Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Batman V Superman (2016) Trailer

Marvel has Captain America: Civil War where Captain America vs. Ironman vs. Spiderman. While DC has Batman vs. Superman plus Wonder Woman.

I have watched all Marvel Movies (including the Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, Antman, X-men, Ironman, the Avengers, except the TV franchises, Wolverine series, and the new Spiderman franchises) and all DC Batman Movies (except the TV franchises). I haven't watched any Superman movies before this movie, but I'm interested in watching them now.

This movie has the same old same old theme as Christopher Nolan's Batman series, i.e. whether Batman is protecting the city or destroying it during the course of his battles with the enemies.

The first scene of Batman V Superman is the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. And here again we go through the same old story behind the bat cave, which was vividly depicted in Batman Begins (2005).

And then there is Superman's fight with the alien. A giant spaceship in the sky. It reminds me of Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Christmas Invasion (2005), where a giant alien star is in the sky.

To be honest, I think Christopher Nolan's Batman is very remarkable. I like the combo of Christian Bale as Batman and Michael Caine as Alfred. Even though Ben Affleck's resume has a good job in portraying a suspiciously evil character in Gone Girl (my review on Gone Girl is here), he does not have the physique as Batman. He looks fat and clumsy in that Batman suit. I remember Jeremy Irons' performance in Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995). But I like Michael Caine's Alfred better, because he looks much older and wiser. Henry Cavill is very good-looking. But his character as Superman is dumb. He could have passed the spear to Batman or Wonder Woman. People said that Jesse Eisenberg tried too hard. But I think he did a good job in using his awkwardness to portray a psychotic sociopath. It's ashamed that the screenplay did not give him a background story in depth as we did not understand his motivation. That's why his character looks ridiculous. I don't know why when I see the performance of Holly Hunter, I think of Glenn Close. Wonder Woman, almost universally agreed, is the best part of the movie. The music rocks and the character rocks.

Interestingly, DC's Superman is Marvel's Spiderman as they are both journalists. DC's Batman is Marvel's Ironman as they are both rich playboys. So Alfred is Jarvis?

In my opinion, if they use retro pop music like how they used in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool, then the movie would be way cooler.

Ratings:

Premise: Average
Plot: Average
Characters: Good
Dialogue: Average

Recommendation: Recommended

I recommend watching this movie because it is the introduction to the following franchises of DC comics movies. Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League Part I, The Flash, Aquaman, Shazam!, Justice League Part II, Cyborg, Green Lantern Corps, Batman x3 are coming.

Gone Girl (2014)

Gone Girl Trailer

A dark yet interesting story about love, marriage, cheating and revenge.

***Spoilers alert***

Amy disappears. Nick cooperates with the Police and the audience thinks that he is a good man at first. As the plot thickens, because of Nick's inappropriate smile in front of the press, an inappropriate selfie with a random woman, an affair with a student, and more and more evidences pointing at Nick, making the viewers to start to think that, well, maybe Nick did kill his wife.

Half way through the movie, all of a sudden, we see Amy driving in a car and we hear her "cool girl" monologue. It turns out Amy has faked her own death and planted evidence against Nick because she thought "Nick Dunne took my pride and my dignity and my hope and my money".

Amy unfolds her plan in her monologue. "To fake a convincing murder you have to have discipline. You befriend a local idiot and cram her with stories about her husband's violent temper. Secretly create some money troubles: credit cards, perhaps online gambling. With the help of the unwitting, bump up your life insurance. Purchase getaway car. Craigslist. Generic, cheap, pay cash...You know what's hard? Faking a pregnancy. First drain your toilet. Invite pregnant idiot into your home and ply her with lemonade. Steal pregnant idiot's urine. Voila! A pregnancy is now part of your legal medical record. Happy Anniversary. Wait for your clueless husband to start his day. Off he goes...and the clock is ticking. Meticulously stage your crime scene with just enough mistakes to raise the specter of doubt. You need to bleed. A lot, a lot. The head wound kind of bleed. A crime scene kind of bleed. You need to clean, poorly, like he would. Clean and bleed, bleed and clean. And leave something behind: a fire in July? And because you're you, you don't stop there. You need a diary. Minimum three hundred entries on the Nick and Amy story. Start with the fair-tale early days: those are true, and they're crucial. You want Nick and Amy to be likable. After that, you invent. The spending, the abuse, the fear, the threat of violence..."

Amy thinks that she is smart, charming, and cool. She thinks she made Nick smarter, sharper and rise to her level. Amy and Nick used to be fun together. Amy would play treasure hunts with Nick on anniversaries to add spice to their marriage. But after Nick loses his job and decides to move to Missouri, everything starts to go south. She thinks Nick gets lazy and dares her to be someone she doesn't want to be: the nagging wife or the controlling bitch.

I think the way Amy takes revenge on Nick is too dramatic. She wants Nick to pay the price for cheating on her. But when she kills Desi, who cares for her, and frames him for kidnapping, starving and raping her, in order to go back to Nick (because she cares so much about her public image and doesn't want to be a pariah), it proves that she is a sociopath. Nick did not kill his wife but he was not a good man either. Moreover, the couple has irreconcilable differences in their values. For example, Nick said, "I loved you and then all we did was resent each other, try to control each other. We caused each other pain." Amy replied,"That's marriage." That's why Tanner Bolt said that they are the most fucked-up people he has ever known.

I like the editing of the movie. There are only seconds between each cut in Amy's monologue and it makes the scene more tense. We often don't see a lot of dissolves as a transition in movies nowadays, but the editor uses it in the scene where Nick pushed Amy. It makes Nick and Amy looks more shocked by the event. The sound editing is also very good as it increases suspense and tension. I like the colour timing of the movie. The darkness demonstrates the director's auteurism and aesthetics.

Though there are plot holes in the movie, such as why the hospital staff would let Amy go while she is covered with blood, it doesn't matter because the story is interesting and staggering.