Tag: movies

cinema

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Infinity War: Every Fighter Ranked, From Worthless To Most Powerful

After what seems like an eternity, Avengers: Infinity War is finally up on the big screen. The fan reaction so far has been largely positive and the movie just broke the record for the all-time highest-grossing opening weekend in film history. This impressive feat started with it becoming one of the few movies to make $200 million in its opening weekend and making the most money on a Thursday night release of any Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

Having seen the movie and our favorite heroes pitted against the Children of Thanos and the Mad Titan himself, we can now compose a definitive list of whom the best fighters are among all the so-called Infinity Warriors. To that end, we have chosen thirty characters from Avengers: Infinity War to rate.

It should be noted that there will be SPOILERS AHEAD for those who have not seen Avengers: Infinity War.

It should also be noted that this list is based on a variety of factors, including combat training, strategic ability, raw power, any impressive feats the character accomplished, and their ability to utilize all their advantages in a fight.

We also limited this to characters who we see in at least one extended fight scene, which sadly disqualified M’Baku’s small role since we don’t really see him in action.

Posted on by — 31 Comments

Review: Doctor Strange is Marvel’s best-looking film. But it’s not Marvel’s best movie.

The first seven minutes of Doctor Strange, Marvel’s first cinematic foray into its magical universe full of sorcerers, relics, and dark dimensions, are a punch in the mouth. It’s a fight scene; Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his goons are taking on the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), and to get the upper hand, they begin folding the buildings around them like origami.

It’s vaguely reminiscent of that scene from Inception, you think to yourself. But you don’t know half of what’s about to hit you.

The buildings gnarl and twist like segments of a Rubik’s Cube. Balconies become conveyor belts. An adjacent edifice buckles over and starts spinning, threatening to smash down on various characters like a maniacal rolling pin. Gravity flips and shifts with each camera angle as the goons look like inebriated hamsters on a wheel. The basic physics concepts you’re used to no longer work in the way you’ve been taught. It’s like watching reality tear itself apart.

By the time you catch your breath, a realization dawns: That opening sequence is the most stunning seven minutes of footage Marvel has ever created. And Doctor Strange is, without a doubt, the best Marvel movie in history when it comes to looks — a movie whose ambition and creativity is matched by its execution. If there is justice in the world, Doctor Strange will win an Oscar for its visual effects.

But even though the film is Marvel’s crowning aesthetic triumph, even though all four of its stars — Swinton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Rachel McAdams — have their game faces on and act their hearts out, even though it’s got great humor and spirit, Doctor Strange isn’t close to being Marvel’s best movie.

Here’s why that’s okay, and why you should definitely see it anyway.

Posted on by — 24 Comments

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ on HBO, Jim Jarmusch’s Mega-Cast Lark of a Zombie Movie

I’ll be the first person to admit that more often than not, I am persuaded to go and see a film not because of the storyline but because of the actors in it. I am much more performance driven than director driven, and with names like Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny and Tilda Swinton front and centre here, The Dead Don’t Die was something that I know I wasn’t going to be able to miss. The problem was, though, that my last journey in the to world of filmmaker Jim Jarmusch was nowhere near as satisfying as I wanted it to be. Could this new genre piece make up for the ‘meh’ that I felt for 2014’s Only Lovers Left Alive?

The Dead Don’t Die tells the story of a zombie invasion that takes place in the fictional town of Centerville, USA. Whilst local cops Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray), Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver) and Mindy Morrison (Chloe Sevigny) work to try to find the cause of some initial mystery killings, the rest of the town slowly but surely becomes aware that the cause of the problem is real, actual undead ghouls, apparently risen from their graves due to a shift in the Earth’s rotation.

A campy, silly premise like this certainly sounds like it has the potential to be fun, but then you have to remember whose film this is. Writer/director Jim Jarmusch has a penchant for making things so deadpan and counter reactive that, in my opinion, it ends up sucking the life out of everything in a really tedious and self indulgent way. Any traditional pleasure a viewer might take from a dumb zombie movie simply isn’t there, and whilst the aim was clearly to replace this traditional fun with a more wry, satirical edge, the fact is that the film isn’t nearly funny enough on a regular basis to make up for it.

Posted on by — 4 Comments

‘Aladdin’ Review: This Is Not What You Wished For

In my household growing up, Aladdin was a huge, huge deal. Being the older sister of a little brother, the Disney catalogue at that point had few films that could entertain us both in equal measure, and as a result the 1992 animated classic is probably the animated feature that I have seen most in my life. Following the likes of Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty And The Beast and Dumbo, it was only a matter of time before Prince Ali and co. were given the live action treatment. I’m not going to lie, I went in nervous as hell.

2019’s Aladdin brings the same story to the big screen, the tale of a young street rat (played by Mena Massoud) who uses the power of a magical Genie (Will Smith) to become a Prince and win the heart of the Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), the Sultan’s daughter. Here’s the thing, I wanted to really love Aladdin, like really really love it like I loved Mary Poppins Returns, but unfortunately this just didn’t do it for me. There are definitely certain things to like about the film, but if I were to write a pros and cons list, the cons would almost certainly win out.

There is something that all of these cartoon to live action adaptation have had in common from the beginning, and that is a lack of kinetic energy compared to the animated originals. In the case of Aladdin, this energy is most clearly lost, in my opinion, in the majority of musical set pieces that fall completely flat (the only exception, interestingly, being Jasmine’s new number). One Jump Ahead feels like a strange, underusing, over directed fever dream, Friend Like Me felt physically painful to me, and A Whole New World seriously fails to capture the soaring magic of the cartoon carpet ride. I will give Prince Ali and Arabian nights their due, however. I have seen many people praising the colours of the film, but I couldn’t disagree more. Certain scenes may be vibrant, but I can’t celebrate the colouring of an Aladdin remake when the cave of wonders was more grey stone than golden treasure and the A Whole New World sequence bordered on Battle of Winterfell levels of darkness. Guy Ritchie, what’s going on bro?

Interestingly, the majority of positive change that the film provides is in its slight story tweaks rather that its showmanship. Princess Jasmine in particular is given far more agency in this 21st century update, something that feels more fitting both for the times and for the vibe of the movie. The picture also possesses a fun levity and a fast pace that helps you along even in those moments where the performances or the songs aren’t quite doing it for you. Ultimately, if there is such a duel attitude as being unimpressed whilst simultaneously mildly entertained, then that is what Aladdin evokes.

Posted on by — 8 Comments

“Incredibles 2,” Reviewed: A Sequel in the Shadow of a Masterwork

For some reason, the hype and love for the original Incredibles film was something that kind of passed me by. Don’t get me wrong, I laughed along in the cinema with the rest of you those fourteen years ago, and I can’t profess to being ‘too cool’ for kid’s movies as a 15 year old in 2004 (I’m still not that cool), but the Incredibles was just a film that rarely entered my thinking process when it came to pondering a top five Pixar list. That doesn’t mean, though, that I wasn’t excited about the prospect of re-entering the universe. In fact, with a PR promise of the main focus being on Elastigirl this time around, I went in with the rare feeling that this could be a sequel I like better than the original.

I wasn’t wrong. Although released fourteen years later, Incredibles 2 takes off literally seconds after the end of the 2004 original. Everyone’s favourite super powered family are forced to fight off the bizarre mole like villain Underminer, but in doing so they attract far too much public attention to themselves are forced to go in to hiding of their own volition after the government shuts down the Superhero Relocation Program. This time around, and in a very timely narrative choice, it is Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) who is contacted by a man named Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk), a millionaire businessman who is committed to reversing the law that criminalises superhero through public acts of heroism and good PR.

In an attempt to avoid the messy, costly style of heroic destruction that often follows Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Elastigirl is chosen as the new figurehead of this operation, and whilst she becomes embroiled in a fight against a mysterious cyber villain known as the Screensaver, dad has to stay at home with the kids and face his own battles in the form of Violet’s (Sarah Vowell) new crush, Dash’s (Huck Milner) penchant for trouble and baby Jack Jack’s many, MANY emerging powers. With a little babysitting help, of course, from our favourite super-suit designer, Edna Mode (Brad Bird).

Posted on by — 3 Comments

All the characters from the live-action ‘Mulan,’ ranked

I’m sure there were others at the time, but to me it very much feels like Mulan was the first high profile casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. I mentioned in my March review of System Crasher that I had expected to be watching Disney’s big new remake on that weekend, but here we finally are six months later! I might be back in the cinema now, but Disney+ was chosen as the home for this long awaited picture. As I pressed play, I hoped beyond hope that the wait was going to be worth it.

As I am sure we all know, Mulan tells the story of Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei), a young woman who disguises herself as a male soldier to take the place of her ageing, injured father (Tzi Ma) after the Emperor of China (Jet Li) issues a decree to defend the country from Northern invaders.

I won’t beat around the bush, guys. The wait was not worth it. I’m not going to hide the fact that I am a huge fan of the 1998 animated version, so a lot of this review is going to be a comparative exercise between the two, but even as a stand alone feature, Mulan is an incredible disappointment. Let’s start with the comparisons, shall we? I’m not exaggerating when I say that every single important beat of this story was executed better twenty-two years ago. Moments like Mulan’s decision to transform herself, the iconic training montage, the final battle, each and every one is a pale imitation of what we saw in animated form in 1998. I’ve really thought about it, and this isn’t nostalgia talking, it’s just plain facts.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

‘Thunder Force’ Review: Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer in a Superhero Satire That Never Threatens to Rock the Genre

A movie like “Thunder Force,” on the other hand, would like to skewer the genre, but it’s basically a whiffleball action comedy studded with middle-drawer Melissa McCarthy gags. The movie teams McCarthy and Octavia Spencer as estranged high-school pals who get back together after a reunion and turn themselves into a superhero team called Thunder Force. Lydia (McCarthy) has super-strength; Emily (Spencer) can turn invisible. Both are devoted to fighting Miscreants, mutant sociopaths who came into being when a pulse of interstellar rays struck the earth in 1983. The two get their superpowers after being injected with a genetic formula pioneered by Emily’s corporation. Inside, though, they remain their deeply ordinary selves, which is part of the joke, though it isn’t much of a joke.

They’ve got armored suits that make them look like members of a medieval S.W.A.T. team. They’ve got a name — Thunder Force! — that sounds just ridiculous enough to have been the title of a Howard Stern “Fartman” movie. They’ve got a purple Lamborghini, which it takes them a minute to stuff themselves into (or wedge themselves out of).

And when they meet the Crab (Jason Bateman), a Miscreant with crustacean pincers for arms, who for some reason is holding up a convenience store, Lydia looks into his eyes and it’s love at first crab pinch. There’s a fantasy sequence in which the two dance to Glenn Frey’s “You Belong to the City,” which is amusing, though I kept thinking that if this had been an “Airplane!”-style spoof, that dance number, with Bateman’s crab/human Lothario in a powder-blue tux, would have grown progressively more absurd, getting loopier and loopier, until it detonated the audience with laughter.

How much of a loser-slob is McCarthy’s Lydia? She’s a lonely alcoholic forklift operator who’s also a metalhead, the kind of person who sits in her kitchen in a VAN HALEN KICKS ASS T-shirt, taking bites of cereal with spoiled milk, which she then remedies by pouring in a beer (“Know what? Gonna thin that out”). She wears an Army jacket and has no friends, though she does have a funny moment when she shows up at the security desk in the office building that houses Emily’s genetics corporation, asking to see her ex-friend (“Estranged, I think, puts a stink on it that it might not warrant…”).

Posted on by — 25 Comments

Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm

Elzar Mann is a man consumed by a vision he can’t quite comprehend. Pain and suffering, the faces of his dearest friends and people he has yet to meet, swirl around him. But what does it mean?

In StarWars.com’s exclusive excerpt of the prologue from Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm, the forthcoming Star Wars: The High Republic novel by Cavan Scott, Elzar tries to unravel the terrifying images that suggest an end to the Jedi. Read the preview below, and pick up your own copy when The Rising Storm arrives June 29.

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Review: Wonder Woman 1984 Is What A Superman Movie Should Be

In Army of the Dead, Snyder has explained that there are several types of zombies, including the smarter “Alphas.” As the trailer shows, the Alphas are much smarter, faster and more organized than the run-of-the-mill shambling zombie. There also appears to be a hierarchy among them, with two zombies sticking out as the apparent “King” and “Queen.” Though these zombies don’t seem nearly as intelligent as the ones in Marvel Zombies, exhibiting a more primitive type of thinking.

A normal zombie horde is scary enough. They swarm victims and devour them alive. But many zombie films and TV suggest zombie groups can easily be tricked or avoided entirely because they have no real intelligence. Smart zombies, on the other hand, present a serious threat that can plan and prepare for any attacks the humans have in store for them. As per The Walking Dead, traditional zombies shuffle mindlessly in search of food, while smarter ones exist like a pack of hungry wolves in search of prey.  The possibility of Army of Dead‘s Alphas leading an organized attack is a terrifying one, considering Marvel Zombies already showcased how powerful these types of zombies can be.

Directed and co-written by Zack Snyder, Army of the Dead stars Dave Bautista, Garret Dillahunt, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Raul Castillo, Tig Notaro, Theo Rossi and Ana de la Reguera. The film arrives on Netflix May 21.

Posted on by — 139 Comments

Marvel Should Recast T’Challa in ‘Black Panther’ to Honor Chadwick Boseman

In this golden age of superheroes films, the Marvel Cinematic Universe stands tall and proud as a beacon to this blockbuster tentpole of comic book heroes and villains. This shared movie franchise that began back in 2008 has bolstered some of the greatest superheroes that Marvel has in its illustrious comic book history, bringing iconic heroes, villains, gods, and monsters to the big screen. Naturally, the bigger and more popular comic book characters were part of initial release when the MCU first rolled out its “Phase I” saga, seeing Tony Stark / Iron Man, Bruce Banner / Hulk, Steve Rogers / Captain America, and Thor to the grace the silver screen in their own feature films as well as superhero team up ones (i.e. the Avengers films). Over time (and its overwhelming success), the MCU began to expand its own cinematic universe, exploring and examining lesser-known comic book characters to “bring into the fold” of this lucrative film franchise. Thus, Marvel characters like Ant-Man, and Doctor Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy have gotten their own standalone feature film and have been brought into this growing roster of Marvel heroes. Back in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War (the 13th film in the MCU), while many viewers were excited to see the new iteration of Spider-Man (played by actor Tom Holland), the film also introduced the character of T’Challa, the heir apparent to the fictional African nation of Wakanda, and his superhero masked alter-ego…the Black Panther. Interestingly (and not just a cameo), T’Challa, who was played by actor Chadwick Boseman, actually played an important part in Civil War’s narrative, which served as the foundation to introduced the future king of Wakanda within the MCU. Now, the time has come for the character of T’Challa to get his own feature film as Marvel Studios and director Ryan Coogler present the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Black Panther. Does this movie find its regal place amongst its superhero MCU brethren or does it fail to impress even the most stalwart comic book fans out there?

The logo for the film also gives some clues as to Kamala’s part. While the “A” in “Marvels” features Captain Marvel’s insignia, the “S” is Ms. Marvel’s iconic logo. The upcoming Disney+ show Ms. Marvel is set to release in late 2021, preceding The Marvels‘ release in 2022. This means Kamala will be an established character going into the film and the story won’t need to waste time introducing her. And there’s always the possibility that Carol Danvers herself could make an appearance in Ms. Marvel to set up events of her sequel.