Sunday, August 7, 2016

From the Desk of my Hubs: Some Thoughts About Suicide Squad and the State of the Summer Movie


Hey y'all. I'm still here...just trying to keep everything afloat.

I'm not posting at the moment, but my hubs, the pop culture junkie extraordinaire, has a few things to get off his chest about summer movies and his geekdom. This superhero stuff just ain't up my alley, but I'm learning. 

Enjoy! 


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First things first…. I refuse to pay $4-$5 for a Dasani water at the theater!





Watching the movie, I can see why DC is having so many problems replicating Marvel’s success. They are trying move way too fast with their Universe. The Marvel movie that best parallels Suicide Squad is Guardians of the Galaxy. While important they are “B” level characters at best. Guardians of the Galaxy is the tenth Marvel movie and during that time they have been slowly building from the big guns individually to groups. Suicide Squad is the third DC movie….THE THIRD ONE!!! How do you make this movie before (rebooted) Batman, Wonder Woman, (movie version) Flash, or (rebooted) Green Lantern, JUSTICE freakin' LEAGUE?!?!

I am not quite sure where they go from here with the movie.  Harley Quinn will be in the Batman reboot and possibly Justice League. What about Will Smith’s Deadshot who had, perhaps, the best performance in the movie? Do you make another Suicide Squad, or does he get a solo movie? Looks to be a waste of “A” level star power.

Speaking of Harley Quinn, they clearly wanted her to be the scene-stealing star of the movie. She had the most fleshed out story and best lines of the movie. The only gripe I had with her is that it felt at times like they were trying to force the audience to see her as the scene stealer rather than it happen organically. I suspect at the early test screenings, the powers that be saw her and said we need to see more of her…. RESHOOTS!!!

This leads to the next issue/slight disappointment. I feel there is a director’s cut/ “R” rated version of this movie that would have really KICKED ASS!  David Ayers is know to make some pretty dark violent movies and that is what the Suicide Squad is about in the comic books. These people are some of the baddest guys in the DC universe. While they said they were bad repeatedly, I feel that they held back on letting them truly be “bad” with it being PG-13.  really wanted to put out. You would think that after Deadpool’s massive box office, the studio would be daring enough to not put out a PG-13.

Jared Leto’s performance as The Joker intrigues me. Heath Ledger remains the gold standard for his Joker performance and I think it will be unfair to expect someone to surpass it (although it could happen). He really wasn’t put out front and center so I will withhold final judgment however for the time he was there it was a good performance. I enjoy his take on The Joker, which is more of a gangster rather than Heath Ledger’s anarchist performance. Both are clearly demented and unpredictable however, Jared Leto’s Joker would not be burning stacks of money like the Heath Ledger version. 

I really enjoyed the use of classic and current music in the movie. I think it helped give it a cool feeling and give you a feel about some of the characters.



Adding everything up and walking in with low expectations, I thought the movie was enjoyable. As I said earlier, I believe there is a unrated version that would have been a lot better then the one released. I do not think Suicide Squad is a bad as reviewers have made it out to be; however it’s pretty cookie-cutter as comic book movies go.

My Final Verdict- 6.5/ 10

Can I say that this summer SUCKED in terms of movies? Allow me to get some stuff off of my chest.

Remember when summer movies actually premiered in the SUMMER! This summer season started on May 6th with Captain America: Civil War. While this was the best movie of the summer, it was MAY 6TH!!!!! I understand starting summer movies during Memorial Day, but MAY 6th!!!! It feels like we are always in a rush to get to the thing instead of enjoying the now. For example, walk into some stores and they are already selling Halloween merchandise. Could we wait till at least September before putting this stuff out? Let’s enjoy the moment, Hollywood! I want the Summer Season to be the SUMMER SEASON and keep the blockbusters to that time frame. I love movie trailers to the point that it annoys the misses that I would rather see another showing then miss them. However, it feels like they have gotten longer and longer and LONGER. These days I have already finished my Twizzlers before the opening credits have started with all of the trailers. Can we limit them from 4-5 to around 1 to 2 minutes? Also please try to hold back a little on what is included. Some of the best stuff from a movie is thrown in the trailer leaving the actually movie lackluster.

Before I conclude: 

I REFUSE to pay $4-$5 dollars for a Dasani

Comic-Con is the devil when it comes to summer movies now. Hollywood is so concerned with getting the approval of a room of full of antsy twitter fingers  that they are scared to take chances. Summer movies now fall into a couple of buckets:
·      Kids Movies- The Secret Lives of Pets, Finding Dory, The Jungle Book, The BFG (Big Friendly Giant), Angry Birds, and Alice Through the Looking Glass
·      Sequels- Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, Independence Day: Resurgence, Now You See Me 2, The Conjuring 2, Star Trek Beyond, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Neighbors 2, X-Men: Apocalypse, Jason Bourne, Ice Age: Collision Course
·      Remakes- Ghostbusters
·      Comic Books- Captain America: Civil War, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Suicide Squad, X-Men: Apocalypse
Notice a trend…not much thinking outside the box. Producers are so focused on getting the approval of the Comic-Con crowd that it has really killed creativity and taking chances with movies. Could you imagine a movie about a globetrotting archeologist seeking out a legendary artifact succeeding today? How about a lonely kid befriending a lost alien while the army is chasing after them? Maybe a teenager going back in time to make sure his parents met one another so he could be born in the future? Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., and Back to the Future were made without looking for the approval of the Comic-Con and became HUGE. Notice how long these trailers are, BTW.

The poor box-office this summer reflected the sad state of movies and I hope a change is made soon. When I take my daughter to the movies in a couple of years, I want her to get the same feeling I had when I saw some of the movies above. Until that happens, I will just have to fire up my Blu-ray player and tell her what a real blockbuster used to look like.

And I still refuse to pay $4-$5 for a Dasani!!!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6MlwT1lBk0