Tuesday's Trailer of the Week

Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite Asgardian returning to the big screen. Yes, Loki is back with Marvel’s latest trailer for “Thor: Ragnorok” and looking better than ever. Despite only having a few seconds worth of screen time the Hiddleston fangirls are sure be flooding the theaters November 3rd to catch a glimpse of the lovable anti-hero.

In all seriousness, the new trailer dons the return of “Thor” who, except for a brief cameo at the end of “Dr. Strange” we have not seen since “Avenger’s Age of Ultron”. This time, our hammer wielding hero may not be using Mjolnir for a while as one of the opening scenes shows a very intimidating female catching the hammer in one hand and then shattering it.

From what I could depict from the trailer, the story is going to revolve around Thor and his journey back to Asgard as it is being destroyed/ attacked from outside forces. This will involve him being captured and sent to a battle arena (run by Jeff Goldbloom alien, although I’m surprised at my lack of surprise at this?) where he will run in with the other missing Avenger, the "Incredible Hulk" resulting in a line that has no doubt already been made into a meme on Tumblr.

While the trailer was successful in getting, me interested in the movie, I can’t help but feel like there's something off. And I think it has to do with the music. One of the trademarks of the “Marvel” franchise has been to establish a certain  genre of music with each of their heroes. “Iron Man” was classic rock including bands like “Black Sabbath” and “Led Zeppelin” already giving you an auditory glimpse into the personality of Tony Stark. In “Captain America: The First Avenger” jazz and similar types of band music gave the audience a feel for time and emphasized the patriotism that “Captain America” is known for. The 70’s pop used in “Guardians of the Galaxy” allowed the audience to be grounded in an otherwise fantastic setting and allowed the viewers to become invested in the main character. The first two “Thor” movies had an almost Hanz Zimmer feel to them, elevating the setting to a grand and epic scale in sync with its fantasy backdrop. In this trailer however they use the song “Immigrant” by Led Zeppelin and despite the Norse mythology within the lyrics it doesn't seem to help with the character, plot or setting of the film. It feels more like someone was listening to the song and thought since it talks about Asgard that it would be perfect for the trailer. I have nothing against the song, but I feel that it was misplaced for a “Thor” trailer and was rather a sour note in an otherwise melodic symphony.

I’m still looking forward to the movie and am excited to see Thor, the Hulk, and Loki together again and hopefully the music of the movie will return to being the perfect backdrop for the fantastic story that Marvel has in store for us.I just pray that the Loki fans will not become rabid in the meantime. #TheStruggleIsREEL!

How to Fix the "Good Dinosaur"

Welcome to Cinema Struggle, where the struggle is reel…you get it? Cause you know movie reel...*clear throat* moving on.

Let’s be honest guys, we haven’t been getting the best movies as of a late. This past summer has got to be one of the most disappointing summers for the box office in a long while. Between increasingly bad D.C. movies that make us wonder why we keep getting our hopes up in the first place, to even some movies that weren’t that bad, such as “Finding Dory” and “Star Trek Beyond” that seemed to drown when coming out around the same time as “Independence Day Resurgence”, “Alice Through the Looking Glass”, “Ghostbusters” and *shudder* “Batman v. Superman”. But the truth is that we can learn just as much if not more from bad movies as we can the good ones. We can learn from the mistakes these stories made so that when we try to tell them again in the future we will have a greater chance of success. What do I mean? Well, let’s start with our first example. Ladies and gents, Cinema Struggle proudly presents, “How to Fix the Good Dinosaur”.

So, let’s start with the elephant in the room, or in this case, the dinosaur. Our story follows a young Brachiosaurus named Arlo who is the runt of his family but wants to be able to make his literal mark as his other family members have earned. Through an unfortunate set of circumstances Arlo gets separated from his family and with the help of a little Neanderthal whom he affectionately names Spot, attempts to brave the big dangerous world and return home. On paper this seems like a basic adventure story that companies such as Disney and Pixar should be able to pull off quite well. But if there’s one thing that can sink any movie faster than the S.S. Minnow it’s an unlikable protagonist.

Arlo doesn’t do anything wrong per-se, but he is awfully whiny. Add a pre-pubescent voice actor and poorly written lines and it’s going to be incredibly difficult to like your hero. Hero’s don’t always have to be great people, but the audience must relate to them on some level, and want them to succeed. With Arlo being afraid of anything and everything (with varying inconsistencies) it emphasizes how whiny he sounds. About an hour through this you start hoping that the terrifying pterodactyls eat him. Yeah, that bad.

There is a simple way to fix this and it makes Arlo far more likable. We see at the beginning of the film that despite being a large egg, Arlo was the runt of the family. Being a small dinosaur, Arlo struggles against a world that is out to eat the little guys and he desperately wants to make his mark as his bigger and stronger brother and sister have. But for some reason the writers make him afraid of almost everything. Either one of these are natural conflicts that real children and even adults can relate to. Everyone struggles with finding their place in life and there are a lot of people who are afraid of everything the world has in store. But the combination of these conflicts leave little to no room for and good qualities to show off in our protagonist. We’re spending so much time focusing on everything Arlo isn’t rather than seeing what he is.

But what if instead the writers had made him the runt and have him try to do things the “big” way like his brother, sister, and parents do. We would see him struggle trying to overcome his size and not being able to complete the challenges the same way the rest of his family could. We could then have the same relationship story between him and his father as his father tries to help him realize that being small doesn’t have to be a terrible thing and needs to learn how to do things his way. Then when Arlo is forced to make his journey with the human Spot, he could then see how Spot deals with the world despite being much smaller than most of the other dinosaurs. There is even a scene in the movie with characters that I enjoyed that are cowboy Tyrannosaurus Rex and they could have a conversation about how they have jobs that, despite being very small, they should find a way to adjust because of their large size. This scene would become more touching and would help Arlo to truly overcome his challenges while becoming a well-rounded and relatable character. By focusing on overcoming his size, rather than a fear of everything would make his struggle more relatable as many of us must overcome physical nature and sometimes have to learn to adapt them. This would even play into a traditional theme of nature itself or adaption, migration, or death giving a traditional “Pixar” spin to the movie that we have come to know and appreciate.

With a few changes to a character’s motivation you can make a protagonist go from whiny and annoying, to sympathetic and gain a desire to watch them overcome their struggles. So, for other writers out there looking to give their character’s relatable flaws, I would recommend looking closely at your story and what type of journey you want your character to go through. Giving them several weaknesses to work through does not necessarily make them understandable, and in fact can distance them from the audience if you fail to show off their strengths. I would go as far to say that if you character one flaw and focus on how that effects their everyday life, the journey to overcome it will be far more impressive.

And that was how to fix Disney and Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” I hope you were able to learn something and enjoyed my take on the story. If you have any suggestions for my next “How to Fix” leave a suggestion in the comments. #TheStruggleIsREEL!

Tuesday's Trailer of the Week

So while I was trying to get rid of my recent rediscovery of my coulrophobia (fear of clowns) with the recent "It" trailer, I came across "Blue Sky"s newest gem. "Ferdinand" will be the latest adaptation of the classic children's story "Ferdinand the Bull" written in 1936 by author Munro Leaf about a bull who rather than competing in matador fights, was kind hearted and wanted only to stop and smell the flowers. John Cena lends his voice to the gentle bull alongside the voice talents of Kate Mckinnon, David Tennant, and Daveed Diggs (Hamilton).

What surprised me the most from this short trailer was that unlike many of the more recent animations is comical without the use of crude humor that franchieses like "Despicable Me", "Boss Baby" , and "Smurfs" have given us lately. There were a couple of scenes that made me chuckle but it was due to comedic situations that flowed naturally from the characters.

If you find yourself looking for a movie other than "Disney" to take your family to see come December, I would say definitely look for this. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to watch this again to get Pennywise's creepy voice out of my head. #TheStruggleIsREEL!

Can we fix this???

Flash and Supergirl Crossover Review

Let’s talk about musicals. Specifically, when a T.V. series decides that they have enough decent singers on their show to pull off a musical episode. These episodes are not your average episodes so episodes on shows like “Glee” or “Smash” don’t really count as musical episodes rather they are a musical series. Some of the more successful musical episodes have been “Psych the Musical” from “Psych,” “Song Beneath the Song” from “Grey’s Anatomy”, and of course “Once More with Feeling” from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.  Usually the stories of the episodes follow one of two paths. The story is either completely comical with a little serious characterization here and there like in the “Psych” episode or it’s a serious episode with a few humorous moments thrown in due to the comedic situation such as the episodes for “Grey’s Anatomy” and Buffy. Yet in one of the most bizarre ways possible the musical crossover episode between “Flash” and “Supergirl” entitled “Duet” attempts to do both.

The story follows Flash and Supergirl being trapped in a sort of a dream dimension by the Music Miester, played by fellow “Glee” cast member Daren Criss. The Music Miester wants to teach our two superheroes a lesson about love by having them play out a little musical for him. Both Flash and Supergirl have been having relationship struggles and the Music Miester intends for them to work through these issues…in a 1920s-night club…with alternate versions of their friends and family…what? And this is where the story starts to really lose me. You have these large casts of characters who can sing and you limit them inside a sort of dream… trying to help our two characters solve their love life with the help of our not-really villain. Personally, I just don’t think it flows as well as they would like.

The original songs were well written, including a very comical “Superfriends” and an emotional finale “Running Home to You”. The cast performed both vocally and physically well with wonderful melodies and fun choreography and the visuals were very creative. However, if you lack a cohesive story in this type of episode, it can make the episode hard to swallow. (I will probably post a theory later as to what I think could have worked for the episode later.)

Overall though, my impression of the episode was fun. The cast and crew clearly had fun while working on the episode and I had fun watching it and I get the impression that many others did too. My favorite song would have to be the “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” number with Jeremy Jordon, Carlos Valdes, Darren Criss, and John Barrowman.

 The song was filled with so much energy that even the Flash couldn’t help but move to the groove. The story was a little clunky but it was enjoyable and a good way to show off a musically talented cast.

For now though, I'm going to watch the guys of "Flash" do their acappella cover of the "Firefly" theme song about 20 more times.#TheStruggleIsREEL!

Tuesday's Trailer of the Week

The only arachnid I will ever go near is returning to the big screen with "Disney" and Marvel's" "Spiderman: Homecoming" coming to theaters July 7th this summer. The second official trailer dropped this week and is doing a good job of getting comic fans hyped. But will this "Spiderman" be the one to stick with the "Marvel" cinematic universe or will we want to swat him away like a fly?

From what we can see in the trailer and the synopsis this is Peter Parker post-"Civil War" and is being somewhat mentored by Tony Stark and is trying to establish himself as a hero.  But Stark seems to want the teen vigilante to stick to more local crime. Peter is clearly going to have to prove himself as he faces off against Michael Keating as "The Vulture".

This trailer manages to successfully show us enough of the story for us to get interested and a few lines that could make us laugh without (hopefully) giving away all the funny lines in the film, as too many trailers lately seem to do.

But the thing that interests me most is what I love about most of the movies in the "Marvel" cinematic universe, they all seem to be telling one long story. We see continuing character growth for both Peter and Tony Stark coming off of "Civil War" with Peter wanting to be an official Avenger and Stark wanting to have Peter be a better hero than himself.

This trailer has done its job to get me excited and I hope it's done the some for you.

#TheStruggleIsREEL!

Highest Grossing Disney!

Let's Review: 2017's "Beauty and the Beast"

It’s the tale as old as time, it’s the movie that gave every bookworm the dream that one day they would find their beast and help him become the handsome prince he was meant to be. The original animated movie released by Disney in 1991 took the world by storm, being the only animated movie at the time to be nominated for the academy award for best picture. So, with success with the live action “Cinderella” back in 2015, it only made sense to follow it up with one of the studio’s most successful movies of all time. But does this new remake hold its own with the other Disney giants or does will its last petal fall leaving it to be cursed into obscurity forever. The answer…is complicated.

Now, to be fair, I went into this movie expecting to hate it or at least greatly dislike it. I went in knowing a few of the changes they had made to the story and I was starting to dread it. But after watching the movie this Friday night I really enjoyed it. That’s not to say there aren’t flaws and there were still some changes that I really didn’t like, but I had a good time and, in my opinion, the movie was overall a good film.

The two M.V.P.s of the film had to be Dan Stevens as the Beast and Luke Evans as Gaston. The two actors were fantastic in their roles and their singing was pretty on par. These two characters also express the theme that I discovered while watching this updated version of the original animated classic. This theme being change. While Stevens does an excellent job portraying the Beast starting out the movie as a selfish prince, Evans manages to express how Gaston is the hero of the village. Throughout the whole movie Evans and Stevens show the natural progression of both characters one to the true kindhearted prince he is and the other the selfish, boorish, and brainless monster that he truly is. During the mob song, there is a line added that Le Fuo, played by Josh Gad, sings that states this perfectly, 

"There's a Beast running wild there's no question,

but I fear the wrong monster's released." 

There are some changes that I did not like, that I felt added more narrative flaws than actually fixing any, but overall this movie was enjoyable. You could tell that everyone working on this movie put a lot of passion and effort into this film. The visuals were astounding and the score actually made me tear up and some points (fans of the Broadway show will especially enjoy Alan Menken's work on this movie). 

I could spend hours comparing the original animated film to this one, but just like the theme portrayed by the Beast and Gaston, this retelling of a Disney classic portrays how the audience has changed and how the story has changed with us over time. This tale maybe old as time but the way we view it changes as we grow with it. I would recommend this movie to anyone looking to have a good time at the theater. The only thing I wouldn't recomend is watching this without popcorn and a couple of tissues. The struggle is REEL. 

Thursday's T.V. Spot

Getting Reel with "Riverdale" 
Warning: Semi-spoilers

Well, here's the dark and edgy murder mystery based off the classic "Archie" comic strip that nobody asked for. Clearly trying to cash in on the whole retelling of nostalgic stories, "Riverdale" takes all the classic characters from the comedic stories and decides to  thrust into a modern day high school setting. And what else could make this t.v. series more edgy and dark like all the other C.W. shows? How about Archie having an inappropriate relationship with a teacher, a scene of Veronica and Betty kissing in the trailer, and a murder of one of the high school's football players? Hope you like drama because that's pretty much all you are going to get with this show. I wish I could say that their was more to the story, but it's pretty much "Degrassi" with Archie and friends. To be honest, I didn't think I would find anything good about this show. But then, the latest episode aired entitled "Chapter 7: In a Lonely Place." It started off like the other episodes but when I made it to the last half of the episode, and Jughead and his father share this scene.

Jughead (played by Cole Sprouse from the "Suite Life" Series) and his father (played by Luke Perry from 90210) share an incredibly touching scene in which Jughead's father, who is a drunk and has a self-destructive behavior, tries to promise his son that he will turn his life around for his son and family. Both Luke Perry and Cole Sprouse give a fantastic performance that almost feels too real. With only a few lines Cole shows a wide range of emotions that truly have you convinced that Jughead wants to believe that his father will get better, but at the same time, knows that his father will probably won't change. It truly is heartbreaking and both Perry and Sprouse bring life to these characters that I hope that the show will continue to portray.

The show may not be the most brilliant series on television and the story structure could use some work. However, if you like CW dramas and if the show continues to have performances like Sprouse and Perry's then I would give it a chance.

Tuesday's Trailer of the week

While How to Fix the Good Dinosaur has been put on a temporary hold due to some...interesting circumstances (that I will delve into ) the show must go on so here is Tuesday's Trailer of the week.

Speaking of Pixar, while we all wait with hesitance due to the announcement of Cars 3 and The Incredibles 3, Disney and Pixar have dropped a trailer of a new movie called "Coco".

This movie has had a very rocky start. Back in 2013 Disney and Pixar had a movie in the works called, "Dia de los Muerots" after the traditional Mexican holiday that celebrates the spirits of those who have passed on. But, as many of you are aware another movie that had to do with the Mexican traditions and beliefs concerning the spirits of the dead. After a long struggle Disney and Pixar are now releasing the trailer for November's "Coco". And how does it hold up?..eh....

It has a very Ratatouille feeling to it as we start off with our protagonist watching a tape of his deceased movie/ music idol and attempting to play the guitar just like his hero. After touching the man's actual guitar in a museum he...and his dog I think... are sent to the spirit world. While I am extremely grateful that Disney and Pixar are introducing a (hopefully) unique story, there isn't anything in the trailer in regards to the story that has grabbed me and made me all that excited to see it yet. The visuals are a different story. 

The colors and the visuals really seem to emphasize the creativity and passion that you would see in traditional Mexican festivals. Living in Texas, I've seen several "Dia de los Muertos" decorations and traditions and I think Disney and Pixar animations has managed to capture the culture as they have with many others. 

Will this be a stand alone hit or will the previous "Day of the Dead" animated movie keep it from taking off. Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure the struggle is reel. 

Thursday's T.V. Spot

With an entertainment market seemingly over saturated with superhero movies and shows you might think that yet another comic book type series wouldn't work or at very least, seem unoriginal. Your assumption would be wrong if you're talking about NBC's newest comedy "Powerless".

This D.C. satire provides a fresh look on the world of superheroes from the average civilians who live there. Following our protagonist the optimistic Emily Locke (played by Vanessa Hudgens) as she works for Wayne Security (Yes, Wayne as in Bruce Wayne) the company inventing everyday products for the people who live day to day with super-villains blowing up the coffee shop on their daily commute. Along with a wacky cast of side characters, we see the big boss of Wayne Security, Van Wayne (Bruce's lesser known cousin) who adopted the millennial before it was mainstream, played by the hilarious Alan Tyduk. 

The odd thing about this comedy is that by staring the people who have no powers in a world where there are super powered heroes running around it should be boring, especially when several of the characters have unfortunately familiar and unlikable personalities. But by making superheroes literally be an everyday sighting the show gets to poke fun at all the cliches that comic book stories have. My favorite episode so far is literally called "Emily Dates a Henchmen" in which Emily dates one of the Riddler's henchmen. And when she finds out and tells her coworkers about it, they shrug it off and one of the girls says, "We've all done been there sweetie." 

This new super but not super comedy is making it's mark in the superhero media, once again making us wonder how D.C. T.V. shows can be so entertaining, while it's movies are so depressing. Check it out for yourself Thursday nights on NBC.

Tuesday's Trailer of the Week

"Despicable Me or Despicable DON'T"

*Warning! Sort-of Spoilers!*

Most moviegoers remember when the first "Despicable Me" movie hit theaters. It was a refreshing animation that while targeted at a younger audience had a unique story, dynamic cast members, and clever humor that everyone could enjoy. Then the sequel came and "Illumination" managed to keep our interest with energetic and eccentric new characters and keeping up that quick wit. But then,...sigh... "Minions" arrived. The yellow cast of side gags had an entire movie dedicated to their nonsense language and crude humor. Exiting the theater after "Minions" left most kids laughing somewhat, and adults wishing they hadn't just wasted an a hour and half of their lives. The minions were clearly funny in small doses but can not entertain enough by themselves for an entire movie. So when the "Despicable Me 3" teaser dropped I watched, warily, but was pleasantly surprised. The introduction of a new and zany 80's themed villain combined with the promise of a new Gru and Lucy (or Grucy) working dynamic offered a light hearted comedy getting back to the original spirit of the franchise. So optimistically hopeful,  I watched the most recent trailer...and was thoroughly disappointed. When "Illumination" realized that they had too many minions, what was there solution? Just add more Gru...or rather add more Steve Carell.

Yep, that awkward trope of having a long lost twin brother just won't seem to die, or at least have the decency to go into a Sleeping Beauty-esque coma. This forced story plot combined with Steve Carell doing his stick twice as many times has me definitely disappointed. Between the villain introduced earlier and this sudden twin brother, I fear that the Despicable franchise is following an unfortunate recent and common movie error of having too many plot threads that don't mesh well together. It's as if they had two scripts, weren't sure which one to go or which would be popular, so they mashed them together, padding with minion humor where they felt necessary. 

Maybe "Illumination" and the Despicable crew have a few surprises in store. Maybe they're actually saving the good parts of the movie for the movie itself (something more trailers should be doing). But based off of what I have seen so far, I'm pretty sure this "Despicable Me" will be a "Despicable Dud". Here's hoping I'm wrong.

Welcome!

So everything must have a beginning. There are about a thousand ways to start a story including the traditional "Once upon a Time", music montage, and the more recent meta subtext joke.

A wise person once said that there are no new ideas under the sun which means that just about any way to start this would already be tired and cliched, so let's just dive right in. What is this blog about? Most of us love movies and I mean LOVE, or LUV if your a meme/txt person. We have created an entire culture under the entertainment business. But not every movie is a huge sucess, for example this: 

or this:  

or even: 

*shudders*

But bad movies present a unique opportunity for all those who hope to be a part of this magical process. I, like many others, believe in learning from mistakes and making ourselves better from them. So this blog is tackling these movies one at a time. Each week we will take a look at where I think these movies went wrong, and how they could have been fixed. This Friday I will start with my first challenge: 

gulp...

and hopefully we can have a little fun while learning from this movie's mistakes to better future film. #The Cinema Struggle is Real.