Live By Night - Box Office Review

Following the academy award success of “Argo” Ben Affleck steps back into the directors chair for a 6th time. He brings his passion for Boston but decided to branch out and also venture further south to Florida for a gangster period piece set during prohibition. So let’s dive in and take a look at “Live By Night” in this box office review…

The overall tone of the film was bleak. It deals with some nefarious characters who are both on the right and wrong sides of the law. There’s not much redemption for any of the characters as they are all in conquest for power and influence. The main character appears to be made to suffer loss but I found myself struggling to sympathize because of the lifestyle he threw himself into. There’s a brief moment where the story leads us to believe he’s victimized in his welcoming into this world of crime but it’s crime that initially brings attention to his abilities by people much more dangerous than he who “recruit” him.

The dialogue of this film was, arguably, accurate to how I imagine gangsters would talk during prohibition. That being said, it’s incredibly racist. Across the board, this film puts on display the rampant racism of prohibition America. It’s not just racist against black people. It’s everyone. If you weren’t English white, there was a racial slur in this film for you. The delivery of these lines was split between characters who viewed it as matter of fact and other who’s tone was intentionally demeaning and ignorant.

“Live By Night” is probably still in one or two theaters. If you like period piece films and aren’t offended by historical racism then you might enjoy this film. If racism on any level offends you I recommend you not even bother because you’ll be offended. The look of the film, the actors and the action scenes were all done well but it’s a dark movie. I was, by text message, asked by a black friend of mine what I thought, and knowing her, I recommended she skip it. She’s a movie lover too but sometimes themes in film can prove too much for some folks and that’s to be expected.

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Movie Review: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - Warner Brothers (2016)

Zach Snyder directs his second film for the DC movie universe, bringing his particular style of directing with him.  Whether you like that type of thing is entirely up to you.

Batman V Superman gave us the fight we were anticipating and also introduced the audience to some new characters.  The pacing of this movie was pretty slow going early on with an artsy dream sequence explaining Batman's(Ben Affleck) origin.  Much of Batman's view of the world and Superman(Henry Cavill) being in it is fueled heavily on his delusional dreams(of which he has plenty).  I had a hard time figuring out if Bruce's butler/assistant in the Bat-Cave, Alfred(Jeremy Irons) is the voice of reason or someone feeding into Bruce Wayne's fears.  Bruce Wayne is Batman for you non-superhero loving folks.

The world is starting to fear Superman and he's being framed for violence across the world.  The framing of the Man of Steel seemed a bit of a stretch but you got to do something to get this movie going.  With all this fear, Lex Luthor(Jesse Eisenberg) is on the hunt for Kryptonite after discovering how it affects the other Krytponian, the now deceased Zod.

I won't go to much further into the plot points of this film but I will give some of the higher and lower points of the film.

• The fight between Superman and Batman went as expected.
• Amy Adams as Lois Lane was great.
• Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was much better than expected.
• I wanted more of Wonder Woman(Gal Gadot).
• The funeral scene was Peter Jackson long!  I could have went to Mordor and back by the time that ended.  

Overall I liked the movie.  It was worth watching.  I didn't love the movie however and I am in no rush to see it again.  If you need a comic book movie fix, go check it out.  If you wait for blu-ray, I wouldn't blame you there.

What are your thoughts on Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice?  Is this on your must see list?  Please respond in the comment section below.

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Check out my good friend Handsome J's review as well here.

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - Why You Need To See This Film

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - Why You Need To See This Film

Starring: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenber, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Daine Lane, Jena Malone

The critics hated the movie, what did you expect from a Comicbook adaptation? I’ve seen critics complain about the religious undertone, the political ties and moral dilemma. But when everything is said and done, we are watching a movie where an indestructible man fly’s while another dresses as a Bat. This movie isn’t being made to enlighten, it was made to entertain and it did just that. The best part of this movie we received the best Bruce Wayne/Batman I’ve seen. Ben Affleck was amazing and I can’t wait to see what he does with the future of Batman. And for everyone that was worried about Gal Gadot, she was amazing and sold me on her as Wonder Woman.  

Batman V Superman had to do something which the marvel movies haven’t had to do the entire time, Introduce new character, tell the story of all those character and actually give us movie which made sense. Yes the editing was a little choppy, but every scene was worth it. Every dream sequence from Bruce gave you the perfect insight to the mind set of a man afraid, scared of what could happen. Every time we were introduced to Lex we saw a lunatic going crazy with power, and every time we saw Superman we were treated to man dealing with the reality that the world around him may fear what he is.

The movie itself was more a starting point, a origin story of sorts. This earth hasn’t been introduced to Meta-Human’s yet. As the scene with the few clips of The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg showed us. There seems to be more at play than just a starting point for a Justice League movie, and if we are lucky we will be treated to a Crisis on Infinity earths movie. As seen during one of the dream sequences The Flash appears but looks like he is reaching out from the future. If that looked familiar, well it was basically pulled from the Crisis on Infinity Earth Story line.  

Finally there was Doomsday, was it the Doomsday i was expecting? No, they pulled from way to many points of the DC Universe. But it was nice to see that Doomsday was still the powerful villain that we needed. I said from the moment that they revealed that Doomsday was in Batman V Superman, we needed the Death of Superman Story. That is exactly what we received and it didn’t disappoint. 

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was exactly what i wanted. The film didn’t disappoint. If you have an doubts about this movie or if you walked away from it disappointed, I suggest taking a moment and see it again.  

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Act 17: What's All the Hype?

Adult film star Angelina Castro is interviewed at the beginning of this episode by Masked Blogster and Mr. E Marquee as she talks about her life, work and being sued by the National Basketball Association.

The show then moves over to Pop Culture Paradise comic book shop in Tempe, AZ where Masked Blogster is joined by the Beer Czar to talk about beer and how people/companies/studios market themselves.

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