Tuesday 30 September 2014

Mad Lists: Top 5 Best & Worst Threequels


 


So after all the reviews this month, I bet some of you readers want to know what my favourite and least favourite third installments are, eh? Well, here my top 5 best and worst if the bunch... Why only 5 movies each? Well, because there are so many bad ones out there that I felt like 10 would be too many for the "best" list. As for the worst, well, I wanted to challenge myself by narrowing it down to only 5.

So here's how the lists are going to work. For the "best" list, I will factor in how good the movie is itself, and how it holds up to the previous installments. For the "worst" list, I will factor in how terrible it is on it's own, and how much of a letdown they were. Simple, right?

Let's not waste anymore time here... Let's start off with the top 5 best threequels!



5. Back to the Future Part III





Doc Brown as a badass cowboy? TAKE MY FUCKING MONEY!!!

After the overcomplicated mess that was BTTF 2. Robert Zemekis and co. Decided to give us a nice simple adventure for the third installment I this beloved franchise. The result? The greatest Sci-Fi/Western crossover ever! As you may know I love western movies so to see the characters I love from Back to the Future in 1885 Hill Valley was quite a treat. Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen was a badass ancestor to Biff, seeing Marty be all cowboy and shit was cool, and as I've said before, Doc Brown was awesome as a Western gunslinger! Now there was one glaring flaw in this movie that involves possible character incest (I'll let you find the flaw), but this movie is awesome! It ends one of the most iconic trilogies of all time on a high note.




4. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi



Now when I mention this movie, I'm talking about the theatrical version, not the bastardized version where Vader yells "NO" when tossing the emperor overboard... ugghhh!

While this movie is not as good as The Empire Strikes Back, it's still a terrific film that completes the story arcs of some of the most iconic characters of all time! Some of my favourite moments of the whole saga are in this one, for example: The scene where Vader threatens to go after Leia, and Luke just snaps and starts whaling on Vader with his lightsaber. The speeder chase through the forest is stuff of legend, and the scene where Yoda "dies" brings on the man-tears. But my favourite part is when the Emperor is zapping Luke, and with the magic of only a camera, you see Vader conflicting with himself as he's watching. He eventually throws the old fart down a fuel shaft and saves Luke... Of course, Lucas had to ruin this scene! *sigh*

Still, this is one of the best, and it lands at number 4 on this list.




3. The Dark Knight Rises



Yes, you're reading this right. As I've stated in my review with Donny, I'm in the "love it" crowd for this one. I won't touch on this more since I've already talked about it. I'll just say that I loved Tom Hardy as Bane, I loved Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, and I'm in the small crowd that loves Bale as Batman. It was satisfying conclusion to one of the greatest trilogies ever.



2. Toy Story 3




You probably didn't expect this one to be so high, did you? Well, this Threequel has everything you could ask for. The stakes are higher, the characters stay true to form, the villain is the best of the series, and the story is funny, deep, intense, and tear-jerking all at the same time. This movie was firing on all cylinders and completely outdid the first two in my opinion, which was an amazing accomplishment in and of itself. It closed out the greatest animated trilogy of all time on one hell if high note, and it lands at number 2.



Aaaaaannnndddd... The top dog, the big cheese, the greatest threequel of all time is...




1. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly


 

Well, if you read my review of this just a few days ago, you probably figured it would be number 1!

This movie... wow! I love everything about this film. It steps up its game from the previous two movies, and delivers something that's grand and fucking epic! Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef nail these legendary characters, Ennio Morricone puts on the soundtrack of a lifetime, and  Sergio Leone gives us his greatest work of art. This hands down the greatest threequel of all time and to put it anywhere lower than number 1 would be nuts. This is why movies are made, ladies and gentlemen, this. is. why. movies. are. made.

Here's the theme, just because...





And now... The ones you've been waiting for... Here's my top 5 worst!




5. The Matrix Revolutions


Now Matrix Reloaded wasn't perfect, but to its credit, it felt like it was a massive buildup to this final installment. Instead, we got some dumb machine fight between the sentinels and humans who were in these machine gun-suit thingies left over from the set of T3. Not to mention a lame CGI fest of a final duel between Neo and Agent Smith, complete with a nonsensical ending. This franchise had managed to get its proverbial head shoved completely up its own ass by the end of this movie.

I'm just glad I still have the first movie to love.


4. Transformers: Dark of the Moon



I saw this movie once....

ONCE!

It's kind of hard to talk about this one because I feel like its a copy & paste of Revenge of the Fallen... which was a copy & paste of the first Transformers. The only difference here is that there is a female lead that actually managed to make Megan Fox look like Meryl Streep in terms of acting. Shia Laboeuf is still dumb, the annoying parents are still annoying, John Turturro is still a vehicle for dumb Michael Bay humour, and the explosions are still pointless.

This is a very shitty and unmemorable third installment of a series that is so generic yet unbelievably popular... It's basically the Nickelback of movie franchises.

... Or the male equivalent of Twilight, in which instead of marketing to teenage girls, Transformers markets to teenage boys... Way to make Michael Bay a gazillionaire, you morons!



3. Jurassic Park 3





Raptors with Mohawks? Killing off the T-Rex? Tea Leoni? RIP Jurassic Park franchise.

The first installment if this series was the Star Wars of the '90s, hands down. The Lost World is one of the most disappointing sequels ever made, and then this one put the final nails in the coffin. First they break up Allen and Ellie, which was the biggest strong point of the original (outside of the dinosaurs), and they replace them with an annoying divorced couple that should've been killed off very early in this movie! And don't even get me started on the T-Rex getting killed off! What a joke... I don't care if the Spinosaurus was more powerful or some shit... IT'S THE FUCKING T-REX!

Fuck this, I can't talk about this movie anymore! Moving on...


2. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines




Oh for fuck sakes do I have to fucking talk about this piece of shit again? Ugh, fine!

Now you may want to punch me for considering this movie to be worse than the previous 3 films on this list. While I do understand that case, the letdown factor is what puts this campy piece of hackwork so high. Transformers is a shitty Michael Bay franchise to begin with, so it wasn't like you were expecting much by the time Dark of the Moon came out. Jurassic Park was already on life support after the 2nd movie, and same thing goes for The Matrix. Whereas the Terminator franchise had come off 2 of the greatest movies of all time, and to see everything I loved about the first 2 completely fall apart so quickly was way more agonizing than watching pieces of schlock that I knew were coming.

Anyways, I can't go on about this anymore because I've already pointed out every problem I have with this movie in my review of it. It's an insulting, putrefying piece of amphibian shit that should've never been made. If this movie was a man, I would punch him.




And now, the big one, the worst threequel ever made in my eyes... Not to mention the biggest letdown in the history of cinema is...





1. The Godfather Part III



What a mess!

Now I know that there's a crowd out there that will defend this movie to no end, but for me, this belongs at number 1. Why, you ask? Because first of all, I couldn't rank this any higher. Second of all... well... while T3 and Jurassic Park III were ruined by people who didn't know what they were doing, The Godfather Part III was made by the same guys who gave us the first 2 classics! How the hell can people who gave us something so groundbreaking, give us such a massive steaming pile of cow dung? Now I know it was a shameless cash grab, but I've seen cash grabs that had more logic in it than this! This was absolutely despicable, and it leaves fans of the first two with bitter tastes in their mouths.

God I hate this movie so much! Fuck it, I can't talk about this shit anymore. FUCK YOU, GODFATHER PART III, FUCK YOU!


There you have it, guys. I hope you enjoyed threequel month just as much as I have, and if you haven't read any of this month's reviews yet, check them out here:

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Toy Story 3

The Dark Knight Rises (with DonnyFTW)

The Godfather Part III

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly


Well, that's it for now folks... Until next time, troll my fat ass!

- Mad Mike of Metal

Sunday 28 September 2014

Mad Reviews: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly


Welcome to the final review of Threequel month! I just finished reviewing The Godfather Part III, and after going through that hell, I felt like I needed to end this month a good note! With that, I've decided to review what is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Alright folks, this movie is why movies are made. It's the benchmark of great threequels, the yang to Godfather Part III's yin, Sergio Leone's masterpiece, and the greatest western of all time. It's dark, nasty, gritty, atmospheric, unapologetic, and just downright badass. Be prepared for me to jerk this movie off, because I love everything about this classic!



I'll cut to the chase here, the character introductions are brilliant. The movie opens with a close-up of that extra who's always in Leone's films, as he and his posse are in a ghost town, and walking towards an empty saloon. They barge in, you hear three gunshots, and then you see Eli Wallach as "The Ugly," smash his way out of a window. We then cut to the three dudes, with two of them dead and the other one trying to squeeze off one shot. Oh Tuco, you slippery devil!

 He may be ugly but this freeze-frame is fucking cool!


We then cut to a small farming land where a little boy is walking his donkey around the mill. We see a dark horse rider coming from the distance, and we then cut to Angel Eyes "the bad" as we hear the badass bassoon. He walks into the farmhouse looking for the man of the household, and begins talking to him, asking him of the whereabouts of a guy named Jackson, because, to quote Angel Eyes "When I start off to find somebody, I find them! That's why they pay me!" He finds out that Jackson now goes under the name of Bill Carson, and after the man pays him over $1000, Angel Eyes guns him down, along with the man's son. His wife walks in to see, and passes out. Angel Eyes proceeds to walk out of the place like a boss. He then goes to collect the $500 he was originally paid by his employer named Baker, followed by putting a pillow over Baker's face and shooting him to death. Wow, Angel Eyes doesn't fuck around!


I shoot people in the face for fun!

 
We then cut back to Tuco getting knocked off his horse by bounty hunters. One of them comments on how Tuco has a face that's worth $2000... and then, we get the most badass intro of them all! We hear "Yeah, but you don't look like the ones who'll collect it." This is followed by a duel where The Man with No Name (who goes by Blondie in this movie) guns down all three bounty hunters in the blink of an eye. He then brings Tuco in himself, only to save him from execution, just so he can raise Tuco's bounty and have more money to himself. That's a fucking genius plan!
 
However, after Blondie decides Tuco won't be worth more than $3000, he parts ways with The Ugly. Tuco then opens up a can of insults on Blondie, to which Blondie replies... "Such ingratitude, after all the times I've saved your life." I know, right?
 
The way back to town is only 70 miles, dude.
 
 
Like in many of Leone's other movies, the character introductions are fucking cool, and they match the atmosphere of the film. All three of them were built-up beautifully, and the payoffs were filled to the brim with badassery!
 
As for the characters themselves, well, it goes without saying. Tuco Ramirez, Angel Eyes, and The Man With No Name have become iconic and legendary in the annals of film. Blondie is the calm, unassuming gunslinger who has one of the fastest draws going; Angel Eyes is the confident, determined bounty hunter who always finds his man; and Tuco Ramirez is the nasty, oafish jackass who would step over his own mother to get what he wants. These characters are god-like now, often imitated but never duplicated, and they will live on in movie history until the end of time!
 
One of the greatest tricks this movie pulls is this: While Blondie is labeled as "The Good" Angel Eyes is "The Bad" and Tuco is "The Ugly", all three of these guys have each trait within them!
 
I mean, Blondie constantly helps a wanted criminal cheat death for his own personal gain, not to mention leaves him hanging by a thread at the end... that's not really "Good" of him, is it? Tuco may be The Ugly, but there is a lot of bad in him, and you'll know that just by watching the movie. But he does have a very emotional scene where he meets his brother only to find out that his mother died, and for a split second, you can see good in him... He also helps Blondie get nursed back to full health after drying out in a desert, even though it's only so he can find out the name of the grave that holds $200 000... but still, he saved him, right? That's good of him, isn't it? Angel Eyes shows some traits of good in him as well when he decides to partner up with Blondie to find the grave... I mean, he could've just killed him and looked through every grave in the cemetery, but that would've taken forever, but still, it shows that he has a conscience and knows when not to kill someone. His ugly side tends to go hand-in-hand with his bad side, especially when he beats the living shit out of Tuco to find the name of the cemetery.
 
So yeah, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly are all good, bad, and ugly. Get it?
 

These characters are well rounded, fleshed out very well, and extremely well written. The amount of awesome quotes that come out of these guys is too much to keep up with! Classic one liners, like...


"When you gotta shoot, shoot! Don't talk!" -Tuco, after Tuco guns down a dude who wouldn't stop talking about shooting him.

"Every gun makes its own tune." - Blondie

"If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working?" - Tuco

"We cut down my percentage... liable interfere with my aim." - Blondie

"Idiots... It's for you..." - Blondie to Tuco

"People with ropes around their necks don't always hang." - Angel Eyes

and...

"You're the son of a thousand fathers all bastards like you!" Tuco to Blondie

Now, there's one more one-liner in this movie that is best and most badass quote of the whole fucking movie, but I'll get to that one later...

The casting is great, as Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, and God himself Clint Eastwood were all born to play their respective roles. Wallach, who was a comedic actor at the time, plays the role of the Ogre-ish Tuco beautifully, and it's nice to see him play a good role after seeing him in that cinematic abomination that I've mentioned one too many times in this review. Van Cleef had already played a great role in the previous installment, and it was awesome to see him play a different character in this one, as he effortlessly brings the Angel Eyes character to life. Of course, there's not really much I can say about Clint Eastwood's performance that hasn't already been said. There's great debate on which role is Eastwood's finest, Harry Callahan or The Man with No Name? I'm inclined to go with the ladder, as he brings a quiet confidence to the character that can only be done by him.

I know a lot of people might be turned off by all of the dubbed dialogue, but not me. I actually find that the dubbing adds a dirty, detached quality to the film. This quality very much matches the gritty, nasty tone of the movie... So I guess that's a segue into the tone of the movie, right? Well, if you know about the previous two Spaghetti Westerns in this trilogy, you'll know that this movie is just as brutal, badass, and just as littered with atmosphere. There's just something about this film's tone that keeps you engaged, even when you don't know what is going on. It sucks you into it's world and shows you all aspects of it, good bad or ugly... Haha, get it? Yeah I know it wasn't funny, shut up!

As for the music in this movie... Oh... my... god... The Music! Ennio Morricone just completely nails every scene with his score. The main theme has gone down as one of the most iconic in movie history, and stuff like "The Trio" and "The Ecstasy of Gold" are symphonic masterpieces... the ladder is what I consider to be the best piece of music ever made for a movie... ever! The legendary composer's reputation grew exponentially in this one, that's for sure!

By the way, on that note...

Ennio Morricone > John Williams

Yeah I said it!

The cinematography and direction is absolutely amazing. Sergio Leone proves once again what you can do with just a 35mm film camera, as all of the shots, whether it's a close-up, a wide landscape shot, or a bridge blowing up, every single frame in this movie is perfect. Leone is one of my favourite directors of all time, and this movie is the best directing job he's ever done! But I'm pretty sure you already know that... so I'll move on.

The last thing I want to talk about is, fittingly, the ending. And...

Oh you know what, I'm just going to show you the final duel, because no words I can use can ever describe the awesomeness of this scene! Here you go...


Awww yeah that scene is just... fuck, the word that can describe the perfection of it doesn't exist! And the one liner at the end of it is one of my favourite movie quotes of all time! Of course, you get one more awesome one liner by Tuco to top everything off... "HEY BLONDIE, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE??? JUST A DIRTY SON OF A BA-A-UGH-A-OHHHH."

Awesome.

To put it quite simply, this is one of my all time favourite movies. This is Sergio Leone's finest piece of work, the characters are legendary, the writing and acting is perfect, the cinematography is gorgeous, the music is hair-raisingly great, and, well, it's virtually flawless! Heck, the only flaw I can think of is the dubbing, and as I've already explained, it's not really a bad thing!

This movie is 1000 loaded guns out of 1000. Cinematic perfection, my friends...

Of course, the comments section is there for you to call this movie overrated and to make fun of me for being some blind fanboy or whatever.

- Mad Mike of Metal

Thursday 25 September 2014

Mad Reviews: The Godfather Part III



 
Welcome back to Threequel month! It's been exciting for me to review these movies and I had an absolute blast reviewing The Dark Knight Rises with my buddy DonnyFTW which you can check out here.

Well, here we are, guys. This is the big one, the fall from grace, the godfather of movie let downs. What is considered to be one of the worst follow-ups to two classics ever made: The Godfather Part III.

I can remember watching this movie for the first time. It was a long time ago, when I had just finished watching the first 2 movies and I absolutely loved them. They're both absolute masterpieces and well deserving of their critical and commercial praise. So you can imagine how hyped I was to see the third and final installment of the Godfather saga. I hadn't checked Wikipedia or Rotten Tomatoes before watching it, as I didn't want this film to be spoiled for me. All I knew is that it was nominated for 7 Oscars, so that was enough for me to get this trilogy over with.

And... well... this was my exact reaction after watching it:




Seriously? This is what I get? The same team that gave us two of the greatest pieces of cinema ever created gives us this? What. A. Fucking. Load.

Fuck man, where do I even start with this shit? Alright, this movie is set around 20 years after the death of Fredo Corleone, and the once mighty, ruthless Michael, has gone completely legitimate with the family business. Or so we think. We see Michael attending the funeral of this franchise at some church, where he is getting some medal for some saint we don't care about. We then cut to the celebration of said medal, at some party that basically rehashes the same opening sequence of the first two, only this time, it's boring as fuck. We see his son Anthony reading cue cards behind the camera that say he's going to drop out of law school to pursue a singing career, because Michael is a big meanie and Anthony doesn't want to follow in his footsteps. Anthony and Michael argue about it, of course, but Anthony stands firm that he wants nothing to do with law because he hates his dad, even though later in the movie, he plays a song for him... but he HATES him! Yeah makes total fucking sense! Sort out your issues, kid.

It's good thing that Mike's daughter Mary is unable to express any emotions and has no personality, so at least there will be no outbursts with her.

Sonny's son Vincent decides to join the party, because he wants to talk to Michael about Fat Tony. Apparently, Fat Tony is also a big meanie and Vincent wants him out of the picture. After chatting with Mikey, Mikey decides to bring Fat Tony in his office so he and Vincenzo can make peace. Vinny responds by going Mike Tyson on Fat Tony's ass and the bad blood still remains.

So after the plot zig-zags through a purchase of some church real estate or whatever, we end up at a huge meeting with Michael, Vincent, Tuco Ramirez and Fat Tony from Criminal Minds. Everyone there agrees that Fat Tony is the biggest meanie of them all, and he declares that Michael is his enemy. Fat Tony then leaves the place and has a helicopter completely shoot the meeting up, just to prove how much of a big meanie head he is. Mikey, Vinny and Tuco all survive, because this movie, for some stupid reason, needs to be longer.

So we then cut to Michael in his apartment assessing the situation. Vincenzo wants to kill Fat Tony Zasa, but Michael refuses... Unfortunately, Michael suffers a stroke from diabeetus and ends up in the hospital. While Michael recuperates, his daughter Mary ends up sleeping with Vincent and...

Oh fuck, you have got to be fucking kidding me, I'm going to stop right there and talk about this stupid shit for a second...

INCEST? REALLY?

What the fuck, man? Why is this happening? What creepy disgusting pig thought of writing this horrible plot line? Like... eww! Seriously, what is the whole god damn point of these two people hooking up? To show that it's dangerous to fall in love with a mobster? Well NO FUCKING SHIT! You didn't need cousins fucking to prove that! I do not understand this one bit... like... are we as an audience supposed to root for this "couple" to thrive? Because I have a hard time rooting for incest! It just feels so awkward and forced! I'm not looking at them and going "come on, they need to be together" I'm going "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" For fuck sakes, this is downright disgusting and it has no place in a movie series like this!

This is not The Young and the Restless

This is not Jerry Springer

This is not Game of Thrones

This is the fucking GODFATHER!

GET YOUR INCEST OUT OF MY GODFATHER!

Seriously, if the point you were trying to make with this was "It's dangerous to fall for a mobster," then you could've just developped Vincent's relationship with Bridget Fonda's character and it would've hammered the same point home, and it wouldn't have been horrendously awkward in doing so! Like... eww! Incest! Get that out of here!


Fuck, I'm going to take a shower now because just watching that "love story" made me feel disgusting. Here, just watch this scene so you can remind yourself of how good this saga was at one time.



Ok, I'm back now. Where was I before the... you know what? Oh who cares. Michael recovers, they go to Sicily to watch Anthony perform an opera, some plot convolution with the Vatican crap happens. Michael confesses to a priest, which is totally out of character, even Connie points it out. They plot to kill all competition in a climactic sequence that's basically same as the first movie, just switch out the baptism for an opera. And then we're supposed to feel bad when Michael's daughter, who has no personality outside of being an incestuous nut job, gets gunned down at the stairway. We then cut to a final scene with Michael as an old man that is completely out of nowhere, and he dies... okay? Jesus fucking Christ. Coppola, what have you done?

This movie adds nothing new to the saga, it constantly retreads territory that did not need to be retreaded. Granted, Part II did borrow a lot of stuff from Part I, but it was still interesting to watch. In part III, the retreads feel so stale and devoid of anything remotely interesting that you can barely watch it! It's as if Coppola and Puzo took copies of the first two movies and threw them in a recycling plant... And the result was this hunk of shit.

Some of the dialogue is obviously recycled, for example: "Never hate your enemies" is just another way of saying "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer", or how about "never let anyone know what you are thinking," that remind of you of anything? To harp on this more would be too hypocritical of me because T2 is guilty of re-using old dialogue, but at least then, it was machines doing it, they were probably just being systematic.

The recycled dialogue is nowhere near as unforgivable as the recycled scenes. The opening sequence is essentially the same as the one from the first Godfather, just switch out a wedding for a medal reception. Not to mention the climax which was a way more obvious example of self-plagiarism! 

In fact, just imagine the first Godfather, but remove any interesting characters or plot lines... Presto! You have Godfather Part III.

The story is so convoluted and disjointed that it doesn't know what it's trying to tell you! Michael's story arc in this movie, I think, is for him to be fully legitimate and to redeem himself from everything he's done. Umm, yeah, kind of hard to do that when you put your psychopath of a newphew in charge of your business, when you're having a bunch of people killed at the end, and you let your fucking sister get in on the action... Yeah, that's some good redemption there, buddy!

While we're on that, if he was supposed to "achieve redemption" in this movie, then why the hell didn't he tell Mary and Connie the truth about Fredo? I'm not a religious man, so I don't quite know how "redemption" works exactly... but I think the first thing you should do is tell the truth, especially to the people you love. Even if it means them hating you for the rest of your life, at least you've cleared the air, and you've redeemed yourself. Instead, he confesses to some priest... why? Because telling these things to a complete stranger is easier and involves less sacrifice.

That is what this movie is telling us, folks: You can continue to do horrible things, but as long as you tell a priest about it and keep your family in the dark, you'll be fine.... wwooooowwwww.

I hate to bring back this photo, but if Francis Ford Coppola can recycle his material, then so can I:



Dear Godfather Part III: GO FUCK YOURSELF!

And since I'm still on this subject, why the fuck would Michael want to look for redemption anyways. He went on in this movie that he did what he did in his life to protect his family. So, to quote Gus Fring: "Then, they weren't bad decisions." His need for redemption just seemed way too out of character for me. The Michael that I got to know in the first 2 movies wouldn't have apologized to anyone, not his kids, not his siblings, not his father, not ANYONE!

Okay, I'm done ripping that apart. So, what else does this movie have for me? Ah yes, the acting... or lack thereof.

And why do I have to talk about this? Because a reviewer who doesn't talk about acting can never be a real reviewer... and I'm a masochistic prick!

My god, the acting in this movie is just... fucking awful! Everyone in this movie looks like they're struggling to remember what the script said... granted, the script didn't make any sense, so it's kind of understandable, but still. One of the most powerful aspects of the first two films is how amazingly well acted those movies are: they're delivery was perfect, the chemistry to between them was phenomenal, and the way they embodied their characters was awe-inspiring. But in Part III, no one could find their way out of a paper bag! It was just putrid!

Al Pacino looked like he was phoning it in, Eli Wallach seemed to be anxious for his paycheck, Andy Garcia was trying way too hard to be like James Caan and failing miserably, and Talia Shire didn't look like she knew where she was!

And, I know everyone wants to hear about this... Sofia Coppola as Mary Corleone. Fuck, I really didn't want to talk about this, since it's been talked about by everyone. But, wow, it's remarkable how terrible of a job she did! To her credit, the material she had to work with was shit, but colisse de stupid fucking god damn tabernacle! Kristen Stewart could've expressed more human emotions than Sofia did, and Stewart was playing a fucking vampire! This has to be the absolute worst occurrence of Hollywood nepotism ever! Not one line she said came out right, not one drop of sweat that came off her pores was believable, not one fucking thing about her performance was good in any way shape or form!

Put it this way, I consider The Godfather Part III to be The Phantom Menace of the Godfather saga. Since that is the case, then Sofia Coppola is the Jar Jar Binks of the Godfather universe. Fuck, I was glad she got shot at the end!

Thankfully, for Sofia's sake, she's gone on to become quite the respectable director. She's made some gems like The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, and Marie Antoinette. So I'm glad she found herself a day job, because seeing her act, in anything, ever again, ughhh...

I'm not sure that anyone in this movie could've acted their way out of a fucking paper bag at the time. Fuck, some of them might've choked on those bags! I've taken soap opera actors more seriously than this! You know what, I can't talk about the acting anymore, it's just too awful on too many levels. Moving on.

I'm going to get to my last item on the list, and that is: Did this movie even need to be made?

I have no idea why this story even needed to be told. The ending of The Godfather Part II was perfect, you saw the family eating dinner at Vito's birthday party, with Sonny and Tom going up in arms about Mike's decision to join the army. When we hear of Vito's arrival, Michael is left alone at the dinner table. It then cuts to Michael in the present day, alone after ordering the hit on Fredo. This brilliantly shows the results of Michael's pride, and how his decisions left him alone and his family in shambles. It was pure genius, and a flawless conclusion to the saga... I didn't need to know what happened afterwards, I felt like it was better to be left open to interpretation.

Part III adds nothing new, retreads old grounds and does a horrible job at it, the story makes no sense, the acting ranges from phoned-in to downright putrifying, and the messages the movie tries to convey are contradicting and completely unclear. So I will ask the question again: Did this movie even need to be made? The answer is no.

So that leaves the question: Why was this movie made?

Here's the answer:



Simple as that. That is the only reason this abomination came to be: The all-mighty dollar.

As you may know, Francis Ford Coppola was going through some financial troubles at the time, and was desperate to get anything done. So what does he do? He gets on the phone with Mario Puzo, comes up with a convoluted mess of a story, slaps The Godfather name on it, and presto! Box office success! Fuck. You.

This is it! This is the biggest letdown in cinematic history! Bar none! Sure, The Phantom Menace was up there with it,  but this is the fucking GODFATHER! The first two movies are absolute masterpieces in the eyes of critics and audiences. The AFI constantly puts them on their "best of" lists, rotten tomatoes has them at 100% and 99% respectively, and audiences around the globe fell in love with those movies's tone, story, characters, and quotes. The Godfather Part III is like the retarded cousin of the first two (yes, I said "retarded", come at me, moralists!), nothing in this movie makes sense, nothing these characters say or do feels real, and nothing in this movie feels like it's going anywhere!

What's most frustrating about this movie is that it was put together by the same people! What the fuck man? How the hell can you fuck this all up? Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo gave us two of the greatest pieces of cinema to ever be made, and this team could've rode off into the sunset with their heads held high. But no, the dollar sign that comes with the Godfather's legacy was too tempting for them to say no to. You know what, just like T3, I get it. They all wanted to make a quick buck, but this is what they gave us? For fuck sakes, they should be disgusted with themselves! They crapped all over an amazing saga, and took one massive shit on their legacies, just so they can cash in. It's fucking disgusting!

This hunk of shit got 7 Oscar nods, guys. SEVEN! OSCAR! NOMINATIONS! WHAT THE FUCK???

Fuck this movie! In the ass! With a big wooden dildo! And may the wooden cock leaves splinters for all of eternity!

This movie is 1 toll booth out of 5. BURN IN THE DEEPEST CIRCLES OF HELL, YOU SHITTY SHITTY MOVIE!!!

The comments section is yours... I guess you're going to say that I "just didn't get it," right? Go fuck yourself.

- Mad Mike of Metal




Wednesday 10 September 2014

Mad Reviews: Toy Story 3



This movie singlehandedly ruined teddy bears for everyone.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's get on with this, shall we?

And welcome back to Threequel month! As you know, I'll be spending the month of September talking about Threequels... Some good, some bad, some ugly, all will be crammed into this month. I recently did a review on Terminator 3 which you can view here. Now that I've managed to bang my head against the wall enough to forget about that piece of thrash, I'm now going to talk about a threequel that managed to NOT shit on everything you loved about the first two movies... And if you haven't read the title yet, I'm of course talking about the third installment of what is undeniably the greatest animated trilogy of all time: Toy Story 3!

It had been 11 years since the legendary team of Disney and Pixar visited the Toy Story universe. The likes of Woody, Buzz, Mr. Potato Head, Rex had all fallen calmly into the memory bank of children from the 90s. During this decade-and-change-long time frame, the team gave us some classic gems like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Up. Many, including myself, were wondering why Toy Story 3 was taking so long to get done. Looking back on it, I feel as if Disney and Pixar spent a decade honing and perfecting their craft for this movie, because third installments tend to miss the mark, so these guys knew they had to get it right!

And what was the result? Well, Toy Story 3 doesn't live up to the first two... IT BLOWS THE FIRST 2 OUT OF THE WATER!

This is how it's done, folks. Seriously, the people who worked on Spider-Man 3 and X Men The Last Stand should've waited a few years and taken notes from this movie! Disney and Pixar got it right, and managed to not only make a great Toy Story movie, but completely outdo themselves in the process! So what do I love so much about this movie, you ask? Well, let me tell you...

The direction this movie decided to go in with its story was perfect. Andy is now a young man on his way to college, and has outgrown his many childhood play things. The toys themselves, of course, are depressed as hell, living in a dark toy box and no one wants to play with them anymore, not even Andy's sister. While Woody insists that he and the rest of the plastics should stay committed to Andy, everyone else becomes cynical and start to think that they should move on. There's even a real heart wrenching moment early on where Andy's mom asks if Andy wants to donate those toys and Andy responds with "No one wants those old toys, they're junk!" Woody still stays loyal to Andy after this. But unfortunately, everyone else, including Buzz, want to go to other kids... Well, they get their wish... and it bit them right in the ass. Thanks to a domino effect of bad luck, the plastics end up at Sunnyside, a daycare center where the toys are managed by Lotso, a big pink plush teddy bear.

...And that brings me to the next thing I love, or should I say "love to hate" about this movie: Lots-o'- Huggin' Bear. He's cute, fluffy, soft spoken, and happens to be the big cheese of the Sunnyside toy community. When we are first introduced to him, he's shown as a kind, gentle, loving leader of this group, taking Woody, Buzz and the gang for a look around the daycare center, kindly giving them a new home and giving these newbies a newfound hope for their futures. However, the more time Lotso has on screen, the more we grow to hate him, and the same goes for Andy's toys as well. He sticks the newly arrived toys in the room for the kids aged 2 and under without their knowledge, he then pretends to kill Woody instead of allowing it to be known that he escaped, he resets Buzz when Buzz gets suspicious, and... well, he just becomes an all out jerk. He's a power hungry tyrant who will do anything and step over anyone to get what he wants, and what he wants is himself in charge, and everyone around him fearing him.

Now you do get to know why he is the way he is. Back in his early days, he was the cuddly teddy bear of a little girl named Daisy. After being out in the park with him one night, she fell asleep and her parents took her back home sans Lotso. He was obviously heartbroken, but he wasn't going to let it faze him. He, and his toy pals Big Baby and Chuckles, made the long hard trek back to Daisy's house...

....Aaaaaaaannnnnnnd he was replaced by another Lotso... Ouch.

The feelings of torment and betrayal caused him to snap, and that made him the bear that you see in this movie!

That is one of the many things this movie did right: Instead of just giving us a one-dimensional villain, it dives into what makes him tick. It adds tons of depth and because of that, we as an audience get a better understanding of his character, and we may or may not begin to sympathize with him...

Did I sympathize with Lotso? Nope, not at all. I don't care what he went through, the shit that he does in this movie is flat out despicable... especially towards the end! After failing to prevent the plastics from escaping Sunnyside, Lotso pulls Woody into a dumpster with him, which makes the rest of the toys go diving in right after him. They're eventually taken to the dump, where they're all unceremoniously dropped onto a conveyor belt that leads to an incinerator. Lotso decides to forget his differences and teams up with the plastics to escape their doom. Eventually, Woody and Buzz help push Lotso up a ladder that leads to the button that can shut down the belt. Of course, at this point, you would THINK that Lotso might redeem himself by hitting the button and saving the day... Nope. Instead he just gloats at Woody and runs off... LOTSO! YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!

Seriously, here's your one chance to do good and achieve redemption, and you leave those toys to melt? Go to hell, dick!

That all being said though. Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear is, in my opinion, the best antagonist in this series' history... and that's saying a lot considering how much of an ass Sid was. Overall, he's one of my favourite Disney villains of all time, right up there with Scar, and the aforementioned Sid. The fact that he was a soft, pink, cuddly teddy bear that smelled like strawberries gave a great juxtaposition to the character. Because in reality, he is a bitter, tyrannical, sniffling, cowardly dick head who is completely void of any redeemable qualities. And that's why he's such an awesome villain, because you hate him so fucking much!






Okay, enough about that character, how about the rest of them?


Woody, Buzz, Jesse, Bullseye, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Sarge and Rex all come back for another adventure in this movie, and they're all as lovable as ever. This gang goes through hell and back in this movie, constantly ripping the hearts out of its audience along the way.

The one who goes through the most crap is Woody. He has to deal with the fact that Andy is all grown up and has outgrown him, yet he still holds on to that lingering hope that Andy just might see him and remember the good ole days... Unfortunately that doesn't happen until the very end, and I'll get to that later. We see him find a new home with new toys, we see him longing for the past, and we see him fight until the bitter end to save his friends. He's the one I felt the worst for when the gang was seemingly doomed by the incinerator. All that investment into his character, all the stuff he went through in all 3 movies, and the loyalty he has to his owner, has only lead him to a fiery melting pot of a grave... Of course, that is until... THE CLAWWWWWWW!!!!!!

Buzz Lightyear is just as cool as he's ever been. He goes through his fair share of crap in this movie too. Such as getting reset to demo mode, losing his owner alongside Woody, and of course, nearly getting burnt to death. The funniest part of the whole movie was at his character's expense when an accident switched him a Spanish mode. I can't really describe what he does, but fuck is it ever a huge laugh!

What else is there to talk about? Well, the ending.

There are hints throughout the entire movie that we are saying goodbye to these characters, and it is quite a tearful goodbye. When I saw this for the first time I thought the movie was going to end with them being melted by the incinerator, and when the gang held hands together as they were being descended into the molten garbage, the man-tears started to come out, badly. Of course, I forgot about the aliens and their obsession with the claw. Fuck... just thinking about that scene right now, the way Woody and Buzz just nodded at each other as they grabbed hands... fuck I'm choking up right now just thinking about it. Did I mention how heart-wrenching this movie can get? Never is it more tear-inducing than in that incinerator scene!

Now I'll get to the real ending. A lot of people shed a lot of tears to this moment, and I'm one of them. But in all honesty, it was tears of joy. We see Andy finally accept that he's all grown up and ready to move on, and we see that in Woody too. The most poignant part for me was when Andy looked at the toys before leaving and said "Thanks guys." That just tells me that Andy's childhood wasn't the greatest (not having a father and all) and that those toys were his escape. It's a very heartfelt moment. How many times did you witness something bad as a child and just relegated back to your room to play with your toys? Think about it.

Like I said, the tears I shed at the ending were tears of joy. Joy because Andy and the toys were able to have a proper goodbye, joy because the gang will be in great hands with Bonnie, and joy because one of the greatest movie franchises of all time couldn't have left on a higher note!

Now, did I have any problems with this movie? Well, only one in particular:

I thought Lotso's comeuppance wasn't good enough. After leaving the gang to melt, he tries to find his way out of the dump, but a garbage truck pulls up near him, causing him to go limp. Sid ends up grabbing him and taping him to the front of the truck where he will be catching flies until the day he wears out... THAT'S NOT ENOUGH!

I'm sorry, but he deserved worse. If I had it my way, he would've been dragged to the nearest build-a-bear workshop, had the giant metal tube shoved up his ass, and he would've been pumped with fluffy cotton until he exploded into a million pieces! That would've been the way to go, but... Well, it's a family movie, so, hood ornament it is...

All in all, this movie is a masterpiece! I loved it from beginning to end, even when it tore my heart out at some points. The characters are great, the story is great, the animation is brilliant, and it gives an amazing conclusion to what is one of the greatest trilogies of all time.

This movie is 100 snakes out of 100 boots. One of my favourites.

Of course, use the comments section to call me a pussy for crying.

- Mad Mike of Metal



Monday 1 September 2014

Mad Reviews - Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines





Ladies and Gentlemen, for the month of September, I will be reviewing a bunch of threequels. I'm not sure how many I can squeeze in this month, but there's plenty of third installments that I can talk about. Some give great closure to a movie series, and others completely butcher everything you loved about the franchise. That's just how threequels work... It's hit or miss, really... But most of them miss... badly...

That leads me to talk about the first threequel to be reviewed by me this month: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Well... for starters, this movie is the answer to the question: "What if Michael Bay made a Terminator movie?"

Yes, I know Bay had nothing to do with this film and that it's directed by Jonathan Mostow, but there's plenty of dumb moments and explosions to give my opening question plenty of merit.

Okay, so I'm going to give you a little history lesson on this franchise. The Terminator is a 1984 action/sci-fi film, directed by James Cameron and starring Linda Hamilton as main protagonist Sarah Connor, Michael Biehn as Sarah's protector/love interest Kyle Reese, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. In the film, a machine called a Terminator is sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor, the mother of the leader of the human resistance: John Connor. Kyle Reese is sent back through time to protect Sarah. The movie was a box office success and received universal acclaim from critics (it has a 100% rating on rotten tomatoes). It is highly regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made, and it launched both James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger into superstardom.

The movie's sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was an even better movie (in my opinion) completely outdoing the original masterpiece in every aspect, from acting, to storytelling, to characters, and to special effects. It had Linda Hamilton and Arnie reprising their roles (with Arnie being to protector this time) and also starred Edward Furlong as John Connor, and Robert Patrick as the deadly motherfucking T-1000. The T-1000 was a liquid metal robot that could turn its hands into knives and chop your dog's head off, it was sent back through time to kill John Connor when he was still a child, while the T-800 Arniebot was reprogrammed and sent back as John's protector. Sarah Connor had gone insane by this point, mostly because of PTSD suffered during the first movie and the fact that no one believed her when she said the world was going to blow up... not even her son. She's fucking nuts in that movie! Anyways, T2 was the definitive blockbuster of 1991, and regarded by many as the greatest sequel ever made, not to mention one of the best movies ever made and my all time favourite for that matter. It cemented Arnie's legacy as one of the greatest action heroes of all time, as well as cemented James Cameron's legacy as the best action movie director ever and one of the greatest directors of our generation... not to mention my favourite director. Last but not least,  these two movies cemented the Terminator series as the thinking man's action franchise.


Now as far as T3 is concerned: If you're not a fan or don't know anything about the first 2 movies... Well first of all, shame on you! And second of all, this movie will probably remind you of Transformers and any other Michael Bay boomfest. Since you don't know of the first 2 Terminators, I'd imagine that you're into stuff like Transformers and such, so T3 might be right up your alley!

On the other hand, if you're die hard fan of the first 2 movies, and you regard T1 and T2 as absolute masterpieces and always mention them as your all time favourite movies... Well... when you're watching T3, the movie is looking right back at you, and it's doing this to you:






Well you know what? FUCK YOU TOO, MOVIE! FUCK YOU TOO!


Alright, so now I'm going to dive into all the problems this movie has... Here's 3 of them right off the bat.

1. James Cameron didn't direct it

This is the biggest and most important reason why T3 should've never entered production. As I've already said, the Terminator series is the thinking man's action franchise, and James Cameron is the thinking man's action director. Terminator is his baby, it's Cameron's dream come to life, literally (look it up you'll know what I mean). To put this franchise in the hands of anyone else is completely insane, as a series that has complex themes, complex characters, and complex storytelling requires the attention to detail and perfectionism that only Cameron can offer. No disrespect to Jonathan Mostow, but he's NOT James Cameron! No one is, and that's why only he can make a good Terminator movie!

And don't be a smartass and say "Well maybe another good director like Spielberg or Scorsese could've made this movie and it would've been just as good." No, it wouldn't have. Spielberg would've oversimplified the story and characters and Scorsese would've focused too much on the characters and forgot about all the cool action. I'm not saying that either one of them are bad directors, as they're both among my favourites, I'm just saying they would've been out of their elements. Much like how Cameron would've been out of his element if he directed Goodfellas or Schindler's List.

My point is that the first 2 Terminators have a perfect balance between relentless thrills and compelling human drama, and Cameron is the best at finding that balance. To put it simply, if a Terminator movie can't be made with James Cameron at the helm, then it shouldn't be made at all.

2. No Linda Hamilton in this movie and Sarah Connor's character is killed off, OFF SCREEN!

This really pissed me off! Sarah Connor is the main character of the whole god damn thing! Throughout the first two movies, we see her transform from a hopeless waitress to a smart, determined mother who will do anything to protect her son. One of the most interesting things to watch in T1 and T2 is her character arc, going from Susie Homemaker to Susie Kill-You-With-My-Pinkie-10-Times-Before-You-Hit-The-Ground.

Linda Hamilton was born to play this role, and she completely nailed it in both movies. And it would've been awesome to see her reprise the role again in this movie... but no, she gets killed off... OFF SCREEN! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

Look, if you're going to kill off the most important and most compelling character of this series, fine. But give her the epic death that she deserves, and let us fucking see it! The best example I could give for this is Spock's death in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: He sacrificed himself to save his crew, and his death scene is felt by both his on-screen friends and the audience watching it. In T3, it is revealed that Sarah succumbed to Leukemia in between the events of the 2nd and 3rd movies, and that she fought the disease DURING the events of T2!

Wait... What? WHAT?


So you're telling me that she was suffering from Leukemia while she was in that mental home? Because it didn't look like she was receiving any help from it. You'd think that Silberman would've mentioned that while talking about her to the rest of the doctors! You'd think that the treatment would've weakened her pretty badly to the point where she wouldn't even be able to attempt an escape, not to mention that she would've been forced to move into the minimum security wing to get the proper treatment... and to see her son, because, you know, I think any hospital, mental or otherwise, would allow a son to see their dying mother! Fuck!

Seriously, movie? Killing off the most badass female character ever conceived wasn't enough for you so you had to shit all over T2 as well? You give her pathetic off-screen death that's explained in two lines of dialogue and you manage to completely fuck up one of the greatest movies ever made in the process????

FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK YOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!




I'll be back, I need to go cool off... While I'm gone watch this scene from T2, it's very fitting for this review since T3 should've been wiped out and nuked before it was even made.


Ok, I'm fine now...

Now I know that Linda Hamilton herself was going through some troubles that kept her from reprising the role, hence why she was killed off... But then again, that's another reason why this movie shouldn't have been made. Simple as that.


3. Edward Furlong isn't cast as John Connor

This problem is much more minor, but I feel like I should still point it out. Now I'm not saying Nick Stahl was a bad casting choice, he did a pretty decent job considering the shitty material he had to work with. It's just that when I think of John Connor, I think of Eddie playing him in T2 and putting on an awesome performance for a child actor. In 2003, he would've been around the same age as John's character in T3, so it would've worked from that perspective. Also, considering that John Connor was written as a low-life drifting junkie in T3, playing the role wouldn't have been too much of a stretch for Furlong.




So that's 3 problems right off the bat, what are some other ones? Well...


The movie as a whole went completely in the wrong direction. T2 was a perfect conclusion to this storyline, as Judgment Day was stopped and all of the characters completed their story arcs. I would've liked it if it took the prequel route... I mean, with a title like Rise of the Machines, that's the direction I thought they were going in. That way we can see what happened before the timeline was manipulated, before the original Terminator and Reese were sent back. I wanted to see how Cyberdyne originally built Skynet, how John and Sarah survived the initial blasts, how John grew to become the leader of the resistance, and maybe, as a wink at the audience, we find out how the T-101 originally came to be (I'm aware of that deleted scene... but I'm not counting that). Stuff like that, for me at least, would've been interesting to see.

But instead of that, we got a complete rehash of T2... in fact... I felt like it was more of a parody than a rehash. Instead of walking into a biker bar, the Arniebot walks into a male strip-club to get his leather clothes. Instead of fighting in a steel factory, we see the Arniebot and the cheap T-1000 knockoff fight in a washroom, swinging urinals at each other. We see Arnie put on Star-shaped glasses instead of Gargoyles. The T-XXX enlarges her breasts to steal a cop's gun, seductively licks blood off a napkin, and fucking orgasms when she finds John Connor! This movie wasn't even taking itself seriously! And even if this movie was meant to be a parody, it was a shitty parody! Hell, it wasn't even better than this parody...



Another big problem is the villain. Whoever came up with the T-X was obviously trying too hard to one-up the T-1000... and failed miserably. Mostly because they tried to make her too sexy. If you want a Terminator to be a woman, fine, but don't give her any flaunting sex appeal. Make her stab the cop with her arm, don't make her enlarge her tits and say "I like your gun" all seductively... sheesh! You gave her all the gadgets and weapons in the world, and even gave her morphing ability... but you forogot to make her intimidating and scary... Good job, guys!

Another gigantic fuck-up is that this movie's overall message completely spits in the face of T2. According this movie, the actions taken by our heroes in the third act of T2 only delayed Judgment Day, and "Judgment Day" is inevitable. So all that "no fate but what we make" stuff from T2 has been rendered completely pointless... Just... wow...

Yes, that is me, facepalming
 
 
 
Like I said before, butchering T3 just wasn't enough for Mostow and company, they had to go crap on T2 as well...

Again... FUCK YOU, T3! FUCK YOU!

This movie is really fucking pissing me off! The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are absolute masterpieces. People will be talking about these two movies until the end of time. Both of them were original, revolutionary, action packed, intelligently made, filled with brilliantly complex characters and storytelling. They'll go down as some of the greatest films ever made, and they're right up there with the first two Godfather movies and the first two Alien movies as one of the greatest 1-2 punches in movie history! T3 is a movie that did not need to be made, at least in the way that it was made! The story was complete at the end of T2, it didn't need to be continued at all. I understand that Hollywood is all out of ideas and wants to cash in on everything, you want to make a Terminator movie without James Cameron directing it, and without Linda Hamilton, ok then, whatever, I get it, you want to cash in at the expense of quality filmmaking. But THIS? THIS IS WHAT YOU GIVE US? This could've been so much better if it was done right! Like, holy fuck! If you went the prequel route sans Cameron, it probably would've still had gaping flaws, but at least the franchise would've went in the right direction! To give us this rehash that not only makes fun of the first 2 movies but spits in the face of what T1 and T2 were all about, is downright insulting! It's fucking pathetic, fucking pitiful, fucking atrocious! Fucking everything, fuck you! Fuck... fuck... fuck... FUCK!!! FUCK THIS MOVIE! FUCK IT!


I'll be back... I have to take another breather... I'm not even going to give you a video to watch because I'm too pissed to fucking look for one...









Ok, so after another breather, I bet you want to know if there's anything about this movie that I liked... Well, as much as I hate to admit it, yes. This movie has some redeeming qualities...

The three main actors of this movie, that being Arnie, Nick Stahl, and Claire Danes, all did good jobs playing their respective characters, especially considering how shitty the material they had to work with was. Arnie actually nailed it again as the Terminator, and quite frankly, he stole the show... Even though there wasn't much of a show to steal.

What else did I like? Well, the action scenes were actually very entertaining. The chase scene with the crane is one of the very few highlights from this film. It's good mindless fun... but well, that's not what I'm looking for in a Terminator movie.... I have Independence Day for that. Destroying shit and blowing shit up just for the sake of it isn't what this movie series is about. At least with the action scenes of the first 2 movies, you were invested into what was going on, the chases and explosions had depth and meaning behind it. While the main chase of T3 is well executed... you just don't care about it. Remember when I said this feels like a Michael Bay movie? Well, here you go.

In conclusion, while the actors did a good job, and the chase scenes were at least entertaining, it doesn't save the movie. It suffers from an inconsistent tone, atrocious writing, poor directing, little to no character development, terrible pacing, and it spits in the face of Terminator lore. Is it one of the worst films I've ever seen? No... But it's still really bad, and as Terminator fan, it's insulting!

I'm giving this movie 4 out of 10 as a standalone film... As a Terminator movie, it gets 11 endoskeletons out of 100

As usual... the comments section is down there for all your trolling needs.


- Mad Mike of Metal