The Movie Paradise

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi  has become one of the most divisive films of the year. I have heard both extremes: some think it's the greatest Star Wars movie ever made, while others think it is the worst put to screen. Many, however, are in the middle. I rather enjoyed the movie. I personally liked it more than I did  Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens , but not as much as I loved  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story . You can read my full, spoiler-free thoughts on the movie  here . But even if it doesn't have the universal love that some of the other installments in the franchise do, The Last Jedi  has still been a monster at the box office. It had a massive opening weekend, bringing in $220 million dollars domestically, having the second biggest domestic opening of all time, just behind The Force Awakens . So we all knew this was going to happen at some point: The Last Jedi  has officially crossed $1 billion dollars at the worldwide box office, overtaking Despica

The Shape of Water  has been one of my most anticipated films of the year. Guillermo del Toro  is a brilliant director, one who turns in, if nothing else, visually stunning work. I was in the minority for really liking his last outing, Crimson Peak . So I've been excited for The Shape of Water  from the beginning, but then my anticipation took a different turn. It began not just being nominated, but winning all sorts of awards circuits, including gaining major Oscar buzz. And now, not only is it a lock to garner a whole bunch of nominations, but it's actually the front-runner to win several categories, including Best Picture. With all of this added hype, my excitement for this film has gone through the roof. So I have anxiously been awaiting my chance to go see the movie, and it's finally happened. While I definitely like the movie a lot, The Shape of Water  isn't one of my top movies of the year like I was expecting it to be. But it is still a great movie nonethel

When I first heard they were making a new Jumanji  movie, I was skeptical. Not because I'm a die hard Jumanji  fan. I saw the original when I was a kid, but I haven't seen it in a long time. In fact, I don't really even remember that much about it. My skepticism more came from a place of wondering why they needed to do this at all? I didn't see the value in going back to this world. But then they brought on Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan . Bringing together talent like that certainly caught my interest, but it was the trailers that truly got me on board. It looked like an insanely fun time at the movies, bringing out the best from these comedic superstars. It looked funny, action-packed, and entertaining, and that's all I was looking for. And it turns out to be all of those things. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle  certainly isn't trying to be an Oscar contender, but what it lacks in depth it makes up for in sheer entertainment value

While I'm not as much of a Star Wars nut as some people are, I am very much a fan of the series. I love (most) of the original trilogy, and while I wasn't big on the prequels, I have been enjoying the return to Star Wars we've been witnessing for the past couple years. If you're interested in seeing how I would rank all of the Star Wars movies (prior to Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi ), you can check that out  here . But when it comes to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens , I liked it a lot. I didn't think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread like some people did, but I thought it was a quality return to the franchise. So naturally, I've been excited for the next installment. What I was most curious about was seeing how Rian Johnson  would handle the film. Getting him to write and direct is a bold choice, and it showed that LucasFilm  was looking to make a unique movie. And, of course, I couldn't wait to see Mark Hamill  back as Luke

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Tragedy Girls . I had not heard of the film prior to seeing it, nor did I really know anything about it, so I went in not sure of what to expect. And I was pleasantly surprised by an entertaining horror/comedy. It is an interesting look at what happens when we disassociate ourselves from reality through using social media, all done in a gory, satirical manner. It's a fun play back to the classic slasher film, where in those teenage girls are the victims of horrendous murders. But here, it is actually the teenage girls who are the murderers themselves. It also has a fantastic ensemble, including Alexandra Shipp, Brianna Hildebrand, Craig Robinson, Kevin Durand, and Josh Hutcherson . Overall, I found the film to be cleverly written and very well executed, but you can read my full review for Tragedy Girls  here . I had a really fun time watching the movie, and so I was honored to have the chance to talk to the film's produc

Welcome to this week's  The Movie Paradise Nerd Round-Up . Essentially what we do here is we take a look at all things nerdy. We break down everything in the world of nerdom, ranging from superheroes to  Star Wars  and every other geeky thing in between, and analyse the smaller bits of news that weren't big enough stories to necessarily warrant an entire article, but are still significant and important. Perhaps it's casting news, a contract detail, a set image, or something else that's more on the minor side, but is still definitely worth checking out and talking about. This is a time and place for all of us unabashed nerds to come together and talk about the things that we love so much in the movie-sphere. So, without further ado, let's get started with this week's Nerd Round-Up. On Thursday, the Disney / Fox  merger officially happened, with Disney buying Fox's entire movie division. For more information on this, you can read our rundown here

In this editorial series,  Food for Thought , we take a popular story making the rounds in the world of film news, and we analyze it. Here, we will break this news story down, talk about it in great depth, and really analyze every portion of it. Now, these stories will be more than a regular casting call or some movie title; something we can easily write a regular article on. These editorials will rather feature more grey topics, ones that are highly opinionated and highlight strong discussions. Then, you the reader can go into the comments section and talk about what you agree with, what you disagree with, and where you stand on these issues. So, without further ado, let's get started! In this installment, we will talk about why the Disney / Fox  merger is bad for the film industry.  I ran down the initial report of the merger when the news first broke, which you can read here . There's a lot of different aspects and angles to look at, and I break them all down th

We have been hearing about this story for a while now. 20th Century Fox  has been trying to sell off some of their assets, including their entire film division, and Disney  has been the leading buyer. While there have been other bidders, such as Comcast , it seems like Disney has always been the front runner. Included in this deal would be the big ones, X-Men and Fantastic Four . Now, technically Disney already owns these, since they own Marvel  Studios. Fox just has been leasing them for a couple decades now. But Disney, and in turn Marvel, would be getting the rights to these characters back under this deal. Other notable rights include the Alien, Avatar, and Planet of the Apes  franchises. Also included are Fox's subsequent companies, such as Fox 2000  (which produced Hidden Figures ) and Fox Searchlight  (responsible for The Shape of Water ). There are a lot of different layers and angles to look at regarding this story. But we do have confirmation now that Disney has offi

With  Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi  opening in theaters this weekend, I thought it would be a good opportunity to put out another installment in my editorial series, "How I Rank". Here, I take something in the film world. It could be a director, an actor, a franchise, or anything really along those lines, and I rank the films within it based upon my personal preferences. Some of these rankings you may agree with, and some of them you may view differently. Please feel free to jump into the comments section to voice how you think these movies should be ranked. These aren't necessarily based on how objectively good the film is; it's all based on my own personal preferences, and how I would rank these movies based on my individual enjoyment of them. So take a look at the lists I've crafted, starting with how I currently would rank all of the Star Wars movies. Please note that I am only ranking the live action movies, so the animated Clone Wars  film will