are something to behold.  They had done research among the various tribes in Africa and took elements from each tribe to create their own unique look.  The production design on the film was absolutely incredible.  Look at the set designs as well as the weaponry and the city-state of Wakanda.  It blew my mind.  I loved the soundtrack by Ludwig Göransson.  It had a combination of an orchestra as well as various tribal sounds that gave the film its unique identity.  So, kudos to Black Panther.

When it comes to Best Visual Effects, the one that really should have won was Avengers: Infinity War.  The reason that I feel that Avengers should have won is because of how the character Thanos was realized.  Yes, he was a CGI character, but the design of the character was unique and felt like he was lifted straight from the comics.  It certainly doesn’t hurt that Josh Brolin nailed the character to a tee.  The CGI was so damn good, that Thanos looked like a real being, that’s how detailed he is.  If there was a category for Best Character Design, I believe it would’ve gone to this guy:

Now, I want to talk about the movies that were completely snubbed by the Oscars, and I don’t think they should have been.  First off, The Hate U Give is one of the best films of 2018, period.  I get why people were apprehensive about the film as it deals with a very uncomfortable subject matter, but it’s a film that has relevance in today’s society.  Not only that, it also boasts some of the best performances I’ve seen in 2018.  Amandla Stenberg gave one of the best break-out performances I’ve ever seen.  The fact that she wasn’t even nominated is a disgrace, in my opinion.  Russell Hornsby was also NOT nominated.  How The Hate U Give didn’t get a single nomination is beyond my capacity to understand.  Yeah, it was a risky movie, but I felt that it paid off.  Also not nominated was Toni Collette from Hereditary.  On one hand, I kind of figured that she wouldn’t get nominated at all, but it still irks me that she didn’t, because she puts in a powerhouse performance in one of the best horror movies of the decade.  Emily Blunt also got shafted, because her performance in A Quiet Place was just as amazing as Toni Collette’s.

I haven’t commented on films like Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book, because I haven’t seen them yet.  I plan on it, but I only have so much time in the day and the week to get around to it.  So, with that in mind, what are my final thoughts on the 2019 Oscars?  For me, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, because while some of the winners definitely deserved the award, some didn’t and I feel that there other movies that should have gotten a nomination at least, but didn’t.  It’s one of those things that you can just take or leave.  Ultimately, it still doesn’t change my opinion that these award shows generally don’t get right.  I love it when they do, but I’m not surprised when they don’t.  Ultimately, I prefer to rely on the fans and blogs to deliver their own awards for movies, because it’s the fans that help make these movies as successful as they are.  Another year, another award show.  Those are my thoughts, anyway.  If you have any thoughts of your own, feel free to post them down below as to what movies you think should have won.

Released: October 2018

Director: Bradley Cooper

Rated R

Run Time: 133 Minutes

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Genre: Romance/Drama/Music

Cast:

Lady Gaga: Ally
Bradley Cooper: Jack
Sam Elliott: Bobby
Andrew Dice Clay: Lorenzo
Rafi Gavron: Rez Gavron
Anthony Ramos: Ramon
Dave Chappelle: George ‘Noodles’ Stone

A few days ago, I had a discussion with someone about this website and the kinds of movies that I cover here and ones that I should probably cover.  In case you haven’t noticed, most of the movies that I tend to cover here generally fall into certain genres that I really enjoy: Horror, action, science fiction, and other stuff like that.  Occasionally, I will tackle the odd documentary and drama.  It’s not an easy thing to step out of your comfort zone, especially if you’ve been covering certain kinds of movies for so long.  You know what the funny thing is?  Some of the best things happen when you open yourself up to challenges that you are not used to being in your wheelhouse.  It’s a good thing to be challenged.  It opens up possibilities that you never thought existed.  One of those challenges is Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born.  I’m going to tell you why you should see this movie.

A Star Is Born opens with singer Jackson Maine as he heads to a nearby bar for a drink.  When he shows up he notices a local singer, Ally, performing a song from Edith Piaf.  This catches Jackson’s eye and soon he’s brought back to meet her.  There’s an immediate connection and then we see Jackson actually invite her to one of his performances.  He then brings her on stage to help him sing one of her songs.  After several appearances with Jack she’s noticed by a music producer and her career begins to take off.  Unfortunately, Jack’s past struggles with addiction continue to haunt him and threaten to derail Ally and Jack’s relationship.  This is a love story at its core and while this kind of story has been done many times before, Bradley Cooper manages to infuse this story with a fresh direction and fresh talent.  It’s one of the most engaging and touching stories that I’ve seen a movie in a long time.  While I will touch on the use of music in the film later on in this review, it’s a very important part of the story that helps to bring two lost souls together.  That’s when the magic happens.  It’s such a great story and it’s very well-realized here.

A Star Is Born is one of the most well-acted films that I’ve seen in years.  Bradley Cooper is one of the best actors of his generation.  While he’s usually known for playing comedic roles, his turn as Jack in this film is incredibly.  He infuses the role with a quiet energy and humanity that’s just extraordinary.  When the character in his best moments is someone you can root for, Bradley Cooper also shows the character at some really low points and delivers a performance that is both captivating and heartbreaking.  Sam Elliott turns in one of the best performances of his career as Jack’s brother, Bobby.  I’ve always been a huge fan of Sam’s.  He’s a great actor, but he delivers some of this film’s most powerful moments.  Actors like Andrew Dice Clay and Dave Chappelle are fantastic in this film.  I’ll be truthful:  I’ve underestimated Lady Gaga at almost every turn.  When she first showed up, I didn’t think much of her and her music.  Let me tell you:  Lady Gaga is one of the most talented musicians in the industry, and while I’m not a big fan of her music, she is turning out to be one hell of an actress.  Her turn as Ally is one of the most emotionally engaging and powerful performances I’ve seen in such a long time.  Her chemistry with Bradley Cooper feels authentic and organic, which makes for a film that grabs you.  Seeing Lady Gaga without all her make-up and outrageous outfits allows you to see the person underneath all that.  Gaga brings such a graceful and soulful presence to the character that you just can’t help but fall in love with the character the way that Jack did.

When I said earlier that music was an important part of this film, I meant it.  Bradley Cooper spent months learning how to sing, play the guitar and the piano, and when you see him step out in front of thousands of people in actual concert, he really belts it out.  He wrote the song “Black Eyes” specifically for this movie and wow.  He’s absolutely fantastic.  Lady Gaga was always a talented musician, but I was completely caught off guard by the enormous range that she has as a singer.  This was a film that was written for her, and not only does she deliver the acting chops, but she just crushes it with the music.  The music is an important part of the story in terms of character development and emotional delivery, and when Cooper and Lady Gaga perform duets throughout the film, it is simply magic.  The chemistry between the two allows them to dig deep down and deliver some of the strongest music I’ve ever heard.  The music is so damn good that I ended up buying the soundtrack after I finished watching the movie.  I usually don’t do that right after watching a movie.  That’s how good it is.

The issues that I have with the film are minor nitpicks at best.  The music producer that Ally runs into after one of Jack’s concerts is a bit of a douchebag, and while I can see how that plays into the overall story, I don’t like him at all.  Honestly, that’s really the only gripe that I have with this film.  Bradley Cooper has proven himself to be not only an excellent actor, but a fantastic director as well.  As a first-time director, Cooper just hits it right out of the park, all the while acting and singing in the film.  Some of the most talented people in the industry would have problems doing one or two of those things, but Bradley just goes all in and delivers one of the best movies of 2018.  This is the kind of movie that you would take a date to.  It really is.  It’s romantic, dramatic, and it hits all the right notes, musically and acting-wise.  It’s an emotionally powerful film that takes risks.  I mean, Cooper actually shoots scenes during real live concerts.  You don’t see that happen very often, and actually perform for an audience.  I think A Star Is Born is an absolutely wonderful film that you should check out.  The music is amazing while Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are captivating.  Sometimes it really DOES pay to step out of your comfort zone, and I’m glad I did.

My Final Recommendation: 9.5/10.  Highly recommended.