Let me start this article by reiterating that a fundamental belief of feminism is gender equality. This means that men and the issues that affect men are part of the movement. So the reason Newt Scamander is a feminist film icon is because he is a refreshingly complex representation of a male lead and what it means to be a hero. While other male action heroes are ‘macho’ or ‘charismatic’, Newt is soft spoken, awkward, and saves the day not with his brains or brawn but with his compassion for all living things. While the villain, Graves/Grindelwald, is the very model of toxic masculinity (violent, vain, and power hungry), Newt is the polar opposite. He is gentle and abhors violence in all its forms. He is awkward and unsure of himself but comfortable in his passion in caring for and rescuing magical creatures. He has no desire to conquer and no belief that he is superior. He is a model to any man who has never seen himself in the suave hero.
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One of my favorite YouTubers, Pop Culture Detective, did a long and in depth analysis of just how different Newt is from the archetypal male hero and I highly suggest checking it out. He examines the above mentioned traits that Newt possesses and how this dismantles traditional and  toxic representations of masculinity. But while Pop Culture Detective maintains that Newt is not being feminine so much as he is simply showcasing a different form of masculinity, I believe that Newt as a character goes further and is actually dismantling the dichotomy of gender roles that says you must be either masculine or feminine. He blurs the lines and operates on a spectrum, providing a role model that is neither masculine or feminine. He operates somewhere in between as both, just as most people do, even if society insists on categorization and either/or dichotomies.

In the first shot of Newt we see him whispering reassuringly to the creatures in his case. We immediately understand that he has a bond with them and his first characterizing quality is his ability to nurture. This already is a departure from traditional masculinity and a move towards traditionally feminine qualities. Newt’s gift for compassion and nurturing becomes more pronounced as we see him struggle to save Credence, the abused boy who is host to an Obscurus. While others seek only to kill Credence and the Obscurus or to use this dark power for their own ends, Newt is concerned with saving the innocent boy from being tormented and hunted. He isn’t the hero because he slays the monster or kills the bad guy, he is the hero because he tries to protect and preserve an innocent life. And him failing to save Credence is another mark of his difference from traditional heroes. He is a flawed human who can only do so much in the face of evil. And in this way, Newt is already more relatable and complex than most male leads we’ve ever seen.

We also see Newt interact with several people (muggle and wizard alike) and the ease he has with his creatures is nowhere to be seen. He is not confident or charming around people and struggles to communicate or connect. He even marvels at how people immediately like and respond to his friend Jacob and when Jacob says, ‘Well, I'm, uh, I'm sure people like you, too, huh?’ Newt admits that he is rarely well liked and thus prefers the company of his creatures. In a world that so often tells men to never admit to flaws or insecurities, he is a man who does so without shame or embarrassment and, even more amazingly, he confesses this to another man in friendship. And Jacob returns this emotional vulnerability. At the film’s close Jacob asks Newt why he kept him around through the adventure. Newt replies that it is because Jacob is his friend and this brings Jacob to tears. The moment is not framed as anything but the genuine friendship and care that these two men feel for one another. And we see this emotional vulnerability countless times throughout the film. We see the depth of Newt’s fear that people will harm his creatures and the heartbreak he feels as he says goodbye to his friends. There are no quippy one liners or jokes to hide his feelings. He instead expresses them freely, albeit in his rather awkward and mumbling way. And while other films and male leads tend to use men expressing emotions for comic relief or ploys to garner female attention, Newt is a character that is refreshingly free from this kind of rationalization of male emotions. They are not a punchlines or a pick up lines. They are real and honest expressions of his feelings.
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The best part about Newt as a character in this film is that no one seems to try and police his masculinity and femininity. Sure, Graves/Grindelwald tries to have him executed and the MACUSA certainly don’t understand his connection with his creatures but none of this is because he is ‘odd’ or not the typical male. And even though the MACUSA believe his creatures and his connection to them could be dangerous, it is ultimately his understanding of these magical creatures and their trust in him that save the city and reveal Grindelwald for what he really is. Once again, Newt’s traditionally feminine qualities are framed as strengths rather than weaknesses and do not inhibit his ability to be, present, or feel masculine.

Where this all gets really interesting is the way in which Newt and other characters like him will break down the barriers between masculinity and femininity. With enough time and enough diversity in characters, the line between what is masculine and what is feminine will blur. We see it already happening in real life. The societal shift towards acceptance of trans individuals and gender fluidity is slowly breaking down the dichotomy of gender that has policed what men and women and individuals who don’t fit those boxes are allowed to do and feel. And these shifts exist in a cycle. The more positive representations in popular media, the more inclusion and acceptance in real life, and vice versa and on and on. Newt is certainly not the first male lead to have feminine qualities and he arguably is not the best. But he is the male lead in a major blockbuster franchise that appeals to a large audience (geek or otherwise) and therefore has a powerful platform for change. Children see a hero who is emotional and kind, brave and loyal, and doesn’t fit the stereotypes that Hollywood so often falls back on. Adults who have already been conditioned in gender policing see a hero that breaks the mold and reminds them there is no right or wrong way to express yourself and connect with others. As for me, I see a feminist film icon that challenges the norms and smashes the patriarchy and at the end of the day, that’s the best kind of feminist film icon there is.

If I could ask one question of the film-analytical hivemind, it would be this: why are major American film franchises based on apes the most beloved? I already went through part of this diatribe at the beginning of my review for Kong: Skull Island. But on the other side of that damn dirty coin, we have Planet of the Apes, the film franchise that has been knocking around Hollywood since 1968, and while it is in no way as iconic as King Kong, what is truly amazing about it is that it has truly remained one single thread of a film franchise.
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Think about it: there are currently eight films in the Planet of the Apes series, four of which are direct sequels to the original, and two TV series, one of which is animated. All of which have been produced by 20th Century Fox, which is in itself an achievement. With the only exception being, possibly, the forgettable and quite frankly bonkers remake by Tim Burton in 2001, all of these movies and TV shows are in the exact same continuity; there’s no mucking with reboots and/or alternate expanded universes in Planet of the Apes, except perhaps in novels. Although it is possible for many people to see the current trilogy of films, originally directed by Rupert Wyatt in 2011, to be a remake, they are merely a trilogy of prequels that tell a chunk of the original story that could not have been done in terms of special effects in the 1960s.

And to the credit of this most recent film, War of the Planet of the Apes, the story so far has been told admirably. In this series our perspective of humanity is fixated permanently on the band of hyper-intelligent apes, led by the genetically enhanced chimpanzee Caesar, played admirably through CG and motion capture by Andy Serkis. After a coup among his own people by a treacherous bonobo named Koba (Toby Kebbel), the apes have gone into total war against their human creators, forcing them into hiding. A plot is hatched by Caesar’s son Blue Eyes (Max Lloyd-Jones) to lead the apes across a vast desert to where they’d have their own sanctuary and civilization, but hope for that is shattered when a platoon of human soldiers led by Woody Harrelson’s enigmatic and dogmatic Colonel, raids the ape camp at night and kills Blue Eyes and his wife, Cornelia.

The surviving apes are set to walk the desert as planned, but Caesar wants vengeance for the death of his family at the hands of the Colonel, so he strikes off on his own to do the deed, though he is followed by his closest friends in the overall series: Maurice the orangutan (Karin Konoval) and Rocket the chimpanzee (Terry Notary). This then becomes a road film where the trio of apes set to find the last human camp, eventually bringing along Steve Zahn, a chimp who refers to himself as ‘Bad Ape,’ and a human girl, orphaned at Caesar’s hand, that they call Nova (Amiah Miller). 

It is through these members of the cast that it is revealed the further evolution of this series into the Apes continuity: it so happens that Bad Ape was granted intelligence from a strain of the simian flu introduced in the previous film, making him an evolved ape that was not a member of Caesar’s original colony. Nova, on the other hand, is a human that the simian flu has rendered mute and slightly primitive, making her one of the first in the long line of de-evolved humans we saw in the original series of films. The Colonel feels he is next in line for this de-evolution, which has stepped up his zealotry to wipe out all of ape-kind. Along with his first sergeant Precher (Gabriel Chavarria), he leads a rogue colony of humans that have captured apes, forcing them to build an enormous wall to blockade the remaining human army while he continues the war despite most humans expressing its futility.
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Aside from these plot points you can expect yet another prison-escape scene where Caesar once again has to use his intellect to rescue the imprisoned apes from the Colonel’s camp, and all the brawling, explosions, and literal war that come with it. This isn’t to say that War does a bad job with the material it has, only that the overall action feels vastly more straightforward and abridged compared to the previous two films. Given that this is the conclusion to a trilogy, there isn’t much more that could have been introduced; the work has to be invested upon making sure everything is wrapped up for this particular package of Apes films. In the film’s full run, everything is indeed wrapped up in regards to every character, and is built to set the stage for the continuity as we know it in the original series of films.

War for the Planet of the Apes is a satisfying conclusion to its two predecessors, and a welcome addition to this long-running film series as a whole. It may not stand on its own as strongly as its two previous films, but it doesn’t intend to.  For the second time in six decades, we are bringing down the curtain on the series, and its future as a cornerstone of sci-fi Americana is still going strong as a result.

I do like a good buddy cop movie now and then. There was this great franchise that came out in the late 80’s that really turned the buddy cop movie into a big time thing called Lethal Weapon. While these might not have been the greatest movies ever created, they did show how to have a good time when working the beat and sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if I really wanted to be a cop. Although those days are behind me, wanting to be a cop anyway, I still am on the lookout for a good buddy cop movie to fill that void and Officer Downe not only filled that, but it also gave me some appreciation for wanting to do my job and do it well.
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Loving his job, even working for the L.A.P.D., Officer Gable is about to get a surprise of a lifetime. Getting called in to talk with the Chief, Gable has been put on a special detail and will work with the station’s top cop. Being taken down into the lower floors and seeing what appears to be a dead man about to be shocked back to life, all of the rumors that he has heard about a never dying officer are absolutely true. Watching as Officer Downe is brought back to the land of the living, Gable will serve as back up to the living legend and is looking forward to having his new partner’s back in the field.

The Fortune 500 is at ends with each other as they have lost another one of their drug operations to the L.A.P.D.’s super cop. Needing to find some sort of way to get Downe out of the way, the idea of bringing in Zen Master Flash comes to mind, since he has an army and has never let anyone down before when it comes to eliminating someone. Coming to terms with Flash, the Fortune 500 can now sit back and wait for Downe to be disposed of in the most heinous manner and reap the rewards that will be coming their way with him gone. 

Sitting outside of the church that houses one of the most notorious gun running nuns, Mother Supreme, Gable is getting anxious about when to back up his new partner. He is quickly told to cool his jets by Fritch, Hanso and Carter who have been on the beat for some time, since they know exactly what needs to be done. Basically being a cleanup detail for Downe when he is finished does not sit with what Gable heard from the Chief and he takes matters into his own hands and enters the church to find a trail of bloody nuns leading him to Mother Supreme. Seeing Downe taking shots that would kill a normal man, Gable is able to make the arrest of the top nun, but when seeing Downe get back up to finish the job, Gable sees a gun pointed at Downe’s head. Falling to his death again, Downe is picked up by his team and taken back to the station to be resurrected once again, but can he remember what he is really fighting for?

Getting reprimanded by the Chief, Gable is able to keep his post for the time being, but wants to know what the real story is behind Downe and his battle against evil in the city. Finding a secret entrance to a hidden lab under the locker room, Gable comes face to face with who is keeping Downe alive and killing. A lab filled with quadriplegics who possess the power of telekinesis supply the power that keeps Downe alive and on the beat, but while Gable does not fully understand if they or Downe know what is happening, Downe graces his group of life bringers with his presence. Not remembering his previous deaths is one thing, but Downe knows first-hand that these are the folks keeping him on the hunt for evil in the city.
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Needing to get something off of his chest, Gable heads to the local cop bar and sees that his new partners are there waiting to rag on him. With a fight being avoided, the group starts to drink together and while he is not able to tell them everything that he has seen, Gable questions if what they are doing is right by bringing Downe back for every fight that could kill regular cops in his place. With the liquor flowing, the cops get a call about an incident at the hospital that Downe has already responded to.  Seeing bodies sliced to bits by Zen Master Flash and his gang, Officer Downe is also missing from the premises and the need to find him will keep Gable from resting. With no power to make the ultimate decision, Gable calls upon whatever he can to find the greatest cop in the department’s history, but there might be more to it than he would ever know.

There was something that caught my attention right away when watching Officer Downe, and that was that Downe knows exactly what is wrong with his city and he will do anything to get it back, that and an orgasm counter to show how dedicated he is to the job. I was having a hard time not laughing throughout the movie, even during some of the battle scenes, because they are the perfect throwback to some of the 80’s splatter fests that we grew up with. You really got to feel Gable’s frustration throughout as he only wanted to be a part of something more and really loved being a cop, and was told not to be by the Chief. Fighting for what he knew was right and being able to help his possible future friend, the team of Gable and Downe might be the greatest thing ever to hit the L.A. streets to put all of the evil away, one way or another. With machine gun wielding nuns, an undying cop, bodies flying everywhere, a gang that wears furry outfits and a Zen Master that does not like subtitles, this movie may have you wondering what you just watched, but in my opinion, it is just pure entertainment as I had to give it a second viewing. Happy Viewing. 

So many comics, so many characters. It is a problem for both comic book fans and filmmakers alike. When we walk into our favorite stores we know what to expect, rows upon rows of incredible comics, and any new adventure we want is available for the taking.  

But for the hard working folks behind the camera, they have to be picky. It's about what heroes are recognizable and throughout the years the big names have always dominated the starring roles in motion pictures. Slowly but surely however, other characters are finding their way to theaters.  

But it is not the first time we have seen such a move, in fact back in the 1980's, when Superman ruled the silver screen, the folks behind Kal-El's adventures figured...why can't his cousin appear on the silver screen as well? The answer to that question arrived in 1984 with...Supergirl. 

The city of Argo is in peril.  They have lost the precious Omegahedron, a device that powers their city, and without its presence the people of Argo City will surely perish. But there is one brave young woman who won't let something like that happen. Young Kara Zor-El chases after the device and finds it on earth and discovers that not only is this world is protected by her cousin, Kal-El, but the benefits our yellow sun provides Superman with, gives her the exact same set of powers and she is going to need every last one of them. For the Omegahedron is in the possession of the vile Selena and it will take a Supergirl to stop her.  ​

Well, this is another one of those tough movies to write about, because it is another fond memory from my childhood that I did not quite enjoy as much seeing it as an adult. The effects are fine, minus the usual mistakes of 1980's films, and quite frankly there are some solid actors in this film.  Helen Slater looks the part of Kara/Linda Lee/Supergirl and plays the naive aspect quite well and does a good job transforming into a solid hero. Faye Dunaway is her always intense self, albeit over the top at times and heck you even get the legendary and late Peter O'Toole in this flick.

So with a cast like that, I shouldn't have any reservations raving about this film right? Not exactly.  It's a weird frickin' story. More or less, it's Supergirl saving the day from other worldly witchcraft. You see, the Omegahedron can essentially channel dreams. So whatever Selena wishes for, she gets and well...like I said it turns out weird. It in essence gives her mystical superpowers and it changes the dynamic of the film.  

This had the opportunity to be something quite incredible. Especially when you take into account that Superman is mentioned in the film as being off world for some kind of peace mission. So you would think a setup like that would give Kara the chance to do something incredible to save the day, but no. Instead it's simply Supergirl vs. a Witch.  

Either way, for hardcore comic book movie fans, this is worth checking out if only for the fact we finally get to see the Phantom Zone that has played such a big part in the Superman mythos. For the average fan however, well, I can't guarantee you'll like it, but you'll definitely be entertained.  ​

There is an undeniable appeal to this series, one that’s hard to describe because there is very little that distinguishes it from animated feature films from third parties that were released at the exact same time. It’s a cartoon made on a moderate budget by a mainstream film studio, Universal in this case. It features a lead character that is a loveable grouch whose deviant actions are redeemed by the people who love him. It has soft morals and family values that both children and adults can appreciate, but not as much as the seemingly endless barrage of frat humor and slapstick; enough to fill 100 episodes of America’s Funniest Home Videos.
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But to its credit Despicable Me is still alive and kicking, despite many of its peers having sailed into the animated franchise sunset ages ago, outliving movies with similar plots that released at around the same time, and even reaching past the success of a pair of movies Illumination has put out after getting free reign over Universal’s animated release schedule. We’re now in the third movie of this series, or the fourth, if you understandably consider last year’s Minions film to be part of the set, and I have to admit, it still serves its purpose as a just-plain good time at the movies, even though this seems to be the most abridged and least plot-centric of every one of its predecessors.

Once again, Steve Carell plays Gru, a reformed mad scientist turned secret agent whose rough edges have long been softened by the presence of his three adopted daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Nev Sharrel), and his wife Lucy (Kristin Wiig). A botched attempt at trying to capture a former child star turned 80’s obsessed supervillain named Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) lands Gru and Lucy in the unemployment line, courtesy of the new Anti-Villains League supervisor Valerie Da Vinci (Jenny Slate). If that wasn’t bad enough, Gru’s abandonment of the villain’s life has caused his team of cute and marketable minions (all voiced by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud) to go on strike and abandon Gru, inevitably ending up in prison.

When things look their darkest, Gru receives an invitation from a butler named Fritz (Steve Coogan) from Gru’s long lost brother Dru, who lives in their native Freedonia. Also voiced by Carrell, Dru appears to be a more successful and dynamic version of Gru, but holds the secret that he’s an equally failed former supervillain, and thus needs Gru’s guidance to restore his family’s reputation for wickedness.

It doesn’t take long to discover that, for all of the plot that’s being established, Despicable Me 3 is a pretty paint-by-numbers sequel, which is a shame because the previous two films worked hard to distinguish its main protagonist, Gru, as a character of great depth and dimension, first by making him the ward of three daughters, and by creating for him a love interest. This movie makes no attempt to deconstruct Gru a third time, even though there was ample opportunity to do so with the unemployment and family reunion themes of this film. Instead, the film chooses to merely play out as an extension of the lives of the eccentric family we’ve already come to known. A jaunt across the fictional country of Freedonia permits Gru’s daughters to go off on random adventures involving a misunderstood engagement and a hunt for a wild unicorn, while Wiig’s Lucy delves within the subplot of learning how to be a new mother. Gru’s only plan is to manipulate his naive brother Dru to steal a rare diamond back from Bratt and use it to get his and Lucy’s job back.

What has already been established in-universe by this series is ultimately taken for granted by this film. In a universe that is established as a breeding ground for various professional and rival supervillains, we only get Trey Parker’s Balthazar Bratt, an admittedly pretty well conceived character who falls flat through the course of the film, having only two or three villainous tricks at his disposal, and there’s sadly little utilization of the multitude of voices he does for Comedy Central’s South Park, and no nod to the irony that this frequently R-Rated public figure is confined within the boundaries of this G-rated role. Once again the earlier movies did a better job utilizing actors like Jason Segel and Benjamin Bratt, but with Gru so far removed from his initial villainous roots, there’s no need for another supervillain rivalry to take center stage. This is also a franchise that lives and dies upon the utilization of its overly cartoonish supporting characters, the minions, who sadly remain confined to a subplot that takes up only a fifth of the film and resolves with no friction at all.

Having said all that, I have do admit, what Despicable Me 3 does well, it does to the benefit of the movie overall. The animation and art style is amazing, and while this still remains a film centered on sight gags and slapstick, every scene that utilizes it is creative and very funny. Also, what this film seems to lack in plot is redeemed by the fact that for most of its run, there are scenes that rival even the most high profile action movie, particularly a scene in the second act where Gru and Dru infiltrate Bratt’s 80’s themed secret lair.

While it’s unfortunate to say that Despicable Me 3 is the weakest film in the series so far, I would be pretty hard pressed to state that it is ultimately a bad film. Many people will see within it much of the polish and charm that has existed here since it became a sleeper hit in 2010. It probably pulls slightly better duty as an extension of the previous films, than a totally solid film in its own right. 

Working your last days at any job is not easy, especially when you actually have to do something productive. I have always given it my all as long as I can before moving jobs, as I never liked to burn any bridges, even if I was not a fan of what I was doing. I could only imagine how this problem would treat someone that works in the public services, like a detective who is about to retire. Needing to be able to turn it off once you step out the door seems to be something that would be the hardest thing to do, especially when your last case is a vicious homicide.

Needing to sign off on his retirement papers, Detective Gene Handsome is not ready to hang it up, at least not yet. With a fresh batch of detectives waiting to move up, Handsome can see that none of them are ready just yet. With off the wall theories and no stomach for the job, Handsome at least knows that his partner Detective Scozzari will be fine. Wanting to clear his head, Handsome leaves the office with a batch of cookies from his lieutenant with no intention of eating them, but he will find them a home somewhere around his neighborhood.

Arriving home and having a disagreement with his neighbor about where his dog does his business, Handsome finds out that he has new neighbors next door. Bringing the cookies over as a welcome gift, Handsome meets the babysitter, Heather, who is not trusting of anyone. Leaving the cookies outside, the detective does not know what to think about her, but is happy that the cookies are out of his life. Getting a call early in the morning, Handsome arrives at the crime scene to see the baby sitter once again, but this time in pieces. With her head removed and her body being folded into what appears to be the Star of David, Handsome knows that her killer would have to have been very close to her.

With the body of Heather being found on the front lawn of renowned star Talbert Bacorn, Handsome asks him some questions, but Bacorn is more concerned about his safety from the freaks that did this than anything else. Moving on, Handsome questions his neighbor Nora, who is more than willing to answer the questions he has for her. With Heather having sticky fingers, Nora would not be too surprised if she was in trouble, but being killed for that seems like a bit much in her eyes. Moving on once again, Handsome finds Heather’s roommate Amanda who is not too broken up about her friend being killed. Yet another lead takes Handsome to talk to an older gentleman who was a father figure to the babysitter, but the chat leaves him without any firm suspects. Trying to piece together what could have gone down the night of Heather’s murder, everything he knows about investigating is thrown out the window when he finds out the difference between lotion and cream.

I will admit that I just turned on this movie for some background noise, but it turned out to be an okay flick and clearly, an attention grabber, and when it came to off color dialogue, some of it left me speechless. I am still pining over if I liked this more than the Sandler movies that Netflix is putting out, but I did like the storyline and the appearance of Steven Weber as the bad guy, (that is not a spoiler because it is mentioned in the first minute of the movie). The story is all right, even though there really does not seem to be an emphasis on who the suspects might be when it comes to Heather’s murder. There are plenty of characters that might have had a reason for it, but the movie quickly skipped them over when it was time for the payoff. With some laugh out loud lines, strange questions, a dead baby sitter, a retiring detective, Steven Weber and a new understanding of lotion versus cream for the skin, this movie is a good time killer if you need one.