Chuck's Movie Breakdown

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Yesterday, shortly after posting my retrospective and review of the Fast & Furious  franchise, I decided to play a game on my PlayStation 4 that I hadn't played in a while. That game is Uncharted . Produced by game company Naughty Dog, Uncharted follows the adventures of explorer and archaeologist Nathan Drake, who travels the world in search of lost treasure. And if this sounds like the same concept behind Indiana Jones , you're not wrong, there. Whether it's the Tomb Raider series, the National Treasure  films with Nicolas Cage, or even Uncharted,  it seems that treasure hunting stories, that don't center on pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy, are forever doomed to comparisons to Indiana Jones.  But enough about that, what about Uncharted ?          Well, for years Sony Pictures has been working on a feature film adaptation of the game franchise, and there is one due for rele...

           Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, with the release of F9 , the latest film of the ongoing Fast & Furious  franchise, set for June 25, I decided to compile a retrospective and review of the entire Fast & Furious  franchise dating back to 2001. This is a quick way to get caught up with the franchise up to this point. Just an FYI, however, I will not be taking a look at the Netflix animated series Fast & Furious Spy Racers  as it deserves its own review, and the story of that series has no major impact on the movies. However, I do enjoy the series, and will probably give my thoughts on it as soon as I get caught up.            Okay, so 2001 gave us The Fast and the Furious,  starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez. The movie focuses on Los Angeles police officer Brian O'Connor, who is working undercover as a street racer in order to find out who's behind a str...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, I took a look at The Clone Wars  the other day, and now, I'd like to venture into a different territory today, that of a Star Wars video game. This is my review of the 2019 video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order  released on Playstation 4 and Xbox One.        So, the story of the game is set several years after the events of Revenge of the Sith , and focuses on former Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis, who has spent the last number of years working as a scrapper on the planet Bracca. One day, after saving his friend Prauf from falling to his death, two Imperial Inquisitors arrive: the Second Sister and the Ninth Sister. Inquisitors are dark side Force wielders who are tasked by both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader to hunt down any surviving Jedi. Cal is confronted by the Second Sister and the Ninth Sister, and enters a saber duel with the Second Sister. Cal is saved, however, by the Stinger Mantis , which is ...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and yes, today we're going to be talking about the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars . Now, before we get into this, a bit of housekeeping real quick. First, I am only opening up discussing television series that directly tie into a series of films, which in this case includes television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, of course, Star Wars . So, don't expect me to review something like Game of Thrones  or The Witcher  any time soon. Second, Marvel May  is right around the corner, and I'll be taking the opportunity to review the remaining MCU films, as well as the entire runs of both WandaVision  and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier . So, definitely keep an eye out for that. Okay, with that out of the way, let's dive into Star Wars: The Clone Wars .             Okay, so before the series debuted on Cartoon Network, again before the acquisition of Lucasf...

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, I just got back from seeing the new movie Mortal Kombat,  and well, I have some thoughts on this movie, so let's dive right on in. First off, the reviews for this movie have been all over the place. Its overseas release was met with rave reviews across the board, but reviews from US critics have been much more lukewarm by comparison. I, however, am approaching this movie as a fan of the games, as well as a fan of martial arts films. So, let's get started.          The movie opens in 17th century Japan, at the home of Hanzo Hasashi, legendary warrior of the Shirai Ryu. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes as Hanzo and his family are attacked by a clan of Chinese warriors known as the Lin Kuei, with Hanzo and his wife and son all being killed at the hands of Lin Kuei leader Bi-Han, a skilled warrior and dangerous cryomancer. Cut to many years later, and the realm of Outworld is attempting to prevent the...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, today, in honor of it being Earth Day, I wanted to give you guys my review of the 2009 sci-fi epic: James Cameron's Avatar . As of writing this review, Avatar  is currently sitting as the highest grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office, retaking the number one spot from Avengers: Endgame . And with, at least, two sequels on the way, now is the perfect time to take a look at the film that, ten years ago, took the world by storm. So, this Earth Day, let's take a look at Avatar .          The movie opens with Jake Sully, a paraplegic former Marine who, upon learning of the death of his twin brother Tommy, is asked to take his brother's place in heading off-world to the distant moon of Pandora, where he will be part of the Avatar program. Avatars are remotely-driven bodies created by combining human DNA with DNA of a humanoid race native to Pandora known as the Na'vi. Each Avatar is designed ...

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, last year on 4/20 I took a look at Dude, Where's My Car?  and, while not the best example of a stoner comedy, it's still fun to watch even today. This year, however, I'm taking a look at a different stoner comedy with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.  Written and directed by Kevin Smith, this movie is part of the popular View Askew franchise, which kicked off with the low budget classic Clerks , which introduced the characters of Jay and Silent Bob. The two would be featured in the next three View Askew films, including Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. So, after being featured as supporting characters, it felt like the right time that the duo starred in their own movie. So, let's take a look at Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.          So, the movie opens in Leonardo, New Jersey, with both Jay and Silent Bob as toddlers being left in front of a local convenience store by their respective mot...

         Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, I promised during my Once Upon a Snowman  that I'd get to this one in the Spring, and here we are. Let's just get into it. This is Frozen Fever .            So, of course, we start off in Arendelle castle, where Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven are getting ready for Anna's birthday party. Elsa plans to take Anna all around Arendelle, where there are plenty of gifts and other surprises in store. It is also at this point where we see that Elsa has a case of the sniffles. Yep, Elsa has a cold. So, while Elsa wants to make the perfect birthday for Anna, Anna wants Elsa to get some rest instead.          So, it's all over town for the two sisters, with Elsa giving Anna a bunch of birthday presents, and Anna trying to convince Elsa that they should go home for Elsa's sake. Meanwhile, the combination of Elsa's magic and the cold, little snowman creatures called Snowgies start...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, today I'll be taking a look at a monster movie I probably should have reviewed last year, but didn't think about it until just recently, and that is Pacific Rim . Released in 2013 by Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, this giant monster beat-em-up was directed by Guillermo del Toro, and focuses on a war between humanity and giant monsters from another dimension. It was loved by both critics and audiences, and is still fondly looked back on to this day. So, let's dive into Pacific Rim .            So we open with the revelation that a dimensional rift, called the Breach, opened up beneath the Pacific Ocean, and unleashed giant monsters called Kaiju. After four Kaiju attacks against cities like San Francisco, Cabo, Manila, and others along the Pacific Rim, humanity decided to set aside past differences and unite to fight back, building a fleet of giant robots called Jaegers. Unfortunately, due to the m...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, I've talked about Star Wars  plenty of times here on Chuck's Movie Breakdown , but I have yet to discuss the other highly popular sci-fi franchise: Star Trek . Created by Gene Roddenberry back in 1966, Star Trek  has spanned over fifty years with thirteen movies and nine television series on both regular TV and streaming on CBS All Access, with new series set to stream on the new Paramount+ platform. Heck, April 5th is deemed by Trekkers around the world as "First Contact Day," as according to Star Trek  lore, it was on April 5th, 2063 that Dr. Zefram Cochrane made man's first warp flight, drawing the attention of the Vulcans, who landed in central Montana and met humans for the first time. However, the Star Trek  film we'll be looking at today has a bit more significance, as it is solely responsible for bringing the Star Trek  brand back from the dead, and that would be the 2009 film simply titled Star Tre...

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, today we're diving back into the world of Batman with honestly one of my favorite Batman movies from when I was a kid: Batman Forever . Coming off of the divisiveness of Batman Returns , we got us a new lead actor, new villains, a new director, pretty much new everything. It's a fresh, new Batman movie from the ground up.           So we open with Batman being called to thwart a robbery at the Second National Bank of Gotham, which is being committed by Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. Two-Face flies in his helicopter, with Batman trying to catch him, bit the helicopter ends up crashing into the Lady of Gotham (which, for some reason, is modeled after the Statute of Liberty in this movie), with both Two-Face and Batman getting out before it explodes. We later learn that Dent, former District Attorney of Gotham, had acid thrown onto the left side of his face, scarring him as well as warping his mind to t...