Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has had a rough go of it from its inception. Man of Steel debuted with mixed results. It attempted to emulate the success of The Dark Knight…something that doesn't entirely work for a Superman film. Then, Batman v. Superman came out and attempted to rush up an entire universe to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe…and ended up doing poorly with critics and audiences alike. To make things worse, Suicide Squad followed, and though Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn was a better part of an otherwise awful movie, the movie was still awful.

Thankfully, that is not the case with Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). But sadly, the movie doesn't seem to have reached its reported break-even point of 250-300 million dollars, earing around 205 million dollars. This make it modern cult classic that was initially a box office bomb. While yes, the fake controversy around a diverse cast and the simultaneous spread of the Coronavirus might have pushed away a few moviegoers, my theory is that DC fans have been hurt too many times before, and it’s hard to care about an extended universe when DC’s answer to Avengers was the hauntingly bad Justice League. The recent Shazam! also didn’t fare as well as expected, but I’m not too worried about the DCEU’s prospects anymore. I think Birds of Prey and the other recent movies have showed signs of finding a creative voice and not being afraid to have a little fun. The pretentious brooding and need to be dark really hurt the DCEU, but I think they’ve learned their lesson by now.

So, what is Birds of Prey about? To be fair, it really is more of a Harley Quinn movie. The film very loosely follows the events of Suicide Squad and does not even show Jared Leto’s dreadful Joker (good). Harley and the Joker breakup, and she celebrates her newfound freedom by getting into a lot of shenanigans. Eventually, she finds her way to a club run by crime lord Roman Sionis, AKA Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) and manages to get tangled up in a convoluted deal with him. Long story short, she earns his wrath, along with several other notable people in Gotham City. The Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) all manage to irk Sionis in some way, and all them decide to come together to stand up to the crime lord.

The film is narrated by Harley and is loosely constructed in a nonlinear order. There are also possibly too many characters introduced at once. Or rather, either the structure or the characters had to be trimmed a little, or the film instead tried to tackle both and bit off more than it could chew. The comedic flourishes and immense performances coming from this talented cast saves the entire show here. Thankfully, there is clearly passion and purpose in this film, unlike Suicide Squad, which simply seemed to be a forced attempt at looking cool. While Birds of Prey can have forced humor at times, or attempt to ape on the success of Deadpool at times, it’s never boring, and never inherently offensive or stupid.

The film’s shock humor and violence are its core components. The action is top-notch. Birds of Prey had some of the best stunt work and choreography of 2020, and was the most fun I’d had in an action film since John Wick 3. Seeing a cocaine-fueled Harley Quinn break legs with a baseball bat sounds like it would be a messy affair, but the film makes it look like an art. And unlike Suicide Squad, where most of the action was shot in pitch blackness or dim lighting, Birds of Prey keeps everything neatly lit and allows every broken bone to be seen.

Could it be? Is there finally a Netflix original that completely engrossed me from start to finish?

Yes!

The Old Guard is a fun, if flawed, watch.

Based off the comic book series of the same name, The Old Guard is about a group of immortal mercenaries led by Andy (Charlize Theron). For hundreds of years, they’ve fought in wars, killed terrorists, and helped humanity in other ways. However, being immortal comes with a heavy price.

While this premise is not groundbreaking, the film makes up for it with great action, interesting characters, and a neat premise. At first, I was skeptical of the stakes. If they’re all immortal and unable to die, how high could the stakes really be? But surprisingly, there are high stakes. While the mercenaries want to help people, they have to hide their strange abilities so they’re not exploited for it. Thus, the group has to stay in hiding so no one realizes they’re essentially Wolverine of the X-Men. Capture means becoming a living weapon devoid of autonomy.

Author: Nathanael Molnár, originally published 5/27/2020

The tale of the Snyder Cut will undoubtedly go down as one of the most fascinating stories in modern film history. It is one of the rare times that movie fans were able to rally together and champion an issue so much so that it actually came to fruition.

The Snyder Cut is director Zack Snyder’s original version of Justice League (2017). It is a cut of the film that Snyder had initially assembled after the production wrapped; a cut that Warners Bros. did not like. They weren’t happy with the direction of the film, and wanted to fire Snyder. It was at this time, in March of 2017, that Zack Snyder’s daughter passed away, and he stepped down from the film on his own.

Warner Bros. then brought in Joss Whedon to oversee massive re-shoots and a full re-edit of the film, all while intending to keep their November 2017 release date. While Whedon and other creative officials lobbied to delay the film until early 2018 in order to properly finish it, studio executive Kevin Tsujihara refused. Delaying the film into 2018 would have ensured a decrease for his end-of-year bonus.

Justice League was released in theaters on November 17, 2017. It was met with mediocre reviews at best, garnering a 40% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans were massively underwhelmed by the film, but what was more underwhelming was its box office results. Justice League made $658 million worldwide. With a production budget of $300 million and hefty marketing costs, Justice League just barely broke even. To put this into perspective, this film was supposed to be DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s The Avengers — bringing all of their heroes together for the big team-up movie — which made $1.5 billion when it debuted in 2012.

That's a thing of nightmares if I must say. Anyways, right then and there, I knew I desperately needed Zack Snyder's film.

Thankfully, after a long-awaited journey, it's here. Last February, Warner Bros. agreed to release the cut, and by mid-2020, the film was announced to be streaming exclusively on HBO Max. After extensive modifications with the material (scenes, score, editing, and visual effects), the four-hour film, titled Zack Snyder's Justice League, premiered on March 18.

This was definitely worth the wait. I feared the world would never get the chance to see Snyder's take, but here we are, rejoicing in the content that so perfectly embodies each member of the Justice League. 

For starters, the way Snyder handles Wonder Woman is incredible. This is the characterization of Wonder Woman I've been waiting to see for so long. The bank scene is single-handedly the most exceptional Gal Gadot Woman Woman cinematic moment. With her theme song blaring in the background, watching Diana take down each antagonist with ease is astonishing. I believe this scene alone is more magnificent than anything seen in Wonder Woman 1984. Zack Snyder managed to show her character accurately, and I could not be any happier.

Is a four-hour movie a bit excessive? Sure. However, isn't it beneficial for proper character development? Absolutely. When it comes to superhero stories, theatrical interpretations aren't always able to capture each character or element in its entirety. Zack Snyder's Justice League displayed phenomenal character development. This version allowed each hero to shine and have a formal introduction or a continued storyline.

Just to clear a few things up, I know DC Fans aren’t really welcoming about articles and videos about Snyder Cut. They have a fair point; they could’ve used these articles to push Snyder Cut in 2018/19, but not many writers/creators helped them then. Because I live under a rock, I got to know about this whole ‘movement’ fairly recently and the revolutionary in me couldn’t help but write about it. You can also read the article about Snyder’s Cut by Nathanael Molnár, which was published in May.

Poetic Justice is when a person of virtue is rewarded, and when viciousness is punished. For all my homies who also live under a rock, I will give you a rundown on what happened around this film which makes its mere release ‘revolutionary’ per se.