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Reviews
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One (2024)
Another rushed animated film you can skip...
The main characters, that drive the original story, are not present. If you were hoping they'd honor anything from Wolfman/Perez's masterpiece, you'd be mistaken. Calling it "Justice League:...." Is the first red flag. The original story is encompassing of every single team, hero and villain of DC Comics at the time. It was only created to reset their universe and make books easier to follow for new readers.
Those who adapted this are missing the point. One might think they're finally doing this to right the wrong of announcing it at ComicCon 18 years ago or that this will wipe out the previous films continuity to make way for Gunn's vision, but they already did that to a certain extent a few years ago.
The animation is clean, dynamic and most of the characters looks work. That's the nicest thing I have to say.
Fast X (2023)
Dragging Out The Sexist Franchise
There's no stories left, yet they're still making these.
Expect Momoa to play himself again and again and isn't really acting, but that is not why you watch him in anything. His borderline homophobic scenes are to be laughable?
Groot shows more emotion in his recent outing than Vin Diesel throughout this entire film (franchise).
Somehow all the previous bad guys are good and even if they die we can expect them to return on the opposite side next film or so.
There's suspending disbelief then there's the Fast films.
This whole thing feels like an advertisement for a drone company. Cheesy shot after cheesy shot.
Paris in Love (2021)
The family that uses gay slurs, wants you to watch this.
Absolutely no chemistry. It's like watching coworkers do a forced skit, who have no regard for one another.
Plenty of familiar faces phoning it in.
The Hilton's have shown us who they are.
They use the f slur towards just about anyone.
Also Paris herself has some terrible things about gay and also black men. I mean, how many times has she been caught saying downgrading things about both.
Conrad was to be charged with a federal crime on a flight and the family got it down to a misdemeanor, no time served.
This family keeps taking and does what they want.
Don't give them anymore attention or money.
Stop making useless people famous.
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Meh
Better than that mess of a recent Dr Strange film and somehow The Dark World was a better flick.
Waititi basically takes two great Thor storylines and crams them into one film that doesn't quite work.
Ragnarok was more obvious as they adapted a Hulk storyline for part of it. This was a shame that neither stories were fully thought out and it's disappointing if you knew what could've been.
Phase 4 is bleak and doesn't give me hope for what's to come.
The Lost City (2022)
A Romancing The Stone rip off
Watch the subject line film. That is all.
Not original. (They said my review was too short, so I added this and I'll keep talking as it is still not 150 characters. Channing keeps phoning it in. I guess as long as you are all thirsty, he'll keep getting cast. )
The Pentaverate (2022)
Skip This
I don't even want to take the time to explain why this isn't worth watching.
Such a great cast, with such a poor script and plot. That's all you need to understand.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)
What are these movies even about?
These are so much darker than the previous Potter films and I'm not just referring to WB's abusive leads, see Ezra Miller. They fire Depp over allegations, but Miller's been caught on tape hurting a woman and then arrested last week. Makes for a distracting movie experience, unless you live in a cave and don't follow the news.
Madds is a great replacement for Depp, but it can't save this snooze fest.
Outside of being a gorgeous film, the only positive thing I have to say is them acknowledging Dumbledore being gay onscreen finally.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Reunion (2020)
Justice for Hubert
The way he treated Janet Hubert, and derailed her career, speaks to the kind of scum he is.
Overall an awkward and rehearsed reunion, watch for the Janet bits, everything else will make you squirm in a different way.
Turning Red (2022)
Definitely for teen girls only
I did not enjoy this, but I'm also a 42yo gay male with no kids. Not it's demographic, but do I appreciate some firsts here. So many felt represented in a way where they normally are skipped over for the traditionally healthy, thin, beautiful characters. No medical conditions, blemishes, etc. That's important, but I can't imagine parents/adults thinking this is an entertaining film.
Also, ignore the blown out of proportion controversies involving anything they think kids needed to be shielded from. It's lies and conservatives doing what they do best. Being hypocrites and avoiding real things children face and need to be exposed to.
King Richard (2021)
Nothing extraordinary, if you've seen the interviews.
It's Will being Will. Tennis fans weren't impressed as much of the details of the film are well known and they'd rather see the women/world champions given the spotlight. You can find most of the basis for this online, his interviews that is.
The wife here had a much better performance, but of course they focused on the male star.
If you're a tennis fan skip this. Otherwise it's enjoyable on in the background.
The Batman (2022)
Overall great for one sitting.
This will still be too dark for many viewers. They clearly took some liberties with the Riddler and didn't really dive into the characters, but it works. The score and cinematography were excellent. Zoe was a scene stealer. First Batman film where he actually does detective work. Seriously, he's been around 83 years with tons of shows and films; and they finally utilize his main skill. Detective work. That said, Bruce wasn't really Bruce. They got some things right and others...
West Side Story (2021)
An overall snooze fest.
Watch the original. This feels more forced than organic. The singing is wonderful at times, but not great enough to make me want to sit through the whole thing. I found myself fast forwarding to scenes with females. That'll cut almost two hours off the film. Then it's better.
Death on the Nile (2022)
Gadot is awful as usual and Branagh needs to leave Christie alone
Like many Agatha Christie adaptions if recent years, skip this one too. The original film has a much better cast and truer to the book. Not to mention Maggie Smith and a cast with chemistry. Imagine that.
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Overated
I really don't understand this metascore on this film. Yes, it's very different than anything else released of late and has a nostalgia factor for those over 50/60.
The acting and plot are okay, it's a decent film. The leads are new to acting, so keep that in mind.
It's honestly forgettable. Watch it if you have nothing else going on and need to be slightly engaged. Play Wordle while doing it, you won't miss much.
Eternals (2021)
A thought provoking game changer.
This is a sci-fi Greek tragedy. Beautifully shot and acted. We finally get the visuals needed for speedsters and Superman level powerhouses. So many minorities represented, definitely a film the world can see themselves in. Love the gay hero and his family. So many standouts and exciting nods of things to come. Marvel fans should be giddy. Real Marvel fans who recognize the diverse world the books inhabit is finally reflected onscreen. Stay for the credit scenes!!!
Midnight Mass (2021)
Bland and drawn out monologues
Unlike his two previous Netflix projects, this one is painfully slow and four episodes in, I could care less for a single character. Bly Manor was so strong and an improvement compared to Hill House.
Thought he was going upwards in quality, but this...honestly, I recommend skipping it.
Mr. Mayor (2021)
Kill off the daughter and the show will be better
Well, she could go to boarding school overseas. Either way, I don't know that I'll continue watching it with such an obnoxious character.
Hunter, Danson and Monahan are well cast.
Call Me Kat (2021)
Watch Miranda
I'm not sure why the U.S. thought they could do better and/or ruin Miranda for American audiences. This is not good. I have no problem with changing details fir a reboot, if it can improve upon the original, but this is awful.
Miranda worked as she created it. This is just a bunch of familiar actors we enjoy, but no chemistry. Not their fault, the script is off. It's forced like a Chuck Lorre sitcom. Skip this and watch the U.K.'s Miranda.
Dashing in December (2020)
Trite
Everything feels forced and what's with every character noting how many years ago something happened?
A frustrating film to finish. The lead is so unlikable, I'm baffled who the demographic is. Is this how straight people view gays?
Anyways, it's not great. Watch Happiest Season or Christmas Setup instead.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Predictable, dark and lacking wonder
You've seen this before on a DC film. Overly grim, messy third act cgi and underdeveloped villains. Cheetah and Wiig are wasted here. Sad being that is her greatest adversary.
Everything is convenient and falls into place. Almost like they put little thought in the story, using a cheap plot devices to move things along. Speaking of moving...the pacing is poor for a film this loooooooong. You'll wonder if they're trying to punish us.
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Definitely a unique horror film.
Highly entertaining and such a bizarre premise. Fun to watch near Halloween.
Grabbers (2012)
Fun flick
Worth a watch for a comedy/horror/sci-fi fan. This is more of a popcorn dumb funny film, no solid plot, but worthwhile and entertaining. Special effects are solid too.
The Duchess (2020)
I regret finishing this season and I hope they cancel it.
While this can be pretty funny, it's highly unrealistic and the behavior of the lead character will make you stop laughing by the sixth episode. I'm not really sure where they're going with this or why we should be invested in a clearly unhealthy relationship with every pairing; including the mother and daughter.
There's plenty of good UK series to watch, skip this one.
Mulan (2020)
Finally, a well made live action adaptation!
It's not the musical, but essentially the same story. The score and cinematography are amazing. You'll feel transported and immersed in her world.
Removing the songs might be what Disney needed this whole time. There are hints throughout in dialog and the music, so they didn't scrap it completely. The soundtrack has three versions of Reflection in English, Japanese and Mandarin.
Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons (2020)
Apparently DC fans today need highly graphic content
The animation style is probably the best aspect of this 'series'. So is it 12 episodes or a film? Both were released this year, same name with different release dates. Leave it to WB to be disorganized and to just shove content out there.
So in other confusing aspects of this, Jericho has a different power set than ever seen before and is a quasi villain again? He's blond and blue-eyed like the comics, but played by an Asian trans man in the live action show last year. I imagine being a DC fan today is confusing with such drastic changes to the same characters across the books, shows and films.
Adeline is portrayed pretty well, except for her 'late 90's cartoon Rogue' hairstyle later in the episode.
It's also weird to introduce Rose, but no Grant and well before Terra.
Wilson is a thinner black man now. That's new to me.
Anyways if you can get past the violence, gore and character changes; then you may enjoy this.