Aladdin (2019)

I just saw the new Aladdin and it was absolutely fantastic! Disney finally figured out how to make a proper live-action remake!

If you don't know Disney's take on Aladdin, what desert rock have you been living under?! It's the classic tale of a poor street rat who falls in love with a princess. He comes across a genie who offers to grant him 3 wishes, which he uses to get himself close to the princess. But there is another who is after the genie's power. Aladdin must decide between maintaining the lie of royalty and power to impress his princess, or giving it all up and being honest in order to protect everyone.

Right off the bat, Will Smith hits it out of the park with his rendition of Arabian Nights, the opening song from Disney's original Aladdin. After the atrocious live action Beauty and the Beast, Disney learned to hire actors who can actually sing. And Will Smith's take on the song is unique, but incredibly beautiful.

Heck, Will Smith as the genie is excellent! He does his best to make it his own thing instead of attempting to re-create Robin Williams' version. He definitely makes it fun without going over-the-top. Everyone who was upset over this film due to the genie's casting really needs to reserve judgment until they've seen it. I'm almost positive Robin Williams would approve of this version.

Jasmine is a symbol of wisdom, power, and strong leadership in this film. Not the whiny stubborn teenager of the animated version. Love is not her motivation throughout this film, but rather, something that happens along the way. I really admire her character.

The Sultan is also improved, not being the silly bubbly old fool from the animated film. He's a more serious Sultan, who is unfortunately showing his age, of which Jafar takes advantage.

Jafar was the only true reservation I had about this film. He was a creepy, disgusting older man in the original; evil incarnate. Whereas the live action version had a baby-faced, soft-spoken actor playing him. I expected him to be an annoying comic relief like the warden in Brendan Fraser's Mummy. But he does a fantastic job of being serious, evil, and cunning. He convinced me pretty early on that he's not a force to be messed with. (And apparently, the Internet is calling him the "hot Jafar." Do with that information what you will.)

Iago was creepy as hell! Unlike the funny loudmouth Gilbert Gottfried version we're all familiar with, you got a parrot who growls threatening and sometimes sarcastic comments under his breath at everyone. I really liked this version of him. He gave me the willies!

The film overall was a beautiful spectacle from start to finish. They put a lot of work into making it appear like a beautiful land lost to time in the middle east. The pacing of the story was perfect, while also being unique and not copying scene-for-scene from the original. They made it different enough from the original to make you feel like you were watching a completely new, yet familiar film.

You were in suspense throughout, wondering if this was going to tell the same story or branch off into a completely different tale. And even the scenes they copied directly from the original still felt like they were organic and not forced into the story as a half-baked nod to the original.

The music was incredible all the way through, including the two new songs they slipped in. One was a powerful solo by Jasmine about not being a quiet, subservient little girl when all seemed lost. It almost had me in tears! If nothing else, the music alone would've carried this movie. But fortunately, the story and visuals meshed so well, telling a fantastic tale.

I had a lot of fun watching this movie, and I might buy tickets just to go back and re-watch it again. If you've been sitting on the fence on whether to see this movie or not, go see it! You won't be disappointed. Despite the early controversy over remaking a Robin Williams classic, I believe they somehow managed to do everything right and make it a wonderful, yet unique retelling. I daresay this may be better than the original. What do you think?

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)

I just saw John Wick 3: Parabellum and it was amazing!! So good, I've decided to give a second film review today.

Continuing right where the previous film left off, John Wick is running for his life, as the underground assassin world has declared him "excommunicado." With nowhere to go and no one to help him, he must find a way to survive the $14 million bounty on his head, even if it means taking on every assassin across the world!

As usual, the choreography of the fight scenes is incredible and creative. I'd bet that over 70% of the film is just watching action fight scenes, but it's so captivating, you forget that there's an underlying plot going on.

I will say, they definitely go a bit more gory in this one. Unlike the previous films, where people get stabbed or shot and you might see a blood spatter, this film goes for the gross-out effect, with close-ups of people being slowly stabbed in the eye, fingers being sliced off, and brains being splattered, all in gruesome detail. It's not frequent; they space out the gore enough so you're not constantly cringing, and it's quick enough, you can close your eyes for a moment to skip it. But I will say that my entire theater cried out at the first ultra-violent scene. Definitely caught us off-guard.

The subtitle in the movie's name has a pretty cool double-meaning. Parabellum is the name of a particular machine gun, as well as a pistol, developed in Germany. There are also two different handgun cartridges named Parabellum. So the title is well-suited to the ongoing theme of the film.

But parabellum is also a latin phrase, meaning "prepare for war." And as this title suggests, this franchise isn't over yet. No spoilers, but this fantastic movie is just a taste of the battles to come for John Wick. I'm so excited to see more!

If you like action movies but are bored with the actual fight scenes, you need to check out the John Wick series. So much time and care is put into the fights. It's not just watching people punch or shoot each other until one of them dies. There's no shaky-cam scenes where you're struggling to follow the action. There's a beautiful flow to the fights, and you get to sit back and truly enjoy the creative ways in which John Wick attempts to overcome each attacker. If you haven't seen this franchise yet, should definitely check it out!

Game of Thrones (2011), Season 8

I just binged all of the 8th and final season of Game of Thrones last night, and since it's been so controversial among fans, here's my SPOILER-FREE review. There may be spoilers in the comments below, but this post will not spoil any major details of the final season.

First, I would like to say that, unlike the masses, I actually enjoyed this season. I like the ending. And let me explain why. You see, I learned early on in the series that Game of Thrones is not your typical story. Despite the rare fantasy/magical moments, there's a lot more realism to the tale. You can't have favorite characters because, just like real life, anyone can die. The "heroes" don't necessarily fight their way to victory every time, and the "villains" sometimes get away without seeing justice for their actions.

As a matter of fact, the realest detail in this series was the fact that generally bad people tend to have a better survival rate than those who were honorable and brave. If you lie, cheat, and steal, you just might be able to navigate the precarious political and social setting. But if you declare yourself honest and true to a fault, you're at the mercy of the corrupt political structure.

As such, the entire series has been a constant let-down for me. Every time I think someone's brave enough and skilled enough to survive to the end, they find themselves at the end... of a blade. I learned to live with disappointment while watching the show. I learned to enjoy the series as more of a realistic story than a fantasy story. No one was safe, anyone can die. And I learned not to have favorite characters.

By the start of season 6, the show had mostly caught up with the books, minus some minor character subplots which continued in that season. The book series is incomplete; there are no more books from which to pull material from, and it shows. The relentless and pointless murdering of well-established characters appeared to stop almost immediately, with only a few major deaths throughout the season. And this trend continued up through season 8. It was a very noticeable difference between George R. R. Martin's novels and the live action TV series; the show creators were less inclined to murder people randomly as the original author was. Granted, GRRM has stayed on as an executive producer of the show, helping to guide them toward his ultimate end goal for the story. So while the details appear to be left to the creators of the show, the overall story arc was still being told by the original author.

All of this means that, due to the disappointment I felt toward a lot of the show and its characters, I fully expected it to be a letdown ending, with absolutely anyone having a decent chance at taking the throne at the last minute. So I was actually quite surprised to find it had a pretty decent and solid ending. I wouldn't necessarily call it a twist ending, but it was not the scenario I expected. And like the rest of the series, it was real. Not everyone saw justice, not everyone got their reward for good deeds, and some good people got the shit end of the stick for doing the right thing. That's real life. And I think it was incredibly brave of the show to stick to that ending, even though it would piss off long-time fans.

The other major complaint people had was the pacing of season 8. At 6 episodes, it was a very short season, even with a couple hour-and-a-half long episodes mixed in. But I personally felt the show took too long to get to the point each season. And being a continuous tale with no solid breaks in story, I felt it was an extremely long 8 seasons. So I actually enjoyed a succinct storyline in season 8, wrapping up the major conflicts left in the series. To me, it was the perfect end to an epic (long) tale. And I'm glad the producers (and GRRM) decided to go against what would be popular and told a gruesome story with a... different ending. Regardless, it struck people emotionally and has brought about a lot of heated discussion about the series. And that's how you can tell it's a captivating tale; when people get passionate about the story and their expectations for it. Congrats for subverting expectations, GRRM and studio execs!

You may debate whether it was a happy or sad (or bad) ending in the comments below. Or you can call me names for liking a mostly-hated ending. But I stand by my opinion.