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Reviews
FBoy Island (2021)
Very entertaining, but still puts forward negative images of both men & women
I won't lie this show is pretty easy to keep watching partly because it's entertaining how crazy & tumultuous the people on it are. However, it really irks me how a good number of the men who succeed on the show are typically the toxic "f-boy" type. Even worse a lot of the women even after they find out who the "f-boys" are still fall head over heels for them despite saying they want the exact opposite often times. I don't know that I feel too sorry for the women that get burned by this when they had all the red flags revealed to them repeatedly. You can even look up how many of the "relationships" lasted, and you might've been smart enough to guess none of them did.
I also really find men gossiping/losing their tempers very often to project such an un-masculine energy, hence the "fboy" aspect. I feel the very nature of the show is ironically pretty misandrist by propping up and rewarding the toxic men. The women ironically reward the bad behavior too by choosing them over the good ones.
I recommend watching if you enjoy these finding love shows entertaining (guilty), but I don't recommend if you are looking for an intelligent show (far from it).
Shazam! (2019)
Such a delightful movie
I've seen this movie maybe 4 times since 2019. I can honestly say it's always so much fun to revisit each time. I wasn't very big on the Shazam character growing up even though I loved all the DC animated shows of the 90s and early 00s. He never really stood out to me since there was all the heavy hitters in the Justice League. With this movie the filmmakers really embrace the outlandish material with a sincerity. It never feels like they are winking at the audience despite the more light comedic tone. They still want you to care about Billy Batson and the rest of his foster family, and it works. DC has so much more potential for their other properties, and everything they've been doing in the past 2-3 years has been mostly solid. I'm really looking forward to the sequel and hope that DC can continue to make great movies for their characters, as it is long overdue. Marvel Studios has some legit competition on their hand if they're able to continue to build the universe like they have lately.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Flawed but greatly entertaining
Honestly this movie always had the odds stacked against it. From people being skeptical of the two character's battling, weird casting choices, and a yearlong delay in the release, its a shock to me that its still as good as it is. Don't get me wrong, it has plenty of little flaws, but I can't help but smile while watching.
Pros:
Ben Affleck is a great Batman and Bruce Wayne
The Batman fight scenes are perfect
Jeremy Irons is a great Alfred
The batsuit & batmobile are great
Henry Cavill makes a good Superman
Clark Kent actually does some investigative journalism
Wonder Woman's fight scene is really cool
The score is still pretty good
Cons:
The plot is very detached at times
The pacing is off
Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor is more silly than intimidating
Doomsday
Lois Lane is more of a damsel in distress than actual character
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: New World Order (2021)
The ending was predictable.
Towards the end there are implications the show is going to take on more racial undertones with the story. First they seem to imply Sam's sister was denied loans due to her race. And second, after Sam gives away Cap's shield, the government bestows it too a white man also implying they didn't want Sam because of his race. None of this feels too necessary, or at least yet. The story is still getting started, so I'm willing to give it more a chance as it goes on. I'd wish they give more of a chance for African American characters to have more types of stories to tell then ones that are purely race based.
WandaVision: The Series Finale (2021)
Underwhelming
I'll be honest I didn't have a lot of hype for this series since I wasn't overly invested in the relationship between Wanda and Vision to begin with. In all very few scenes were given to develop that romantic relationship in the movies. In the previous episode they did a great job of portraying all the grief Wanda has held onto, from losing her parents, brother, and then Vision, in large part due to Elizabeth Olsen's great acting. I will say though not enough felt of consequence in the series since most of the actual plot happens in the last 3 or so episodes. Sword's plan didn't really go anywhere and was easily thwarted in the end (White Vision lasts for a handful of minutes), as was the final confrontation between Wanda and Agatha. I never felt Wanda was ever in any real danger since she was able to overpower just about everyone. Let's not forget this is a character who's powerful enough to take on Thanos by herself. The cgi fest throughout the episode makes the action feel boring for the most part. Wanda's not a bad character, as evidenced in the previous episode there can be a lot of dramatic weight for the character, however, the series underplayed it for the most part. It's weird since there was 8 episodes and it still felt rushed.
WandaVision: On a Very Special Episode... (2021)
Starting to pick up more
While I wasn't particularly shocked that Wanda is creating her own sitcom reality out of her own grief from losing Vision, it is interesting seeing them turn Wanda into a more villainous character because of it. She's taken a whole town hostage to live in her reality, controlling their own consciousness including Vision's. It's apparent she doesn't seem entirely in control either. The end cameo is quite something too. Evan Peters' version of Pietro from the X-Men movies appears at the end, but it's unclear whether this is a nod to the fans or whether this is actually part of the multiverse being teased in the Doctor Strange and Spider-Man movies. I feel they could've started the series at episode 4, and it would've been more effective. The first three episodes drag a bit and don't contribute too greatly to the overall pacing of the actual plot since we get all the information we need in 4 & 5. I know people disagree with this, but I can't help but feel the other episodes were there to act as filler.
WandaVision: We Interrupt This Program (2021)
Still not blown away.
I don't understand all the 9s and 10s from the reviews here. Now we're stuck with even less interesting characters for this episode. It explains more, but that's really about it. Not much more dramatic weight is added to the story.
WandaVision: Now in Color (2021)
Nothing too compelling
It's come to my attention the people praising the show thinks the people who find this dull are too dumb to like it. I believe everyone in the past 70 years knows the sitcom tropes they are parodying, it doesn't make you smart to notice this in the show. It doesn't help that the two leads were never particularly compelling in any of the MCU movies they've been in. The references and foreshadowing to where it's heading seems obvious to me to, so I don't really find it very clever or compelling in that way either. I like the MCU movies, however, I don't see the need to give entire shows to the second tier characters when they aren't particularly interesting on their own.
Notes from Melanie (2019)
The Melanie character was shrill
I liked the bits showing the fake movies. The Melanie character seems perpetually outraged which made it very hard to watch. I like Stuckmann's reviews plenty and he seems to do camerawork very well, but he's not great at writing dialogue. He's a talented guy, so I'm sure he'll improve with time.
Midway (2019)
Messy and somewhat distasteful
You literally could've made 3-4 movies out of the plot (which feels disjointed and way too condensed). They cover Pearl Harbor, The Doolittle Raids, and lastly the Midway battle, all of which could easily be movies on their own, but are treated more as historical footnotes instead of being given the attention and care those events need. Not to mention it's not wholly necessary to focus too much on the Japanese military, which they also don't develop much, as it really drags down the overall pacing and would've benefitted from mainly focusing on one side's perspective. The acting lacks passion and comes across very bland, which is insulting, as these were all real American heroes whom all deserve better. The cgi is very lame and distracting, the pacing was horrid, and worst of all the script was very lacking. This felt more like a made for TV movie than an actual professionally made wide theatrically released movie. Worst of all it tried to paint some of the horrific things the Japanese military did as more matter of fact/honorable as opposed to being legitimately evil acts they carried out (such as slaughtering thousands of Americans and Chinese). This movie was incredibly distasteful.
Bad Reputation (2018)
We still don't know much about her
I was expecting this to be rather in-depth look at Joan Jett as opposed to more of a reaction to her from other people. It tends to be a quite redundant documentary, with Joan's peers and fans (often other big name musicians such as Billie Joe Armstrong, Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, etc.) talking about how she was groundbreaking just for being a female rocker basically. So here's the thing, I'm sure there were actual sexist people who really didn't like what she was doing, my issue with this tends to be I think this tends to be a bit exagerrated at times. For example, they go on about how she talked about sex in her music and how this was taboo or socially unacceptable just because of her gender, by comparing it to Mick Jagger being sexually suggestive. I'm sorry, but yes there was blowback to male musicians being overtly sexual, especially in the south, hell parent groups (often headed by mothers) largely tried banning Male centric hard rock and metal music for being graphic, violent and (you guessed it) sexually suggestive. Seriously look up the PMRC. I get the feeling that a lot of the disgust and criticism directed towards Joan comes with the territory as opposed to it be a gender bias. Guys with long hair were often picked on or subjected to homophobic slurs sometimes.
Its more often a diatribe about this kind of stuff for large portions of the documentary as opposed to her musical process or anything much to do with her personal relationship with any of her bandmates. It even glosses this over with the Runaways. It doesn't particularly give much more insight into who she is than what we already know about her.
Keith Richards: Under the Influence (2015)
Interesting, but sporadic
If you're a big Stones fan and have a knowledge of their history, then this documentary won't have much new stuff to offer. We get the usual story about what influenced him starting out from the old blues of Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf to the early rock of Chuck Berry and Elvis. Most of the documentary is about his appreciation for the music as well as the making of his third solo album Crosseyed Heart (though it doesn't really get much into the songs themselves). The making of the album is more of a backdrop for Keith's ramblings on the music he loves, which I suppose was sort of the point, but it makes the documentary feel choppy and sporadic at times. It'll jump from him praising Reggae, from breifly mentioning his 80s feud with Mick, to him playing with his idol Chuck Berry in '86 within a span of 2-3 minutes. These are all very entertaining on their own, but these stories don't always get as much breathing room to go too far in depth.
This is by no means a bad documentary, its very watchable and entertaining, but its not as grand as you'd want a documentary to be about a legend like Keith.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Charlie's Home Alone (2018)
Another uninspired episode
Referencing a movie as your only fallback for gags is a bit boring. They've given up at this point. If you have seen both the show and Home Alone, you can guess the vast majority of jokes that are going to be in it. Please put Always Sunny out of its misery at this point. This show has lost its way.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Wins the Big Game (2018)
A mess
The whole group dynamic felt off. Almost the whole time it felt as if Mac's lines were meant for Dennis. Mac's bossy, but he's not necessarily the one trying to keep everyone in line, didn't particularly feel like his character. Mac's not a very methodical character. A lot of the gags weren't all that funny or original either, that being Frank having trouble with his prostate (but whenever he needs to pee the Eagles seem to score), Dee having pink eye, and a lot of the shoehorned fan service gimmicks about longtime Sunny characters like Cricket, Rex, Bill Ponderosa, Uncle Jack, etc.
It would've been way funnier if they did this just between the gang in its usual form, but they crammed in too many characters, and relied on lazy humor. I've really tried to like this season of Sunny, but it keeps letting me down. I don't particularly have an issue with topical humor (South Park does this brilliantly), however I can't help but feel as if the creative team on the show has gone on autopilot. The gags are all predictable and much less funny than they were in previous seasons, and the topical episodes seem to try and distract from that as best as they can. It also doesn't help that a lot of the original writers aren't contributing to the episodes quite as much. This all feels like some bad fanmade episodes this season. I love this show, but this season has been plain boring and unfunny, which is the last thing I'd expect to say about this show.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Beats Boggs: Ladies Reboot (2018)
Uninspired
This season feels as if its gone on autopilot thus far. We didn't need to see a re-do/different version of the Boggs episode. Being 13 seasons in its incredibly hard for a show to feel original anymore, and even with intriguing plot devolopments in the last season (Mac coming out as gay, Charlie and the Waitress getting together, Dennis becoming a dad), it starting to seem that these were all distractions from the show starting to become tired. Aside from being a unfunny rehash of an earlier episode, it should be noted that sexism has been tackled plenty of times in the show in much funnier ways. The ways both Dennis and Frank treat women (and sometimes Mac and Charlie) is never meant to be seen as a good thing, so it especially doesn't feel like there's any new explored territory thematically either. It doesn't particularly help that the female characters are all just as despicable as their male co-stars in the show, being this is supposed to be the female empowerment episode. Dee has been known to not only objectify herself, but also falsly accuse men of sexual assault (watch The Gang Goes To Hell pt 1 for reference), and to add to that she tries to frame the only male waitor (the Guigino's waitor) into assaulting her. This was a total comedic misfire. This is my favorite show, so I don't say that lightly.
Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
Well at least its the last one.... (Hopefully)
If box office numbers are any indication, it definitely looks like audiences have finally lost interest in this movie series. I'll be honest, while I'm no fan of these movies, I don't find them too horribly atrocious like some others. Mark Wahlberg is a likable movie star, and does what he can to make the movie worthwhile. Some of the IMAX camera shots look pretty good at times, but the editing kind of ruins some of those moments, as it changes the aspect ratios so inconsistently. I will say that some of the more annoying parts were toned down when compared to previous movies. The whole government aspect isn't nearly as present, and the plot tries, but fails to make sense. Thankfully its about twenty minutes shorter than the last few movies, and doesn't feel quite as tedious to sit through.
Batman Returns (1992)
Loose narrative structure
Batman Returns is one of the missed opportunities in the Batman film series. Tim Burton was given full creative control, and to those who know the production history of the previous movie then you're likely aware Tim didn't really care much for the comic book source material. Screenwriter Sam Hamm kept both of the movies having the most connection to the comics, and while parts of his script drafts are present for both movies they both got rewritten at some point by different writers, for this movie it was Daniel Waters.
While Batman's name is in the title, the script doesn't have a clear protagonist in the movie all the time. In most cases your protagonist undergoes some sort of change in their character arc, and the closest we get to this is Selina Kyle/Catwoman, however she shares about the same amount of screen time as Batman, Penguin, and Max Shreck (Christopher Walken. With Selina Kyle we see her go from the timid, lonely, and down on her luck secretary to a mentally unstable vengeful fighter in the Catwoman persona. Since the movie pays a lot of time to other characters there isn't always as much focus on her story as it could've been, as the middle portion of the movie mostly focuses on a bizarre plot of The Penguin running for mayor and teaming up with Catwoman to stop Batman. Catwoman's main motive and goal in the movie is to kill Max Shreck for his attempted murder on her, which isn't focused on for most of her screen time. The most fascinating scenes are the one's she has with Bruce Wayne and Batman whether in or out of costume. This is mostly due to how the character relate and reflect each other's personas. When the movie ends and you realize Bruce and Selina won't end up together it's somewhat sad because you get the sense they'd make each other live happily.
The performances in the movie are somewhat good, but are hampered down by sometimes dreadful dialogue ("Eat floor. High fiber."). The movie's plot bounces around too often to get too invested in any of the subplots. For instance, Max Shreck has a boring plan to monopolize and stockpile the power supply in Gotham, but this plot is abandoned and then the movie chooses to focus on him running a campaign to get Penguin to be mayor of Gotham. Neither plot goes anywhere really, with the latter more being there to create occasional roadblocks for Batman to overcome. The Penguin's main goal is to kidnap and kill all of Gotham's first born children, but this is also abandoned for most of the movie for the mayor subplot and his team up subplot with Catwoman. It's not until the third act when he actually acts on this, and it's easily thwarted by Batman within a handful of minutes. He then all the sudden has an army of penguins with rockets strapped on them intending to shoot at Gotham plaza which is also stopped by Batman in about 2 minutes.
There are also very bizarre unexplained occurrences in the plot such as the Penguin somehow having the blueprints to the batmobile and knowing how to sabotage its control system. Selina Kyle, whom there was no indication of knowing acrobatics, martial arts, and how to handle a whip knows how to do all of this when revived from her fall. There's also the silly mirror setup outside Wayne Manor having the Batman emblem, and it leaves you to wonder how many people could just drive by and notice it in Gotham.
The movie does have great art direction and cinematography, so it's a very easy movie to look at, but not always the easiest movie to care for. Danny Elfman's score for this movie is almost as good as his score for the first movie, so there's plenty to enjoy with the music. Overall it stands at about a 5.6/10 for me. There was a lot of potential, however, the movie likely would've been better served if the Penguin was removed since he's often tied to the least interesting plots in the movie and would save more time on Catwoman's arc which is by far the most interesting.
Batman & Robin (1997)
What to say...
Everything bad to say about this movie has already been said. Quite possibly the worst comic book movie of that decade, and definitely the worst Batman movie. The 60s Batman was really silly, but actually felt like it was meant to be kind of comedic. This movie actually tries to put themes of family tragedies in the script along with the immensely ridiculous campy tone that loomed over the movie. Its the reverse of what most movies are. Movies usually have moments of levity to sometimes ease the drama, yet this movie has attempted drama moments to try and ease the silliness. This movie just simply doesn't work.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Flawed but greatly entertaining
Honestly this movie always had the odds stacked against it. From people being skeptical of the two character's battling, weird casting choices, and a yearlong delay in the release, its a shock to me that its still as good as it is. Don't get me wrong, it has plenty of little flaws, but I can't help but smile while watching.
Pros:
Ben Affleck is a great Batman and Bruce Wayne
The Batman fight scenes are perfect
Jeremy Irons is a great Alfred
The batsuit & batmobile are great
Henry Cavill makes a good Superman
Clark Kent actually does some investigative journalism
Wonder Woman's fight scene is really cool
The score is still pretty good
Cons:
The plot is very detached at times
The pacing is off
Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor is more silly than intimidating
Doomsday
Lois Lane is more of a damsel in distress than actual character
Batman (1989)
Good, but not great
Batman '89 set a high bar for comic book movie franchises when it came out. The movie broke box office records and benefitted immensely from heavy and aggressive marketing, selling hundreds of millions in merchandise. A big part of this is how unique the movie was for its time since aside from the first Superman movie, audiences thought of superheroes as something to not take too seriously. When this movie came out it broke that narrative and showed audiences these movies could have a dark tone in the movie and mostly have it work.
From the great gothic sounding score from Danny Elfman, to the gloomy sets depicting Gotham, and a Batman that would go as far to kill some of the criminals he faced, the movie sets its self apart from the get go. Michael Keaton's performance as the character still resonates with audiences 32 years later, notably being the first to make Batman have a different voice than the Bruce Wayne alter ego. His Batman doesn't speak much in the costume, however it makes his version come across more mysterious and intimidating while he's in the suit. While the fight scenes and action scenes are somewhat dated, it doesn't hamper Keaton's overall performance much. As his Bruce Wayne alter ego he plays more of a seclusive and neurotic type, who stays out of the public eye. While I wish they did more to develop the Bruce Wayne alter ego in the movie, Keaton's portrayal is charming enough for you to overlook some of the writing flaws with his character. There are some notable aspects that always bugged me about Bruce Wayne in the film. For one, nobody seems to know who he is or recognize him despite being a billionaire from a famous Gotham family. It bothered me a bit that Vicki Vale had trouble finding out the Waynes were murdered when he was a child. There's no good reason for this in the plot either. Another aspect that sticks out is they don't give Bruce a good reason as to why he's Batman, the reason he says in the movie is because "nobody else can." We all know his parents death motivates him, however, I think Batman Begins does a far better job of adding nuance to why he chooses to take on that persona.
The Joker is certainly the driving force of the movie, bolstered by the great Jack Nicholson performance. A great deal of the lines of dialogue are memorable, and there are genuinely funny moments from his scenes too. I liked that they show his progression into the Joker persona, with him going completely mad after falling into the vat of chemicals. He creates a great contrast to Keaton's mostly quiet Batman with his boundless charisma and sheer insanity, which makes their interactions quite entertaining. I understand why having the Joker as the murderer of Batman's parents is controversial, however, I think it mostly works as it adds an extra dramatic layer to their conflict. The real downside to the Joker character is his evil plot isn't too compelling. He wants to "run the city into the ground" and does so by tampering with commonly sold beauty products, giving Gotham citizens the creepy Joker grin. The Joker also tries courting Vicki Vale in the movie which comes across as kind of bizarre for the character as he's not really the romantic type and doesn't seem to care about women anyways (he facially deforms his first girlfriend in the movie).
Overall the movie works in establishing Batman and his world as a dark place. The approach they took with the gothic set design has been very influential on both the animated series and the comics. The cinematography is quite good, as is the case with many of Tim Burton's movies. Elfman still has the most iconic Batman theme to this day. Batman '89 isn't a great Batman movie, it is a good one though. I think without Keaton's and Nicholson's performances the movie simply wouldn't work.
Get Thrashed (2006)
One of the best Metal documentaries out there
As a huge fan of Thrash Metal, I can definitely say that "Get Thrashed," represents the genre very well. Most of the time I feel like this sub-genre of Metal is often glossed over in a lot of documentaries, or they will mostly just focus on Metallica or Slayer. But "Get Thrashed," goes beyond the usual crap. It analyzes the culture, the fans, the impact, as well as the music itself without ever seeming too preachy or self indulgent. It helps that the majority of people interviewed are the people who played a big part in it, cause often these documentaries will have maybe a few of the key players then a bunch of journalists. Personally when I want to be informed on something I want to go to the source itself, rather than get someone's testimonial. My only real flaw with it is that it does meander a bit, otherwise it's great.