Best movie of this year hands down!

As Good As It Gets

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This was a movie that I first heard about from Nostalgia Critic, and even knowing that many people don't like this movie, I tried to go in as neutral as possible. Despite this, I was quite disappointed. I don't know much about Marvel outside of the MCU, so I didn't go into this as an avid fan. I just wanted to see a skeleton on a flaming motorcycle beat up guys. That was maybe 2/10 of the movie. The rest is Nic Cage talking and being weird in front of the girl he likes. Honestly, if they had any other actor play Johnny Blaze, I'd probably give this a six or seven.

If only Columbia Pictures and it's associated studios could have waited and made this film after Deadpool (2016) and Logan (2017). This movie should of been rated "R", with all the blood, gore, violence, sex and filled with every curse word under the sun and blessed with a solid storyline and exceptional director. Nevertheless, whilst it is cheesy, with poor dialogue, a God awful script and the plot is pretty basic, it is actually an enjoyable film.The Good: (1) The Special Effects for the Ghost Rider. Whenever he is on screen, blazing on his motor cycle with his flaming skull, the film picks 10 fold. The part where he jumps of the skyscraper or when Cage morphs to the ghost rider is fantastic. But those parts are far and few between in the film. (2) The A-grade actors in a (essentially) B-grade film. What this means is, there are a number of surprisingly good actors ( Nicholas Cage as Johnny Blaze and Eva Mendes as Roxanne, Sam Elliot as the Caretaker) which bring their all to a poor script. Yes the dialogue is laughable when it is delivered, but that is what makes it so enjoyable. Raquel Alessi could easily have been a Eva Mendes younger twin sister. (3) The Western tones interwoven in the film is great. The Bad: (1) The villains are so weak. Peter Fonda as the Devil gets a pass. Only because it's really good to see him on screen. BUT Wes Bentley, as main nemesis Blackhearts should of walked when he read the script. He has some of the movies worst dialogue. Sadly, unlike Cage and Mendes, he simply does not have the "knack" for delivery and his lines are dreadfully executed. (2) People who put a lot of themselves in film usually indicate they love the source material, so it is very difficult to understand if Mark Steven Johnson was either a writer/director with no balls to stand up to the studios or it was simply a job to him, (3) The plot is a no brainer. Boy loves girl. Boy mets Devil. Boy makes a deal with the Devil. Boy loses Girl. Boy becomes a flaming skull. Boy meets girl again. Thankfully the Ghost Rider, is a marginally better written script, then most Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Wars:The Clone Wars.The Ugly: (1) The biggest problem is Nicholas Cage as Johnny Blaze. In a nutshell....he was cast wrong. Look a the actor Matt Long who played an 18 year old Johnny Blaze to then 42 year old Johnny Blaze played by Nicholas Cage. The film really is asking a lot for the audience to believe they are the same person.Don't over analyse the film too much, because it create lofty expectations. Films like the Ghost Rider is a guilty pleasure, with great action, a uncomplicated plot and exceptional special effects. Hopefully this franchise gets a robot in the future and upgraded to "R" rating. PS: was going to grade the film at 7 BUT that awesome soundtrack song at the end credits by Spiderbait reworking the song "Ghost Riders in the Sky" pushed it to 8

This is kinda a bad film mix with good but think about it the dialogue is poor like is it the worst; no I've seen worst. When I first watch it I love it but couple of years pass by I don't love it like I use too but I found it to be O.K like I'd rather prefer Spider-Man 3 (2007) or Fantastic Four: Rise Of Silver Surfer (2007) because I enjoy them the most. It's not great or bad but it's alright.

Based on the Marvel comic character, Nicholas Cage plays Johnny Blaze, a motorcycle stunt driver who escapes death countless times because he sold his soul to the Devil (Peter Fonda) years earlier in exchange that his father would beat cancer. The Devil doesn't totally keep his end of the bargain so Johnny escapes to fame but soon the Devil shows up wanting him to become the Ghost Rider and destroy his son who is trying to take over his power. I'll admit right up front that I'm not a comic fan and I've certainly never read anything this film is based on so I can't compare it to anything. I went into the movie hoping to at least get a popcorn entertainment and for the most part I think the film delivers, although it's certainly far from perfect and it's not even a good film. I viewed the Extended Cut, which I think was a mistake because there are certain scenes that just dragged on for no reason and sure enough, after watching the movie I looked up the differences in the two versions and these scenes were what was extended. There's way too much build-up and talk leading up to what the film is really about and I'd say that the ending goes on way too long as well. Directed by Mark Steven Johnson, and based on his own screenplay, the film makes no sense. The main idea revolves around the eternal theme of how a man can sell his own soul to the devil because the asking person wants to gain something he doesn't have, or in this case because Johnny Blaze, who knows about his father's cancer, wants to save the old man. Unfortunately, for the production team, better made movies have been made using this idea.