Monday, May 1, 2017

Monday Movie Mania - TMNT: Out of the Shadows

Attention, readers! The Heroes in a Half-Shell have been around for thirty-three years now. If you need a fucking SPOILER warning, LEAVE NOW!

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For the second time in less than three months, HBO had another four-day free weekend. We caught up on a bunch of movies we'd missed, though not as many as in February. (Not that I minded repeats of Deadpool and Suicide Squad.)

The latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot came out during the house chaos of 2014. Between not having seen the first one, the fact that Michael Bay was attached to the project, and my love for the original animated series, I passed on seeing the sequel last year.

Someone should have pointed out that Stephen Amell (aka Oliver Queen of Arrow) was now playing Casey Jones.

Besides the spectacular eye candy that is Mr. Amell, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by the use of Rocksteady, Bebop, and Kang in the new version. CGI has advanced to the point that the characters don't look fake.

Tyler Perry as Baxter Stockman was a delight, and I really hoped to see his mutated form in an end-of-film teaser, but alas, it was not to be.

One of my problems is that successive writers are taking Leonardo more and more into the Scott Summers/Cyclops asshole-douchery style of leadership. Moody and keeping secrets isn't Leo. At all. I hope if they make a third movie, his personality is lightened up a bit.

The second problem is turning Donatello into a broken-glasses-wearing nerd. Really, people? Can we get any more cliché?

Overall, I give Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows 7 out of 10 stars for good, sold twelve-year-old delight!

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