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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
A Sequel that's more original than the original.
The writers and artists pulled off something beyond rare: a sequel that is better than a fantastic original film. Each world is unique and masterfully presented. There is meaningful character development. There is a cliff hanger and a can't wait for third movie. Somehow they made this sequel more original and an original movie. Before this film I disliked the multiverse because with an infinite multi-verse that means there is an infinite number of Spider-Man and an infinite number of every single person. Because of that, it felt kind of meaningless but here they managed to show the unique Spider-Man from every single Multiverse, and each Spider-Man matters just like each of us matter. Masterfully done.
Willow (2022)
Has its moments but uneven.
Never have I wanted a series to succeed more than this one, but it falls flat on too many levels to recommend to anyone except those who loved the original. For the latter, there is plenty of fan service-an over abundance in fact. Turning into pigs, general Kael, Mims, broomhilda reference, bavmorda flashbacks, flashbacks to every scene from the original, etc etc etc. Check check and check.
But for those who did not love the original, there is little here to excite. Darkly lit scenes masking a small cast. Fight scenes in the dead of night. Complete with rain, hiding the lack of any set. Unlike a lord of the rings quest, this feels very small. Tiny battles with fewer than a dozen participants. Weak sword fights.
It feels more like fan fiction than a film. Anachronistic speaking. Choppy scenes. Nonsense character motivation. In one scene willow says to stay together. In the very next one he's fine with them splitting up. What? Later, In a known haunted castle they all go roaming around alone. What? Elsewhere, Friendly Australian lumberjacks in an evil forest? What? Is this Monty Python?
Willow spends more time inexplicably falling down than a pro soccer player.
And why is he always yelling and getting annoyed at everyone for not understanding when he fails to explain anything completely so the characters and audience can understand? He's like a grumpy father who expects all his kids to read his mind and shut up until he speaks to them. Geesh, not a fun guy to have around.
In episode 3
His Best friend dying. "Willow, save your magic and let me die". Ok you're dead, bye.
In episode 4. Never mentioned again. No coming to terms with best friend dying. Sit on throne and casually eat.
Now, in 4, a Demon possession.
Casually eating food in front of a dying possessed man processing best friends death.
Nothing-no reaction.
"Willow, can't we save him"?. Nope. "But he will die". Yep.
"Are you sure we can't do anything?" Fine There is a book around here now get me all the ingredients for the spell and then get out of here.
Mulan (2020)
It's good Disney also owns Star Wars because otherwise Mulan would be sure for copyright infringement.
There is a lot to admire about the movie and overall it's a good movie, but so much of the film feels borrowed from other movies - movies that did it better.
There are lines that come straight out of Star Wars. "Join me by my side and together we can defeat the ..." The force and the chi. "It is ... too late for me."
The action scenes were fine and I enjoyed them, but I've seen much better Sequences in other films such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Same with the battles. Ran (Japanese) battles are visually superior but the battles here worked well.
The bad guys all dress in black so you can easily know who to root against.
There was An overuse of slow motion filming to create a sense of drama and tension.
IMO, The ending was powerful and more emotionally fulfilling than the original.
Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)
Loved every moment.
I thought they nailed Spider-Man perfectly. They got the pacing of the film right. Two end credit scenes. The second of which made Nick Fury's actions and mannerisms in the film all make sense. What a reveal! I did not see that coming.
Can't wait to see where this leads for the next phase.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Solid, fun but ultimately inconstant (and incoherent) entry.
This movie has a half-dozen amazing scenes, a dozen great lines and two dozen great moments. But, it left me unfulfilled. First, the great. The elevator scene is one of the best in all the Marvel movies. Captain America using his cleverness to outwit Hydra. The fight against his younger self is great too. As is the hammer moment. Peter getting knocked out by Nebula and War Machine was hilarious. The opening scene with Hawkeye was a punch to the gut. The moment where all the heroes return near the end is overwhelming. There are other moments that really shine. I found myself Involuntarily clapping many times.
But, the movie fails to deliver satisfying conclusions to most of its characters. Turns out Cap never sacrificed anything at all in the end. He lived 70 years with the woman he loved. All while leaving Bucky to be tortured (not to mention sitting idly by while numerous other atrocities occurred).
Kids, it's also cool to play video games all day and leave your responsibilities. Even if you have god like powers and people rely on you and hope for better days. You do you, and put someone else in charge so that you can do the hard work of threatening little kids on Fortnite. You know, the real important things in life.
Speaking of life, the soul stone requires an "everlasting" sacrifice of what you love. Except it doesn't. No one dies in the MCU. Not for long anyway. Why morn the loss of Loki for the third time. He's alive, duh. Why give vision and Black Widow a funeral, or wake or at least a eulogy? They didn't. The film does not care about these two characters deaths. Why should the audience.
And are they really dead? Just go back in time with the Pym particles anytime you want and, poof, they're alive. You could visit anytime you want to. Iron Man saw his dad. Hawkeye heard his daughter's voice. And that half of the Universe thing. No worries, they are all alive. In the end, all the bad guys dies and three Avengers.
But, those three Avengers will stay dead for how long?
Does anyone seriously think they are really dead? As in forever? Or course not. In five years, all three of them will be in a Marvel movie again. So don't cry too hard, no one dies forever (in the MCU that is).
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
Do not watch this story about a horrible friend.
Ralph makes a friend in the first film who abuses her relationship to the highest degree in this film. Ralph does what he can to make her friend happy. He changes her game and she criticizes him because of an unexpected damage to a wheel caused by a human. So he does everything he can to make it better and she abandons the game anyway and leaves him to play in another game.
All the while never appreciating his sacrifice for his friend and never sacrificing for Ralph. Uninterested to see an hour of brat get what she wants while not considering the feelings of others.
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
My imagination was better than this.
I've imagined in my mind senerios for how Han gets his ship, how he meets Chewie, and how he completes the Kessel Run before and my imagination was more exciting and more fun than what I saw on the screen.
Instead of being transported to a galaxy far, far away, Solo: A Star Wars Story feels close to home; and feels like an inferior copy of better made earthly heist, car chase, action, mystery, romance, war, train robbery, prison break and western films. It's uneven, anachronistic (what do robots want?: "Equal Rights!") and ultimately unsatisfying.
There is also nonsensical motivation. In the ending, Han has the ship he wants, and his best friend, and no debt. Also, the woman he was after leaves him (the reason he wanted the ship in the first place). So, he has no obligations to anyone. Plus, the people who wanted to kill him are all dead. Also, he just won a big hand at the gambling table, so he has a lot of money.
So what does Han do? He decides to follow the advice of Tobias Beckett and go to Tatooine. Wait, what? Tobias Beckett just tried to kill him, and admitted this with his dying breath. Tobias Beckett just double crossed Han and used as pretext that he, Beckett, was going to Tatooine, but instead Beckett actually hung around to double cross Han. So, why go to Tatooine at all?
There are good parts. Chewy gets to do more in this film than all the other films put together and that's a good thing. Lando is entertaining. Alden really grew on me throughout the movie. They show how Solo gets his name and weapon, and have a ton of fun fan service (for example, the Lando Jabba Palace outfit, Mandalorian armor in the background, hologram chess, reference to Bossk, etc.). The creatures felt like Star Wars. Ultimately, however, it felt like given the clear things that had to happen because of the later films, Solo desperately tries to misdirect and confuse the audience with double crossing, who-is-your-friend?, trickery, but the film ends up with confusing plot holes. Plus, It does not know what kind of a film it wants to be (see first sentence) and ends up being less than the sum of its earthly parts.
Tangent: it's also odd that there is a perceived SJW element and tons of corresponding backlash but the writers failed the Bechdel test. Go figure.
A Quiet Place (2018)
Bothers you the more you think about it.
The premise is that if you make a sound, monsters will get you. I am fine with a film creating whatever rules or framework it wants. You want a film with Magic, fine. Supernatural powers, fine. Or a film where If any sound is made, the monsters attack in seconds and make lighting quick work of their prey, fine.
There is a lot I like about the film, but when you routinely break the very rules you create, the movie becomes frustrating and unenjoyable.
In this film the creators establish that sounds of a beeping space shuttle toy bring monsters in under 10 seconds. And they kill the living thing holding the toy so fast you barely see it. That's fast. Also, the sound of a falling silo door brings a monster, also in a very fast time. A scream will bring a monster in a matter of seconds. And kill you just as fast. Normal talking will also bring a monster so you must use sign language. Also, the sound of a raccoon just making normal night time noises will bring a monster to kill the raccoon.
So, how is it the loud sound of the same raccoon falling on the roof one minute before not bring the monster? How is it that the same raccoon, a full raccoon size, did not get killed every single day before the scene shown? Is he using raccoon sign language and forgot that night?
The silo door falling brings the monster but the roof noise from the raccoon does not? The roof noise was louder and the monster was clearly in the area because the monster killed the raccoon a moment later.
How is they show birds in the sky making noises early in the film, but no monster attack? Do the birds only make noise when flying? Do they ever nest? Of course they must land. Do they always stay quiet when they nest or land? How did the creatures not attack then? Birds are noisy but they survive. They monsters can easily and swiftly get to the top of a silo, why not a tree? They can cut through a silo wall, so why not a tree or whatever the birds are in?
They establish that non-living things making noise bring the monster. The afore mentioned door, and also a gun, fireworks, etc. also, there is an object that falls that nearly hits the ground and the family shows their collective relief when it is caught before hitting the ground. Obviously, they are afraid a falling object will bring the monster.
But, a river or waterfall does not bring the monster. Maybe they attacked the river and gave up? If so, why not live a bit closer to the water. The rustling of leaves of a tree or corn stalks does not bring the monster, apparently? Leaves are alive. Why do they ignore that? The family can't make a creaking sound in the house because it will bring a monster, so they walk around barefoot. But, anyone who has lived in a home knows that homes make a random, creaking sound on their own from time to time. What happens then?. And the wind would make sounds against the house frequently. Of course, they have to live in a house with wood floors and no carpets or rugs to help muffle any sound, but take serious care to make the paths outside sound resistant to their feet.
Also, did no one cough during the last year? Does no one snore? What about flatulance? Surely someone must have had a good sneeze. These sounds are louder than a whisper and often louder than normal talking. Yet, they avoided the monster for over a year. And, why do they have to keep reminding people to be quiet by putting their finger over their mouths? You'd think after a year the people alive would have figured that one out.
Why do monsters ignore the creaking, rusted swing during the walk home with the dad and son? Because a creaking, rusted swing sounds erie and adds to tension? They also ignore the newspaper blowing in the wind at the beginning of the film, because why again? Is it Becasue a newspaper blowing in the wind sets a mood?
The monsters move incredibly fast, faster than any animal, but then move as slow as a sloth, painfully slow, when moving against the people the director does not want killed.
There are so many ways this movie could have been better. The concept is not bad, but the execution is frustrating. It's not a bad movie, and I enjoyed parts, but you must turn off your brain and ignore facts to give this anything more than a mild recommendation.
I liked the actors and thought they did well with the material. I liked the family concept. You felt like everyone mattered and no one was expendable, except the old dude of course.
There are plenty of other things buggy about the movie but the lack of consistency is what really bothered me. I wanted the film to succeed and I found myself trying to make excuses for the story, making assumptions to try and explain how the story could work and be believable, but the inconsistencies were too much. I liked the premise but the film felt incomplete. Partially baked idea and I think the director knew it. But he will make money and move on, even if his art was a mediocre, incomplete effort.