Weekend Watch - Venom: The Last Dance

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the third film in Tom Hardy’s Venom trilogy, Venom: The Last Dance, which looks to be the final installment of Sony’s partnership with Hardy in bringing the symbiote antihero to the big screen. Co-written by its star Hardy and director Kelly Marcel (Cruella and Fifty Shades of Grey), the film also features performances from Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, and Cristo Fernández. It opened this weekend to the same collection of mixed reviews from audiences and critics as its two predecessors. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C-; it’s just as ok as the two films that came before – fun but not at all substantial.

Should you Watch This Film? If you like the first two Venom films, you’ll probably enjoy this one as well. If you want something fresh, new, and groundbreaking, this film is not the film for you.

Why?

                Venom: The Last Dance seeks to establish itself as the true conclusion to a trilogy. Unfortunately, the trilogy it’s seeking to conclude lacked serious thematic and/or narrative cohesion, and the result is yet another tonally disjointed film with oddly communicated stakes and a marked lack of any natural emotional beats, which trilogy concluders so often seek. There’s some solid sound and visual effects work being done on the part of the post-production team, and the film does take some big swings with its action sequences, but none of it ever comes together with the intervening story to make something that feels at all better than a middling 2000s superhero film, just like the two films that came before. I appreciate the effort and love that Hardy and Marcel seem to have poured into their script and the film itself, but they seem to be working at a studio where no one else cares enough about their product and characters to actually give them the editing and fine-tuning that it would take to make these films into something great. On paper, a goofy, violent, multi-personality anti-hero should be an easy slam dunk in this age of superhero films, but Sony has never been able to get out of their own way and let these films be as self-aware as they’d need to be to work. Don’t get me wrong, the action set pieces are really fun here – arguably the best of the trilogy – but the story might be the weakest of the trilogy. It’s decent enough to please those who have been pleased with the first two entries, but it does nothing well enough to sway any new fans or break into new territory for the superhero genre. If you want new Venom content, go check it out in theaters. If not, don’t worry about making it for this one.

Weekend Watch - A Quiet Place: Day One

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest film in the A Quiet Place franchise, A Quiet Place: Day One, the prequel directed by Michael Sarnoski (Pig) and cowritten by Sarnoski and A Quiet Place director John Krasinski. The prequel looks at the start of the franchise’s alien invasion in New York City from the perspective of cancer patient Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) as she fights to survive and get herself some pizza. The film also features appearances from Joseph Quinn as a stranded British law student, Alex Wolff as hospice nurse Reuben, and Djimon Hounsou as harried father Henri. The film opened this weekend to mixed but positive audience and critic reviews. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B; while not as tension filled as the other two films in the franchise, it still finds those moments of terror and humanity that have made the series such a hit.

Should you Watch This Film? If you’re looking for a less intense horror film, this’ll definitely be one you can check out. The characters are strong, and their stories make it worth watching.

Why?

                I don’t know that A Quiet Place: Day One is going to be what everyone was looking for from the prequel film. It doesn’t set out to explain the aliens or their reasons for coming to Earth or even set up some initial fight against them. It simply wants to look at another story within this universe that happens to occur in the first few days of the alien invasion. For me, that’s exactly what I needed from it. I was so worried going in that it was going to try and do too much explaining and worldbuilding and lose any of the pieces that make the first two films so good – the human stories. Instead, this film leans harder into the human element, feeling almost more like a disaster/survival horror than the jumpscare-filled home invasion horror of the first or the postapocalyptic road trip of the second. It’s also helped in this endeavor by the strong performances from Lupita Nyong’o (Us and Little Monsters) and Joseph Quinn (Overlord and Stranger Things) who portray their struggle to survive as something inherently tied to everything that has come before them and their own humanity.

                Technically, the film remains on par with the prior films with a strong sound design, solid visual effects, and another bout of creative cinematography that you really only get from horror films. The oppressive silence isn’t quite as pervasive here as in the past films, but in the moments of true tension, it returns to amp up that heart rate just a bit more at each small sound. The creatures feature a bit more prevalently in this film, and any time you get to see them up close, the visual design holds up as something not quite knowable and immediately horrifying. The camera work continues to do a great job adding to the tension of the scenes, and it all comes together so well to give us another strong, if slightly less terrifying, horror film.

                By focusing on the characters, the film does lose some of that intensity that we’ve become familiar with in the first two films, and I think that’s why we’re seeing some of those less than stellar reviews. The first film really blended those two elements together better than so many horror films, and the second continued in that same vein. This one swings back and forth between the human drama and horror sequences more than actually blending them, but it still works because of how well-executed the human element is. Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn play well individually and off of each other thanks in large part to each of their abilities to emote, leaning into the gimmick of these films by communicating so well without words. Quinn plays the supporting character so well, portraying empathy and desperation in equal parts so well, and he really gives the story the extra oomph that it needs to really resonate. Obviously, though, Nyong’o is the showstopper here, showing us from the jump how versatile her acting bag is. Here, she plays Sam as this cynical, jaded woman without any real reason to hope, but she manages to find those moments worth celebrating even as the world falls apart around her, and we believe it the whole time thanks to the combination of solid writing and her amazing acting abilities. By the time the credits roll, we’ve seen her progress through a satisfying and believable character arc that reminds us all of why life is worth living – to eat pizza and connect with other people.

                A Quiet Place: Day One might not answer all the burning questions that we have about the start of the alien invasion, and it might lack some of the horror chops of the previous installments, but it still turns in a decently scary survival flick with a truly compelling story about people, which is the core of the Quiet Place films anyway. It’s probably not going to be what everyone wants it to be, but for me, I can now definitely say that I just want to keep watching stories of different individuals in this postapocalyptic world much more than I want to understand how any of it works. This film is currently in theaters, and if you’re looking for a solid thriller, this is the one to go see this weekend.

Weekend Watch - Fallout

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest video game to television adaptation from Amazon – Fallout, based in the world of the highly successful video game series from Interplay and Bethesda. The show, set in a postapocalyptic, retrofuturistic version of our own world, takes place 219 years after a massive nuclear war and follows a menagerie of characters who are figuring out how best to survive in the new wild west that is the bombed out west coast. It stars Ella Purnell as vault dweller Lucy MacLean, Aaron Moten as Brotherhood of Steel Squire Maximus, Walton Goggins as mutated former Hollywood star Cooper Howard, and Moises Arias as Lucy’s brother Norm MacLean in addition to a roster of recognizable cameos and B-list actors filling out the rest of the cast. The show premiered on Amazon Prime Video last Wednesday evening and has quickly become a hit with both critics and audiences. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B+, it’s not a perfect show, but it captures the spirit of the games well without alienating potential new audiences with too much overreliance on lore and references.

Should you Watch This Show? It depends on what you’re looking for in a show. If you want gory, occasionally goofy, action with just enough heart and topical discussion of corporate greed and government infighting, this’ll be right up your alley. If not, I don’t know that the characters and world have enough to offer everyone to make it a universally lovable show.

Why?

                So much of Fallout’s highs and lows go hand in hand, with leading characters being hit or miss in their writing and how compelling their stories are, worldbuilding that doesn’t go too hard in its lore dumping but does require some suspension of disbelief, and action sequences that thrill but could feel excessive to some audiences. It captures the contemporary spirit of the latest Fallout games, embracing its kitschy 1950s meets wild west meets futuristic dystopian aesthetic and themes in every sequence. The music, production design, costumes, makeup, and visual effects (mostly) hold up really well and deliver what you’d want in a series based on these video games. They also don’t try to cater too intensely to the fans of the games that newcomers will be totally lost, which really helped my wife and me get into it from the jump – I have played probably ten hours combined of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and she had no interaction with the brand before starting the show. I will say that I’m not sure if it offers enough to keep people who aren’t interested in the world and themes of the games super invested (i.e., this isn’t going to suddenly become your parents’ and grandparents’ favorite show), but it’s a fun one for its target audience of late teens to 40-somethings.

                As far as the show’s story goes, I’m not going to get too into it here to avoid spoilers, but I will say that they’ve done a good job with their characters (mostly). It’s really fun to see Moises Arias in a well-reviewed piece of media that’s not aiming for the YA audience, and his character has a surprisingly engaging subplot that allows him to flex some of his more serious chops without losing his snarky, jaded humor either. Ella Purnell shines as the series’ lead, playing the fish-out-of-water archetype so well as she slowly assimilates to the world outside of the vault where she was raised, serving as both audience proxy and compelling heroine at the same time. Lucy’s a really fun lead character for the modern era, and Purnell plays her well. So many side characters have such well-fleshed-out stories and characterizations that I don’t have time to go into all of them here, but it really does give the show that sense of being lived in that the best open-world video games seek to capture, and I’d argue that the combination of great casting and writing accomplish that even more so here. The true star of the show, though, is Walton Goggins, whose gunslinging “ghoul” is simultaneously the coolest and most loathsome antihero we’ve seen in a long time, especially in the world of sci-fi/action media. He gets to do a lot in both the present and in flashbacks, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him contend for an Emmy before it’s all said and done. The one character that I have some issues with is Aaron Moten’s Maximus. Moten does a good job of delivering the dialogue and playing up the character with his flaws and motivations. It’s just that the show takes way too long to flesh out his motivations, and in the time they take doing that, Maximus comes across as inexplicably incompetent, vaguely whiny, and generally not likable enough to be the secondary protagonist that they want him to be by the time we get to the back half of the season. I have faith that he’ll improve as a character in the show’s next season (hopefully), but his parts are definitely the weakest and slowest in this season – again, at no fault of Moten’s.

                Fallout manages to offer audiences an original story, fun world, faithful game adaptation, memorable characters, and strong performances in its retrofuturistic packaging, sure to please fans both old and new even if its story occasionally lags and it doesn’t necessarily have that universal charm needed to snag some of the older audiences. It’s so much better than I had any reason to expect, and I look forward to it getting that second season. You can currently watch this show on Amazon Prime Video, and I’d encourage you to do so.

Weekend Watch - Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the latest of the rebooted Ghostbusters films, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. The film is the follow-up to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife and sees the return of many characters from that film and from the originals, including Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor, and Logan Kim reprising their roles from Afterlife, with Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz taking a more prominent role this time around, and the additions of Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, and Emily Alyn Lind to fill out the main cast. This one is directed by Afterlife writer Gil Kenan who is again joined in the writing room by Afterlife director, and son of the original Ghostbusters director, Jason Reitman. The film opened in theaters this weekend. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: C-, a weak third act and overstuffed first bring down what is otherwise a fun and well-crafted movie sequel.

Should you Watch This Film? Maybe, it’ll probably please fans of the first reboot film, and doesn’t really have anything that’ll upset die-hard classic fans too much either. If you aren’t about that Ghostbusters life, though, I doubt this film will win you over.

Why?

                After taking a break from its usual haunt of the Big Apple in Afterlife, the Ghostbusters saga returns to NYC and the old red brick firehouse in Frozen Empire. An abundance of practical and digital effects return New York to its old, haunted self, in need of rescuing by a new generation of Ghostbusters. The characters, old and new, bring plenty of heart, if not necessarily humor, to this latest iteration of the films, which continues in the vein of its predecessor with McKenna Grace’s Phoebe Spengler taking center stage in the film’s narrative, again a solid choice, though weakened a bit by her continued fourth-place billing in the credits and attempts to create stories for the abundance of other characters filling out the film. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a film that fits the visual feel and overall vibe of the franchise with fun characters and cool, nerdy technology and ghost stuff, but it trips itself up by getting too convoluted for its fairly breezy hour-and-fifty-five-minute runtime.

                One thing you can certainly say in Frozen Empire’s favor, which goes a long way toward how much I liked this film, is that it maintains that same sense of practicality in all of its props, sets, and visuals that made the originals and Afterlife such successes. Obviously, not everything is practical, nor was it in the original, but their practical and digital effects alike remain very on-brand for the franchise. Slimer still looks like a weird puppet; there’s a lot of new ghosts that use that blend of practical and digital to great effect – some terrifying and others goofy or endearing; there’s a fantastic scene in the third act with one of the proton packs sparking up in the back that’s probably a simple effect, but it achieves this cool factor that gets you excited for what’s about to happen even if the story getting you there hasn’t. You can tell that Kenan and Reitman both care a lot for the franchise and that everyone who worked on the film wants to stay true to the originals.

                Unfortunately, love for the old films and past iterations keeps Frozen Empire’s story mired in an excessively long first act that’s mostly just exposition and setup interspersed with nostalgia grabs and reveals of new gadgets and/or ghosts. It’s a textbook first act, except for the fact that it takes up almost the entire first hour of the film. This leads into a fun second act, though, that jumps between storylines fairly fluidly and keeps you engaged with payoffs from the setups in the first act. The pace picks up and you start to remember why you like these films in the first place. However, by the time we get to the film’s final act, there’s only about twenty minutes of the film left, and we get a regrettably rushed climax that misses out on much of its tension and emotional weight by rushing things that could otherwise have had extended scenes devoted to them had it not taken half the film to get everything rolling. Couple that with an astounding amount of shoehorned nostalgia for the sake of trailer spots, and you’re left with a conclusion that feels just a little too empty to justify the amount of time spent setting it up.

                For whatever reason, they were trying to do too much. Much as I enjoyed the comedy of Kumail Nanjiani’s character, his inclusion and arc felt out of place and rushed alongside the rest of the film. It detracted some from both the screentime and character development of Phoebe, which in turn detracted from the overall impact of the film, since she’s the main character. On the other hand, relegating Finn Wolfhard’s Trevor to the role of comic relief might have been the best call they could have made – his arc in Afterlife wasn’t overly engaging, and he is absolutely the funniest part of this film, which gets me excited to see him do something more in that vein as his career develops. Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd get to fully step into the parenting roles (which Coon had in the first film as well), creating some odd tensions at certain points in the first half but paying off with some of Paul Rudd’s best scenes in the back half, so I’m mixed on that choice. Aykroyd getting some additional screentime probably shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, and don’t get me wrong, it’s no Blues Brothers or even O.G. Ghostbusters, but he makes for a passable secondary protagonist as Ray seeks purpose in his later years. Again, though, all of these extra plots and conflicts make that first act drag, when really all the film needed to work was the Spenglers (Grace, Wolfhard, and Coon) working with Gary as Ghostbusters for Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore, focusing on Phoebe’s relationship with Ghostbusting and her family, and it could have been a complete film. Everything else is fluff that drags this film’s potential down.

                All told, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a decent sequel that stays true to the formula and atmosphere of the original films that unfortunately gets bogged down in nostalgia and excessive storylines, limiting its overall impact. It definitely could have been better, but thanks to the care put into the details by the filmmakers and the actors, it manages to stay out of the abysmal territory of most of the films from the first quarter of the year so far. See it in theaters if you want, or don’t. I don’t have overly strong feelings on this one either way.

Weekend Watch - Dune: Part Two

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, an recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Dune: Part 2, the sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s award-winning adaptation of the first part of Frank Herbert’s acclaimed science fiction novel of the same name. After a delay from its original November release date due to last year’s Hollywood strikes, the film finally released widely this weekend (plus some early screenings in various theaters over the past few weeks). It sees the return of Timothée Chalamet as protagonist Paul Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Zendaya as Chani, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Dave Bautista as Rabban, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, and Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen. They are joined in this continuation by Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Christopher Walken as the Emperor, and Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenring, rounding out the all-star cast of this sci-fi epic. With stellar reviews from audiences and generally favorable returns from critics, this looks to be the best film of the year so far. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: A-; while not perfect, it delivers on so many of the promises of the first film in compelling fashion.

Should you Watch This Film? Yes! In the theater, with good speakers, get the full experience. It’s a thrill.

Why?

                Dune: Part 2 is the science fiction epic that we were promised in 2021’s Dune. Its action is bigger, its characters are more fleshed-out even with a wider cast of characters, and it’s just as visually stunning as the first installment. As character motivations become more apparent, so does the film’s true message about the dangers of “chosen ones” and issues with buying into your own mythos and the ills of settler colonialism – all the messages of Herbert’s original 1965 novel, made even more evident by its sequel Dune Messiah. The actors have all elevated their game in one way or another to give audiences a collection of memorable characters. The film’s sound and visuals continue to stun in every sense of the word – sets, locations, special effects, the “props”, costumes, Hans Zimmer’s score – everything working together to immerse the audience in the world of the film. It transports and grips you as its story unfolds in thrilling, tragic, and epic fashion.

                We’ll start with story and execution, since that’s where the film’s biggest issues lie. It’s troubling when a film that’s two hours and forty-six minutes in length feels like it could’ve told its story more effectively with an extra twenty minutes or so. It improves on the story issues of the first film, where if often felt that the audience were merely casual observers of these moments that carried weight for characters to whom we had little connection. This time, a combination of improved character development, legitimately compelling themes, and intense action sequences get the audience fully invested in the story from the jump. What’s missing this time around is the mystery and atemporality of the first film. Gone are Paul’s vague and confusing visions of unknown characters and uncertain futures, replaced by ominous looks at his mother walking past starving bodies, which feels much more heavy-handed in its messaging than the hints of the visions from the first film. It also does feel again as if we are jumping from moment to moment in time with the characters, missing out on some (though not all) of the film’s potential character moments and interactions not tied directly to the plot. Again, this is a loss to the film’s runtime, which does feel as long as it is and would probably not be abbreviated by any extra moments, so we’re left with a stronger story and film that nevertheless still feels like it’s missing something.

                Where obviously the technical aspects and score for this film are excellent, the welcome addition is a cast of actors giving committed, fun, and engaging performances, helping to cover the aforementioned story issues because of how easy it is to invest in their characters. Where the first film had some strong showings from Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson, you can feel the improvement from everyone in this film, making the most of their increased character development. Zendaya, who was notably absent from most of the first film, immediately makes Chani a rich and dynamic character, more than just a love interest, with some excellent character moments and really solid expressive work. Ferguson takes an even tougher role in this one as Lady Jessica steps into a more prominent position among the Fremen, and it’s again a captivating performance, if a bit more intimidating, that might just be her best yet. Javier Bardem takes on an ironically more comedic role in this one as Stilgar’s dedication to the prophecies of the Lisan al-Gaib come to the fore, giving him the opportunity to deliver lines with such earnestness that the audience actually erupted in laughter because of their ironic timing. While Florence Pugh and Léa Seydoux are satisfyingly welcome additions to the cast, the runaway favorite of the new characters has to be Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha. He plays the new villain in a chillingly animated fashion, crafting a memorable performance that’ll end up alongside the likes of Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger, Tom Hardy’s Bane, and Ricardo Montalban’s Khan in the annals of film history. Finally, Timothée Chalamet has come into his own here, establishing his movie star status as he takes Paul through his journey from reluctant hero to willingly participating messiah. It’s a powerful performance, full of excellent vocal, physical, and expressive work that confirms his place as one of the best actors currently working.

                Denis Villeneuve has executed a phenomenal science fiction sequel that stays true to its source material and innovates with compelling characters, stunning production value, and memorable performances that supplement a story that could probably have benefited from a few more scenes but is nevertheless engaging. It’s the best film of the year so far by a fairly wide margin, and the theatrical experience of watching it is glorious – people laughed, they applauded, and some even called it “terrible”. It’ll probably be a while before I recommend a new release this strongly.

Weekend Watch - Loki Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating and review. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is the opening episodes of Loki season 2 from Disney+. This new season of the show (the first to get a second season from the MCU Disney+ shows) sees the return of Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, Owen Wilson, Eugene Cordero, and Wunmi Mosaku in their respective roles from season 1, joined in this season by Ke Huy Quan, Kate Dickie, and Rafael Casal in the new roles of OB, General Dox, and Hunter X-5/Brad Wolfe, respectively. This season is releasing weekly on Thursday evenings on Disney+. Let’s get into it.

Rating: B+; it maintains the solid production design and frenetic pace of the first season well, and the performances have only improved, but a lack of direction has me hesitant to call this new season a full-on improvement from the first.

Review:

                As far as season openers go, Loki season 2 has had two solid first episodes in terms of introducing its new characters and resolving most of the unresolved threads from season 1; however, it has so far done very little to bring in a compelling new conflict to fill the void now that Loki and Sylvie have convinced the TVA to accept branching timelines. (Also, this is not a show where you can jump in at the start of season 2 without having watched the first season and be fully in the know, so there’s that as well.) It feels like we’re moving toward either a showdown with Miss Minutes and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Ravonna Renslayer or with some new version of Kang/He Who Remains, but all of those characters were notably absent from these first two episodes aside from a few statues of Kang (who seems to still be played by Jonathan Majors despite his arrest and accusations of abuse). On the positive side of things, the show continues to improve in its production design and casting/performances, giving audiences more of that dingy brown retro TVA vibe that they loved in the first season and more of Hiddleston playing the complex anti-hero that Loki has become.

                With the story picking up basically immediately after the end of season 1, we are thrust very much back into the middle of things and are introduced to a new complication for Loki – he is experiencing time slippage while in the TVA, jumping back and forth between the past and present. This comprises the main conflict of the first episode, as Wilson’s Mobius and Mosaku’s Hunter B-15 are able fairly easily to convince most of the TVA leadership (aside from General Dox and her hunters) that branching timelines are acceptable. Their quest to anchor Loki in the present leads them to Ke Huy Quan’s OB (Ouroboros) who runs all the tech for the TVA and knows a lot about the flow of time. The resolution of that episode then leads into the second episode’s conflict, which is stopping Dox and her hunters from getting Sylvie and reverting the timelines back to a single timeline. This gets the band back together as Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie have to team up to stop this from happening, which ends up being fairly easy – much easier than any of the resolutions from the first season, and with such limited consequences as Sylvie leaving again, I’m hesitant to fully commit to the rest of the season.

                What bolsters this season opener, though, are the performances from the characters – old and new. Wunmi Mosaku turns in another solid performance as Hunter B-15, this time on the side of Loki and Mobius, delivering her stoic but inspired lines with just the right amount of camp to match the show’s energy. Sophia Di Martino doesn’t have quite as much to do in these first two episodes as she did down the stretch in season 1, but her portrayal of Sylvie still holds up as the jaded, powerful, witty Loki variant that she is, and I’m glad she’s still in the show. Kate Dickie gets to do a lot with her limited screen time as the “villain” of the first two episodes, and it’s always frustratingly fun to see her get to lean into that loathsome side of herself (like in Game of Thrones and The Witch), which she does again here, giving the audience someone to root against in the early goings of this new season. Owen Wilson’s Mobius hasn’t gotten as much into the actor’s surprisingly complex bag this season as he did, especially toward the end, in last season, but his buddy cop repartee with Hiddleston’s Loki forms the backbone of the show, and it’s still just as good here. Ke Huy Quan joins the show in the role of OB, which feels like a character that’s always been there, showcasing how seamlessly the actor fits in with the energy and vibe of the rest of the cast and the show, bringing levity, lore, and some level of stakes to these first two episodes, and I look forward to seeing more of him as the season progresses. Hiddleston is in his bag here in these first two episodes, getting to be more villain and more hero than he was even in the show’s first season, really leaning into the anti-hero side of the character. In these first few episodes, he feels more established and in control than he’s ever felt as the MCU’s iteration of the Norse God of Mischief, and it anchors the whole show, offering (for me at least) the most compelling reason to see where the rest of this season goes.

                As the show leans more heavily on its namesake, Loki season 2 has opened with a solid foundation of characters, performances, and production value that helps it overcome its somewhat lackluster stakes and conflicts through its first two episodes. I look forward to it hopefully amping up as we jump into the middle third of the season, and if the performances are any indication, I think we’ll continue to see why this show was the MCU’s first to get a second season. It will release weekly on Thursdays for the next four weeks, wrapping up on November 9th if you’d rather wait until it’s all out to binge it.

Weekend Watch - Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Marvel’s latest film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The film is the launch of Marvel’s Phase Five, introducing the new big-bad of the universe, Kang, to theatrical audiences after he received a soft-launch in the Loki series back in 2021. The film sees the return of Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang/Ant-Man alongside Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne/Wasp, Michael Douglas’s Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet Van Dyne. In addition to Jonathan Majors’s Kang the Conqueror, the film also introduces Kathryn Newton as the new actress for the now-teenage Cassie Lang and features cameos from Bill Murray, William Jackson Harper, and Corey Stoll. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B; there’s no denying that the film has issues, but there’s a lot to enjoy here that makes it better than the current critic consensus.

Should you Watch This Film? If you enjoy the MCU or comic book films, this is a great watch for you. If you don’t like that type of film, there’s not enough here that will change your mind.

Why?

                Marvel’s introduction to Phase Five gives audiences a clear vision for the future of the franchise in the midst of a muddled story in the present, fitting for a film set predominantly in a region that exists outside of time and space. The film is unquestionably high on its new characters (the future of the franchise) with an excellent villain performance from Majors and one of the better “teen” outings in the franchise from Newton. Unfortunately, their performances and the rightly directed focus on Pfeiffer’s Janet can’t save the film entirely from the odd shift in direction for the Ant-Man films and a story shot full of holes.

                In terms of performances, Quantumania benefits from some of the best in recent MCU history with actors fully committed to their characters, even if their writing and story are imperfect. Rudd has truly come into his own as Lang and Ant-Man, making the character in his own image as a recognizably lovable celebrity who also happens to have saved the world a few years ago. He brings the same lightness to this film that we have become used to but also manages to rise to the physicality that this story requires with believable results. Michael Douglas is tasked with the role of comedic side character typically filled by Michael Peña in these films and actually does an admirable job. Is it as iconic or likeable as Peña’s Luis? Absolutely not, but Douglas manages to turn his supergenius into enough of a relief to keep the film moving. In my opinion, “the Wasp” referred to in this film’s title has to be Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet Van Dyne because she has so much more to do than Evangeline Lilly in this film and carries that burden well. Having played a fairly minimal role in the last Ant-Man film, Pfeiffer comes to the front as the expert on the Quantum Realm and Kang, giving plenty of backstory and explanation even as she struggles to cope with the consequences of her past mistakes. It’s easy to see that she enjoys the role and is fully capable of carrying the yoke of secondary protagonist. Kathryn Newton takes her role as Cassie Lang head-on, again managing to turn the loss of a fan-favorite character into a net neutral (and perhaps even gain in this case) as she serves as the heroes’ moral compass for most of the film, reminding Scott of what heroes are supposed to do at every turn. Finally, Jonathan Majors goes to work as the new Big-Bad of the saga – Kang the Conqueror. He plays the character as this malevolent force, offering to save the multiverse no matter how many people and universes he has to destroy in the process. His writing is perhaps the strongest, and Majors takes advantage, delivering line after line of despotic dialogue with weight and excellence.

                All the strong performances can’t do enough to salvage Quantumania’s overly expository and underwhelming Star Wars-lite story. From the first scene in the Quantum Realm, the inspiration from Disney’s other major franchise becomes clear, complete with desert scavengers, a cantina, and an evil empire fighting against rebels. From there, the story takes too long to get where it wants to go (introducing Kang) in order to get a frankly underwhelming Bill Murray cameo into the start of the second act. Unfortunately, for all of Majors’s greatness as Kang, the film’s third act does him pretty dang dirty – having him lose in fairly embarrassing fashion multiple times. His performance does enough to keep me excited for his future in the MCU, but the contrivance for the heroes to win in this film makes me wary of future underutilization of the villain’s genius, charisma, and physicality. We’ll see.

                Great performances from most of its leads don’t fully salvage Quantumania’s mess of a script, resulting in a mixed bag in Marvel’s first Phase Five film. Its visuals and charismatic leads help keep it enjoyable enough to warrant watching in theaters, and I think it probably would be pretty solid in 3D if you want to pay extra for that. As it stands, it’s not the best that Marvel has ever put out. It’s not the worst, either, and I think that with Bob Iger back at Disney, they’ll be able to return their focus to producing quality over quantity again.

Weekend Watch - Avatar: The Way of Water

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week, we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is James Cameron’s latest blockbuster hit, Avatar: The Way of Water, the thirteen-years-removed sequel to the highest grossing film of all time Avatar (2009). This film picks up a little bit more than thirteen years after the original, following main characters Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his mate (wife) Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) as they once again have to deal with people from Earth infringing upon the natural world of Pandora, this time with the help of their four children who have been born since the last film. Let’s get into it.

Letter Grade: B+; a lot of the issues (story) of the first film are greatly improved upon, but new flaws keep it from being an A-level feature.

Should you Watch This Film? Begrudgingly, yeah. If you have a friend with a great sound system and massive TV (or if you are that friend), you can wait for this one to hit Disney+ next year; otherwise, there’s enough here to make it worth seeing in theaters.

Why?

                Avatar: The Way of Water delivers on a lot of the hype surrounding the long-awaited sequel. The visuals and sound are gorgeously designed – accomplishing things that I’m sure James Cameron only dreamed of back in 2009. The story improves on the weaknesses of first by providing more personal character motivations and characters that feel a little bit more than just archetypes (sometimes). The action is amped up and feels more visceral, providing even more engaging set pieces than the first as well. Though not without flaws of its own, The Way of Water provides what you want from a blockbuster and leaves you thrilled with your theatrical experience. I’m not going to do a deep dive on the visuals and sound because other people can communicate the whys and whats way better than I can, but suffice it to say that this movie feels great in the theater.

                I think that I can (guardedly) say that people might actually remember a couple of more characters from this film than the first. The story inserts Jake’s and Neytiri’s children (Neteyam, Lo’ak, Kiri, Tuk, and sometimes Spider) to the unfolding saga of Pandora in a way that endears the film to audiences far beyond the first. Though Sam Worthington still can’t decide whether he’s American or Australian, giving Jake Sully children with individual personalities and character arcs helps make him a character worth caring about, though I can’t help but also notice that Neytiri does fall a bit to the background in this one and feels more like a tertiary character to her husband and children with even less of a character arc than the film’s villain.

                When I first heard that Avatar (2009) was getting a sequel, my first thoughts were “Why?” and then “How?”, since the first film feels so self-contained. For the most part, The Way of Water carries on in this fashion, containing a simple (if overly stretched) story of its own with a beginning, middle, and end. In this film’s case, however, we know that a sequel is coming in two years and, looking at some of the film’s less fleshed out details, that anticipation becomes immediately apparent. Part of what makes this sequel so overly long are character details and story points that feel completely irrelevant to this film’s story but that I am sure will come into play in the third, fourth, and fifth films. Kiri, in particular, felt like an annoyingly extra character (not just because de-aged, animated Sigourney Weaver strays a little too far into the uncanny valley for my taste), filling the role of weird, but make it quirky, daughter whose backstory is just that of Jesus or Anakin Skywalker. I’m sure Cameron has great plans for her (and also for Edie Falco’s character whose name I’ve already forgotten), but they do more to fill out the film’s overlong runtime than be legitimately engaging in their own right.

                Suffering from some all-too-familiar issues of overcrowding and a continued obsession with Papyrus font, Avatar: The Way of Water provides an imperfect, but superior, sequel to the original blockbuster with excellent effects and improved characters that have me mildly optimistic about the future of the PCU (Pandora Cinematic Universe), or whatever it is they’re calling this. If you have the time to see it in theaters, it’ll be worth your time. If you can’t, try to find somebody with a great television set-up to catch it on streaming in the spring (or sooner, who knows what these release schedules are).

Weekend Watch - Nope

                 Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week, we review and recommend a new piece of film or television media as voted on by the followers on the blog’s Instagram account. This week, the winner of the poll was Jordan Peele’s newest film, Nope, a sci-fi/horror film featuring Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Steven Yeun, and Keith David. The film is Peele’s third, following the widely successful films Us and Get Out. Without further ado, let’s take a closer look.

Letter Grade: B+; this film is by no means perfect, but most of it is high quality and really fun and original

Should you Watch This Film? I think so; it is a film worth checking out for its combination of original and homage filmmaking.

Why?

                Nope is a genre-blending film whose parts are probably better than the whole. It utilizes elements of sci-fi and alien horror films, psychological thrillers, classic westerns, and family comedies into its own unique package. Writer/director/producer Jordan Peele’s vision shines through most brilliantly in the moments when the film leans all the way into its genres and uses them to make commentary on the state of modern entertainment and “spectacle”. Whether it is exploring aliens and flying saucers, the phenomenon of society’s newfound UFO awareness, the issues with child stars, the dangers and potential of trained animals in film and television, or even a cinematographer looking for the perfect shot, Nope’s highs showcase some brilliant commentary, gorgeous visuals, and a refreshingly unique story. Of Peele’s films, this one is by far the most connected to the world of filmmaking, allowing the director to throw in bits and references to black cinema, and specifically westerns, rewarding some of his more faithful fans in the process. At the same time, Nope’s highlights are also what causes its message to break down by the end. A film critiquing the audiences desire for spectacle while presenting spectacle inevitably feels a bit too on-the-nose or not quite self-aware enough to accomplish its goal, and in watching the film, it feels as if Peele recognized that danger and, therefore, chose to conclude his film with a different note and story emphasis. Unfortunately, by the time the audience becomes aware of the turn, they have already become invested in the other story lines and themes, making where the film ultimately ends up into a bit of a disappointment. This is not to say that the rest of the film, especially its performers and sci-fi/horror aspects, is particularly bad. In fact, the rest of the film is arguably a top-three film to release this year. Its inability to stick the landing definitely leaves you looking for more, but that should not dissuade you from appreciating the rest of the film and its otherwise great parts.

Weekend Watch - Obi-Wan Kenobi

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give a recommendation and review of it. This week, we’re taking a look at the now completed Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries from Disney+. It started streaming at the end of May and just released its final episode on Wednesday. It features cameos and performances from many of the Star Wars prequel actors alongside some characters who haven’t yet been featured in live action or whose version has not yet been featured in live action and a couple of brand-new characters as well. Let’s dive in.

Letter Grade: B+, imperfect but highly enjoyable (Last episode is an A)

Should you Watch This Show? If you are a Star Wars lover, particularly of the prequel era, this show will make you happy. There are things for non-fans as well, but a lot of what makes it great is the connection to pre-existing content.

Why?

                Obi-Wan Kenobi does a few things extremely well and a few others much more poorly. For starters, Ewan McGregor gets to live in the character of Obi-Wan more than he ever did in the prequel films, creating a deeper on-screen Obi-Wan than we’ve gotten outside of maybe some episodes of the animated Clone Wars show and the final scenes of Revenge of the Sith. In addition, the show uses cameos from the prequel actors well, using them to provide motivation and explanation, not just as fan service (aside from maybe one at the very end of the show). Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Vader is also arguably better than the Rogue One Vader because he gets more screen time, more development, and even more opportunity to be the incredibly powerful and menacing figure that we all saw in that hallway scene – his moments are highly rewarding in this show. The show’s introduction of new characters/actors goes both ways with some very well executed and some less so. The child actress cast as young Leia is a revelation, holding her own with every adult on-screen and serving as a consistent reminder across every episode how much cooler Leia is than Luke. The new character of Reva, played by Moses Ingram of The Queen’s Gambit fame, is somewhat less consistently good – due in no part, as far as I could tell, to Ingram’s acting. Her character arc is highly predictable, and much of her dialogue feels more Phantom Menace than Empire Strikes Back, but at the same time, her character does a lot to make the action of the show happen, and she has some moments to shine, particularly at the end of the show’s second and fifth episodes. The young Luke actor is probably the weakest of the bunch, but he is kept off-screen for most of the show’s episodes and has very little to do when he is there, so it’s not a huge issue. Story-wise, the show’s first two episodes and last episode and a half are incredibly good, giving great action sequences, solid character development, and interesting locales to visit along the way. The middle two episodes drag somewhat in getting to the actual end of the show but do offer a good Vader moment and a solid enough break-out plot to keep you engaged for the show’s climax and conclusion. I’m going to close this out by highlighting what makes this show as good as it is – its devotion to character-driven story and lightsaber fight content. Both Obi-Wan and Anakin/Vader get strong character development individually and relationally throughout the show’s episodes, and their dynamic game of cat-and-mouse is a big part of what makes the show so enjoyable even through moments of weak dialogue and occasional pieces of what feels like filler. And the lightsaber fights between the two help showcase the development of the two characters and their relationship. From their first encounter to their final epic showdown, we see both how both characters have changed from the end of the prequels and how the show is setting them up for their fateful meeting on the Death Star in A New Hope. All told, the show is certainly worth watching thanks to its faithful exploration of the character, quality performances from McGregor and Vivien Lyra Blair, and some phenomenal lightsaber battles. Check it out on Disney+ when you are next in the mood for some Star Wars content.

Weekend Watch - Lightyear

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where we take a look at a new film or show that is out right now and give you a brief review and recommendation as to whether it necessitates watching. This week, we’ll be taking a look at Pixar’s latest outing based on existing I.P. Lightyear. It stars Chris Evans as the titular Buzz Lightyear and is apparently the film the toy in Toy Story is a product of. Let’s jump into it.

Letter Grade: B-/C+; it’s a solid kid’s sci-fi film, but not quite the fare of your typical Pixar

Should you Watch This Film? If you absolutely need something in theaters and have already seen Top Gun and Everything Everywhere All at Once and Doctor Strange and maybe even The Bad Guys, this is a solid other option, especially if you have kids.

Why?

                As a children’s film, sci-fi film, and action film, Lightyear is passable, bringing decent comedy, solid voice acting, and an interesting world to the big screen. Unfortunately, Lightyear fails to live up to the hype that most of its Pixar predecessors have created. Its simple messaging about the importance of teamwork overshadows its more complex and less overtly delivered message about letting go of the past and challenging the status quo in favor of progress. In doing so, Lightyear becomes much more akin to the Cars sequels or Brave or even The Good Dinosaur but perhaps also even less ambitious and more cash-grabby. Lightyear’s entertainment value is high enough to warrant watching, delivering a solid combination of laughs, suspense, action, and human connection that kept me watching it for its duration. At the same time, its simplicity and lack of ambition left me disappointed with Pixar. When I look at Pixar’s other offerings of the last couple of years – Onward, Soul, Luca, and Turning Red – I see films that champion unique causes and characters and stories from all over the globe and from all walks of life. I see films that connected with the children and adults in the audience in meaningful and emotional ways. With Lightyear, I felt none of that and left somewhat disappointed. That being said, I do not believe that the film is deserving of its currently incredibly low 5.0 IMDB score that it currently has. That is due primarily to bombing from certain circles that were unhappy with Buzz’s original commander being a lesbian, which a completely ridiculous reason to review bomb any film, but it’s happening right now so… Don’t go into Lightyear expecting Ratatouille or Coco, and you most likely will not be disappointed. I have little doubt that the children in your life will really have a good time with this one, and you won’t be completely frustrated with the time that you have spent watching this film. Check it out if you want, or wait for the Disney+ release in a couple of months if you’d rather.