War for the Planet of the Apes

The third installment of the Planet of the Apes prequel series started back in 2011, War for the Planet of the Apes sees Caesar lead his tribe of genetically enhanced apes to safety as he fights against a mad Colonel who wants to destroy all apes to keep humans as the dominant species. Caesar, played by Andy Serkis through motion capture, goes through a lot and you feel for him thanks to Serkis's amazing performance making it so heart wrenching and believable. The effects to make the motion captured apes has definitely improved since Rise six years prior and is a perfect example of why just because its motion capture that the performances shouldn't be ignored as it's merely a form of makeup much like the prosthetics from the original 1968 film. Woody Harrelson makes a terrifying villain who helps explain that the virus that killed most of humanity and made apes smarter is slowly regressing the survivors to a more primitive state thus making him kill even his own men when they get affected. You feel so much for many of the characters that get hurt and/or killed, whether they were ape or human. Over all: 100%
2017 top lists so far:
1. Baby Driver
2. Wonder Woman
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
4. Logan
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming
6. War for the Planet of the Apes
7. Alien: Covenant
8. John Wick: Chapter 2
9. The Lego Batman Movie
10. Saban's Power Rangers
11. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
12. Kong: Skull Island
13. Split
14. The Fate of the Furious
15. Beauty and the Beast 2017
16. Transformers: The Last Knight

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Although this is the sixth film that Spider-Man has had on his own, the second reboot since only 2002 and this version was introduced last year in Captain America: Civil War, what makes Spider-Man: Homecoming so special and refreshing is that it was made by Marvel after all previous versions being done by Sony, who agreed to coproduce so as to get a Spider-Man movie that was more of what is in the comics and what fans always wanted to see that the previous versions lacked. Tom Holland plays the web slinger as he deals with both attending high school, living with his aunt, and wanting to prove to Tony Stark that he's a good enough hero to be able to join the Avengers by fighting the Vulture. A cross between superhero and teen coming of age John Hughes films, this entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a perfect blend of action, comedy, and drama as it shows how Peter Parker has to struggle in both being a normal student and a superhero. Michael Keaton makes for a fantastic, scary, and very relatable villain as a man needing to do anything to provide for his family. The supporting cast is just as great and memorable with Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Zendaya as a darkly comic snarker, and Jacob Batalon having really great chemistry with Holland as his best friend. One aspect that makes this better than the previous Spider films is that Parker is still learning how to be a hero and use his new suit including climber to much higher elevations, how to use his different webs, and patience. The post credit sequences the film has are great as one hints at what future installments will tell and the other makes fun at the concepts of these types of scenes. It does however have some flaws here and there, though they are a bit minor, such as too much comedy happening too many times in certain scenes, Vulture never fighting Iron Man as his motivation connects to Stark, the timeline, and the reveal with Zendaya's character. Over all: 100%
2017 top list so far:
1. Baby Driver
2. Wonder Woman
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
4. Logan
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming
6. Alien: Covenant
7. John Wick: Chapter 2
8. The Lego Batman Movie
9. Saban's Power Rangers
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
11. Kong: Skull Island
12. Split
13. The Fate of the Furious
14. Beauty and the Beast 2017
15. Transformers: The Last Knight

Pop Culture Guy episode 30: John Wick Chapter 2 and The Fate of the Furi...

Baby Driver

Stylish, fun, exiting, and full of great thrills is the best way to describe Baby Driver, Edgar Wright's action comedy about a getaway driver who constantly listens to music even when driving to drown out the tinnitus he's had since a childhood incident that killed his parents. Ansel Elgort effortlessly plays the young Baby alongside Lily James as his love interest and Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Jammie Foxx, and Eiza Gonzalez as the criminals he helps drive. Every second of this film is done so stylishly and the music perfectly fits whenever it plays that it almost feels like one really long music video. What makes Driver so different and unconventional to so many other films is how every frame is filled with stylish music that hardly ever stops. The comedy is on point, the criminals are fun to watch, the driving sequences are choreographed beautifully, and the ending is very deserved. One flaw in the film is that we never get to hear or see Baby suffering from his tinnitus except when at one point he temporary loses his hearing. Over all: 100%
2017 top list so far:
1. Baby Driver
2. Wonder Woman
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
4. Logan
5. Alien: Covenant
6. John Wick: Chapter 2
7. The Lego Batman Movie
8. Saban's Power Rangers
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
10. Kong: Skull Island
11. Split
12. The Fate of the Furious
13. Beauty and the Beast 2017
14. Transformers: The Last Knight

Free Comic Book Day: Bongo Comics Free For All 2017

Another of the comic books I got for my first Free Comic Book Day, Bongo Free For All 2017 is the first Bongo comic and first Simpsons comic I got since I first started reading comic books monthly, though I have occasionally read both before then. The comic just tells various different short Simpsons stories such as Bart having to use a backpack with wheels after he hurts his back and Rod and Todd getting lost throughout Springfield. Like the show, the stories are funny and well written and can make for some great episodes of the show. It perfectly captures everything from the animated series and tells its stories how you would expect them to be. Over all: 100%
Top list so far:
1. Free Comic Book Day: Bongo Comics Free For All 2017
2. Deadpool Killustrated
3. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6
4. Civil War: Choosing Sides Vol. 1 #1
5. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4
6. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3
7. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2
8. An Innocent Guy
9. Batman: The Killing Joke
10. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1
11. Batman: The Long Halloween
12. Justice League/Power Rangers #4
13. Justice League/Power Rangers #3
14. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2016 Annual #1
15. Justice League/Power Rangers #1
16. Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe
17. Crisis on Infinite Earths
18. Justice League/Power Rangers #2
19. Free Comic Book Day: Secret Empire
20. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5
21. Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive
22. Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2
23. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
24. The Dark Knight Returns
25. Doctor Who: Beneath the Waves Part 1
26. Old Man Logan
27. Cartoon Network Super Secret Crisis War
28. Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 1
29. The Comic Cavalcade: Archives Volume 1
30. Civil War
31. The New Mutants #98

Transformers: The Last Knight

Michael Bay once again directs another installment of the Transformers film series that he first started in 2007 with Transformers: The Last Knight. This installment sees all Transformers being considered a threat all over the word, with Mark Wahlberg doing all he can to save them all the while Cybertron is headed towards Earth in order to destroy it so the Transformers' home planet is rebuilt. Like the last films before it, this film simultaneously adds to the mythology of the franchise while also causing a lot of retcons based on the history and relationship between humans and the cybernetic alien race. The movie has an incredible opening sequence involving King Arthur teaming up with Transformers to form the Round Table and somehow once again involving the giant robots in many of Earth's biggest historical moments and legends. Despite what the trailers show, Optimus Prime being turned evil and attacking his friends barely even happens as he appears in the beginning, has small appearances in the middle, and only takes action near the end of a film that's over two hours long. There are really good performances by both new and returning cast members like Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Hopkins, and Isabela Moner. Once again Bay injects this installment with sophomoric and immature humor as the previous films, but it's better contained than the last one and there are really good funny moments. The action scenes are well made, but can be pretty hard to figure out due to so many things happening at once and how the editing is very jumbled. As much as I love Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, all of the constant times he says his name and makes a huge speech about the good of humanity or coming home can get really annoying. Over all: 62%
2017 top list so far:
1. Wonder Woman
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
3. Logan
4. Alien: Covenant
5. John Wick: Chapter 2
6. The Lego Batman Movie
7. Saban's Power Rangers
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
9. Kong: Skull Island
10. Split
11. The Fate of the Furious
12. Beauty and the Beast 2017
13. Transformers: The Last Knight

Pop Culture Guy episode 29: TVTropes!