Reviews

I loved Chapter 1, so I went into Chapter 2 with high hope. The beginning sequence felt forced and incredibly exaggerated, with no relation to anything else that happens in the film. Henry Bowers had a brief cameo, honestly I don't know why he was even kept in the sequel for the little involvement he had. Pivotal scenes, like Stanley's death, were rushed or poorly handled. And for being a film at 2 hours and 40 mins, I felt that they did too much and not enough at the same time. I loved the adult actors in this film, they matched the younger actors quite well, they had modern technology at their disposal and an immense book to diligently pull material from and it just fell short of mediocre. They could've made Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 and really emphasized on the horrors they experienced as a kids, and then amp up the horror as adults. Aside from the Lumberjack scene and Stanley spider head... I did not get a horror vibe - AT ALL. The whimsical music also took so much from the film, as if they were in a world full of delight and wonder; it made no sense. As a Rated R film, they really held back. The studio really blew this... it could've easily been the first billion dollar horror film.

Timon and Pumba carried the film. It was all off. The iconic scenes felt rushed, there was no emotion on any of the characters, and they prolonged pointless scenes. Felt like they went down a checklist of what they needed to achieve, which scenes needed a "twist" and slapped it together. I felt nothing during Mufasa's death, Scar did not have a dramatic and theatrical sequence when mildly, halfheartedly sung 'Be Prepared', and Young Simba sounded like an annoying whiney kid. While it wasn't bad, it was not good by any stretch of the imagination. It felt like a poor "live action" recap of the original. With a budget of 260M, I'm wondering if most of it went to the celebrities who voiced the expressionless characters.

Dark Phoenix had the potential to be incredible and amazing but failed miserably. The fact that they had to do multiple reshoots, including reshooting the ending, was a dead giveaway to a poor production. The train sequence was the best part of the film... the choreography of the fights, the intensity, the reality of losing allies in battles - it was amazing, but that was it. All the characters had narratives totally out of place. Jean Grey's potential was kept to a minimum (better than The Last Stand though.) And the final fight sequence between The Phoenix and the villain was a total copy to 2002's Firestarter: Rekindled ending. I wonder if the original ending filmed was mimicked down to the dialogue because the final cut was too close in resemblance. They wasted money - I can't wait for Marvel Studios to do justice by the poorly handled X-Men franchise.

I enjoyed Toy Story 4 - I wasn't sure what could be done after TS3 because it felt like the perfect ending but TS4 was a perfect conclusion to Woody's purpose. The entire franchise focuses on his purpose being to support Andy but that no longer fell in place being in Bonnie's toy box. I loved it. Key and Peele stole the show though, they were incredibly hilarious. Not too big on Keanu Reeves' role... not sure why it got so much hype. The ending was heartfelt and emotional. With Woody and Buzz going their separate ways, I don't see another TS film working.... but they may prove me wrong because TS4 was refreshing and an updated outlook to the world of living toys.