The LEGO Batman Movie

The movie begins with a grand scheme plotted out by the Joker, Batman’s worst nemesis. Given the choice to save Gotham or take his revenge upon the Joker, Batman chooses the former, telling Joker in the process that he has no arch enemy.

Heartbroken over losing his biggest enemy, Joker goes on a rampage to prove that he is Batman’s greatest foe. During this, Batman accidentally adopts Dick Grayson, an eager orphan who idolizes the caped crusader.

When the Joker brings other bad guys to stir up trouble, the movie becomes filled with far too many jokes about their rivalry, as well as references to every Batman movie created and nods to the long-running 1960s TV show. In all honesty, the movie should have been named “Not Another Batman Movie: the Story of Batman and Joker.”

In the end, Batman learns what it’s like to be apart of a family and that having a nemesis isn’t always a bad thing. This movie is great for super fans of the series, casual fans and people with children alike.

Grade: A-

A Cure for Wellness

Taking advantage of a deal for $6 movie tickets on Tuesday, I decided to see “A Cure for  Wellness.” I’m a fan of psychological thrillers and the trailers for the film were enough pique my interest for what I thought would be an interesting movie.

Boy was I wrong. The movie starts out by giving us minor backstory on Lockhart, a young businessman making his way up the ladder in modern-day New York. Not far into the film, the setting drastically changes to an eerily peaceful Victorian facility atop the Swedish Alps, giving the remainder of the movie a gorgeous backdrop of mountains that I much preferred watching over the action in the foreground.

This mad-scientist ghost story then tosses multiple film tropes together to make a two-hour long bucket of confusion. Suicidal stock brokers go to Sweden for a cure only to die off slowly and be mysteriously deposited into a creepy crypt by an even creepier groundskeeper. (Yes, there is the stereotypical groundskeeper.)

The movie goes from confusing to nonsensical, and man does it take its sweet time doing so. There is an abundance of overly gruesome scenes that serve no purpose other than to shock viewers out of their perpetual confusion.

To top it all off, the film rips a page (or the entire ending) from “The Phantom of the Opera.”

No spoilers, but I will say that there is a secret lair filled with candles and an ugly dude with a mask. I half expected them to end with a musical number.

The only thing keeping me from giving this an F is that the actors did a decent job of portraying their characters and were able to keep a straight face all the way through the ending credits.

Grade: D

Celeste Andrews is the assistant creative director of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet her @number1_fl2ist.

Tucker Berardi is the features editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @tucker_berardi.