Batman TV Spots

I saw this TV Spot for Batman Begins on Reddit. As the thread implies it makes Batman Begins look like a Nicholas Sparks movie.

There was Another TV Spot for ABC Family posted in the thread which was edited in a similar way.

So I decided to see if I could edit something similar together using a more contemporary song and footage from Batman vs Superman. The result is below... warning its a bit louder than the other spots

Creed Review

Creed is a Sequel and Reboot of the popular Rocky Franchise. Ill be honest I have never finished a Rocky Movie I have seen clips from various movies and tried to watch the first Rocky movie before I saw Creed but did not make to end. There has been quite a bit of buzz surrounding Creed, early reviews were favorable and Michael B Jordan is an upcoming talent so my expectations going in were fairly high despite not being too familiar with the Rocky Franchise.

Fortunately Creed is a fantastic movie, it not perfect no movie it but it comes together very well and is executed very well on all fronts. Starting with the cast Michael B Jordan is great as Adonis "Donny" Creed showing the conflict in his character as he reconciles never knowing his father, wanting to follow in his footsteps but also wanting to carve out his own legacy. Sylvester Stallone returns as Rocky Balboa giving a tremendous performance that is receiving Oscar buzz. Then there is Tessa Thompson as Bianca, Creed's love interest who is a great character. She is a bit under utilized at the end but nonetheless a solid performance and a character who developed and not defined by Adonis.

Admittedly the plot is a bit cliché, Adonis Creed wants to follow his father's footsteps, meets Rocky who decides to train him. He has to train, does some boxing etc. etc. its not super original but its very well done. The highlight of the movie for me is the Rocky Adonis dynamic and the surrogate family that is created between Rocky, Adonis and Bianca that comes together through the movie. Rocky had everything and in a way lost everything, his wife is dead, his son does not live in Philly but he finds a new family is Adonis and Bianca and something new to live for in training Adonis. Like wise Adonis has his inner conflict in defining himself and finds this new surrogate family and Support system with Bianca and Rocky. Bianca has a bit of an arc as well and great challenge to overcome and reconcile but this is unfortunately put on the back burner around the third act.

While I find the character dynamics to be the best part of the movie, it is not slouch in other areas. The boxing looks great and is put together very well. Michael B Jordan is pretty believable as a boxer and his opponents are just as capable and look the part. The cinematography is also really well done showcasing a modern Philadelphia and how its changed from the original Rocky movie(I did get through enough of Rocky 1 to see the city). There are a lot of call backs and references to older films and it definitely feels like a lived in believable world.

It all comes together so well and the end result is one of the best movies of the year. Compared to the other Boxing Movie that came out this year Southpaw, Creed is by far a superior movie and I though southpaw was pretty decent. But where southpaw succeeds as a decent boxing/sports movie Creed succeed as a great movies in general. Sure it’s a boxing movie but it’s a about more than just boxing. It's about the characters and how they grow, find each other and help each other overcome their challenges. Overall Creed is a great movie, one of the best of the year and you should definitely go see it.

9/10

Other Musings

A lot of the movie and its marketing is about how a name does not define a person in this case Adonis Creed should not be defined by his father's legacy. Michael B Jordan shares his name (save for the B) with the greatest basketball player of all time.

Michael B Jordan Reunites with Wood Harris in this movie. Both played characters in the best show ever The Wire. Michael B Jordan Played Drug Dealer Wallace while Wood Harris plays Avon Barksdale, a drug Kingpin.

Disclosure: The company is work for has Roadshow Films as a client who are the distributors for CREED. I work on this account and worked on the campaign for this movie, I also saw this courtesy of Roadshow at a Roadshow screening before general release. 

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