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Reviews
Damsel (2024)
Honestly, it was exactly what I was expecting.
Obviously Netflix movies have a negative stigma. However, this was exactly what I'd expect from any streaming movie. The cgi, acting , and locations were all well done. From the title alone, you'd expect it to be some all powerful female warrior who was able to do something a bunch of men couldn't. While there is some of that, it makes sense. The drawback is that it feels rushed and bloated at the same time.
Within 10 minutes, our princess is already off to a new land to be married. There's not enough time spent establishing the characters and their motivations outside of them being poor. Then when the movie is nearing its end you realize not much actually happened. It doesn't feel like there's a middle act. It was more like a really long episode of a solid show.
Overall, it was slightly above average.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
A superb story that doesn't lean on the first movie to be engaging.
This movie is the perfect example of how to bring back a long dead IP without relying too heavily on nostalgia. In a world with an over-saturation of superhero, fantasy, and "one-man-army" movies, this film is surprisingly human. It is a perfect blend of emotion, team-building, humor, tension, and the idea of facing your demons, both past and present. There was not a single moment in this movie where I was bored. The characters and the story beats included the typical tropes we see in media, but the execution was perfect.
Strangely this movie introduces a threat to America, but never gives that threat a name, which felt somewhat cheap. Also, more time could've been spent with characters other than Maverick.
Injustice (2021)
Seriously... what was this ?
This movie is a turn in the wrong direction. Firstly, the animation style is not that polished DC animation we've come to know and love. Secondly, wayyy to much story is being packed into a movie that is just 1 hr and 18 minutes long. There's some minutes spent on some dumb jokes and I had to question how those scenes made it in with its extremely short duration.
I understand that this is an adaptation but some of the "creative decisions" that were made to distance it from the source material was just pointless. The voice acting was bland at best and most of the dialogue was boring.
About an hour into this 1 hr and 18 minute movie I had to ask "what does this have to do with the dissent of Superman?"
The creators of this film scrambled for an ending and decided to go with a very lazy and anticlimactic one.
The Batman (2022)
Super pretentious film
Don't get me wrong, the Batman is a great film but it certainly believes it is better than it is.
The good things: (1)this film doesn't divulge into mindless action and explosions and we see Bruce actually being a detective. (2) there are some amazing shots in this movie that, especially as a comic book fan, make you say "yea that's awesome"
The bad/bland: (1) obviously it is Gotham and it's supposed to be a dark, crime-ridden city. But there is nothing that stands out. (2)there is no twist in this 3hr crime drama. (3) There is no defining moment of this film. It plays more like a short ark in a tv show. (4) there are many scenes that are unnecessarily drawn out. (5) There is almost an overuse of realism in this movie. Batman is from a comic book universe where ridiculous and fantastical things happen and we just spent the Nolan trilogy with no supernatural things whatsoever.
My fear moving forward is that Matt Reeves won't ever embrace the comic book nature of Batman and the bat family or his rogues. But in terms of what he was aiming for here, pretty good.
Diabolical: One Plus One Equals Two (2022)
Good watch, ready for The Boys S3
Pretty straightforward. I wish we got a little more insight as to Noir's origin but it seems like they might be going the comic book accurate route with him.
When it comes to Homelander it's great to learn he wasn't always an murderous monster who didn't care about human life. It sticks with the whole idea of the Boys which is " if these things happened to you, why wouldn't you become completely awful?"
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
This is not the venom OR carnage that we deserve
This is far from the venom that should've made it to screen. At this point, we have gotten three movies featuring Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote and none of them have been good. After the cringeworthy frosted tips Topher Grace version that was shoved into Spider-Man 3 , Sony decided to go the solo route. The first Venom is watchable but this sequel is an awful collection of jokes that a 10 year old wouldn't find amusing. Tom Hardy returns as Eddie Brock who should be a massive man that resembles a bully. Instead, he is an average man that does some jittery nonsense for an hour an a half. After going through some pointless fighting, Eddie and Venom spend a huge portion of the film separated because "tension". Then venom hops from person to person like it's nothing. Even though he has this ability in the comics it would've been better if he sticks with Eddie instead of causally going to different hosts and only returning for food. At the end the viewer is supposed to believe they have some special bond.
The basic design of Carnage is rather cool, but in most scenes the CGI for him looks awful. I might've ignored it if his scenes weren't so bloodless and boring. This film really suffers from having a symbiote as the villain of the previous movie as well.
And Shriek. Maybe spend five minutes explaining where her powers originate from considering the only other super abilities come from symbiotes in this universe.
Overall every character does something unfunny/outright ridiculous such as when Shriek, after just being warned that her powers harm Carnage and by extension Kasady, uses her scream right next to Carnage because "movie".
And the movie concludes with Eddie and Venom randomly in the MCU which means absolutely nothing to anyone considering he is not a villain and has no good reason for conflict with Peter Parker.
But It's "ok" because the term "lethal protector" is repeated a few times and that's from the comics.