‘Justice League’ Film Review

Grade: C+

I understand how hard it is to bring everyone’s favorite superheroes together in one movie; but if Joss Whedon can make a superhero crossover fun in Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’, I am sure Zack Snyder could do it too with ‘Justice League’. When compared to ‘Man of Steel’, or ‘Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice’, ‘JL’ is way more light-hearted in tone and just as brightly colored as ‘Wonder Woman’; yet as the days go by, I find myself forgetting almost every detail due to its jumbled ability to find the right story. It takes a while to put these heroes together, because Snyder wants to expand the universe and re-introduce us to the characters we all know. Obviously The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg have not had their own movies yet, and we only got to see glimpses of them in ‘Batman V. Superman’. Now we get to see them together in one movie! The result is a fun film, yet a convoluted mess.

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Film Review

Grade: B+

Believe it or not, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ is the seventeenth movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and the franchise does not seem to be slowing down. However, since 2014’s surprise hit ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, Marvel Studios has felt the need to fuse the action genre with more comedic elements. That does not seem to be a bad thing, since audiences still seem to have a blast at the movies every time. I even enjoyed ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ with all the jokes and some of the spectacle it had to offer, more so than the previous ‘Thor’ movies. While ‘Thor’ and ‘Thor: The Dark World’ had spectacular visuals and humor to even the tension, those movies were quite fine with what they gave us. I will go so far as to say that ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ is a fast-paced, humorous, and somewhat epic ride, thanks to director Taika Waititi’s energy and Mark Mothersbaugh’s score.

‘Smurfs: The Lost Village’ Film Review

Grade: C+

Peyo’s most famous blue creatures are back in not only their first animated theatrical outing since 1976’s ‘The Smurfs and the Magic Flute’, but also their first theatrical film since ‘The Smurfs 2’ (a sequel to the critically bashed live-action/CGI outing). Thankfully, the smurfs are back in animated form, and for the most part, ‘Smurfs: The Lost Village’ is passable. It is a beautifully animated movie which kind of takes you back to the golden days of animation (‘The Peanuts Movie’, and the upcoming ‘Captain Underpants’ movie have attempted that same effort in nostalgic 3D which feels like 2D), and it does feel like a cartoon converted into 3D.