Works for me just fine and I love it. I'm sure not everyone imagined that either, but they pulled it off so well. For something like this, you're either in or out. I don't blame you either way.
True. I thought they struck a nice balance though.
Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched
- Thread starter Th3Ch33s3Cak3
- Start date
I haven’t read the book of this one so am not sure how much it differs from the movie, but can only assume it was a pretty faithful translation based on King’s praise. Basically, chalk it up in the “It is what it is” column.
Jerry and Marge Go Large: Cute / Great
Bryan Cranston (Jerry) and Annette Bening (Marge) are a retired couple living a "good enough" life despite an aura of disappointment at life's missed opportunities felt by Jerry. One day, he finds a loophole in the lottery odds, and banks almost all their savings on it... and wins. He brings Marge in on it, and she YOLOs head first into the idea, and the idea spreads throughout their community.
Based on a true story. Cute film. Nothing exceptional or noteworthy. I was thoroughly whelmed.
Bryan Cranston (Jerry) and Annette Bening (Marge) are a retired couple living a "good enough" life despite an aura of disappointment at life's missed opportunities felt by Jerry. One day, he finds a loophole in the lottery odds, and banks almost all their savings on it... and wins. He brings Marge in on it, and she YOLOs head first into the idea, and the idea spreads throughout their community.
Based on a true story. Cute film. Nothing exceptional or noteworthy. I was thoroughly whelmed.
Black Adam - 9/10. This thing was dumb as a sack of hammers at times but hot damn if it wasn’t a fun ass ride for the runtime. Needed more Doctor Fate and I have questions about the after credits scene but otherwise a good time was had by all.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - 10/10. Of course no movie is truly perfect but holy fucking Christ this felt like an epic. And somehow it still stings not having Chadwick Boseman, that loss is going to haunt this series and filmmaking in general for a long while.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - 10/10. Of course no movie is truly perfect but holy fucking Christ this felt like an epic. And somehow it still stings not having Chadwick Boseman, that loss is going to haunt this series and filmmaking in general for a long while.
Elvis on HBO 7/10.
It is a good movie. We pretty much know the story. I don't think the Kurt Russel vehicle (1979) told us much about the Colonel, who is important to the plot. Been decades since I saw it and maybe I'm just mis-remembering it.
About the 1st time we see him in front of a crowd in a pink outfit is awesome though. See the movie just for this terrific scene.
From 1979
It is a good movie. We pretty much know the story. I don't think the Kurt Russel vehicle (1979) told us much about the Colonel, who is important to the plot. Been decades since I saw it and maybe I'm just mis-remembering it.
About the 1st time we see him in front of a crowd in a pink outfit is awesome though. See the movie just for this terrific scene.
From 1979
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 7/10
This is Stanley Kubrick's seminal 1960's anti-war satire. It starts with a general who's gone soft in the head giving the order to start nuclear war, and follows the ensuing chaos in the bureaucracy and the command structure of the military. I wonder if time and cultural distance may have blunted this film's impact somewhat, because I felt it was appealing to a rather specific time and cultural mindset with its presentation. On one hand it feels painfully relevant with themes of incompetent leadership, convoluted bureaucracy making things worse, and especially when it comes to why the general has lost his mind, but the kind of imagery it invokes feels a bit dated. If this was made today, it wouldn't be generals discussing things in a war room, it'd be influencers and news pundits having a shouting match on a talk show or livestream. I guess I'd summarize this ambivalent feeling to "thematically timeless, presentationally very of its time". Obviously I can't fault the movie much for being a product of its time, but it means the film doesn't have the impact it could have.
There are obviously great things about it. Peter Sellers, holy mackerel! I knew he played the titular role, but not that he also played two other pivotal ones, and I would have never known had I not looked at the cast list on IMDB. He disappears into each one completely and utterly in every aspect. The film escalates very gradually, and by the end you're completely immersed in the silliness. The acting is great all around. The pacing can be a bit uneven, because while the shifts between the more silly parts and more serious parts feel pretty natural and don't tread on each other, quite a lot of time is taken up by techno-jargon when the people on the plane are doing their checkups and preparation, and it's mostly just boring. It's not presented in a special way and there aren't really any jokes in there, so I was mostly left scratching my head about why so much time was devoted to it.
This is Stanley Kubrick's seminal 1960's anti-war satire. It starts with a general who's gone soft in the head giving the order to start nuclear war, and follows the ensuing chaos in the bureaucracy and the command structure of the military. I wonder if time and cultural distance may have blunted this film's impact somewhat, because I felt it was appealing to a rather specific time and cultural mindset with its presentation. On one hand it feels painfully relevant with themes of incompetent leadership, convoluted bureaucracy making things worse, and especially when it comes to why the general has lost his mind, but the kind of imagery it invokes feels a bit dated. If this was made today, it wouldn't be generals discussing things in a war room, it'd be influencers and news pundits having a shouting match on a talk show or livestream. I guess I'd summarize this ambivalent feeling to "thematically timeless, presentationally very of its time". Obviously I can't fault the movie much for being a product of its time, but it means the film doesn't have the impact it could have.
There are obviously great things about it. Peter Sellers, holy mackerel! I knew he played the titular role, but not that he also played two other pivotal ones, and I would have never known had I not looked at the cast list on IMDB. He disappears into each one completely and utterly in every aspect. The film escalates very gradually, and by the end you're completely immersed in the silliness. The acting is great all around. The pacing can be a bit uneven, because while the shifts between the more silly parts and more serious parts feel pretty natural and don't tread on each other, quite a lot of time is taken up by techno-jargon when the people on the plane are doing their checkups and preparation, and it's mostly just boring. It's not presented in a special way and there aren't really any jokes in there, so I was mostly left scratching my head about why so much time was devoted to it.
Don’t Worry Darling
So there was some ruckus about this movie’s promotional material/focus, which made it seem like it would be more of a 50 Shades of Grey: Girl Power affair, but I recall the trailers being a bit more psychologically driven, in the vein of a thriller.
Well, yes that turned out to be true. Not exactly what I thought it’d be, but at least it ultimately had some catharsis and didn’t me cursing what I just spent two hours of valuable R&R time watching. I’d probably give too much away by saying which film(s) it borrows from, but it puts enough of its own spin on things and backs it up with some good performances. If anything I’d say its main flaw would be that the film format is too short, and this kind of story ends up feeling too rushed to really be as effective as it could’ve been in say, a mini series. The twist felt too underdeveloped to really justify the suspension of disbelief it relied upon.
So there was some ruckus about this movie’s promotional material/focus, which made it seem like it would be more of a 50 Shades of Grey: Girl Power affair, but I recall the trailers being a bit more psychologically driven, in the vein of a thriller.
Well, yes that turned out to be true. Not exactly what I thought it’d be, but at least it ultimately had some catharsis and didn’t me cursing what I just spent two hours of valuable R&R time watching. I’d probably give too much away by saying which film(s) it borrows from, but it puts enough of its own spin on things and backs it up with some good performances. If anything I’d say its main flaw would be that the film format is too short, and this kind of story ends up feeling too rushed to really be as effective as it could’ve been in say, a mini series. The twist felt too underdeveloped to really justify the suspension of disbelief it relied upon.
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A ★★ review of The Rescuers (1977)
Unfortunately, this is definitely the weaker of the 1977 Disney films. Just keep reading to understand why. The plot follows Rescue Aid Society members Bianca (voiced by Eva Gabor, following up on her previous role as Duchess in The Aristocats) and janitor Bernard (voiced by Bob Newhart) as they...
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Black Panther 2.
Its...awkward. Its moved beyond a standard Black empowerment movie, into a Black women empowerment movie. And that's all well and good if they can avoid the cliché of women empowerment movies of just lowering the men to make the women seem more empowered, but they're really not. It just looks like they are.
and in this movie, wowie to the dudes take a few hits. Ross, the hobbit guy CIA director who tried to arrest Captain America and was in charge of Zemo and presumably the Raft? Yeah, he's basically Chris Griffin now. A bumbling idiot, constantly shit on by other people and meekly accepting it and belittled by every woman he meets. M'Baku, the scene-stealing badass warrior king of the gorilla tribe in the first movie and who led his people against Thanos' army in Infinity War and Endgame? Yeah, he's basically Chris Griffin now. A bumbling idiot, constantly shit on by other people and meekly accepting it and belittled by every woman he meets, which the added insult of being the movie's go-to punchingbag when they need to show a new character is strong.
Another huge glaring thing for me was the Dora Milaje. I thought the Black Panther movies, and character in general, was meant to show the evils of colonialism and one nation dominating the world. Like that was the whole point of Killmonger vs Black Panther. Killmonger wanted to use Wakanda to infiltrate government, take over militaries, whole dominion over the world, etc...and that was supposed to be bad.
Well the Dora Milaje are basically Jedi now. They have absolute authority over everyone and everything, they can do whatever they want whenever they want with the only oversight being a self-appointed monarch. In the first movie they were the Royal family's personal guards and agents. In this one, again straight up Jedi. They can dodge bullets, deflect them, cut them in half, their spears are now magical, they have precognitive speed and skills. Like Im watching the movie thinking how the hell did Wakanda have any problems with Thanos when you have a team of fucking Darth Maul level warriors? They're basically exactly what Killmonger wanted, even down to kidnapping and military operations. And no one is batting an eye.
Namor is, and I hate this is the term I've come to, just a Latino knock-off Killmonger. I know in the comics he's a little different, but in this he's just an anti-colonial never loved as a child bitter warmonger who wants to rule the world and use advanced tech to do so. Its the same emotional and story beats from the first one, just with two new leads.
Black Panther 2 is mid-tier Marvel. Head and shoulders over anything DC could ever do, but about Antman 2 or Dr. Strange 1 levels. Middling, designed to get us from point a to point b, but not one that comes up often on movie night.
Its...awkward. Its moved beyond a standard Black empowerment movie, into a Black women empowerment movie. And that's all well and good if they can avoid the cliché of women empowerment movies of just lowering the men to make the women seem more empowered, but they're really not. It just looks like they are.
and in this movie, wowie to the dudes take a few hits. Ross, the hobbit guy CIA director who tried to arrest Captain America and was in charge of Zemo and presumably the Raft? Yeah, he's basically Chris Griffin now. A bumbling idiot, constantly shit on by other people and meekly accepting it and belittled by every woman he meets. M'Baku, the scene-stealing badass warrior king of the gorilla tribe in the first movie and who led his people against Thanos' army in Infinity War and Endgame? Yeah, he's basically Chris Griffin now. A bumbling idiot, constantly shit on by other people and meekly accepting it and belittled by every woman he meets, which the added insult of being the movie's go-to punchingbag when they need to show a new character is strong.
Another huge glaring thing for me was the Dora Milaje. I thought the Black Panther movies, and character in general, was meant to show the evils of colonialism and one nation dominating the world. Like that was the whole point of Killmonger vs Black Panther. Killmonger wanted to use Wakanda to infiltrate government, take over militaries, whole dominion over the world, etc...and that was supposed to be bad.
Well the Dora Milaje are basically Jedi now. They have absolute authority over everyone and everything, they can do whatever they want whenever they want with the only oversight being a self-appointed monarch. In the first movie they were the Royal family's personal guards and agents. In this one, again straight up Jedi. They can dodge bullets, deflect them, cut them in half, their spears are now magical, they have precognitive speed and skills. Like Im watching the movie thinking how the hell did Wakanda have any problems with Thanos when you have a team of fucking Darth Maul level warriors? They're basically exactly what Killmonger wanted, even down to kidnapping and military operations. And no one is batting an eye.
Namor is, and I hate this is the term I've come to, just a Latino knock-off Killmonger. I know in the comics he's a little different, but in this he's just an anti-colonial never loved as a child bitter warmonger who wants to rule the world and use advanced tech to do so. Its the same emotional and story beats from the first one, just with two new leads.
Black Panther 2 is mid-tier Marvel. Head and shoulders over anything DC could ever do, but about Antman 2 or Dr. Strange 1 levels. Middling, designed to get us from point a to point b, but not one that comes up often on movie night.
Couple quick Horror Reviews
Night Of the Living Dead (1990)
Blasphemy, but I believe this to be the superior version. It's better looking, has more of a message, Tony Todd is excellent and Patricia Tallman is amazing. She does an incredibly good job of exuding an aura of realistic crisis, while also being the most rational person in the room at all times.
10/10 do yourself a favor and see it. Its a classic and a rare remake thats better than the original
UnHuman (2022)
Generic zombie comedy. I could only stand about 20 minutes of it until I shut it off. I don't know who this is for. Solid acting, good camera quality. Clearly somebody paid for this to be made. It's not like straight to video trash, but it's just the most lazy generic filler ever. I can only guess it was meant to be a vehicle for Brianne Tju, who is good, but idk. Trash Horror like Terrifier I get. It costs $10 to make and if a thousand people rent it, it gets it's money back and the producers can sleep at night knowing they made what they want to. This is more like coffee flavored oreo's. Like ok..but why? They could have given the $100k to some aspiring mike flanagan type and easily made more money. Again unless it really was just padding Brianne Tju's imdb page I don't see the point. Money spent on a Totinos pizza etaen raw would be a better value.
0/10
The Invitation (2022)
The invitation is a rare instance of an excellent idea wasted on a terrible execution. The premise here is that Nathalie Emmanuel after recently connecting with long lst family is invited to a royal wedding, but it's a horror movie so there's a big twist and blood and stuff. The movies greatest weakness is that it is..generic and weak. Imagine idk, "You're Next" or pick a gory movie with a twist, and then have it be made by the producers of Twlight and Star Kristin Stewart. It sucks because it's such a good premise and twist, but it's just limp wristed. The second mistake the film makes is that the big twist is delivered stupidly. It's "shocking", but also rather counter productive. It's like if you surprised someone with an amazing offer, but threw cows blood on them first. Of course they'd be like "well gee, now I'm not really into moving forward if you're gonna throw cows blood in my face every day". For what it's worth I'm just gonna do an inline spoiler because I want to talk about it, but I hate ruining twists even for movies no one is going to watch.
So the big twist is that Nathalie Emmanuel's long lost relatives are actually eternal thralls to a Dracula. They made a deal about 1000 years ago for eternal life and wealth in exchange for providing this Dracula with a new wife of their family line every so many years. The most recent one went crazy after a 100 years and killed herself so they were over joyed to find out they had a relative who was a match. They invite her to a wedding, not telling her it was her own. Oddly enough she has an amazing time and falls in love with the count, not knowing hes a Dracula. They do a big dinner where they mutilate and drink a maids blood in a big reveal to her. This is all kind of stupid because she was already half-sold on marrying this dude. If they had just eased her into the whole vampire thing she might have went for it, given time. Instead of course she flips out. In classic horror female hero style she does end up killing them all. It's all pretty tame though, it could pretty easily pull a PG-13 rating which it may have because theres a cut version and an uncut version. Im not even sure which one I watched. Aside from the terrible handling of teh reveal, its just really blah, like a toned down version of a better movie and its about 1:45min which is just way too long for such a simple story.
anyhoo 3/10, cool idea but skip it unless you're really that bored.
Night Of the Living Dead (1990)
Blasphemy, but I believe this to be the superior version. It's better looking, has more of a message, Tony Todd is excellent and Patricia Tallman is amazing. She does an incredibly good job of exuding an aura of realistic crisis, while also being the most rational person in the room at all times.
10/10 do yourself a favor and see it. Its a classic and a rare remake thats better than the original
UnHuman (2022)
Generic zombie comedy. I could only stand about 20 minutes of it until I shut it off. I don't know who this is for. Solid acting, good camera quality. Clearly somebody paid for this to be made. It's not like straight to video trash, but it's just the most lazy generic filler ever. I can only guess it was meant to be a vehicle for Brianne Tju, who is good, but idk. Trash Horror like Terrifier I get. It costs $10 to make and if a thousand people rent it, it gets it's money back and the producers can sleep at night knowing they made what they want to. This is more like coffee flavored oreo's. Like ok..but why? They could have given the $100k to some aspiring mike flanagan type and easily made more money. Again unless it really was just padding Brianne Tju's imdb page I don't see the point. Money spent on a Totinos pizza etaen raw would be a better value.
0/10
The Invitation (2022)
The invitation is a rare instance of an excellent idea wasted on a terrible execution. The premise here is that Nathalie Emmanuel after recently connecting with long lst family is invited to a royal wedding, but it's a horror movie so there's a big twist and blood and stuff. The movies greatest weakness is that it is..generic and weak. Imagine idk, "You're Next" or pick a gory movie with a twist, and then have it be made by the producers of Twlight and Star Kristin Stewart. It sucks because it's such a good premise and twist, but it's just limp wristed. The second mistake the film makes is that the big twist is delivered stupidly. It's "shocking", but also rather counter productive. It's like if you surprised someone with an amazing offer, but threw cows blood on them first. Of course they'd be like "well gee, now I'm not really into moving forward if you're gonna throw cows blood in my face every day". For what it's worth I'm just gonna do an inline spoiler because I want to talk about it, but I hate ruining twists even for movies no one is going to watch.
So the big twist is that Nathalie Emmanuel's long lost relatives are actually eternal thralls to a Dracula. They made a deal about 1000 years ago for eternal life and wealth in exchange for providing this Dracula with a new wife of their family line every so many years. The most recent one went crazy after a 100 years and killed herself so they were over joyed to find out they had a relative who was a match. They invite her to a wedding, not telling her it was her own. Oddly enough she has an amazing time and falls in love with the count, not knowing hes a Dracula. They do a big dinner where they mutilate and drink a maids blood in a big reveal to her. This is all kind of stupid because she was already half-sold on marrying this dude. If they had just eased her into the whole vampire thing she might have went for it, given time. Instead of course she flips out. In classic horror female hero style she does end up killing them all. It's all pretty tame though, it could pretty easily pull a PG-13 rating which it may have because theres a cut version and an uncut version. Im not even sure which one I watched. Aside from the terrible handling of teh reveal, its just really blah, like a toned down version of a better movie and its about 1:45min which is just way too long for such a simple story.
anyhoo 3/10, cool idea but skip it unless you're really that bored.
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You sound like the kind of person I could easily watch movies with; having fun is the whole purpose. I almost finished Wakanda Forever (see the Complaints thread in Off Topic Discussion forum,) and wanted to see Black Adam, but had heard some scathing reviews. But you remind me that a film can be imperfect and fun which is all I really want.
And yes, the "funeral" they hold for Boseman at the start of WF really does hit you in the feels. Were it purely about the fictional character, it would have been one thing, but considering they were addressing the loss of an actual person... it stung; you're right. But I'm glad they did it.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
It starts as a beautiful send-off to Chadwick Boseman, and then it turned into a MCU movie, and stopped doing anything for me. I did like that they kept Namor as kind of an asshole like his comic counterpart. Don't know why they felt the need to explain his name tho. It was very cringe. Burst out laughing.
It starts as a beautiful send-off to Chadwick Boseman, and then it turned into a MCU movie, and stopped doing anything for me. I did like that they kept Namor as kind of an asshole like his comic counterpart. Don't know why they felt the need to explain his name tho. It was very cringe. Burst out laughing.
Not really. Most fans agree the Remake is better. The only ones that usually say the original is better, are usually those super super hardcore Living Dead fans.
A ★★★★ review of The Fox and the Hound (1981)
Finally, Disney managed to get themselves on track, at least for the most part with this one. After a decade floundering and trying to keep themselves upright after Walt Disney's death, often times running into problems with their mantra of "What would Walt do?" and failing to realize that...
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The Boys Present: Diabolical (3/5)
To round off watching all three seasons of The Boys, I watched this animated anthology. And by the end of it, I still don't know who (or what) Diabolical actually is.
Anyway, this gets a 3/5 by virtue of being average overall - some shorts I liked more than others. So to give a quick lowdown:
-Laser Baby's Day Out: Perfectly adequate. In a non-speaking cartoon, a baby test subject escapes from Vought Tower and is pursued by her scientist handler. She has laser vision, and uses it accidentally to kill scores of Vought troopers, and destroy millions' worth of Vought hardware, before both baby and scientist live happily ever after. Perfectly adequate.
-An Animated Short Where Pissed Off Supes Kill Their Parents: No, that isn't a description, it's the title, and that tells you everything. Happening after it's revealed that all supes are created due to Compound V, a group of reject supes with terrible powers that have made their lives miserable team up together to get revenge on their parents for pumping them full of the stuff. And by revenge, I mean killing them in the most gory ways possible. I wasn't fond of this one - I like the premise, but it just got too mean spirited for me. There's a thin line that divides catharsis from sadism, and for me, the short ended up on the wrong side of that line.
-I'm Your Pusher: Not sure what to make of this one - it seems to take place in the comics' continuity, or at least, uses its artstyle. Anyway, Butcher gets a Supe high, so he can't stick the landing in his airshow, kills a Supe and causes a lot of property damage during it, and...yeah. That's it. Nothing to say, really.
-Boyd in 3D: One of the strongest shorts, the ending aside. Basically, a guy gets special cream that makes him look like a hunk, allows him to hit on a girl he likes, who also uses the cream, social media makes them famous, then makes them miserable, then they discover true beauty was inside them all along. Really, it's nothing that stories haven't imparted to us a thousand times before, but it's well done. I just think it would be better without the twist at the end.
-BFFs: A kid takes Compound V and gets the power to control poo. THat's the plot. But as silly as the plot is, the short's actually a lot of fun.
-Nubian vs. Nubian: Twin supes fight together, bang together, get a daughter together (isn't that meant to be nearly impossible in the setting?), until eight years later, they're on the verge of divorce, so their daughter wants to save their marriage by repeating the fight that got them together in the first place, only to discover that divorced parents actually have benefits, such as ponies. Really, it's mostly average, but it's fun enough.
-John and Sun-Hee: I should really like this more than I do, IMO - it's the one short that takes this seriously, utilizes a beautiful animation style (though every piece is animated in a different style), and in theory, is quite moving. Sun-Hee is dying from cancer, so John steals compound V to save her. Which he does, but the cancer becomes a malignant monster that Sun-Hee has to sacrifice herself to defeat. Really, the symbolism and themes are obvious, though I can't fault the piece for that. It just didn't do much for me for some reason.
-One Plus One Equals Two: My favourite of the bunch, it's a prequel to the overall series, showing Homelander becoming part of the Seven, and his first mission going terribly, TERRIBLY wrong. Overall, it's solid - makes Homelander somewhat sympathetic, shows how, this early on, he genuienly wanted to help, but the nature of his upbringing, and his first mission going so wrong does a number on him. Plus, the start of his bromance with Black Noir. To be clear, Homelander is an absolute piece of shit overall, but he's a piece of shit with layers, and this layer is the least shitty of them all.
So, yeah. Mixed bag. If I had to rank them, it would go:
1: One Plus One
2: Boyd in 3D
3: Laser Baby
4: BFFs
5: Nubian vs. Nubian
6: John and Sun-Hee
7: I'm Your Pusher
8: Pissed Off Supes
To round off watching all three seasons of The Boys, I watched this animated anthology. And by the end of it, I still don't know who (or what) Diabolical actually is.
Anyway, this gets a 3/5 by virtue of being average overall - some shorts I liked more than others. So to give a quick lowdown:
-Laser Baby's Day Out: Perfectly adequate. In a non-speaking cartoon, a baby test subject escapes from Vought Tower and is pursued by her scientist handler. She has laser vision, and uses it accidentally to kill scores of Vought troopers, and destroy millions' worth of Vought hardware, before both baby and scientist live happily ever after. Perfectly adequate.
-An Animated Short Where Pissed Off Supes Kill Their Parents: No, that isn't a description, it's the title, and that tells you everything. Happening after it's revealed that all supes are created due to Compound V, a group of reject supes with terrible powers that have made their lives miserable team up together to get revenge on their parents for pumping them full of the stuff. And by revenge, I mean killing them in the most gory ways possible. I wasn't fond of this one - I like the premise, but it just got too mean spirited for me. There's a thin line that divides catharsis from sadism, and for me, the short ended up on the wrong side of that line.
-I'm Your Pusher: Not sure what to make of this one - it seems to take place in the comics' continuity, or at least, uses its artstyle. Anyway, Butcher gets a Supe high, so he can't stick the landing in his airshow, kills a Supe and causes a lot of property damage during it, and...yeah. That's it. Nothing to say, really.
-Boyd in 3D: One of the strongest shorts, the ending aside. Basically, a guy gets special cream that makes him look like a hunk, allows him to hit on a girl he likes, who also uses the cream, social media makes them famous, then makes them miserable, then they discover true beauty was inside them all along. Really, it's nothing that stories haven't imparted to us a thousand times before, but it's well done. I just think it would be better without the twist at the end.
-BFFs: A kid takes Compound V and gets the power to control poo. THat's the plot. But as silly as the plot is, the short's actually a lot of fun.
-Nubian vs. Nubian: Twin supes fight together, bang together, get a daughter together (isn't that meant to be nearly impossible in the setting?), until eight years later, they're on the verge of divorce, so their daughter wants to save their marriage by repeating the fight that got them together in the first place, only to discover that divorced parents actually have benefits, such as ponies. Really, it's mostly average, but it's fun enough.
-John and Sun-Hee: I should really like this more than I do, IMO - it's the one short that takes this seriously, utilizes a beautiful animation style (though every piece is animated in a different style), and in theory, is quite moving. Sun-Hee is dying from cancer, so John steals compound V to save her. Which he does, but the cancer becomes a malignant monster that Sun-Hee has to sacrifice herself to defeat. Really, the symbolism and themes are obvious, though I can't fault the piece for that. It just didn't do much for me for some reason.
-One Plus One Equals Two: My favourite of the bunch, it's a prequel to the overall series, showing Homelander becoming part of the Seven, and his first mission going terribly, TERRIBLY wrong. Overall, it's solid - makes Homelander somewhat sympathetic, shows how, this early on, he genuienly wanted to help, but the nature of his upbringing, and his first mission going so wrong does a number on him. Plus, the start of his bromance with Black Noir. To be clear, Homelander is an absolute piece of shit overall, but he's a piece of shit with layers, and this layer is the least shitty of them all.
So, yeah. Mixed bag. If I had to rank them, it would go:
1: One Plus One
2: Boyd in 3D
3: Laser Baby
4: BFFs
5: Nubian vs. Nubian
6: John and Sun-Hee
7: I'm Your Pusher
8: Pissed Off Supes
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
I really enjoyed this one, and it is definitely one of the stronger movies in Phase 4 (though I acknowledge that this isn't exactly saying much), and I think I preferred it to the first one.
I feel like it handled the passing of Chadwick Boseman really well, and the funeral scene was really nice. Though - and I shit you not, that this happens - literally beaming T'Challa's coffin into a UFO before it flies away looked really goofy, and caused a couple of giggles in my theatre, during what was supposed to be a really emotional moment.
They then reused the Chadwick Boseman/T'Challa MCU intro that they edited into the Disney+ version of the first Black Panther. It was dead silent, there was no music, and it was really nice.
Onto the rest of the movie, and it is a lot slower than the rest of the MCU. A lot more talking, a lot less action, and honestly, this is kind of what I wanted. The action on display is great - particularly one scene on a bridge, that was actually really tense - but I am increasingly interested in just watching these characters interact with each other, which is probably why I enjoyed The Eternals much more than a lot of other people did.
The acting was also really good across the board. I found Namor to be a really compelling antagonist - definitely up there as one the MCU's best. Angela Bassett delivered a few really good monologues. Winston Duke's M'Baku continued to steal every scene that he was in, and I really wish that he gets utilised more in the future. I really liked Lupita Nyong'o this time around, despite her kind of fading into the background of the first movie.
The only one that I am quite unsure about, is Letitia Wright's Shuri. Shuri as a character is the obvious choice to take over as the Black Panther, as she has done many times in the comics, but I don't feel like Letitia Wright is necessarily the right person to be playing this role. Her performance was far from bad, but I just don't think that she has the right body type to give off the "Warrior Queen" vibes that the role demands. Obviously, this was never the intended direction for the character to go down (at least not so soon), and Im sure if the casting director for Black Panther could see into the future, Shuri might have been cast differently, but as it stands, I am really struggling to see Letitia Wright as the new Black Panther. If it were up to me, I think I would have much preferred Okoye, Nakia, or M'Baku to take over, though I am not too sure how feasible that would have been, story-wise.
There were a few other issues, too. We revisit Agent Ross a couple of times in the movie, and they probably could have cut most of his scenes, because his B-plot is almost entirely unrelated to the rest of the film.
I also don't really feel like Riri Williams/Ironheart needed to be there. Its quite funny because in the early days of the MCU, I was really into the hints towards other heroes, or the post credits scenes that led into the next movie, but now I am pretty tired of having random characters shoehorned into stories, to serve as backdoor pilots for whatever it is that they are going to be doing in their own show/movie. Her purpose is exhausted in the first act of the movie, and then she just tags along for the rest of the film, with no real impact or input (but is still in a lot of scenes).
Overall, I really liked it. I was a bit apprehensive going in, because of how the rest of phase 4 turned out, but I came out pleasantly surprised. I'd recommend it.
I really enjoyed this one, and it is definitely one of the stronger movies in Phase 4 (though I acknowledge that this isn't exactly saying much), and I think I preferred it to the first one.
I feel like it handled the passing of Chadwick Boseman really well, and the funeral scene was really nice. Though - and I shit you not, that this happens - literally beaming T'Challa's coffin into a UFO before it flies away looked really goofy, and caused a couple of giggles in my theatre, during what was supposed to be a really emotional moment.
They then reused the Chadwick Boseman/T'Challa MCU intro that they edited into the Disney+ version of the first Black Panther. It was dead silent, there was no music, and it was really nice.
Onto the rest of the movie, and it is a lot slower than the rest of the MCU. A lot more talking, a lot less action, and honestly, this is kind of what I wanted. The action on display is great - particularly one scene on a bridge, that was actually really tense - but I am increasingly interested in just watching these characters interact with each other, which is probably why I enjoyed The Eternals much more than a lot of other people did.
The acting was also really good across the board. I found Namor to be a really compelling antagonist - definitely up there as one the MCU's best. Angela Bassett delivered a few really good monologues. Winston Duke's M'Baku continued to steal every scene that he was in, and I really wish that he gets utilised more in the future. I really liked Lupita Nyong'o this time around, despite her kind of fading into the background of the first movie.
The only one that I am quite unsure about, is Letitia Wright's Shuri. Shuri as a character is the obvious choice to take over as the Black Panther, as she has done many times in the comics, but I don't feel like Letitia Wright is necessarily the right person to be playing this role. Her performance was far from bad, but I just don't think that she has the right body type to give off the "Warrior Queen" vibes that the role demands. Obviously, this was never the intended direction for the character to go down (at least not so soon), and Im sure if the casting director for Black Panther could see into the future, Shuri might have been cast differently, but as it stands, I am really struggling to see Letitia Wright as the new Black Panther. If it were up to me, I think I would have much preferred Okoye, Nakia, or M'Baku to take over, though I am not too sure how feasible that would have been, story-wise.
There were a few other issues, too. We revisit Agent Ross a couple of times in the movie, and they probably could have cut most of his scenes, because his B-plot is almost entirely unrelated to the rest of the film.
I also don't really feel like Riri Williams/Ironheart needed to be there. Its quite funny because in the early days of the MCU, I was really into the hints towards other heroes, or the post credits scenes that led into the next movie, but now I am pretty tired of having random characters shoehorned into stories, to serve as backdoor pilots for whatever it is that they are going to be doing in their own show/movie. Her purpose is exhausted in the first act of the movie, and then she just tags along for the rest of the film, with no real impact or input (but is still in a lot of scenes).
Overall, I really liked it. I was a bit apprehensive going in, because of how the rest of phase 4 turned out, but I came out pleasantly surprised. I'd recommend it.
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I'm conflicted about Wakanda Forever. Right until the very end, I was enjoying the movie 100%. Then the climax happened and I felt incredibly let down. Such a serious, well made movie building up to such a painfully generic resolution.
My thoughts are essentially the same as laggyteabag's, but maybe more negative. Everyone is great, except Everett Ross and Ironheart. Ross was always a silly character, and had a place in the first movie, but he is absolutely unneeded in this movie. Other than to further set up future MCU events.
Speaking of! Riri Williams. Awful. Her character was an annoyingly out of place source of comedy in a movie about grief and loss. But the worst about her is that her Ironheart suit is definitively the WORST costume adaptation of any Marvel character in the MCU. If she's meant to take the mantle of Tony Stark (her desire to emulate him is not explored even for a second), then she can fuck right off. Worthless character. The latest example MCU detractors can (rightfully) point to as proof that Marvel movies are all set up for future movies.
Shuri as Black Panther (which I no longer consider a spoiler, it's essentially in the trailer) is... not great. For one, there's not much of her as Black Panther. And what we do get is an oddly thin Panther with a pretty ugly suit, sketchy CGI, and kinda lame new powers. Kinda sad that Black Panther peaked in Winter Soldier. Shuri as herself though is great. Letitia Wright is a much better actor than I originally gave her credit for.
And that's the biggest thing this movie has going for it, the performances. None of the Wakandans are unlikeable and while I thought Namor was vastly underused, I enjoy this portrayal.
All in all, while my negative opinions are more fresh in my mind, I do think this was the best case scenario for a movie that no one ever wanted. Don't regret watching it, unlike many Phase 4 films, Wakada Forever feels like it was allowed to be made at it's own pace. The sound design is great, the sound track by Ludwig Goransson is great as well, and the cinematography has more flair than any two Phase 4 movies put together.
My thoughts are essentially the same as laggyteabag's, but maybe more negative. Everyone is great, except Everett Ross and Ironheart. Ross was always a silly character, and had a place in the first movie, but he is absolutely unneeded in this movie. Other than to further set up future MCU events.
Speaking of! Riri Williams. Awful. Her character was an annoyingly out of place source of comedy in a movie about grief and loss. But the worst about her is that her Ironheart suit is definitively the WORST costume adaptation of any Marvel character in the MCU. If she's meant to take the mantle of Tony Stark (her desire to emulate him is not explored even for a second), then she can fuck right off. Worthless character. The latest example MCU detractors can (rightfully) point to as proof that Marvel movies are all set up for future movies.
Shuri as Black Panther (which I no longer consider a spoiler, it's essentially in the trailer) is... not great. For one, there's not much of her as Black Panther. And what we do get is an oddly thin Panther with a pretty ugly suit, sketchy CGI, and kinda lame new powers. Kinda sad that Black Panther peaked in Winter Soldier. Shuri as herself though is great. Letitia Wright is a much better actor than I originally gave her credit for.
And that's the biggest thing this movie has going for it, the performances. None of the Wakandans are unlikeable and while I thought Namor was vastly underused, I enjoy this portrayal.
All in all, while my negative opinions are more fresh in my mind, I do think this was the best case scenario for a movie that no one ever wanted. Don't regret watching it, unlike many Phase 4 films, Wakada Forever feels like it was allowed to be made at it's own pace. The sound design is great, the sound track by Ludwig Goransson is great as well, and the cinematography has more flair than any two Phase 4 movies put together.
A ★★ review of The Black Cauldron (1985)
I wish I could say this film is mediocre due to its troubled production, including a creator trying to edit an animated movie after the completion of said movie, but that's not the case. I feel like a lot of the issues with this movie are born out from a much more basic level. The plot of the...
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 9/10
Rating this classic anything below a 10 might be blasphemous for some people, but some bits of it just aren't that good. It's never unfunny, but scenes like the false grail castle, the three-headed knight and Lancelot's rescue mission definitely go on a bit too long at points. Still, it's deservedly a legend-level absurdist comedy classic, and mostly holds up like fine wine. If the whole movie was as good as the Black Knight, the french taunter, or the ending scenes, this'd be a 10 easily.
Tenet, for the third time, 8/10
I'm among the people who would rank this among Nolan's best, but I understand it's an aqcuired taste. I really enjoy the James Bond -style globetrotting espionage narrative, the characters are engaging and the story is creative. It is a fairly cold and emotionally detached movie, and it definitely spends a lot of time just explaining its mechanics, but for me the spectacle makes up for it.
Upgrade, for the second time, 8/10
An interesting counterbalance to Tenet, this is in contrast a very personal, focused and emotionally charged narrative, and a good example of low-budget sci-fi done right (only $5 million, when this movie easily looks 4 times that budget). It's got great and creative camerawork, some delightfully satisfying gore, and is just overall a really good sci-fi dystopian narrative. It does take its time to get going, but I think that slow start is warranted, because you really feel the main character's desperation and loneliness in the situation he's in. Highly recommended.
Rating this classic anything below a 10 might be blasphemous for some people, but some bits of it just aren't that good. It's never unfunny, but scenes like the false grail castle, the three-headed knight and Lancelot's rescue mission definitely go on a bit too long at points. Still, it's deservedly a legend-level absurdist comedy classic, and mostly holds up like fine wine. If the whole movie was as good as the Black Knight, the french taunter, or the ending scenes, this'd be a 10 easily.
Tenet, for the third time, 8/10
I'm among the people who would rank this among Nolan's best, but I understand it's an aqcuired taste. I really enjoy the James Bond -style globetrotting espionage narrative, the characters are engaging and the story is creative. It is a fairly cold and emotionally detached movie, and it definitely spends a lot of time just explaining its mechanics, but for me the spectacle makes up for it.
Upgrade, for the second time, 8/10
An interesting counterbalance to Tenet, this is in contrast a very personal, focused and emotionally charged narrative, and a good example of low-budget sci-fi done right (only $5 million, when this movie easily looks 4 times that budget). It's got great and creative camerawork, some delightfully satisfying gore, and is just overall a really good sci-fi dystopian narrative. It does take its time to get going, but I think that slow start is warranted, because you really feel the main character's desperation and loneliness in the situation he's in. Highly recommended.
Wakanda Forever - ..........
Everyone in this movie did good. I saw the movie with my big brother.
Everyone in this movie did good. I saw the movie with my big brother.
No one laughed, nor giggled in my showing. Not a single smirk. Everyone was silent. YMMV of course, but it shows absolute respect.