What I'm Watching In February

January is FINALLY almost over. Everyone knows that the movie scene and television is nearly DEAD in January. Which honestly sucks, because that's when we need it most. Although this year we did get The Greatest Showman. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't get to see that in theatres.The soundtrack has been playing on my Google Play Music App FOREVER....Ever since I first heard "This is Me" by Keala Settle. I am OBSESSED with her now!

Either way, I'm super stoked for February. Wanna know why? The biggest reason. BLACK PANTHER. I have been honestly waiting for this ever since I saw the first trailer, the first poster. People are so hyped for this and rightfully so. It's beyond overdue. I can't wait to see and learn more about Wakanda and see T'Challa go back home to his people.  If you remember we first saw T'Challa in Captain America: Civil War, where he was in America on diplomatic business with his father, T'Chaka. We saw his father T'Chaka shot and killed, causing T'Challa to take up ranks and side with Tony Stark on the Sokovia Accords, that would grant the government "ownership" over all superheroes. Leaving Black Panther the solo movie with an exciting place to start, because we all know he will be back in Avengers: Infinity War.

Another recent knowledge point for me is a CW show that just premiered called Black Lightning. A superhero giving up the life to save his family, only to have to go back to the suit to protect his family AND the city. While CW kinda made it a bit campy looking, especially with the "lightning suit," I can totally dig what they are putting out, Episode one was released this week on both the CW and Netflix, allowing a wider audience. The story sounds captivating and incredibly intriguing. I will most definitely be watching this series.

So honestly, that's really all that is Set to come out in February, that has peaked my interest. Tell me what you're waiting on? The same, or do you have a different movie or TV show you are excited about starting?

What 80s RomComs Taught Us About Life & Love

The 80's were full time. Full of big hair, crazy future fashions and THE BEST romantic Comedies film had ever seen. They taught us about life and love and who we wanted to be!....Molly Ringwald. Molly Ringwald was honestly 80s RomCom royalty. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink. She seriously had it made. Therefore, if you love 80s RomCom, you must automatically think of Molly Ringwald! But I promise you; I'm not here to talk about how awesome Molly is (although I really could!) Let's just talk about what we learned from 80's Romcoms.

Don't change for ANYONE...No matter what! -  Pretending to be someone you're not just to fit into a different social circle (Sixteen Candles) or get someone new to like you will never work. If someone doesn't like you for who you are, they aren't worth knowing. Besides, let's be honest. How long can you keep something like that up? Eventually, you're going to slip up, and they're going to see you as a lier.

Take chances! You never know what could happen - How many times have we REALLY wanted something, but we're too afraid to go for it? (Look Who's Talking) Sometimes, you just need to take a chance on someone or something. You never know, you might just get what you want. Either way, the results go, you will learn something to take with you on this road we call life!

If it FEELS right....Don't fight it! - We make much of an assumption on what is "OK" or "normal." Sometimes, the adage of opposites attracts all we need to know (The Breakfast Club). So if it's someone or something that feels right, but doesn't quite fit our perceptions of "status quo." GO FOR IT.

Nothing worth fighting for is ever easily attainable - If you are one of the lucky people that barely have to work for what they want. Kudos to you. That's not the majority of pop. Earth though. Which is why if you want something, sometimes you have to fight for it ( The Princess Bride)

I know there are many more lessons to learn from 80s Romcoms, but let's stop here. Tell me in the comments what you have learned from 80s Romcoms. I would love to hear them!

Top 10 Cartoons of The 80s

Cartoons were pretty much a staple of my childhood. I remember waking up early on Saturday mornings just to see EVERYTHING I could. One cartoon that will always stick in my mind is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But, I mean I had at least a couple handfuls of other cartoons I watched as a kid. More if you include the 80's cartoons I found as a teenager and an adult! But we won't get into those today!

Jem & The Holograms

I'm talking the 80's cartoon here, not the crappy movie that came out a year or two ago. Jem was an icon. She had charisma and flair. Not to mention Synergy. Jem came from an era of cartoons that liked to think of the future and how absolutely AWESOME it would be technology wise. Jem also was known as Jerrica Benton. A music company owner that uses Synergy an audio-visual entertainment synthesizer to project holographic images using the earrings Jem/Jerrica wore. A machine built by her father and sought after by her rivals, The Misfits, and The Stingers. Jem & The Holograms had everything we wanted in the 80's. High fashion, bad guy/good guy drama and solutions, and of course most importantly the FUTURE. Synergy was such a great addition and made everything make sense in the world they lived in. I could seriously go on and on about Jem & The Holograms because they were my first introduction to fashion. A deep-rooted love will always be there for them, no matter how Hollywood tries to ruin it with extreme amounts of cheese and teen angst.

Alvin & The Chipmunks

Honestly, this is a classic. It has been redone more times than I can count on one hand. Or even possibly two. However, you can't get any better than the original! Alvin, Theodore, & Simon Seville are three chipmunks in their "teens". They are a singing group managed by their father David. These 3 were absolutely perfect for my childhood. I loved all the trouble they got into, and the way they were able to get themselves out of it! Whether we saw it back then as kids or not, this show did one thing exceptionally well. All choices have consequences, good or bad. Simon was always the one who was absolute logic, while Theodore was the baby and really acted like it. Teddy and all. Then there was Alvin. The "star" of the show. Alvin was always getting into mischief, and that's what made the show so interesting. He would always drag his brothers into his plans, and they always knew full well, it would never work.

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice became more of an obsession of mine when I got older, but watching the cartoon as a kid. That was epic and funny. I loved his antics and straight abhorrent humor. Did I mention he was funny? Yeah, I'm super obsessed with the Beetlejuice style of humor. It always gets me. He and Lydia were bomb together. The cartoon was loosely based on the movie of the same name, and I know you probably already knew about that, but I'm just going to say the cartoon was just as good if not better. Simply for the fact we get more shenanigans from Lydia and him.Since Lydia is absolutely OBSESSED with the afterlife and everything that goes bump in the night, he's really the only one that she can be 100% herself around.

Care Bears 

This was such a sweet show to look back on. Full of moral lessons, and how to be a good person. Each bear has a special "power" and they use it when needed around the world to help good kids fix problems. All while dealing with the evil villains. This is honestly such a simple storyline, which I think is why it focused on teaching values and morals. It also helps that it stemmed off of a line of children's toys that became pretty popular.

Duck Tales

Duck Tales was the ULTIMATE adventure cartoon for kids of all ages. I loved watching it then, and I actually love the remake today. This show follows Scrooge McDuck and his three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Luie on adventure after adventure. If you weren't excited and smiling during this cartoon, you were laughing. It was THAT entertaining. Still is to a certain extent. Even in the remake, which now includes Donald Duck, Launchpad and Mrs. Beakley with her granddaughter Webby.  A lot of characters involved, but they are all well thought out.

The Real Ghostbusters

This was probably the first "paranormal" show I ever saw as a child. A spin-off of the movie from a few years earlier featuring Bill Murray ( Peter Venkman ), Ernie Hudson ( Winston Zeddemore ), Harold Ramis ( Egon Spengler ) and Dan Akroyd ( Ray Stantz ), along with many others. This cartoon, however, was a follow up in the sense they were still fighting ghosts, but they had one of their own tagging along too. Slimer was and still is the ultimate ghost. 

He-Man & The Masters of The Universe

He-Man was an original player. A great cartoon featuring a world we had never seen nor heard of. He-Man is actually scrawny Prince Adam, and with his sword and the power of grayskull he transforms in He-Man and his "pet" into Thundercat. He battles many evils including/mainly Skeletor for the safety of Eternia. This honestly is probably a show you only want to remember. Watching as an adult I found it incredibly campy, however, it was one of the first of it's kind and is a great example of 80s cartoons.

She-Ra: Princess of Power

She-Ra is a spinoff of the very successful He-Man. It follows her journey of discovery, and who she really is. We find out what happened to her as a baby, and watch her grow into an amazing and powerful woman. This is one of the first cartoon shows to truly show a woman in a powerful role. She had class, as well as spunk and determination. Something really rare for women at the time!

My Pet Monster

This was one of the cutest if not THE CUTEST cartoons to reminisce over. I always wanted a My Pet Monster stufty growing up, but I never got one. This cute monster stufty comes to life when you unlock his shackles with a special key. Monsie gets himself and his friends into all sorts of adventures while simultaneously having to defend against Beaster the big bad of the show. Even until this day this show still makes me smile watching it. It's just so cute.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or TMNT) is an ultimate classic. This is one of the best of the best at staying relevant. These four crime-fighting turtles have been brought back and even reinvented many times over the years. Starting back in the 80's when Splinter a former martial arts teacher gets caught in a chemical goo and transformed into a rat, he finds a set of four turtles also touched by the same goo, and transformed into walking talking turtles. He essentially becomes their surrogate father and names them after famous Italian painters we all know. Donatello, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael.He then teaches them everything he knows about fighting. Which in turn starts their crime-fighting journey.

These are just a FEW of the awesome cartoons I watched from the 80s growing up. There are definitely more though. Like Inspector gadget, Rainbow Brite, Smurfs, and so many others. 

IRON FIST SEASON 1 - (SPOILERS AHEAD)

I Finally got through Iron Fist season 1.

I say finally because for the first time ever, it felt like a chore instead of something to look forward to.

When the show first started, I got a big Kung-Fu (the tv shows) vibe. Danny knew how to take guys down with very little effort, spent most of the time dodging attacks and side stepping, was very calm and peaceful, and seemed like a likable albeit naive character.
The first episode very much set up the season like that and IF that had been how the show went, I think it would have been a perfect way to show Danny Rand's character.

Then he gets locked up in a nuthouse because (shockingly) running around saying "I'm Danny Rand", and when people ask you to prove how you could be a presumed dead kid...responding with "but I AM Danny Rand" didn't work. And we start the shitty writing and story decisions that in my opinion ruined the show.
He starts showing wild anger outbursts (unbecoming of someone trained my monks in a monastery for 15 years) and because of that, we're introduced to lazy writing 101.

Turns out, when Danny is not 100% focused, he can't summon the Iron Fist.
Funny enough, not being focused means "when the writers don't want to bring a superhero element to a superhero show".
So we get excuses like he can't use it when he's drugged, stressed, having mommy/daddy flashbacks, etc.
But not always. Sometimes he can be having a complete freak out from stress and summon the damn thing. It's literally lazy writing.

From there on, we are subjected to the next 11 episodes of a man who trained in a Buddhist temple for 15 years, but has the temper of a 3-year-old! Seriously, what the hell were they going for? Did they actually think this would make his character likable?

Danny was one of my least favorite characters in the show (due to bad writing).
My two favorite characters were Colleen Wing, and Ward Meachum (which surprised me).
Both of those characters had the most character development throughout the season and were actually very interesting and relatable.

The fight scenes were...fine, I guess.
Iron Fist in the comics was the equivalent of Bruce Lee with super powers.
You know you screwed up when Daredevil is shown to be a better martial artist and takes on more than 2 guys at a time, than the friggin Iron Fist!

My personal favorite episode was when he was going through Madam Gao's challenge. The fights were interesting and unique, and they wrote Danny's character well....until the end when Gao mentioned his dad and instantly he's back to being a child again losing focus.
I also really liked the fight between Danny and Zhou Chen. I mainly like this fight because Zhou Chen was using drunken boxing....and I LOVE that style!

Also, I'm sorry, but I HATED the ending. The whole "Harold is the one who actually had your father killed" thing felt very tacked on at the last minute. I mean it seemed obvious from the first episode, but in terms of the story path they set up, it came out of left field.
And once again, Danny learns nothing. He rages around on a rooftop while Harold shoots at him, only for Ward to shoot and kill his father finally. Sure Danny chooses not to kill Harold, but in the end, Danny had no real development.

Oh and then they try to set up a couple of cliffhangers like they're gonna get a second season.
Not with the job you did on season 1 you're not!
When they do the Defenders with different writers, I hope they take the time to fix Danny's character and start his friendship with Luke Cage. Then you can give them both a season two at the same time called "Heroes for Hire" just like the comics.
AND GIVE DANNY HIS DAMN MASK!

If I had to sum Iron Fist season 1 up in one word, it would be
"DISAPPOINTING"
The show had a lot of potentials, and I don't blame any of the actors involved. Different actors wouldn't have made the writing better.

Here's hoping better things for the future of this once great character.

4/10

Written by:
Matt Hollands

  

     Over the years, you've probably seen a lot of people talk about the various types of addictions.
Drugs, caffeine, alcohol, pornography, etc.
Either way, it falls under the same definition.

But there is a new hot addiction that I have begun noticing over the last few years.
It's called Negativity.
People are becoming addicted to being negative and hateful. Don't believe me?
I'm not surprised because few have even noticed.
I'll give you some examples.


-A YouTube channel (which I won't be naming) that specifies in negative views of movies currently sits at 6 Million Subscribers. 
Yet, a YouTube channel that specifies in positive views of movies currently sits at 344 Thousand Subscribers. Both share almost the same name. 

-Hollywood announces a new film. From the first trailer, people have already decided to boycott it without knowing anything about the film. 

-The word "Remake" is said about a film and the world instantly hates it due to past reputations. 

-When a dark and gritty film is successful, producers and fans alike jump on it and start declaring all films should be made in the same way.


But don't think this is just about film and entertainment, it goes deeper than that.


-I've seen people in public being nice and polite be completely ignored for the loudmouth spreading hate and watching people gather around to see what the fuss was about. Because they are drawn to it.  

-You can write something very positive and happy on a social media platform, and get hardly any support. But if you write something negative and spiteful, people flock in droves to your post. 

-Quite possibly the best example of all would be the current President of the United States, Donald Trump. 
That man filled his presidential running's with hate (which he continues to do to this day) and got elected to run a country. 
As I said, it's an addiction. 


Even the fact that I titled this "NEGATIVITY" will in all likelihood garner more hits and attention than any other posts I've written before.
That's sad really. It's sad that we as humanity have fallen so far that we have started to embrace cynicism and hate.
I'm sure there will be several hate-filled comments, and several snarky remarks to follow this. But this is something I have been wanting to say and get off my chest for a long time now.

I'm not saying we all have to stop being negative all the time.
But SOME of the time would be a step in the right direction, and not letting it control our lives.

"You can't live a positive life, with a negative mind" - Unknown

Written By:
Matt Hollands

The Problem With Marvel's All New All Different Comics

I should preface this post by telling you that Iron Man is my all time favorite Marvel superhero. 

So two of these issues do have to do with him so I have a personal interest in these decisions Marvel is making.

As of late Marvel seems to be in a "shock value" mindset to try and sell more comics
...and it's starting to become annoying honestly.
I was one of the few people who actually liked the idea of a story where Captain America thought he was a Hydra agent all along and was looking forward to seeing the story through.
I don't know if it was because of the outpour of man-children crying about their childhoods being ruined or what, but they couldn't stick to their guns and the very next issue gave away the big "twist" that (to make a long story short) he was more or less brainwashed by Red Skull.

Recently Marvel released info of once again stirring the "Who's Tony's REAL parents" shit pot that blew up in their faces the last time. There are even rumors of Black Widow being revealed as his real mother. Even if you ignore that both of those characters are near the same age, there's still a large ugly glaring issue with that.
THEY'VE HAD SEX!
I'm not okay with Tony Stark suddenly being written with an Oedipus complex, but I don't think it will turn out to be Black Widow anyway. Personally, I think they should just leave his parents alone.

Then there's today's announcement of a 15-year-old black girl named Riri Williams going to be the new Iron Man.
Apparently after the events of Civil War 2 end, Tony will be retiring once again and this random new character will be taking up the Iron mantle.
First off, before anyone thinks I'm being racist, I don't give a damn what color a character is. But I want them DEVELOPED ahead of time rather than just throwing her in the suit and going "they'll get used to her" which seems to be Marvel's M.O. these days. (See Jane Foster's "Thor" for further proof)
The people that are defending this idea and character are using the excuse of "well Rhodes was Iron Man for a while".
Yes he was, but they spent a LONG time developing his character, letting us get to know him, and seeing the friendship he and Tony had to understand WHY Tony would have him as his replacement when he was fighting his own demons and the world still needed Iron Man. It was well thought out and executed accordingly.
This is just sloppy. There is no connection whatsoever and they seem to think that's fine.
If they wanted to make this transition flow well with good writing and a strong connection, she should have been Rhodes daughter.
They should have introduced her a long time ago, shown her skills and intelligence here and there, given us an uncle Tony relationship between the two.....and THEN make this move.
It still would have been a "new" character, but it wouldn't be some random person he's "had his eye on for a while" that just so happens to share his intelligence.
THAT'S how you write a strong bond to an existing character so the passing of the torch works!
The sad thing is, that took me less than five minutes to think of. Yet the Marvel writers have been getting paid to make up random characters with no connection to the heroes they're taking over.

And that is what is really wrong with Marvel comics right now.
They're more interested in cheap controversy and appealing to the PC diversity crowd, than telling well thought cohesive stories.
Marvel may have the better films, but the same cannot be said for the current state of their comics.

CREED Review | *Spoilers Warning*

(Obvious spoilers ahead...seriously, don't read this till after you'd watched the movie) 

Every year I always look for that one movie. Not the big money making blockbuster, but the underdog movie that leaves you wanting more. In 2001, it was 'Drive'. In 2003, 'The Last Samurai'. And in 2014 it was 'Gone Girl' just to name a few. 2015 came and went. There were a few movies I had wanted to see but never got the chance and 'Creed' was one of them. 
I finally got around to watching it the other night and I am happy to say, 'Creed' is my favorite 2015 movie! Before I get into the review, I'd like to provide you with a little history of myself and the Rocky films. I grew up watching Sylvester Stallone movies. I was and still am one of his biggest fans. The Rocky films always held a special place in my heart though because as a child, I wasn't allowed to watch some of his more adult films that involved nudity or excessive violence...though I more than made up for that when I got old enough! 
I was always allowed to watch the Rocky movies from the start though and honestly, as a kid, I never liked the first one. I was too young to appreciate how great of a movie it was, so I used to start at 'Rocky II'. I'm sure I wore my VHS of 'Rocky II' quite thin, though thankfully it never stopped working. 
I loved 'Rocky III' just as much and eventually when 'Rocky IV' came out, it became my favorite. I was never a fan of 'Rocky V', though over the years I've come to appreciate what it tried to do. All it would take was to hear "Gonna Fly Now" or "Hearts on Fire" and I would immediately get up and start working out. I wanted to be like Rocky so much and those songs always fired me up and still do to this day. 
From there I would always go back and re-watch the series probably hundreds of times. I realized how great of a movie the first film was, and in my teens and early 20's realized the style of these films. 'Rocky', 'Rocky II' and 'Rocky V' were his serious attempts where as 'Rocky III' and 'Rocky IV' were beautiful 80's cheese at it's best...but I loved them all. Sixteen years went by before there would be another Rocky film and to say I loved 'Rocky Balboa' (aka Rocky VI) would be an understatement. That film has some of the best acting from both Sly Stallone and Burt Young (Paulie), some of the most inspiration quotes of all time, and a great story! At the end of the film, I felt it was the perfect way to end the films and I thought that was it. Then I heard about 'Creed' being made. At first I wasn't sure how I felt, seeing as Hollywood has made a habit of re-hashing older films and tv shows only to half-ass it and coast on the nostalgia alone. But when I heard that the film would involve Rocky training Apollo Creed's son to be a boxer, I became interested. After watching the first trailer, I was hyped and I decided not to watch the second trailer in case it spoiled anything (am I ever glad I did, because the second trailer does spoil huge important things about this movie). I had planned to see 'Creed' in theaters, but I never ended up being able to. So after avoiding spoilers and clips for months, I finally got the chance to watch it a few nights ago. ................again, this is your last warning because there WILL be Spoilers ahead This is a fantastic film from start to finish! When Sylvester Stallone said "this isn't a Rocky film" he wasn't kidding. There are only two scenes in the entire movie where we the viewers aren't following Adonis Creed, and both times serve to further Rocky's side of the story. I want to start by saying, if you're going into this movie looking for a big fight boxing movie, you're going to be disappointed. This is a character film that involves boxing. Every one of the main characters (and even some side characters) have rich depth to them and are the furthest thing from one dimensional they could be. Adonis is a great character. I thought from the trailers that he hated his father, but that's not true. Even though it's one film, Adonis has a great character arc going from "I don't wanna make it off my fathers name, I wanna make it on my own", to "I need to prove that I wasn't just a mistake!" The music is perfect. I wasn't sure hip-hop would work in a film like this, but it flows beautifully with the original score and suits ever scene. The cinematography is great. If I'm being honest though, at first I didn't like the close up boxing style the director chose. But it grew on me fairly quick and by the time the second fight happens, I was loving it. Speaking of the second fight. If you've ever watched the second episode of Netflix Daredevil, you'll remember the hallway fight. It's one single long shot that doesn't end till Daredevil leaves the hallway. 'Creed' is a work of art in film making! The scene starts back in the locker room, follows Adonis out to the ring, and moves in and around the two fighters while they box. Which sounds normal on paper, but here's the thing. During this one long single take...Adonis and his opponent start looking bloodied up and bruised. That would require a cut to go apply the makeup to continue the scene. But it doesn't cut the entire fight. It's seriously a work of art and you have to see it to believe it! The acting in this film is some of the best I've seen. Michael B. Jordan is a great actor and in my opinion, he should have been at least nominated for an Oscar. Sylvester Stallone got screwed at the Oscars. Period. That man had me laughing on minute, crying the next. And I don't cry easily at films! Now I'm going to mention one of the big spoilers that absolutely should not be spoiled before seeing this, because it you're a big Rocky fan like me, it will hit you like a brick wall! Three words. Rocky has cancer. That shocked me (because I never watched the second trailer where they just tell you he's sick...damn you Hollywood) and watching his reaction to the news was rough. 
The next scene involves the scene that SHOULD have won him an Oscar this year. He stands in front of Adonis and explains how since he had to watch Adrien go through the same thing, he's not doing the chemotherapy. And if he could take everything good in his life, and put it all in a bowl to trade for another minute to see Adrien again, he would. He's done, he's got nothing left to live for, everyone he's ever loved is gone (Paulie is also dead in this film by the way). It's just such a raw and real emotional scene and I got quite choked up during it. After Adonis convinces Rocky to do the chemo (through a great line about how fighters fight) the big fight training montage kicks in...but this isn't your usual training montage. It's Adonis training, interlaced with scenes of Rocky who is now doing the chemotherapy, slowly getting sicker, losing his hair, and being helped around by Adonis. Even as I write this, I'm starting to swell up again. Though the scene I mentioned above was the best acting job, the training montage hit me the hardest. As I mentioned, I grew up watching Rocky. I've grown to love and care about that character as if he were real. And there I sat, 4:30am in the dark, by myself watching someone I grew up watching, deteriorating before my watery eyes. It broke my heart seeing Rocky like that. The love story between Adonis and Bianca was great too and fit the film well. It didn't feel forced and they even gave her a lot of character to make me interested in her as well. The idea that Adonis loves her enough to be with her, knowing she'll go completely deaf someday is just beautiful. The final fight of the film was great and had me worked up like the old Rocky films used to. I LOVED how Adonis doesn't win, but goes the distance and proves he is worthy of his fathers name. The ending is perfect, Adonis and Rocky climbing the famous steps together talking about seeing their future as "not bad at all". 'Creed' is a masterpiece of film making and my only negative to say (and it's really more of a nit pick) is that there's not a single reference to "Little Marie". She was kind of a big important part of 'Rocky Balboa' and in this movie, she's not even given a mention. Just seemed strange, but nothing I can't look past. I plan on getting this on Blu-Ray to add to my Rocky collection, and I 100% recommend it! 

Review Written By: Matt Hollands