Seminal. Pivotal. This track actually gives me flashbacks. There was a girl…
Author Archives: Phil
Just gets better each time. Today we watched it with the children, both liked it. Seven year old daughter notably “into it”!
★★★★
As the war between the vampires and the Lycans rages on, Selene, a former member of the Death Dealers (an elite vampire special forces unit that hunts werewolves), and Michael, the werewolf hybrid, work together in an effort to unlock the secrets of their respective bloodlines.
This film is an amazing example of unabashed ambition. There is almost nothing about this that is objectively good: the story is laughable, the acting is (largely) acceptable, the pacing is terrible…
(I do have to give a nod for production design because I reckon they have nailed their brief. It might be the least original brief ever “think Dracula crossed with The Matrix” but it’s there. Also, the visual effects for bat Marcus are better than some of Marvel’s most recent MCU efforts. Worthy of an extra half star.)
But it’s like no-one told anyone they were making a mediocre movie. It’s aiming for the stars across the board and while it doesn’t even make it to the moon, I still admire them for it!
★★½
In the late 90s, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with uncovering the dark conspiracy behind them.
This review may contain spoilers.
There is a lot to like about this film but a few things spoiled it for me.
Firstly, the music in the first half just doesn’t fit the visuals and I found that super jarring.
Secondly, I love a film with an ambiguous ending that leaves you thinking but after Alice abandons James, you are left with an extremely unreliable narrator. From there you don’t have any way to assess or differentiate between reality and delusion. Yet somehow we’re led to a “draw your own conclusions”-type ending? Very unsatisfying.
★★★ (contains spoilers)
A rebellious young graffiti artist who targets the homes of the wealthy elite but discovers a shocking secret that leads him on a journey endangering himself and those closest to him.
After his retirement is interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg, and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who now inexplicably wields Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.
The Thor and Mighty Thor thing works well enough. Nice to see the King of Asgard back in action as well. Korg sadly demoted from hilarious comedy foil to exposition fountain. Christian Bale about the most one-dimension baddie since Malekith.
I can’t say much about the plot. I’m not sure there is one.
How do you go from a top 5 slot on your first MCU movie to a bottom 5 on your second?
★★
When a small-town Irish cop with a crass personality is partnered with a straight-laced FBI agent to bust an international drug-trafficking ring, they must settle their differences in order to take down a dangerous gang.
This is the kind of film that you quote lines from, to yourself, and chuckle. Then a colleague asks you what you’re laughing at and you try to explain but end up looking like psychopath. Sorry, sociopath.
★★★★
A great student, avid gamer, and voracious fan-fic scribe, Kamala Khan has a special affinity for superheroes, particularly Captain Marvel. However, she struggles to fit in at home and at school — that is, until she gets super powers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. Life is easier with super powers, right?
Swings hard for style over substance and pretty much pulls it off. The recap at the start of E6 contains the whole “story”, so it’s disappointing on that front.
Iman Vellani is a wonderful Ms Marvel. To be honest, the only bit of casting I didn’t warm to was Bruno 🤷♀️
The multigenerational story of Kamala’s maternal heritage really worked for me.
★★★½
Investigative journalist Eddie Brock attempts a comeback following a scandal, but accidentally becomes the host of Venom, a violent, super powerful alien symbiote. Soon, he must rely on his newfound powers to protect the world from a shadowy organization looking for a symbiote of their own.
My expectations for this movie were rock bottom. But this movie knows exactly what it is and goes for it.
It’s based on a comic about a dude that bonds with an alien, symbiotic lifeform. Others have tried to “elevate” this type of source material and failed.
This doesn’t try to be anything more than it is (total nonsense) and on that basis it fully succeeds.
I’ve not seen Michelle Williams in anything since Brokeback Mountain. She’s great.
★★★