Here is your chance to get a little insight on which film or TV Show you may be keen on seeing or which film or TV Show you may want to miss altogether.
These are Reel Ree:views here, keeping it concrete and reel...and somewhat, unbiased...well as much as possible, that is!
I will start off by saying, my exposure to Madame Web was from the Spider-Man animated series back in the 90's. Peter Parker looked like a grown man in his striped polo shirt and jeans and Madame Web teleported him to her realm where she would put him on trial to teach him and give him clues on how to be a better Spider-Man. She was blind. She was old. She wore a long sleek dress and she sat on a throne which looked like it was made from spider webs. She had skills and was clairvoyant. This Madame Web seems to only predict the future and not only is she a lot younger, she is also, not blind. I heard this is meant to be a origin story for Madame Web, but upon watching this trailer, I cannot help but ask, "What is this?".
This woman seems to see things before they happen, in a diner, on a train, in an ambulance, and each time (well most times) in this trailer, a man they later call Ezekiel Sims is trying to kill these girls and he is wearing some sort of Spider-Man suit. Later in the trailer, we do see these girls as different spider people, Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl etc, and it seems as though there might may be some sort of time travelling element to this movie, but one thing I definitely know for sure, I am not sold on this at all. Maybe it is because I would have preferred an older Madame Web, maybe I cannot see past the "fake" Spider-Man suit, like why is he wearing that? Toys? I googled Ezekiel Sims and he looks nothing like what we saw in that Spider-Man-ish suit. The pics are saw were a man in a business suit and barefooted. I am simply conflicted and I need another trailer to sell me on what Sony are trying to do, again.
It goes without saying, whilst I have said this, time and time again, Zack Snyder really know how to visualise a movie to simply look beautiful. Style over Substance, but his substance does indeed hold more weight, if you were to compare against someone else "like-for-like" like a, Michael Bay. I will say it time and time again and I will always continue to sing his praises, Zack Snyder, where he may not be a Christopher Nolan, he is a very capable director and this trailer is a display of that.
I heard initially that this film was a "Star Wars" movie, but as it was rejected, we now have Rebel Moon that seems almost and very close to a very good Star Wars movie, a Star Wars adjacent movie that looks really good.
We have farmers living and making a honest living and this "Empire" of sorts has come to flex their empiric muscle and this young lady, an ex-something, has a past in which she will now need to bring to the surface and gather other allies to her cause to fight to topple the Galactic Empire, I mean, these pesky do-badders. Yes we have seen it a thousand times but who cares, this looks great. I am just hoping the story holds as much weight as the visuals. Man of Steel was great. So was 300. Let this be something we will want to rewatch again and again on Netflix. I hope this movie spins off into a decent franchise (providing it is good) so Zack can get a win.
So this is meant to be the official teaser to Masters of the Universe: Revolution, but to me, it feels like a trailer, considering how much they have given us. If you have not watched Masters of the Universe: Revelation, you are surely missing out. Yes, you cannot please everyone and while you might have some things to say about what you wanted from it, I really enjoy the fleshing out of Eternia and the supporting characters to He-Mans plight.
Skeletor seems like he may not be the person who is going to be the main antagonist for He-Man this time around because it seems there is a new and possibly even more powerful villain who may want Eternia and Skeletor, I do not see him sharing. Maybe Skeletor and He-Man may join forces to take out the greater threat. That's Keith David's voice! Although I enjoyed season 1 and the 5 episodes and would definitely come back for more, hearing Keith's voice had sold me again. Let's just hope this first proper trailer tells us more of what this second season is about.
Whilst I try not to watch multiple trailers due to information overload, I cannot help but pick out the differences as well as compare the trailers apart from one another. Sometimes that goes against a backdrop of rumours or speculation along the way, but I do try to keep an objective and open opinion in my reviews. With that said, I would definitely not say this is a terrible trailer, but I will say it is a better trailer, albeit lacking, but something they should have initially led with, including highlights.
This trailer starts with Ironman (where it all began) and shows us the Star Bangled man with a plan, Captain America, making us remember where the MCU started and what heroes look like. They touch on Thanos and what he did, telling us their would be more people like him with sinister plans and Nick Fury seems to be asking Carol to come in and help on something equally world destroying. We get glimpses of Kamala Khan from Ms. Marvel and we also get some dialogue with Monica Rambeau from WandaVision. We are illuded to what the threat might be and the implications. This is what the first trailer should have been. The highlights would have been the interaction with the different characters and the dancing and the cats. The second trailer could have expanded on that and the final trailer, more of that and a lil more story plot points, and there we have it. Something that shows the characters, the stakes, the action and the fun. This trailer removed the fun and piled on the stakes and action and whilst there is nothing wrong with that, why didn't Disney lead with that with sprinklings of fun. Marvel needs to spend more time reading the room but also balancing out what they are promoting. It is a hard enough battl when Brie Larson isn't liked for whatever reason, women are leading a film, I mean how dare they? And to top it off, two of the characters are from TV shows the majority of the audience would not have seen. I think this will be a decent film, but Marvel right now, needs a great film and unless Marvel pulls this one out of a hat like a rabbit, they will not have great word of mouth and repeat viewing. There is too much stacking up against it and during a time where people are generally falling off of Marvel due to mediocrity and not being consistent at reaching THEIR OWN BAR THEY HAVE SET, this needs to be decent. Thankfully, the series Loki Season 2 is really good, so maybe that can carry the MCU on it's back and assist by being the true MVP for the MCU ATM.
Phase Four of the MCU does not seem to make much sense, nor does it gel well with the other films and shows around it. Having a global pandemic was surely going to mess things up for the well-oiled machine that was Disney's MCU. Phase One, Phase Two, Phase Three and the Infinity Saga was concluded with a big nice bow around it. We were told of another villain, Kang the Conquerer and how he would be the big bad of the Multiverse Saga, Phase 4, 5 and 6 and that everything would lead up to Avengers Kang Dynasty and then Avengers Secret Wars. Interestingly enough, I heard that the reason they wanted to go the Kang Dynasty route, was due to the performance of the actor, Johnathan Majors, how he wowed everyone at the end of the first season of Loki. The MCU found their guy and found their story arc. Johnathan played Kang the Conquerer in Ant-Man Quatumania and it was going to be a wonder, how he would factor into the second season of Loki due to the events of the first season.
After the events of the first season, things have now changed, like He Who Remains said it would. He Who Remains is now dead, Sylvie is gone and Loki remains at the Time Varients Authority, but things are different this time around. Instead of the Time Keepers, we now have statues and iconography of He Who Remains and Loki is terrified of what has been released. Loki discovers the Temporal Loom is collapsing and has to find a way to fix it by not only partnering up with Mobius and some of the other agents of the TVA, but also travel through time to find the only person they think could help fix the loom and stop all the other variants of He Who Remains from causing a multiversal war.
I do not want to defend Disney and the MCU, or harp on about Disney's decisions etc, but I do try to put things into perspective. Since the pandemic struck, there has been a huge push for Disney Plus and for more MCU content. Some show's release dates had to be switched around, and stories had to be changed due to the similarity of real-world events, the MCU was simply trying to find its feet due to the current global environment and the decisions and changes made. I personally feel that, with the new direction and push, a lot of the MCU's most recent content has been lacklustre (in MCU standards) due to this, but only a handful of projects have been really good and have been as close to the bar or at the bar Marvel has set for themselves. With that said, whilst the really good to great films and TV shows are very few and far between, the Loki series is by far, one of the best MCU TV shows and content the MCU has put out in a while or, frankly, period.
Loki season 2 not only seamlessly continues from the first season, the transition is simply unrecognisable. The two seasons play as one long movie and if everything was filmed at the same time and simply broken up into bite-sized episodes. The story, superb. The writing and script, incredible. The special effects were not spared and looked amazing for a TV show. To be fair, yes, the special effects were used sparingly but practical sets helped with budgets, so when the special effects were used, it looked amazing. The show seemed to have as much love and attention put into the show like the first season and a handful of other MCU TV shows. You can tell the attention to detail was there. It was all in the writing, script, story and performance.
The performance from Tom Hiddleston as Loki, will go down as one of the best story arcs in Marvel acted out by a single actor who simply owns the character. Like Robert Downey Jr. is to Ironman, Tom is to Loki. If you follow the story arc from the very first Thor, then Thor: The Dark World, The Avengers, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, going into this series, you will love what they have done here and what the MCU has done with the Loki character. As for Jonathan Majors, the actor is incredible, simply incredible. The artistic vision he is able to put in his performance is soo good, when you simply look at his body of work and his performance in the last season, you see why they chose him. Not to get into his personal life, but should he not beat his trial, I do believe Marvel should replace the actor, but the new actor will have some huge shoes to fill. Without getting into any spoilers, seeing Johnathan continue in the MCU would be great, simply put. Ke Huy Quan, Sophia Di Martino and Owen Wilson are top tier next to Johnathan and Tom. I do feel Owen and Sophia had a slight smaller role in this season to make way for Ke and Ke knocks it out of the park. Every single moment he is on the screen, you gravitate to him and his energy. As for the other supporting cast such as Wunmi Mosaku and Rafael Casal, they were also good, but it would have been nice to have a little more from Wunmi as she is another great actress who has also worked alongside Johnathan before.
Lastly, the music by Natalie Holt is amazing. The music for the first season also by Natalie Holt is on a playlist of mine, so to know she has come back for season 2 brings comfort to me and she does not miss. I am yet to sit down and listen to this season's score, but from what I heard in the show, especially near the end of the last episode, the scene with Loki, simply sounded amazing and I will definitely Identify that and add it to my list. While the MCU is not in the best place right now, us fans want consistency, but we also want great storytelling. A vision, love, time and passion put into the writing, the stories will help the MCU going forward, this series is a testament to that as this is, as I have said, is by far, one of the best MCU TV shows and content the MCU has put out in a while or, frankly, period. Get to watching it.
