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Torchy24
Reviews
Last Chance U (2016)
Fascinating character study
Although I'm baffled how and why EMCC chooses to focus so much on religion instead actual education, the young men, their families and coaches are all coming from their own unique backgrounds, with their own struggles, gifts, goals and abilities - and the uniquely middle-American obsession with football connects them all. It's a slice of Hoop Dreams served up on a plate of Friday Night Lights.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016)
There are three good things about this RHPS:
They are: 1. Ivy Levan as the Usherette. Her sticking her tongue out when she says "Janet" is a nice nod for long time fans. Sadly, she's basically gone after Science Fiction/Double Feature; 2. Victoria Justice as Janet. Decent voice and performance, and looks terrific in her underwear; and 3. Annaleigh Ashford as Columbia infuses her own life into the role. Little changes like how she delivers "slowly, slowly, it's too nice a job to rush" are great. After that...well...all the rest of the mediocrity is made unwatchable because Laverne Cox as Frank N Furter simply ruins every scene she's in. Her accent is beyond horrific. She moves like a drunk Tina Turner and honestly destroys what might have been a marginally-passable RHPS tribute. A slap in Richard O'Brien's face.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Overblown, overdrawn, and depressing
Quite simply, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is as cumbersome a film as is the title. At two and a half hours, it could easily have been an hour shorter for the amount of plot or character development that took place. It lacks anything approaching energy, edge, humor or the "cool" factor that seems to define so many of the Marvel superhero films.
It even lacks the visual hook that people seem to love in other Zack Snyder films (myself included). There is just so much about this lumbering clunker to criticize, it seems almost unfair to start for fear I'll leave things out.
Credit where it's due - Ben Affleck does an outstanding job as Bruce Wayne/Batman. After that. well, things fall off quickly. Amy Adams spends most of the film watching Superman fly away from her, Henry Cavill is still woefully lacking in charisma, and the usually- likable Jesse Eisenberg is so caught up with Lex Luthor's tics and affectations he forgets to make him imposing or scary in any way.
Combine that with tacked-on villains, watching Gal Godot (who also feels like a throw-in) go through YouTube videos of her future Justice League teammates in what has to be the most ham-fisted segue to future films ever, and a final act that never seems to end, and you've got yourself one hot mess of a movie.
Batman v Superman needed to be epic for the DCU to take proper shape. It fails in almost every possible way.