Where's his creepy little sister at?

Also, Feyd lookin like Pennywise is... a choice.

 

Saw the Covenant - new Guy Ritchie movie with Jake Gylenhaal. A surprisingly minimalist movie by GR standards, I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend to anyone enjoying action movies.

 

Can't wait for this one. Cillian Murphy is gonna kill it

 

heh

 

On the flipside, I met this trailer with a resounding 'meh'. Imo Nolan is at his best when he ventures into the fantasy/sci-fi sphere. Oppenheimer sounds like a dramatized recounting of real events. It sounds like Dunkirk 2017, which, while a technical masterwork, bored me to tears. I don't want Nolan to be making Dunkirks, I want him to be making Inceptions, Interstellars, hell even Tenet has grown on me in subsequent viewings.

If Oppenheimer turns out to have a sci-fi twist and the planet really does get plunged into a global firestorm when they push the button, I will eat these words.

 

Even if it doesn't, it would be pretty great dream sequence, but practical aspect would probably stop Nolan from doing it. He probably already struggled with getting an atomic bomb, figuring out how to make it burn the atmosphere would be a little too much even for him.

 

Saw John Wick 4. Production values were great, but was definitely victim of its own success, and simply didn’t know when to end. It was at least an hour too long, the dude with the dog should have been cut out, and both the dialogue and the fight scenes were simply sloppy - especially the part in Osaka, where at least 5 stuntpeople were doing very obvious “preparing for my beat” moves, the “Mortal Kombat fighter selection stepping in place”.

Spoiler

the death in the end felt especially sloppy. Director said something like “how can he survive all that?” about how it’ll end, except… he survived all that. He survived falls from the fourth (or more) floor multiple times, been driven over like 20 times without nothing more than bruises and then he dies in the finale, because “how can he survive”? It was honestly very disappointing

 

John Wick 4 felt to me like they combined the originally planned stories for 4 and 5, but didn't do enough editing down of the script.

Don't care that much though, I always was interested in these movies for the action and that was particularly clean.

I do think the end was inevitable though.

Spoiler

There always would have been another place for him to aim his need for vengeance, or someone coming after him. By it's very nature this was a war that couldn't end because there would always be someone stepping up to take out John for the chance of glory and power. At least this way he saved Winston and freed Donnie Yen's character of High Table obligation.

 

https://www.superherohype.com/tv/526039-sony-gives-an-update-on-amazons-god-of-war-tv-series/amp

Not sure when it’ll come out but pretty freaking excited for the God of War TV show. It sounds like they’re taking a similar approach to Last of Us, which was apparently really well done.

Christoper Judge as Kratos would be cool.

 

Just got back from Across the Spider-Verse. It's staggeringly good. If you like Spider-Man, you need to see it. If you like superheroes, you need to see it. If you like animation, you need to see it. Best film I've seen this year by a long shot.

 

So they kept the strong showing of the first one going. That's great news.

 

I was not expecting Across the Spider-Verse to be better than the first one, but by god it had some mad Two Towers vibes, managed to be serious and build up the suspense. Best Spiderman movie all time imho

 

I loved it, the visuals were beautiful, the characters were engaging and got you invested, and the plot got you hooked the entire time even when things were a little slow, it really does not feel like two and a half hours and you just want it to continue.
I am also happy they split the movie, rather than rush unsatisfying ending.
Though obviously it still leaves you hanging at the end, but that just makes me want to see the next one more
The nods to the various Spider-Men from the comics were also nice.
I do understand if people prefer the first one though, since the movie is more complete and self contained.

 

Went to see Across the Spider-verse yesterday, and it was one hell of an experience. The comedy was great, and managed to avoid the pitfall of kneecapping the more emotional scenes. The movie moved at a mile a minute but still found time for quieter moments of connection and introspection. Miles' (and Gwen's) internal struggles were present, and held in the forefront at important moments without ever taking over and veering into annoying angst. I liked the new characters, and the way they were realised was fantastic.

I was a little worried about it, going in, after being disappointed by No Way Home's overly (for me) self-congratulatory fanservice, but somehow Across the Spider-verse managed to pack in approximately 1000% more references without doing the same. No Way Home had this way of referencing a thing, then almost seeming to hold for applause, just to make sure you'd noticed how smart they were being. Across the Spider-verse didn't do that. It was more like the filmmakers went in wanting to play with their toys and have fun and that really came through.

I think I still prefer Into the Spider-verse. While I can see what they did in their attempt to provide this movie with an ending by book-ending it with Gwen's journey, the focus was far too much on Miles for too much of the movie's runtime for it to really feel like a satisfying conclusion.

It's going to be a long wait for 'Beyond the Spider-verse'.

 

Echoing the above, Spider-verse was amazing. Incredibly beautiful film, great cameos, believable antagonist.

Spoiler

I was absolutely fucking blown away by the layers of the "Save police captain or save everyone else" discussion. Where it's pointed out how every single Spider-Man has to choose between a single person they know, and a group of people.
And it's pointed out this is Miles' dad is the police captain.
But attempting to save him will doom his entire reality.

That discussion is Miles' Canon Event. He's in that position right in that scene.

Unless that's me reading too much into it.

 

Alright, another voice to the choir: Across was excellent; gripping, compelling, more references than there are Spideys if that's even possible, VAs giving it their absolute all, with a continued heartbeat of music to inform everything and make everything even better, and above all else, it is unapologetically comic-book from the word go. I don't know how they manage to fit all the styles together so goddamn beautifully, but it is, like the whole project, pure art.

If a little flash-heavy at times. Seriously, caught myself thinking this was not a film to watch if you've got a history of photosensitive epilepsy. Otherwise, this is WELL worth the price of admission.

I'm not gonna dive into which is overall better - Into or Across - because frankly, I feel like that's splitting hairs between two absolute titans.

Spoiler

Into does have the better emotional payoff scene with the leap of faith, but being completely honest, that's one of those absolute top-tier frisson moments that you cannot force, only aspire to reach, and I'm glad Across didn't try for one. Suppose there's the entire "You're the anomaly!" sequence, but that didn't feel like it was set up to emulate... Just to calculatedly break hearts and spirits and rejoice with the "Nah. I'mma do my own thing." Distinct, no less powerful for it, but distinct.

 

Looks great.

Walken as emperor is hilarious though.

 

"Paul--"

"Yes, I have"

"--Atreides what--"

"I have come"

"--are you doing--"

slightly frustrated now "I have come"

"--here? You--little punk?"

 

They released the trailer for Napoleon. I really hope its good as the Peninsular War is one of my favourite periods in history.

 

From what I read, it's only about the raise of Napoleon. Probably ends with his Austerlitz victory.