Guardians of the Galaxy

The summer block buster season is coming closer to an end. We are coming to the month, where the best of the best is thrown our way, and your favorite movie reviewer is there to get the info for you to save your money or not. Now this next movie, did i want to rejoice, or did I want to shoot a rocket into my eye? Lets find out as we dive into this review shall we:

Guardians of the Galaxy- To be honest, when i first heard about this movie I had mixed emotions, and I really leaned to not wanting to see it. Then I saw the trailers for it at the beginning of almost every movie this summer. I have to say I began to love the characters more and more. The trailer gave this very easy going, happy feeling with its perfect choice of a song, and the movie had that feeling literally the whole time.

The plot was simple yet engaging at the same time. It had the main character, Peter Quill aka Star Lord, stealing a mysterious floating orb from an old ruin. He is suddenly engaged by these men demanding he hands over the orb immediately. He is able to escape, but is now a wanted man! Then one by one enter all of the characters. Our heroes struggle to keep the orb, containing one of the infinity gems, away from a powerful villain named Ronan.

Each character had it own time to shine, and each had surprisingly enough time to show their personalities very well. Hell, in 2 hours and 2 minutes, there was a tremendous amount of character development. I mean, each of the five people you really kinda fell for them. Take the character, Rocket for example, you learn that he hates what he is, and hates the fact that he was even created. Don't you dare call him vermin or a pest! You really feel for him. The characters are, like I said, extremely likeable and charismatic. They all have their moments of comic relief and one liners. One of my many favorite lines in the movie was this:

Rocket: Don't bother explaining it to him. It will just go over his head.

Drax: It will never go over my head. I'm too fast! I will just catch it!

The line was delivered so well, with just a dry sense of humor that I just lost it when it was said. The movie overall was written well, and everything just flowed nicely. The action scenes were heart pounding with loads of eye candy, and then you mix that together with comic relief... BOOM, you got a hell of a combination there ladies and gentlemen for a summer block buster hit!






Final Verdict-10/10, It honestly has everything you want in a movie and more. Tons of action, great character development, and huge must see in theaters! Highly recommended for everyone!

That's it for now, loyal readers as I get ready to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this Friday... and I'll try to sneak that in before I go away to Europe for an entire month! This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to!

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Hey, everyone and welcome to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, and today I am here to review the animated genre of movies. Probably a tad late on this one, since its been out for about 3 weeks already, but I figured I would still give my 2 cents. Nowadays, animated movies are becoming more and more for all ages with their hidden adult jokes, which seem to fly over all the youngsters heads, and the adults get to enjoy the movie on a different level. Well, lets get on with the review shall we:

 How to Train Your Dragon 2-  The first movie was incredible, with loveable characters, and a pretty straight forward, solid plot line. It became an instant favorite of mine, and if it is on TV, I always make sure I watch it. Now the second movie has come out continuing the story, a few years later, with the viking village continuing their lives with their new dragons. All the same voice actors return getting the movie onto the right start.

The plot is the chief of the village, played by Gerard Butler, wants to name his son, Hiccup played by Jay Baruchel, the future chief. Hiccup has other plans for himself, as he wants to discover the world with his dragon, Toothless, and continue creating new inventions to better the villager's lives. This of course causing friction between Hiccup and his father. One day, Hiccup learns there are new enemies capturing dragons for their own personal gain. These men are working for the villain, Drago played by Djimon Hounsou, and he plans on building a dragon army to rule to the world. During a brief scuffle with the villains Hiccup is rescued by a mysterious stranger whom lives amongst the dragons. Enter the new character of the movie, Hiccup's mother, which is revealed in the trailer, so no I didn't spoil anything.

The movie overall had the same chemistry with the characters, and I enjoyed them greatly. The visuals were bright and basic eye candy! The story line was a little weak, and seemed to start to fall flat when the mother was introduced. I mean, really she has been gone for 20 years, and she couldn't return to her family in that time. It was revealed there was an alpha dragon, so I'm pretty sure they could've survived fine without her. Plus, Hiccup and his father were so easily forgiving to her for pretty much choosing her love for dragons over her family. That's whole another can of worms, I will stay away from, because I could on an on about how ridiculous that plot appeared.


Final Verdict- 7/10, It was a good movie, but I felt the first one was much better. The visuals alone are worth seeing in theaters.


Thats it for now, loyal readers! More summer movies to conqueror as we are half way through this summer blockbuster season.... This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to!

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Hello, boys and girls and welcome to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies. Today, I am reviewing another Michael Bay movie, which is taken from my childhood, a simpler time, and lets see if he smashed my favorite toys into the ground. Did my inner child scream for more, or did it just scream? Lets find out:

Transformers: Age of Extinction- So, this is the fourth installment of the Transformer franchise, and the fourth time Michael Bay is the director. What hasn't been said about these movies in the past that can't be said now? The plot takes place immediately following the big attack on Chicago, and the American government  has declared war on all Transformers, Autobot and Decepticon alike. Leading this crusade against the robots is played by Kelsey Grammer, who in my opinion played a really diabolical villain. I don't care what many people say, I really like Kelsey Grammer, and think he does a great job in whatever role he plays. Plus, hes teaming up with a Transformer, who was sent to collect Optimus Prime and others, so he can bring them back to the "creators."

Then we are shown the new humans the story will revolve around now. Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) and his daughter Tessa Yeager (Nicola Peltz), and probably the most forced comic relief, side kick, Lucas Flannery (TJ Miller).... i loved when he died, because I couldn't take another second of him! I know its a spoiler, but trust me he brings nothing to the film other than annoyance.

The action was like a sexual orgy for the eyes, with big robots and explosions, exactly like all the other previous films. The only things that ruined the film for me were:

1) No matter what happened to the main human characters they never received any injuries. For example, Bumblebee is doing like 60 mph, and transforms into his robot form, and he ejects Tessa out of him. She tumbles around, violently, along the black top coming to a stop, and shes completely unharmed, gets up and starts running. No road rash, not even a fucking scratch, but shes sweaty and basically glows on camera. There are more events in the movie like this... apparently when you hang with the transformers you become super human!

2) Constantly throwing Dinobots in our faces on the previews, the big cardboard cut outs, and everything advertised for this movie was pushing the big bad Dinobots. They are in the last 25 minutes of the movie, and Optimus simply releases them from the ship, a quick fight and boom they are helping. I felt cheated on waiting for so long to see the Dinobots on the silver screen.

Final Verdict- 7.5/10, its a decent movie, a guilty pleasure like the others, and they even set it up for a 5th installment. Its worth seeing on the big screen, but if you're not really a fan, then just wait for DVD or Netflix.


More movies on their way, even another movie from my childhood involving Michael Bay. Oh, well please don't suck! This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to!

22 Jumpstreet

Hey boys and girls, your favorite movie reviewer is back in action giving you a heads up on the featured films this summer season. Well, I went to see another comedy, yes, the third comedy this season... DEAR GOD, PLEASE don't let the only funny parts be in the trailer like the last two films....Oh, could I actually get a great laugh at this movie, please?...sigh. Well, lets see what i thought of this movie, and did it make me want to literally jump into the street? Lets find out:

22 Jumpstreet- Well, HOOO-FUCKING- RAY, finally a comedy that made me laugh and feel like my money wasn't wasted at theaters. Ok, let me calm down, first off, there were a ton of funny scenes, and not all of them were in the trailer. Gee, maybe "Neighbors and "A Million Ways to Die in the West" should take notes and learn how NOT to do that!

The entire cast has returned for this sequel, which I have stated time and time again you need coming out the gates, and everyone has the same bad ass chemistry they had in the first movie. Nothing has changed. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum both play off each other extremely well. Plus, you have Ice Cube, who has been playing the same character for the last 20 years. You know the "I'm a pissed off black guy and don't fuck with me." persona, which he plays in every movie except for the "Are We There Yet?" movie franchise.

The plot literally is the exact same as the first film, and the movie pokes fun at this, and I thought that was kinda funny. The only difference is this time our heroes are in college, and Channing Tatum gets into the "in crowd" and Jonah Hill was ostracized. Problems ensue only for them to realize how they love being friends! Besides the film, being literally the same movie, the laughs are there, and there were a few times I couldn't breathe. Especially, the scene involving Jonah Hill's sexual experience and Ice Cube... I can't any further or I'll ruin it, but it was comedy gold!

They poked fun of making more sequels, and if they do I hope they are as good as the first two films.

Final Verdict- 9/10, Highly recommended, if you enjoyed the first film then you will love this one.

Well, that's if for now as more films come out this month, and I can't wait to review them all... this is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Sooooo, excited for this summer block buster season, so many movies I want to see. Welcome back everyone for another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies. Today, I am reviewing one of my favorite superheroes of all time, Spider-Man. Now, did the sequel make me want jump for joy, or did it make me want to hang myself with web shooters? Lets find out as we swing into this review:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2- Ok, I was one of those people that were pissed off when I saw the trailer for this film because they did show waaaay too much. Even though, I practically saw the movie for free, thanks to the jackass editor of trailer I went to see it anyway. Now, its hard to really review this movie without giving too much away, so I will do the best I can not to ruin it for my readers. Before, I dive in, people have been asking me, who do i prefer as Spider-Man, Toby McGuire or Andrew Garfield? Ok, real quick, I like both actors and their betrayals of the character. I do enjoy Andrew Garfield more, I guess because the writing for the character is just better. I believe thats the fairest way to decide. Because, if Toby's version wasn't written so EMO, it would have been a harder choice between the two. Okay, I got that out of the way, back to the review.

The plot continues a little bit in the future, where Peter and Gwen are graduated high school, and time seems to be moving along as they as continue their romance. Peter is seeing Gwen's father more and more guilt stricken from the promise Peter made to the dying man to stay away from Gwen Stacy. This causes a rift in their relationship as it being tested constantly in the film. At the same time, dealing with other issues in Peter Parker's life such as family and returning friends. Plus, finding out more about his parents.

The villains, Jamie Foxx is a talented actor, so it was no surprise to me that he would play a great part as the murderous, unstable Electro. I loved the way he looked and he moved around, with that freaky theme song he had playing every time he was on screen. When he use his powers it was visually stimulating to say the least. Dane DeHaan, played a very different Harry Osborn, where in the comics Harry was always shown as a meek character, and this version portrayed him as a ruthless business man-getting what he wants... SPOILER, Rhino is in the movie the last 5 minutes of the movie, so no big loss there, not sure why they said there was 3 villains in this movie where it felt more like 1.5 villains.

I had some issues with the movie, but they were small nothing to really deter me. One that stands out in my mind the most, is the scene, where Gwen Stacy insists on helping Peter defeat Electro. She states like 2 to 3 times only she knows how to get the system back online. When she gets to the room, theres a plastic cover, with big red letters on it saying,"MASTER RESET." Really? Spider-Man couldn't have figured that out? Was there a great amount of training to learn how to pull a freaking lever?

Final Verdict- 8/10, I enjoyed watching Spider-Man swing through the city, the fight scenes were eye candy to watch, and I really liked the people chosen for their roles.


Go see this film yes, its the movie is long, but what big block buster isn't in the 2 hour plus mark anymore? Well thats it for me for now, many more reviews on their way... This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Welcome one and all to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, and I am here to review yet another superhero movie. Seems like there are going to be many superhero movies this year, and I'll be there to review them all. Today, I'm looking at "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". Did it deliver, or did I want to throw myself into traffic after watching it? Lets find out as we dive into this review.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier-  This would be the 3rd movie involving the characters post "The Avengers". Seeing how the last two were quite the lack luster, I was really hoping this one would hit home. The best part is the characters have already been established in a few movies already, so all the set up is out of the way. This means we get to the good stuff right away, and this movie wasted no time with the action. Right off the bat, Captain America and the Black Widow are teaming up to rescue some captured agents of shield from some terrorists. This scene was so well done, in my opinion, due to the chemistry between the two characters. One by one they take out the armed guards as they have some witty banter. This just made it appear more as if the characters were extremely comfortable in their element.

One thing this movie did right was it gave each character a chance to shine. I got a chance to see more development of the Black Widow as she showed she's incredible intelligent as well as a bad ass in combat. I especially loved how she kept trying to set up Captain America, romantically, when she kicking people across the room, and she doesn't even bat an eye lash in the process. The one thing I found comical was no matter what happened to her, her hair never became messed up. She was shot, thrown around, nearly blown to pieces, and countless other stuff, her hair never seemed to be out of place.... maybe thats her super power!

The newest edition to the line up of superheroes is Falcon played by Anthony Mackie. He really gave off that feeling he would do anything for a brother in arms. He was very likeable and again the chemistry between him and Chris Evans was believable and honest. I really like the look they gave him over the really cheesy comic verison.

The fight scenes in this movie were fantastic, and it really showed Captain America's superior fighting capabilities in hand to hand combat. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way, and its really small.... but i gotta bring it up! Theres a scene in the movie where a bad guy is shooting a gatling gun at our hero, the captain. Now, Captain America is using the trademark shield to block the bullets and run at him. Soooo not a single bullet dared to hit something other than the shield... my point is his legs are completely unprotected. I'm not a combat expert, buuuut if a super solider was coming at me, blocking all my bullets with his shield. I would aim for the unprotected KNEE CAPS, just saying! I guess, when your name is thug #33, you don't think of these things.... oh well!

The villain, played by Sebastian Stan, his character was actually pretty bad ass as the Winter Soldier. It was nice to see that, post "The Avengers" we finally had a villain that could leave an impact. Now, I can forgive this guy, for being the villain in the movie, "The Covenant"... you are redeemed sir!

Final Verdict- 8.5/10, it had many moments of seeing the super heroes as just people, which was very well done. The action scenes were really well done, and the actors were all well chosen for their parts. I would definitely recommend seeing this in theaters, and this movie got me pretty pumped for the Avengers 2.

Well, thats all for now boys and girls, still have a plethora of movies i wanna see this coming blockbuster season. This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!

The Wolverine

Welcome to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, today, I get to review my favorite movie genres, comic book movies. The big super hero fad cash in, which is going on, and boy are they making ridiculous money doing it... so no way will this ever end any time soon. Now, one of my favorite comic books was the X-Men, and for 10 years now they still haven't really made an X-Men movie that good... I mean "X-Men: First Class" was pretty good, but still there were things that annoyed me about the movie.... then again, those things were just fan boy things, the movie itself was fine. Well, lets tackle the newest installment of the X-Men movies... 10 years later did Hugh Jackman disappoint?


The Wolverine- The movie starts out with Logan in exile, in the middle of no where, living like a mountain man. He's still haunted by dreams and visions of Jean Grey, so this movie definitely takes place some time after X-Men: The Last Stand. Now, as a fan of X-Men, i absolutely hated X-Men 3, and just pretend it was never created. Hell, i had to google the title of X-men 3, because thats how much i have erased it from my memory.

Now, Logan has made a vow to the late Jean Grey, he would never kill again. He gets into a bar fight, and before he breaks his vow, a mysterious woman comes to rescue him in a sense. I like this character, shes looks like a cross between being a vicious killer and your best friend's kid sister that grew up. I don't know what it was about this character, but she was a blast to watch kick a ton of ass.

Now, the obvious thing i loved about this movie is Hugh Jackman, this guy jsut owns the character as Logan/Wolverine. Its been 10 years, and he is as charismatic as he was in first the X-men movie. I dunno, he just seems to nail down the rage factor, and really gives the character life. I mean, his performance really reflects from the actual pages from the comic... Hugh is the wolverine, just like Kevin Conroy is the Batman, and Mark Hamill is the Joker. It would be hard to see someone else playing these roles.

The plot of the movie, it was fast paced and well done.Unfortunately, in these movies the villains are very important, and the villain was a female named Viper. Nothing was special about this character, I mean she did some cool snake like things, like peeling her skin to recover from injuries. She had some crazy poisons, but overall she was really blah and forgettable. The only i can remember about her was the actress playing the part was really hot. Other than that, whoopie-freaking-doo! Then, of course enter the Silver Samurai, another boring villain, and they completely changed him around from what he is in the comics. Unfortunately, if i dive any more into the villains the plot, i will give away the twists, so take it from me... it was pretty was weak and predictable. I did think it was funny how quickly Wolverine forgot his vow to Jean, and began slices mother fuckers up real quick. Then what was the point of the vow then? Waste of time that lil plot point was....stupid.

There were some great action sequences, my favorite had to be hands down the bullet train, and everyone fighting on top of it. The one thing this movie needed and some people might agree or disagree, but it needs to be rated R, not PG-13. To truly get to see Wolverine slice and dice, we need the ability to see some true violence and gore.... thats just me!

Final Verdict- 6/10, it was a good movie, but there are better super hero movies out there. To me this movie lacked a true villain.

There were many other things that happened in this movie, which aggravated me, but they didn't persuade me in my decision of rating the movie. The flaws just disappointed me as an X-Men fan. Scroll down past my sign off and see the things that bothered me. The summer movie season is nearly finished, and there some more i need to review. This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!


Spoilers



I hated the Silver Samurai was a body suit keeping the sick old man alive. This villain is a bad ass his mutant powers, and ability to cut through anything. Instead we get a weak ass plot device!

Now, mutant powers can be taken, stolen, or moved from one person or another. Plus, they didn't even explain how the hell thats possible. Because the powers are in the person's genes, and by taking his healing powers, kills him? WTF

I cant stand that Adamantium can destroy itself, which now Wolverine's claws were cut off, and they grew back as the bone claws. Wonderful!