(film review) - Spider-Man Homecoming

So, they have released another Spider-Man movie because Sony Pictures (Sony) who have made Spider-Man movies since 1977 and while technology has got a lot better over the years, the last few memorable movies over the last 15 years have been good and somewhat great in parts, to me, has not really captured the essence of Spider-Man.  Shout out to Tobey Maguire but, I DID prefer Andrew Garfield.  But the Spider-Man 2 film can arguably be the best Spider-Man movie they have ever done.

The reason why we have another movie is due to Spider-Man having a soft Reboot of the character when they put him in Captain America Civil War after striking a compromise with Sony, Marvel are able to use Spider-Man in their MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), renting him whilst Sony are basically leasing him out as they currently have the rights to use him as agreed by Marvel.  Long story short, the character belongs to Marvel but marvel sold the rights off to Sony.  Sony need to do a movie with Spider-Man every so often or the rights will revert back to Marvel.  So this deal to use Spidey in the MCU is short-term at the moment but we will never know at this moment in time if this will become longer term.

As for the Movie, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has been Spider-Man for around 6 months and the movie basically picks up after Captain America Civil War, where Peter Parker enjoyed being an Avenger and wants to continue crime-fighting and thwarting bad guys. Peter is at school and between studying and wanting to be Spider-Man soo bad, Peter is finding school tedious.  When Peter discovers The Shocker (Bokeem Woodbine) only to later find out that he is working for Adrian Toombs aka The Vulture (Michael Keaton), Spidey finds himself in an impossible situation where he is trying to impress Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and stop the bad guys in his Amazing Spider-Man suit, but is being knocked back by Tony because he wants him to focus on the smaller scale crimes and to leave the major criminals to the bigger guys who handle bigger threats.

This film is spectacular and even more superior in the 4DX experience.  The direction in this movie is great and I do not have a single complaint.  Having seen this twice, I might need to see it again to break it down a little more to comb through it with a fine toothed comb, but I understood everything Sony/Marvel were going for.  Also, great in 3D, but 3D does take away some of the finer details, visually.

To explain, this is another reboot of the character EVERYBODY and their Grandparent knows and we totally did not need another Uncle Ben death OR 'With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility' speech...AGAIN!
I understood that they wanted to focus on a kid playing a kid rather than a 30+ year old man playing a kid.  This played out through the characters, the acting, the things they say and how they say it, what they are doing and the general setting/environment.  Spider-Man is a geeky kid with a few geeky friends and this film plays into that a lot.  There is even a part in the movie where Spidey is shown as being vulnerable and emphasises, this is just a kid.
I understood the motive of the villain and is one of the more fleshed out villains in recent years from Marvel. You understand his plight and wasn't just moustache twirling.
The side characters were well cast and although they have been picking and choosing between different comic book iterations of Spider-Man, I really enjoyed what they did here and it didn't bother me that some of the characters are not as "Traditional" as they were in a comic books written how many years ago with a mostly white cast.
I also understood how they were trying to make this Spider-Man film a different one to it's predecessors and how they tried to connect it to MCU and for the future and not just cramming 'the future' down our throats.

There are soo much things in this movie, soo many villains they either tip the hat to or subtly point at or elude to with big comical or small comical moments. A VERY minor spoiler here, so SPOILERS (although this doesn't really give much away at all), There is a scene we see in the trailer where Tony and Peter are in the car talking. In the background, Happy is trying to take the suitcase out of the boot and is obviously struggling. When Peter comes out the car and the car drives off, Peter is casually holding the suitcase making those who spot the small detail that, Spider-Man is incredibly strong.  I mean, who caught that?

I'd definitely recommend you see this.  Charming, has heart and is a very well grounded film with a much more loveable Spider-Man because he is KID.  It is very funny without it being a comedy and the drama isn't half-baked.  Definitely the BEST Spider-Man there has been who absolutely captures the essence of Peter Parker the way he was initially intended to be like.

P.S. there are a few things in the trailers which are not in the movie, but to be honest, I don't think you would even care to notice.

Go watch it.

(film review) - John Wick: Chapter 2

Just when you thought the brilliant story had ended.  Just when you thought The Babayaga came out of the shadows to play and now playtime is over!  Just when you thought the guy that everybody is afraid of, was going to return to his life of solitude with his new dog! YOU. WERE. WRONG!!!

The story picks up only four days after the events of John Wick, where after seeking revenge for the murder of his cute dog, John hasn’t forgotten his beloved and stolen 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1, where he continues his rampage to rescue it from a chop shop owned by Abram Tarasov (peter Stormare), brother of Viggo and Uncle of Iosef.  Having retrieved his Mustang, john is later visited by Italian crime lord, Santino D/Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio).  Santino forces John to honour the promise upon his marker and carry out one last job, which is the only thing that will allow him to return to retirement life.  But will john honour his word and carry out the task and fulfil his marker or will he carry out his retirement life as planned?

At this rate, John should change his home address if people keep knocking on his door like girl scouts, right?  I’m sure WE are ‘in agreement here!?’  This movie is just what the first movie ordered, nothing but fight scene after fight scene after fight scene after brutal kills after fight scene after more brutal kills after even more brutal kills, a splash of car chasing and debauchery and with the most, if not ALL kills ending with a headshot or two in an art gallery and such.  The last movie had an epic gun-fu fight in a night club which went WITH the music.  This movie!  Sigh.  There is a scene where two men are casually stalking each other firing their guns at one another in a crowded street without ANYONE noticing.  There is a scene where John throws a gun at a man’s head because he was out of bullets.  I cannot express my joy and odd laughs you get during this movie from somewhat, graphic violence or the absurdity of certain situations and scenarios.

I feel like everything I said in my last review, this review is basically that x2 and a gold star. Keanu Reeves is no longer Neo, his name is John Wick.  And if the director and the people behind this movie, such as the writers and producers, continue to deliver such a fun-filled romp of violence in this neo-noir action movie in the continued style and finesse, visually, we will continue to want this until Keanu is physically unable to do it anymore.  I mean, he is 54 and kicking ass!

(film review) - X-Men: Apocalypse

I was never really interested in this film.  Why I hear you ask.  Well, I am a child of the 80's and the 90's X-Men cartoon was at the time THE BEST CARTOON from a comic book out there.  Spider-Man was also great as well, but this was cartoon/comic book gold.  My understanding of the X-Men and everything I learned from the X-Men came from here.  I knew about Apocalypse and that, he could not be defeated by the X-Men.  He was more powerful than all the other mutants as he was r claims he was the first mutant and even with all the X-Men and their powers combined, he just wouldn't die.  He has an entwining story with Cable and the cartoon made Apocalypse an monologging egotistical megalomaniac villain who was just great.  The only way you could defeat him would be to trick him into going back to sleep.  Considering we are starting X-Men from the beginning with First Class, Days of Future Past and now Apocalypse, I really felt that an Apocalypse film NOW was the wrong move, a misstep, as there are greater, but smaller villains out there like Mister Sinister for example. Anyway...

The film kicks off in Egypt where Apocalypse (Oscar Issac) has his four horsemen (War, Pestilence, Famine and Death) and is preparing to go to sleep.  He then wakes up several years later and decides that the earth requires cleansing.  He goes out in search for his four Horsemen to carry out his wishes, but is opposed by Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and the X-Men who rally together to stop him from destroying the earth and all humanity.

Pretty Simple.  Very short and sweet.  Nothing too extravagant and it sounds good on paper, right? However, where they went wrong for me, was with EVERYTHING.  There was too much liberties taken with Apocalypse and his horsemen.  I felt that the story alone, just was not strong enough to carry the movie.  There were some nice moments in the film and some brilliant scenes starring two separate people at two separate times, but it felt like Batman V Superman, more style over substance.  There were a few funny moments here and there and Apocalypse did feel like a threat, but he didn't seem overpowering to me.  I felt like they had to justify his powers too much.  He didn't seem like a Megalomaniac at all, just someone who wants to destroy the earth.  Almost a Moustache twirling Bond villain.  The film was gorgeous as the special effects were great and certain characters, you understood their motivations.  With others, it wasn't even a wink and/or nod, it was just mashed together for us to just accept it.  Even worst that these characters didn't get much dialogue.  Trying not to go into spoilers.
I never got why Mystique had to be soo pally pally with Xavier and she should not be leading the X-Men.  You see this in the trailers and it makes no sense to me.  A lot of things for this movie made no sense and although it worked in the film and I'm not trying to be pedantic about the comics and movies etc, but Bryan has been fudging up this universe from the very beginning and seems to be very unapologetic about it.  For the most part, this film works, just like all the others and I did enjoy it, but it felt like it was lacking and not in one particular area, but everywhere.  It needed more.  I have to say that Bryan is a smart guy and there is a moment in this film which ties a particular character among the other films which came before it (Although now erased).  Although I never liked it, this made it make sense and I accepted it.  Just like the final fight was lack-luster and the ultimate weapon that took down Apocalypse felt forced, but I got why they forced it in.

This film is much more graphic than previous films and although there isn't an abundance of blood (If it was directed by Tarantino, then we would need to wipe the lens in one particularly awesome part), a particular section in this film looked like it was ripped straight from the comic.  Which is an excellent thing.
McAvoy and Fassbender are great as usual.  I really did like Hoult (Beast), Shipp (Storm), Sheridan (Cyclops), Turner (Jean Grey) & Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler) in their roles.  Some of the chemistry worked between Turner and Sheridan, but for me, I felt Shipp wasn't given enough, but she did well with what she had. Peters (Quicksilver), is dynamite as usual (when you compared to Days of Future Past) and Mystique was ok.

The way forward, is to build on Cyclops and Jean and their love for one another.  They need to build up the team and bring in more characters in the team and a better team dynamic tis time around. No, major leading characters unless it is to do with the main leaders of the X-Men, Cyclops and or Storm as she is second in command after Cyclops.

Have a good time with it, it is decent.  I just felt that Days of Future Past for Fox, has a very high and raised bar they need to match and/or beat.  This film didn't do it for me and I felt it could have been better.