The Zachtastic Movie Blog

When Thor: The Dark World was released in theaters in November 2013, I wrote a special feature for my blog which ranked all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films up to that point. That franchise has seen unprecedented commercial success over the years, and the more recent entries in the series (i.e. Captain America: The Winter Soldier , Guardians of the Galaxy , The Avengers ) have been hailed as some of the best superhero movies ever. With the franchise taking interesting turns with Captain America: Civil War next week, I decided to once again rank the entries in this series--especially since I did not see the newer films until I returned from my mission. Without further ado, here we go with #12! #12 - Thor: The Dark World (November 8, 2013; Alan Taylor) In my recent review of The Huntsman: Winter’s War , I mentioned that sometimes Hollywood produces wholly unnecessary sequels. Such was the case with The Dark World , for it served more as a filler movie than anything els...

(Photo courtesy Wikipedia ) On occasion, some new release films epitomize the word “unnecessary.” For whatever reason, studio executives may think that a certain work of cinematic art was well-received by the masses, and then a sequel gets produced. I believe that such was the case with The Huntsman: Winter’s War . Serving as a sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman , this film continues the story that attempted to bring a darker modern spin to the classic Grimm Brothers tale. Kristen Stewart chose not to return after that messy scandal following the original film’s release, so Universal made due by retaining Chris Hemsworth as the star. And as I said, the plot of The Huntsman picks up where the original left off… to a degree. Much of the story also takes place beforehand, for we learn that Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) also had a sister named Freya (Emily Blunt). For years, it has been known that something was different about Freya, as was the case with her sister,...

VidAngel is a media streaming service which allows viewers to filter any sort of content they choose. For me, I choose to not watch R-rated films in theaters based on certain content. I still have plenty of interest in these films, though, so I use VidAngel as a platform for watching new R-rated releases on demand, and then share my opinion. Considering that much will have already been written by these films by the time I watch them, these reviews will be brief. Click here for an archive of all the films I’ve reviewed via VidAngel. (Poster courtesy Wikipedia ) Spotlight was the first film to be reviewed in this feature, and to follow suit with reviewing films that received plenty of awards buzz, The Big Short was next on my list. Like the previous film, I did not hear about this particular project until I returned home from my mission. I imagine that the prospect of Adam McKay crafting a film about the infamous 2008 housing market crash seemed odd to film buffs,...

(Poster courtesy Wikipedia ) I missed the first couple of Disney live-action remakes Maleficent and Cinderella while I was serving my mission in Iowa, so this is a new experience for me. My formal introduction to Disney’s series of films has been given by The Jungle Book , another adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic novella of the same name. Now, understand that I recently revisited the 1967 animated classic in preparation for this review. Upon doing so, I actually found its story to be weak and outdated, but I nonetheless decided to give the remake a chance. Directed by Jon Favreau ( Elf , Iron Man , Cowboys & Aliens ) and sporting a very talented voice cast, did this live-action retelling of the beloved story prove its worth? As was the case with the 1967 original, The Jungle Book is the story of a boy named Mowgli (Neel Sethi). Orphaned at a very young age in the Indian jungle, he was rescued by a panther named Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) who eventually surrender...