#@thegeekapocalypse

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Man of Steel

(My review)

Man of Steel is one of my favorite movies, I can watch it over and over again and never get bored.

The first time I saw it I had the privilege to experience it in 3-D ( Best 3-D movie I've seen so far).

Superman was not my favorite superhero at the time, this movie definitely changed that. I guess I thought that Superman was just this all powerful guy with no humanity, Man of Steel helped me to see that that’s not true at all. Kal El of Krypton may be an alien, but at his core he is human and the Earth is his true home.

While Krypton is hours away from dying, Kal El is born to Jor and Lara El. Believing that Kal represents what Krypton could have been, Jor El sends him to earth.

But while Kal is sent away, a coup is under way led by General Zod.

Outraged at Jor and Lara’s “heresy”  Zod kills Jor and attempts to stop Kal El’s ship. Kal El escapes and Zod and his soldiers are arrested and sent to the Phantom Zone, but not before Zod vows to Lara that he will find Kal El one day.

Widowed and alone, Lara El watches her planet burn and hopes that the last son of Krypton will make a better world of Earth.

Arriving on Earth, Kal is raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent on a Kansas Farm, bearing the name of Clark. Clark has a hard time fitting in, he knows that he’s different. 

After saving a his classmates from drowning people start to ask questions. Clark wonders if God gave him his powers, and eventually Jonathan tells him the truth. When Clark wonders if he can keep pretending to be Jonathan’s son, Jonathan leaves no doubt that he is still their son.

Years go by and Clark sets out on a journey to discover who he is and where he came from. On his journey, Clark uses his powers to save those who can’t save themselves leaving legends behind.

He locates a Kryptonian ship buried in the ice bumping into Lois Lane who is covering the ship for the Daily Planet at the behest of the U.S. military.

Lois gets into trouble and is wounded, but is rescued by Clark. Clark leaves her where she can be picked up by the military and proceeds through the ship where he discovers the A.I. of his true father, Jor El.

Jor teaches Clark about his heritage and helps him to understand why he was sent to Earth, to stop it from falling into darkness like Krypton did. Clark learns that the crest of the House of El, the signature S stands for hope, and that he must bring hope to the people of Earth. Thanks to the sun and Earth’s light gravity, Kal El will be like a god to the humans. Donning the suit of his ancestors, Kal El/ Clark embraces his destiny.

Soon, Lois Lane finds Clark, never able to forget his inhuman saving. She gets enough evidence to expose Clark for who and what he is. But she is convinced to drop it after Clark shares how Jonathan Kent died. Believing that the world was not ready for Clark and his gifts, Jonathan sacrificed himself to save an  innocent from a tornado.

Willing to honor Clark’s secrecy Lois drops her findings, but soon, the world learns that they are not alone.

Freed from the Phantom Zone with the destruction of Krypton, General Zod and his soldiers escaped and started there journey to Earth. They found Kal El after he made a signal on the arctic Kryptonian ship go off. Giving Earth’s leaders an ultimatum, “turn Kal El over or suffer the consequences,” Clark surrenders himself to the military where he meets Lois Lane once again who has been arrested for treason.

Clark meets Zod and learns of his intentions to terraform the earth into Krypton.

Clark, reluctant at first to fight his people, suits up to save the day with the Air Force’s help.

Two world engine’s, one in Metropolis, and the other in the Indian ocean, cause massive damage, many lose their lives. In the end, Zod’s forces are stopped and Superman is victorious.

But General Zod still lives and wants to kill Clark and all humanity.

With innocents in the line of fire, Clark kills Zod, truly making him the last son of Krypton.

Superman has saved the day, and proven both of his father’s right. The world will always need superman, but Clark Kent still needs a real job. Luckily he knows a journalist who get’s him a job at the Daily Planet.

Where he will be when he’s not saving the world.

[thegeekapocalypse]

Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back

“No, I am your father.”

I don’t know about you, but, the Empire Strikes Back is the best movie in existence. Go ahead, shake your heads in exasperation, I really don’t care, ‘cause this movie is awesome!

I’ve seen it hundreds of times and it never gets old. Sure, the other seven are pretty cool, but this one changed things forever, for the Star Wars universe, and my universe. As a wee baby, I grew up watching the prequels before watching the originals, fortunately for me episode three had not been released yet so I filled the gap with the originals. If the Empire Strikes back didn’t exist I probably wouldn’t like Star Wars as much as I do now.

I’m sure that most of you have seen it already but I’ll give a brief summary for the Padawans who have much to learn.

The Rebel Alliance is hiding on frigid Hoth after destroying the evil Empire’s Death Star. After an Imperial Probe finds the Rebels an ice battle begins. In the midst of the battle Darth Vader sets out to find and capture Luke Skywalker the hero who blew up the Death Star.

Luke escapes along with the rest of the Alliance and seeks out Jedi Master Yoda.

While Luke furthers his Jedi training, Darth Vader pursues Leia Organa and Han Solo, pilot of the Millenium Falcon.

Han and Leia flee to Bespin where Han’s former buddy, Lando Calrissian betrays him to the Empire.

Sensing that Han and Leia are in trouble, Luke drops his training and flies right into Vader’s trap.

Vader toys with Luke in the beginning but it doesn’t take long for the fight to escalate.

Eventually, hands get cut off and a lightsaber is lost.

Vader offers to train Luke and drops the bombshell: He’s Luke’s father.

Luke flees and is rescued by Leia and Chewbacca who have been liberated by Lando.

The heroes escape but Luke Skywalker will never be the same again.

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Wonder Woman (My Review)

Someone give this movie an Oscar please because it definitely deserves one.

Diana of Themiscyra believes that all war can be stopped by killing Ares the god of war.

After rescuing Steve Trevor, and learning of the "war to end all wars," Diana leaves Themiscyra with Steve on a mission to kill Ares. Naively she believes that war can be simplified by the killing of one being but she learns the truth eventually.

Having never seen the outside world, its customs are foreign to her. She finds it strange that couples hold hands and when Steve tries to explain that its because those couples are “together” she doesn’t get it. This being the early 20th century and all, women are not allowed in business meetings or war councils, but Diana insists to be present in one and considers one of the generals to be a coward for sitting in an office instead of leading his men on the battlefield. Hilarious as her actions are the way she looks at life is refreshing.

I ship Diana and Steve, they’re a perfect match mainly because Steve knows who Diana is and accepts that. Instead of him being the leader in their relationship its Diana, something that is hilarious to witness because it takes Steve a little while to catch up with her.

If you’ve seen Diana in action in Batman Vs Superman then you know that she can fight, but this movie shows just how much she really can fight.

But what was almost cooler than seeing Diana fight was seeing a whole island of Amazons in action. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if the movie was just full of Amazonian battle scenes.

Patty Jenkins did an amazing job directing this and I’m delighted that she’ll be directing the sequel. This is by far the best film DC has put out and it’s definitely deserving of five stars.

[thegeekapocalypse]

Spider-man Homecoming (My Review)

“I want to be more than your friendly neighborhood Spider-man.”

This was by far the best movie of the summer (quite literally since I braved the hot sun to see it in a freezing movie theater)

Peter Parker can’t stop thinking about his awesome fight with the Avengers in Germany and can’t wait to officially become one. It’s clear that he really looks up to Tony Stark who wants Peter to take it slow and live like a normal teenager.

Though Peter loves being Spider-Man, he still craves the life of an ordinary teen, and like most teen boys he really wants to get the girl.

But, “with great power comes great responsibility,” New York still needs Spider-Man.

For while our young hero spins his web, a certain Vulture and his cronies is wreaking havoc.

Thanks to stolen Chitauri technology from the battle of New York, Adrian Toomes and his crew have been making a fortune off of heists across New York. Things have been going smoothly for them until Peter stumbles upon a few of them.

When things get out of hand, Peter gets in over his head, but still saves the day.

All the while, Iron Man is busy, and keeps telling Peter to stay out of the Vulture business. Peter doesn’t listen and deactivates the safety protocols and meets his suits AI, Karen.

  Peter tracks Toomes and his crew and stops them from causing mass destruction,skipping school, and almost splitting a boat in half. The day is saved, but only because Iron Man is back in town.

Tony takes the suit back, which is the best thing he could have done for Peter who believes he’s nothing without the suit. Despite the setback, Peter continues to hunt Toomes who is after the Avenger’s tech which is being flown to a new facility.

Planes crash, and fists fly, and Spider-Man never gives up.

I loved this movie, it had so much heart! Tom Holland is the perfect Spider-Man in every way. I honestly had no problems with this movie, for one thing I loved the fact that Peter has a diverse group of friends.

And even though Iron Man is in the movie he doesn’t take it over.

There was great chemistry between Peter and his Aunt May. One of the most touching scenes of the movie was when she was helping him get ready for his date with Liz.

And when Peter needed a shoulder to cry on.

Honestly, all of the chemistry in this movie was excellent. And the world Peter lives in is very believable. Seeing the MCU from a teenager’s point of view is awesome and I’d love to see more teenage heroes in this universe. 

This one definitely gets five stars.

[thegeekapocalypse]

War for the Planet of the Apes

My Review

“Apes together strong!”

It’s been 15 years since Ceaser led his group of apes from the zoo. 15 years since the simian virus killed the majority of humanity. The world has changed, it is almost truly a planet of apes. Ceaser never wanted it to be that way and was willing to make peace with the humans, but now they are at war.

After killing a group of soldiers, Caesar's apes capture a few soldiers and send them to their leader the Colonel. Caesar wanted to show the Colonel that he has mercy and that the killing can stop, but things don’t go well.

The Colonel leads an attack to kill Caesar, but winds up killing his family instead. Caesar is angry and wants to kill the Colonel. Abandoning his nation of apes he goes on the hunt with a group of apes and his lieutenant Maurice who wants to make sure Caesar doesn’t do anything crazy.

On the way they meet a young human girl who is mute for mysterious reasons. Maurice convinces Caesar to take her with them and she becomes a part of their group.

They stumble upon a group of the Colonel’s soldiers who’ve been shot and left behind to die. One of the soldiers still lives and is mute just like the girl. The ape company moves on and runs into a strange ape who agrees to lead them to the Colonel and his soldiers.

Things go wrong though and they find the apes Caesar abandoned have been captured by the Colonel. Caesar is forced to make his apes build up the Colonel’s defenses in preparation for an attack. The Colonel and his men are rogue soldiers who kill any people who fall mute and have become “primitive.”

Now the real military is on it’s way to finish the Colonel off. With war on its way, Caesar finds a way to get his people out, but is almost too late.

I used to be creeped out by the original Planet of the Apes series. The idea of apes being above humans was terrifying, it still is in some ways.

This trilogy amazed me in so many ways, foremost among them the motion capture:

And the humanity behind all three movies.

I highly recommend giving these films a whirl, they are amazing. Just don’t be surprised if you can’t look at apes the same way anymore.

[thegeekapocalypse]

The Hobbit

By J.R.R. Tolkien

“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”

 As a 9 year old, this book overshadowed every book I had read at the time. The humor, adventure, and good morals in this book blew me away. At the time, I was familiar with the Lord of the Rings films, but I learned about the books after reading the Hobbit. It is truly amazing how Tolkien's Gandalf is exactly like the film version, which made reading this book quite the treat. You're never too young, or too old, to read the Hobbit.

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The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater (My Review)

“She wasn't interested in telling other people's futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.”  

  Maggie Stiefvater is a genius when it comes to character creation. I loved her characters in the Shiver series, and I definitely love the Raven Boys characters. It feels like I’ve made new friends, I’ve come to care for each of them now. In many ways, the characters in this series reminded me of the Stranger Things kids.

 I want to give a summary of the book, but it’s better if you read it for yourself. Let’s just say that it’s weird, involves ghosts, ley lines, and ravens. I’m excited to read the rest of the series.

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Fantastic Beasts...(My Review)

Extraordinary! This movie was completely extraordinary, as are all of J.K. Rowling’s works. 

The magic was incredible.

The beasts were...fantastic!

And the characters were lovely.

And the Harry Potter connections were exciting to see. 

Five stars  across the board!

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Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, The Unifying Force, by James Luceno

One of the best Star Wars books I've ever read. The epic battle between the Imperial Remnant, Chiss Ascendancy, Galactic Alliance against the Yuuzhan Gong would look great on screen. This book introduced me to new mysteries of Star Wars, like Zonama Sekot the living planet, and Jacen Solo's ability to become pure Force. As you read this book, don't be surprised if you hear John Williams' score!   

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Transformers: The Last Knight (My Review) Spoilers Ahead!

“Without Sacrifice There can be No Victory”

Optimus Prime has given almost everything to protect the Earth from the same fate as Cybertron’s own, but this time won’t be as easy as the last four times. Vowing to stop his creators from destroying the earth in the last movie, Age of Extinction, Optimus finds Cybertron in shambles, and is met by one of his creator’s, Quintessa.

Stating that Cybertron is dying and it’s Optimus’s fault, Quintessa commands Optimus to help her destroy the earth, which happens to also be Unicron, Cybertron’s enemy. Optimus Prime is reluctant to carry out the dark deed, the same is not true for Nemesis Prime.

On earth, it is no secret that Cybertron is coming. Humanity’s greatest scientists have seen the writing on the wall and are predicting the Earth’s doom. Transformers, Autobot, Decepticon, and neutral bots are being hunted by a government hit squad, the TRF. Despite the danger, Cade Yeager and his group of Autobots  are on a mission to protect all bots who are in danger.

Cade and Bumblebee stumble upon a Cybertronian spaceship with a wounded transformer who gives Cade a talisman that will change all their fates.

This talisman brings great danger to Cade and his group from the Decepticons who have partnered with the TRF and the military. At the head of this group is Colonel Lennox and a reborn Megatron.

In the midst of the fighting, a “C-3p0 knockoff” named Cogman commandeers Bumblebee and Cade on a mission to the U.K. in regards to the talisman.

While at the same time a new character, Vivian, is kidnapped by newcomer: Hotrod to Cade and Bumblebee’s destination.

Vivian and Cade are met by Sir Anthony Hopkin’s character who reveals that Transformers have been  instrumental to humanity’s warfare. The key campaign being King Arthur’s Victory 1,000 years ago thanks to the help of Merlin’s staff. The “staff of Merlin” is really a Cybertronian staff stolen from Quintessa by her knights. Quintessa seeks to use the staff to destroy earth, but only a descendant of Merlin can locate the staff and use it to save Earth. Said descendant just happens to be Vivian who with Bumblebee, Cade (the Last Knight) and Cogman, sets’s out to find the staff while being pursued by the Deceptions and TRF.

Hitching a ride on a submarine, they journey to a underwater Cybertronian ship where they find the staff, the TRF on their tail, and are met by Nemesis Prime. A fight between Bumblebee and his mentor breaks out, until a mute Bumblebee talks with his own voice for the first time and wakes Optimus up.

But even with Optimus back, the world is still ending and Quintessa must be stopped. With the help of the Autobots, Quintessa’s Knights, and the military, the race against time begins.

Overall, I’ll give this one four stars. Some of the dialogue was a little predictable, but the action was better than ever.

[thegeekapocalypse]

Baby Driver

My Review

                                                                                                        This one, they say that listens to the music all the time?

 I mean, is he retarded?

 'Retarded' means slow. Was he slow?

 No.

 He had an accident when he was a kid. Still has a hum in the drum. Plays music to drown it out. And that's what makes him the best.

Baby is a get-away driver with great taste in music.

In order to pay off his ten-year debt to Doc, played by Kevin Spacey, Baby pops up for heists when he gets Doc’s call.

Things go well, at first, but when people start to get hurt, Baby wants to get out. He has one last job to do and then he’s out. In between heists Baby meets Deborah, someone who shares his taste in music and who doesn’t question his lack of words, or his “driving job.”

After his debt is paid off, Baby thinks he’s home free, and thinks he can live a normal life with his foster dad Joe.

But Doc shows up again and threatens to harm Deborah and Joe unless he helps him with a big heist. Baby realizes that it’s time to “face the music” and things get complicated very quick.

Baby Driver impressed me a lot, I was hooked from the start. The thing that keeps the movie fresh is the music.. You can tell that the director: Guy Ritchie put a lot of thought into the film and that he has a great appreciation for music and rhythm.

At its heart this is a dark film, but the music makes you forget that. For example, there was one very tense part of the movie where people were going to die and all the while a Barry White song is playing in the background.

I loved the cast, well, not all of them, some of them were pure evil and crazy. Ansel Elgort was perfect for Baby’s role, honestly I would have been perfectly fine if he was the only one in the movie.

Jon Hamm’s character was cool, and crazy at the same time.

Jamie Foxx’s character was insane, I never like it when he plays a bad guy. But he played his part very well.

Eiza Gonzalez is an actress I didn’t have the privilege of seeing before this film. She did a great job matching Jon Hamm’ s crazy.

Kevin Spacey was a bad guy but I loved watching him act. His character, Doc, sees the genius in Baby and shoots down anyone who says otherwise.

And last but certainly not least, Lily James. She is a perfect match for Baby and is willing to stick with him no matter what trouble he gets into. Despite the criminal conduct of her boyfriend she knows that he’s a good kid. 

This is a movie I could watch over and over and over again, it’s so good! It definitely deserves five stars and is on my to buy list.

[thegeekapocalypse]

Rogue One (My Review)

“Impressive, most impressive”

Leaving the theater, I could not stop thinking about this amazing movie. I have to say, when I learned that Disney had bought the rights to Star Wars I was very concerned. Sure, the Force Awakens was a good movie, but I was afraid that spinoff movies like Rogue One and the Han Solo film would ruin Star Wars. I’m here to say that I’m glad that I was wrong. Rogue One gave me hope, funnily enough, for future Star Wars films.

This movie, though not completely perfect, was a great blend of elements from the prequel and original trilogies. It bridges that gap between episodes 3 and 4 with the inclusion of characters like Bail Organa and Mon Mothma. And if you’re a Star Wars Rebels fan you like me will be glad to see certain elements from that show, along with The Clone Wars, included. Honestly, I wasn’t  sure how Saw Gerrera would be used, and I was concerned that Vader would overshadow the movie, not to mention the cgi Tarkin and Leia, but all characters were used ingeniously.

The technical Star Wars fan in me was trying to make sure everything made sense timeline-wise, the Death Star’s use and appearance worried me at first, but it makes sense. 

The Rogue One team itself was so amazing! Every single member of the team will always be special in the Star Wars universe. Especially when it comes to Jyn Erso, her story and that of her father’s fits perfectly. For years I’d always thought that the “mistake” in the Death Star’s design was pretty sad for the “Galactic” Empire, now the fact that it was purposely put there is really cool.

When I saw this film it was a few days before Carrie Fisher died, so the ending was so heartbreaking the second time around. Maybe it was the will of the Force?

This movie gets a galactic five out of five stars from me.

[thegeekapocalypse]

Allies and Assassins, by Justin Somper (My Review)

                                                                                                                                  Filled with mystery, family strife, drama, and much, much more. This book will make you think that you already know the plot, but then throw a wrench in that assumption! Now that I think about it, it reminds me of Downton Abbey! Be prepared for great fight scenes, political minefields, and sibling tensions! Oh, and be prepared to get happy, sad, and angry multiple times! 

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You Know Me Well, by Nina Lacour and David Levithan (My Review)

You'll be begging for more! The amazing thing about this book, is the very vulnerable characters, Mark in particular. Raw emotion is almost something I could taste, when it's on paper, it's beautiful. Mark was my favorite character, I just loved him, I felt so bad for him at first, but I'm glad he got a happy ending. There are other characters, but Mark took center stage for me, I wish he was real so I could date him.

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Logan (My Review)

This was one sad movie. Perhaps one of the darkest movies of this year. I have to say, I was a little skeptical about this film going in, but I wasn’t disappointed. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. There were three cogs of the movie that made it run well.

#1: Charles Xavier and Logan

From the very beginning of the X-Men cinematic universe, Charles and Logan have had an interesting relationship that has grown with each movie. Logan needed someone to shape and mold him in his moment of weakness and Charles was there to do that for him. Logan did so in turn twice, the first time in X-Men Days of Future Past when Charles’ younger self needed someone to guide him, and the second and last time in this movie. Charles succumbed to seizures which wrecked the world of mutants, and now he relies on medicine and Logan to have some form of normalcy. The bond between mentor and student is touching and seemingly real.

#2: Lara and Logan

They’re perfect for each other. Both of them have anger issues, they’re both stubborn, and they both have the selfless heart that makes them heroes at the end of the day. They make a great team and kick some serious butt together!

#3: The setting:

Our happy trio live in the year 2029 where the wild west is still the wild west, where freight drives itself, and where mutants are still hunted. It is a very depressing world over all. The plot of this movie is very depressing. There is a great ending, but it’s not exactly happy which sets this superhero movie apart from the rest, and I think that’s why it did so well. Logan has set the tone for all superhero films and I’m interested to see what the future has in store.

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Lord of Shadows, by Cassandra Clare  (My review)

Speechless.  I was left completely speechless after finishing this bittersweet masterpiece. From the beginning of the book to the end there were so many twists and turns. The size of this book is sufficient for the large amount of angst and combat.

Julian Blackthorn is still my favorite character in this series. His love for Emma and his family is heart wrenching. Things were looking down, then up, then down again for him. I’m afraid to see what he might become.

Dru finally has her moment to shine!

Tavvy gets new friends!

Emma Carstairs is still as fierce and lovable if not more.  Mark is like a big puppy to me. He’s definitely come a long way and his love prospects have gotten more complicated.

Kieran Kingson was a character I loathed, now I kind of like him. 

Christina is a good friend to all, her loyalty and courage is amazing.

Livvy, is aweome!

Ty, I like a lot. Cassandra Clare has done a brilliant job depicting autism in this particular series. Tiberius has an amazing mind, and a big heart that he’ll need in the next book.

Kit (Christopher Herondale) is definitely an Herondale. He fits right in with Livvy and Ty and has really helped Ty to come out of his shell. Although he’s clearly uncertain about embracing his Shadowhunter heritage, there’s no doubt he has Nephilim blood.

There were many more great characters, villains included, I look forward to seeing what will happen with all of them next.