Review: TERMINATOR GENISYS

Because YOU demanded it!P.S. "The MovieBob Patreon" - maybe you've heard of it?

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Michael Bay's BENGHAZI Movie. Yes, For Real.

This piece made possible in part by The MovieBob PatreonFor my international readers: American politics is still currently consumed by conspiracy theories surrounding the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya in 2012. The event (which resulted in the deaths of multiple CIA operatives and at least two longtime American diplomats) is universally regarded as a tragedy, but differences in accounts of the day re: why relief was not deployed earlier and on whose authority have lead to widespread speculation and theories, most settling on a displacement of blame ("Someone important fucked up and their incompetence is being covered up"); but for a particu

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PIXELS (2015) Review: TEXT-VERSION:

Because you demanded it, here (after the jump) a text version of my now-famous PIXELS review. And hey, while you're here, maybe consider visiting The MovieBob Patreon?I… have no words. I just don’t. I saw PIXELS mere hours ago as of this writing, and I find myself incapable of putting what I’m feeling into words – such is the magnitude of the disaster I’ve witnessed. Is this what Cavemen felt the first time they saw what, to them, looked like something was literally eating the Sun? Is this that Existential Horror thing Lovecraft was talking about… in between all the super-uncomfortable anti-semitic stuff?PIXELS… is an unmitigated piece of godawful fuc

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IN BOB WE TRUST: "Does Batman Need a New Origin?"

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Pitch Me, Mr. B: MARVEL'S X-MEN

This piece made possible in part by The MovieBob Patreon. Please consider becoming a Patron.In case you missed the earlier installments of this: Here's what's up, here's the first one and here's the second.So... yeah, hypothetical "scriptment" pitches for hypothetical movie adaptations. Thought exercise and all that.This one will be a touch on the different side, less of a blow-by-blow and more of an outline; since in this instance the "challenge" isn't to figure out how to turn the X-MEN franchise into a movie (that's been done) but to work out how a "reboot" of the series might be made to fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe if and when the rights

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Review: PIXELS (2015)

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Time To Light The Lights.

This is the "pilot pitch" for the upcoming ABC prime-time revival of THE MUPPET SHOW. It represents probably the best use anyone has made of these characters since at least MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND (and I liked the first of the two recent movies, so don't start any shit.)I love The Muppets like few other things, and this feels like it could be something really spectacular. The movies have always been fine - at least three of them are great - but these characters belong on TV in this exact type of farce. So excited.

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Did I Just See What I Think I Saw in ANT-MAN? (UPDATED!)

So. Just saw ANT-MAN for a second time, just because. Hold's up - this one really works. Not GUARDIANS-level transcendent, but really good.Anyway! Long story short: By now you've heard that there's quite a bit of Universe-building business sprinkled throughout this one - multiple cameos, two post-credits beats and a no-name name-drop. But on my second viewing, I'm reasonably certain I caught a glimpse of something that's either a sly inside-reference, the most well-hidden Easter Egg since Cap's prototype shield on the workbench in IRON MAN (the first one) ...or I'm seeing things.Obviously, to say/show more would be a MASSIVE SPOILER even if

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Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Rating : 5/10Release Date : 17th July, 2015Time : 159 minutesDirector: Kabir Khan; Writer: Vijayendra Prasad; Music : Pritam (background by Julius Packham)Starring : Salman Khan, Harshaali Malhotra, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sharat Saxena, Om Puri, Rajesh SharmaIf you’re prepared to go past an implausible premise, a lack of logic overall and see a tear-jerker kind of drama, laced with good intentions and a good heart (like our hero), but the same old (especially when it comes to the India – Pakistan theme) and strangely a Salman who behaves most unlike his normal screen avatar (throws four punches in the entire film, goes shirtless onl

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Review: ANT-MAN

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Suicide Is Painless

If there's ONE reason to be excited about comic-book continuity being a "movie thing" now, outside of just "because it can be," it's that the medium is rife with great material that really only works when it has a Universe backing it up. Among the best examples of that: "Suicide Squad," a long-lived DC cult-fave whose knockout premise (an Government program that offers conditional pardons to incarcerated supervillains if they agree to use their special powers/skills for off-the-books, high-risk covert dirty-work assignments) just wouldn't be as much of a knockout if we didn't "know" these people were the assembled nemeses of a whole planet full o

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RIP Saturo Iwata - 1959-2015

Tragic news. Saturo Iwata, the colorful CEO and "public face" of Nintendo since 2002, has died of an ongoing health issue at the age of 55.Described as a "genius programmer" in his youth, Iwata begna his gaming career working at Nintendo-affiliate HAL Laboratories on classics like EARTHBOUND, the KIRBY series and BALLOON FIGHT. His elevation to CEO at Nintendo - the first man not descended from the company's founding-family to ever hold the position - was widely seen as an overdue turn toward modernity for the fiercely-traditional company, and he became a familiar and beloved presence to gamers and the gaming press for his participation in the offbeat

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I Want To Believe

Just because I'm anticipating being called a spoilsport or overly-negative because reasons, I feel like briefly mentioning that THIS feels like genuine gods-honest hope to me: I still have no real "faith" in JJ Abrams. I think he's an average technician (at best) with deeply limited vision and terrible creative instincts. But he clearly has passion for this, and so does everyone else involved so far - even Ford. Sometimes that can override a lot. OR I'm just a sucker for puppets and model-work and monster-costumes and I've missed BTS reels that are something other than mocap suits and greenscreens SO. MUCH...This might work. This might actually w

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BATMAN V SUPERMAN Comic-Con Trailer Now Online

This piece supported in part thanks to The MovieBob Patreon. Please consider becoming a Patron today.2:28 -  Oh, snap! So that's what happened to Batman's parents! Whew. Man, I was worried they were never going to tell us!As I've said before, at this point I (and anyone else on my "wavelength" about this stuff) needs to suck it up and accept that Warner Bros and DC have consciously decided that 90s COMICS: THE MOVIE (better-than-ever art/visuals, pointlessly dark/grim, thematically-unrecognizable characters) is the way they're going with their Cinematic Universe. You've got to have some way to distinguish these things, and since Marvel/

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Baahubali

Rating : 7/10Release Date : 10th July, 2015Time : 159 minutesDirector: SS Rajamouli; Writer: V Vijayendra Prasad; Music : M M KeeravaniStarring : Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah, Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, NassarKaran Arjun (with a dash of Johar) meets Telegu film sensibilities meets Game of Thrones in a romantic, period drama, action thriller. Good fun, if you’re a fan of the genre and don’t mind being entertained emotionally (and loudly) vs logically…Simplistic storyline goes somewhat like this. Young baby, carried by noble lady (Ramya Krishnan), is chased by bloodthirsty soldiers at the bottom of a giant, humungous waterfall. The

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Minions

Rating : 8/10Release Date : 10th July, 2015Time : 159 minutesDirector: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin; Writer: Brian Lynch; Music : Heitor PereiraStarring : (Voices of) : Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Saunders, Geoffrey Rush, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney Steve CooganNon-stop silliness that makes you laugh. Very loudly. It’s hard to describe what exactly made you laugh. But its great fun, as the adorable Minions, search for an evil master leads them from Arctic regions to America (and a Villain convention) and on to England. Encountering, along the way polar bears, an adorable bank robbing family and the deliciously devilish Scarlett

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Is GOOSEBUMPS Still A Thing? This Movie Hopes So.

In case you forgot they were making this, here's the trailer for the GOOSEBUMPS movie - which for whatever reason seems to be not making any kind of big deal that Jack Black is supposed to be playing the "actual" R.L. Stine:The basic premise here (all of the "iconic" Goosebumps monsters escape into the real world, knowledge of the books is the key to beating them) feels like it's relying on a ready-made audience eager to cheer on the appearance of each famous creature - the climax of CABIN IN THE WOODS but for kids and stretched-out for a whole movie. Good pitch, but is the audience there? I could be totally off-base, but do the Goosebumps books

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Five Lessons For Writers inspired by Game of Thrones / George RR Martin

My musings today morning on LinkedInFive Lessons for Writers

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Japan Accepts U.S. Challenge In Giant Robot Combat. No, Really.

This is for real: Japanese robotics engineers Suidobashi built a fuctioning, weaponized, human-piloted mecha called The Kuratas. An American firm, Megabots, built one of their own - a two-pilot (because of course) beast with similar capabilities... and then challenged their Japanese counterparts to a fight. Between the robots: ...a challenge which Suidobashi has now accepted, because "Giant robots are Japanese culture" - though they appear to stipulate that they first want both robots to outfit for melee combat, as opposed to their current functions. Alright, then. It's not quite where this sort of thing was supposed to be by now... but I'll tak

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Guddu Rangeela

Rating : 5/10Release Date : 3rd July, 2015Time : 122 minutesDirector, Writer: Subhash Kapoor; Music : Hitesh SonikStarring : Arshad Warsi, Amit Sadh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Ronit Roy, Rajiv GuptaIt got too serious, especially in the second half, that too with a flawed plotThe first fifteen minutes were fun – an orchestra band run by Arshad Warsi (Rangeela) and Amit Sadh (Guddu), singing songs like Mata Ka Email for jagrans, scoping houses for robbers, Amit leching furiously while checking out the residence, sadhu’s enjoying a game of football, having posters of Messi, Ronaldo alongside their gods, robbery with funny masks, multiple robbers landing up on th

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Really That Good: INDEPENDENCE DAY

This series brought to you in part by contributors to The MovieBob Patreon It's one of the biggest blockbusters of all time and a cross-generational classic for action fans, yet on its initial release it was treated by many as a punchline about "dumbed-down" Hollywood moviemaking. 20 years later, is there something smarter and more profound hiding behind the big explosions and bombastic speeches of ID4? Really That Good aims to find out...

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Terminator Genisys

Rating : 7/10Release Date : 3rd July, 2015Time : 127 minutesDirector: Alan Taylor; Writer s: Laeta Kalogridis, Patrick Lussier based on the characters create by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd; Music : Lorna Balfe with Hans Zimmer as Executive Music ProducerStarring : Arnold Schwarznegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, JK Simmons, Byung-hun LeePS : Neither the film nor the review will make complete sense if you’ve been hiding under a rock, watching civilization pass you by and have never seen a Terminator film so far“Old…but not obsolete” Arnold Schwarznegger is back…in the role that made him a superstar.Two other actors I really like –

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