Tinseltown Reviews

Few franchises have managed to grab the hearts of millions of fans all around the world as much as the  Harry Potter  series. Whether it's through the books or the movies, nearly everyone you meet has had some experience with the now 20-year old phenomenon. Starting out as a simple dream in 1990,  Harry Potter  eventually met the world in 1997 with its first book, selling just over 500 copies. Twenty years later, it has now sold over 400 million books worldwide and is now a multi-billion dollar movie franchise. And the reason for that is quite simple: they're really, really good. J.K. Rowling is a brilliant storyteller, creating an expansive world with intricate, highly characters. However, not all books are created equal, and especially not the movies. Don't get me wrong, all the movies are good and some are even great. All the books are great and some are even amazing (except  Cursed Child , which I don't care what you say, it's not canon.) But there are...

War for the Planet of the Apes  is the last installment in the Apes  trilogy, directed by Matt Reeves and starring Andy Serkis as Caesar, Woody Harrelson, Karin Konoval, Terry Notary, Steve Zahn, and Amiah Miller. The film follows Caesar as he hunts down the Colonel--the leader of a paramilitary army called Alpha Omega--in order to finally end the conflict between humans and apes for freedom, for family, and for the planet. Ever since Rise  was released in 2011, this trilogy has been my favorite on-going movie franchise, and it's a bittersweet feeling to see it end. 2011's  Rise  gave us a surprisingly good reboot of a 40-year old movie franchise that had a lot of heart. 2014's  Dawn was nearly a masterpiece, giving us a beautiful tale that questions humanity, society, and the nature of good and evil with one of the greatest villains in recent cinematic history. Now, 2017 gives us War , which delivers on a fantastic conclusion to what will go down a...

Baby Driver  is an action comedy written and directed by Edgar Wright (of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World  fame) and starring Ansel Elgort (of The Fault in Our Stars  kind-of fame) as the lead character Baby. The movie follows his job as a getaway driver working for Doc (Kevin Spacey) and slowly tries to get out of his life of crime. For those not familiar to Edgar Wright's work, he tends to focus more on style over story, which definitely shows in his works. Baby Driver  is no different, and while its story isn't bland, it's quite generic and that's okay. What makes this movie so good is not what you're watching, but how much FUN you have while watching it. Every shot comes with a purpose and every scene is filmed so precisely that this movie--stylistically--becomes a work of art. And not the type of artsy film that makes no sense but pretentious people will claim was perfection, but the type of art that grabs you by the shoulders and flings you into its wonderfully...

Spider-Man: Homecoming  is the newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the sixth in the long line of Spidey movies. The film is directed by Jon Watts and stars Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, John Favreau, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, and Robert Downey Jr., and follows Peter Parker as he undergoes his first "real" mission after the events of Civil War  despite Tony Stark's objections while balancing his personal life and superhero life. I'll just come right out and say this is easily the best Spider-Man movie in 13 years. While it's not quite as good as the original  Spider-Man  and doesn't even come close to challenging the incredible Spider-Man 2 , it's still much better than the three movies that have come since. Tom Holland absolutely won me over (to my surprise) and might be even better than Tobey Maguire. While the movie isn't amazing by any stretch, it honestly did surprise me with just how much fun I had watching it. The Stor...

I've had many people ask me why Spider-Man is my favorite superhero and quite possibly my favorite character of all time. The answer to that is simple in that Spider-Man/Peter Parker is objectively the greatest superhero every created. In preparation for Spider-Man: Homecoming , his sixth on-screen adaptation with the third actor in less than two decades, I wanted to get to the core of who Spider-Man is and why he's the best. I am a true believer that superhero stories contain great life lessons. The past century has spawned thousands of superheroes, each with their own intricate personalities and stories. But what is it about Spider-Man that makes him one of the most popular, most  dearly beloved of all time by people of all backgrounds and ages (including a certain little boy I know living in Japan)? Debuting in 1962 in the final issue of a failing comic book-- Amazing Fantasy #15 --everyone's favorite web slinger was conceived by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko to be...