(trailer review) - Gen V: Season 2

It feels like it has been a long time since the last Gen V show, but it has only been two years. The show aired two years ago, and whilst I am not saying this should be a yearly thing (and it probably should be), but there have been so many movies and other shows consumed in between then and now, that when I try to think about this show, I am struggling to remember what happens in it. The one thing I do remember as clear as day is that during the filming of this season, the actor Chance Perdomo passed away due to a motorcycle crash, which hit all fans of the show and fans of his work. He was a young star, and I noticed him from the 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'. I had not recognised him in anything, but he was so good in his performance, and again, in this show, so good in his performance. He had this resentment and angst about his father, who he was, and it seemed like going forward, he would have had a bigger part to play in the story of Gen V, along with Marie. I remember the students discovering that there are students being experimented on, and they were led to believe a student took his own life when, in fact, he was killed. Then, Homelander shows up, stating that the best super in the university is able to join The Seven, something along those lines. This trailer seems to continue that, but Chance has not been recast.

So Marie came into her powers and now studies at Godolkin University School of Crimefighting, but with the students investigating what has been going on, Marie is in fear for her life and has been on the run, until Starlight shows up, stating she needs to go back to school. There is a new Dean who used to be at the hidden science facility. And with Project Odessa being the focus of the investigation, Marie needs to try and figure out what it is, whilst honing her skills to become an even more powerful sup, and it looks like there is an angle of revenge and justice for Andre, who looks to have been killed as part of the storyline as his father looks to have a bigger role and even looks to have a confrontation with Black Noir. I have not seen The Boys show in a while, and I am up to speed, but I will need a rewatch or recap of it all. But this season looks like it is all kicking off, especially as the next season of The Boys is meant to be the last. I am definitely tuning in as this looks great, plus this franchise's storytelling has always been well done.

(film review) - Fantastic Four: First Steps

Before I even get into it all, I am not going to mention the Disney stuff or the corporate stuff this time around, because I think I have said it to death at this point. What I will say is, there has been a lot of mis-marketing around this film, from it being called woke due to the hottest guy in Hollywood playing Reed Richards, a Caucasian male, and Pedro Pascal is not. With articles running with "Sue Storm is the leader of the team" instead of Reed Richards, to saying Johnny Storm is no longer a ladies man, as he is in the comics; a lot of negative stories surrounding Fantastic Four were flying around to orchestrate a narrative that Disney has gone "woke" (again, woke does not mean diversity and inclusion, bimbo!), but in fact Disney have made a conscious effort to produce and make a film that will hopefully remove the "stench" off of the old movies from Tim Story and hopefully give us, film-goers and fans of the Fantastic Four and comics, comic book's first family in a way that works.

Recently, I watched both of Tim Story's Fantastic Four and in a way, I felt those two movies (along with Fan4stic to some degree) heavily influenced the characters in this movie. They did not want to re-tread old ground. Rewatching Fantastic Four reminded me that although it had not aged well, there are many elements in that movie that make that movie a movie of that era. For example, if you watched X-Men and Spider-Man (Tobey), you can tell the movie is of that era. Yes it was it entertaining, and the back and fourth between Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm was good, but I found pretty much all of Johnny Storm's dialogue were all "clever" ways to say something that incorporates a mention of heat, flame or fire to a point it became borderline predictable and in some cases, cheesy or cringeworthy. However, comic book movies were not where they are now, and like I said, a product of its era, it is all we had. Reed could do some cool stretchy things, and Sue could turn invisible and maybe project force fields, but she was mainly used as a gag to get Jessica Alba in her undies. Lastly, Doctor Doom seemed to have metal under his skin and could shoot electricity as if he were Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars. It was good at the time because, like I said, that is all we had, so when 'Rise of the Silver Surfer' came about, it was more of the same, but it was lacking, and the only cool thing about it was the Silver Surfer character. Cool action scenes, and before I bury the lede, seeing Andre "Nine Nine" Braugher, who at the time, I never knew who he was, was delightful on the rewatch, but the film does not hold up, nor was it any good. And the less I say about Fan4stic and the exploding heads and nonsense that was Doctor Doom, the better. That was also a film of that era, like The Amazing Spider-Man with Garfield. They thought going dark was edgy, you know. Well, at least until the MCU came with the Avengers movie, where the colour palette was brighter. But on the back of a few good stories with a few good characters, we are possibly 30 projects in at this point and I say all that to say this...the Tim Story and the Josh Trank movies crawled for this movie to run...and run it did, to a full on sprint in some cases, I'll explain.

I missed (you know what, never mind). From what I caught, the Fantastic Four were being introduced, and there was a little backstory behind how they got their powers, and they are at home about to have dinner. Sue and Reed let the rest of the family know they are expecting a child, but when the Silver Surfer turns up, stating the planet is doomed to death, the Fantastic Four must figure out how to tackle this problem and hopefully save the planet.

I tried to keep it as simple as possible without any spoilers because if you have seen the trailers, pretty much all the scenes are mostly from the first part of the movie, but with that said, this movie soars AND  takes you places unexpected. To start with, the special effects, this might be one of the best-looking designs in the MCU, next to the city of Wakanda, and the special effects are immaculate. In places, it does dip, but there are scenes in this movie where it looks absolutely fantastic. There is a specific scene where the special effects and the sound design compliment each other for what we are looking at and the weight and depth given to that scene fills you with dread, then immediately after that scene, there is another scene which is filled with soo much tension and action, it was similar to how I felt watching Gravity for the first time with Sandra Bullock...clenching onto the seat for dear life.

Which leads me to the acting. Not a single bad or out-of-place performance. I will say that Paul Walter Hauser's character felt a little off, but that might be because I simply saw the guy from 'I, Tonya' than the character he was playing and although I respect him as a great actor and the way he portrayed the character, maybe something else was needed. Pedro, as Reed, to me, sold a man with the weight of the planet on his shoulders. There was zero charm coming from Pedro; it was all about the technology and trying to assess the threat. The conversation between Reed and Storm, played by Vanessa Kirby, was perfection. Vanessa killed the role as Sue Storm as she was given more than just getting into her underwear, and in some cases, was the MVP of the film. With that said, her brother Johnny Storm, played by Joseph Quinn, played a different hothead than Chris Evans, but I believe that was the point. I always wondered why Johnny Storm would go into space, but in this film, they fleshed him out a bit better than previous versions did. Actually, I take that back, Michael B. Jordan showed intelligence in the last Fantastic Four Movie too, but they also gave him an arc as well. Ben Grimm, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, played a more mild-mannered Ben, but I believe it worked for the movie, especially with what they were doing. I was completely sold on the fact that these people were friends and a family. The way they interacted with each other, joked with each other and worked together. There were undertones and subtle acting where you had to read between the lines because this movie did not spell it out for you. As for subtlety, Julia Garner did a great job as the Silver Surfer, expressionless but terrifying. I completely understand why they went for her over the Silver Surfer, who is more familiar with fans of the comics. There were scenes in this movie with her that sent shivers down my spine, where 'Rise of the Silver Surfer' could not even try to conjure up a thought of even being this good a portrayal. And in case you do not know who the big bad is, I will simply say, terrifying.

The story was good as it all made sense. Not everything was explained, but I do believe that is because I am willing to bet there are huge chunks of this movie on the cutting room floor, because as I said, this movie soars, it sprints, it's choppy, not leaving much room for scenes to breathe. You can be on one scene, then before you know it, you are three scenes deep, and scenarios are happening quickly, and I assume this was done to streamline the movie within an inch of its life so that people stayed engaged and entertained. They trimmed the fat, you could say, but to be honest, I wanted much more. I honestly do not know how much I missed, but 30 minutes (or close to that) is definitely removed from this movie. It is not as if nothing makes sense; it is just that you get from A to F quickly, like where were C and E? And talking about letters, the score was great. More noticeable for me in this movie than Superman, but it gave me vibes of the Ant-Man score style.

In conclusion, this movie is not great; it has a few issues here and there, but they are not major enough to tank the movie because this movie does a lot of things to get you on board. Sci-fi, humour (which hits mostly without being too comedic), tension, loss, emotion, action and also does enough to leave you intrigued to where we go next and how Marvel's first family will be incorporated into the MCU we know and love. I definitely recommend this movie as it is a great, sorry, Fantastic representation of the Fantastic Four than what we have previously had, and hopefully, going forward, we lean more into the power sets and drama of the family, oh...and Doom.

(film review) - I Know What You Did Last Summer

First and foremost, what? Secondly, why? I am trying to rack my brain over a few things right now. 1) Did I hear about this movie before and know that they were doing it? or 2) When I heard about the trailer for it, is that when I realised they were doing another movie? I have no idea. I know I have 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' on DVD. I also have 'I STILL Know What You Did Last Summer' on DVD, but I could not tell you when I watched them last. Moreover, by watching this movie, I found out that the first movie came out in 1997, and that is 3 decades ago! So, I guess the main question regarding this movie is, is it any good? Yeah..yeah it is actually!

A bunch of teens are together celebrating a wedding, and they bump into another friend they have lost touch with. Wanting to chill together like they used to, they all decide to go and see the 4th of July fireworks, and whilst viewing the fireworks, an accident occurs, and they leave the person, whom they presume to be dead. A year later, a mysterious note pops up stating "I know what you did last summer," leaving the teens to wonder who is pranking them, but when bodies start to fall, the teens need to figure out who the killer is and stop them before they all die.

I was about 10 minutes too late to watch 'F1' or 'Jurassic World Rebirth', so I decided to watch 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' instead because I watched the original back in the cinema all those years ago, enjoyed it so much, watched the sequel with Brandy, enjoyed that one too and purchased both of them on DVD. So, hearing about this movie and also hearing it was decent, I was comfortable in watching this to check it out for myself, and I must say, I had a blast. I did not see the trailer, and I did not expect anything from it, but I still managed to find the movie really enjoyable.

The characters, who cares? I mean, back in the day, it was Freddie Prinze. Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt, who were names of that era and were recognised, but this movie has a bunch of actors I do not recognise at all, and I still enjoyed the film regardless. The film had that late 90s vibe, and it was executed superbly. The film ran smoothly, and the story was decent, I mean, it is a revenge flick, but none of the characters were boring, and all the actors did a great job. There were a couple of standouts for me. The characters all felt like they were essentially meant to be carbon copies of characters from the original. I have nothing to back that up because I have not seen those movies in ages, but it was definitely a feeling I got.

The deaths. I might as well talk about the deaths rather than the music and cinematography, because you don't watch a slasher film for those things. The deaths were great! I won't go into any in case you have not seen the trailer and want to go in fresh like me, but there were a bunch of times I was squirming, and in terms of comedy elements, there were a few funny lines. One of the best lines in the film was "Are you an egg?". The delivery was excellent. I couldn't stop laughing for a good 5 minutes afterwards. When you watch the movie, you will see who says it, why, and why it was funny.

All in all, this was a great and unsuspecting watch where I went in blind, and I really enjoyed the movie because it did what a slasher film is meant to do. You know, it does what it says on the tin. Kills, a couple of laughs here and there, and a decent storyline. There were a few moments which were blatantly meant to be jump scares and some unexplained manoeuvring, but slasher films have got to slaher, you know. Whilst I will say there is a scream 5 or 6 element to the movie that makes you think, but other than that, a good and enjoyable slasher summer movie and the precredits scene was also interesting. Should they do a sequel, are they gonna call it, 'I STILL know what you did last summer?', likely.

(trailer review) - Predator: Badlands

 

I am not sure if I have mentioned it in any of my reviews, maybe when I was talking about Alien Romulus, but the Alien franchise is one of my favourite franchises of all time. The Predator franchise takes me back to being a child and watching the Arnold Swarzenegger film with my cousin, and I've also watched all the Predator films bar Predators (only because it didn't look that good) and now, with this Predator Badlands movie, with a Weyland Yutani android, it has only just occurred to me that this movie might be a "backdoor" invite for an Alien vs Predator movie, or in this case, Predator vs Aliens, because from this trailer at least, that is at least, what is actually happening and isn't the xenomorph the ultimate killing weapon?

So the trailer starts with the android and immediately, I am thinking of 'Aliens', the franchise, because in the Alien franchise, there is always something (and usually long) going into some kind of orifice and somewhat violently as well. Yeah, I get this android needs to hook up to the machine, but yeah...always uncomfortable to watch. Then we see our "protagonist" getting his weapons together while we hear that it is his first hunt, and he has come to the most dangerous planet in the universe. Come on, he has to fight a Xenomorph, right? Anyway, the android has a little introduction, the Predator picks her up and dashes her back down, only to realise they need to work together to defeat/kill a definitive apex predator. Come on, I'm calling it now. I will say the "good luck with your journey", acting and delivery were excellent, and it made me laugh. So, throughout the rest of the trailer, the Predator is fighting all these different types of creatures (aliens), and at one point, maybe his own species. But I will say, if the final boss is not a Xenomorph, I will be gutted. I didn't like the Predator Prey comment, as to me, it felt forced, but other than that, this Predator vs Aliens film or prequel looks really good, and I'm fully on board. Let us just hope it is as good as Prey and maybe do justice to the Alien vs Predator franchise, because as cool as they kinda were, sorta, they were still cheesy and sucked. 

(film review) - Superman

Firstly, I was not sure what to expect from this movie because, whilst I have not seen all of James Gunn's movies, the ones I have seen, I have enjoyed. The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy in the MCU is up there with one of the best trilogies in the MCU and some of the best trilogies in life. The second one was a little more slapstick, but the 3rd closed out the trilogy, and it was excellent. What James has done in the DC universe, old and new, The Suicide Squad was actually really good (better than the first one that came out, Suicide Squad), and the spin-off TV show he did called Peacemaker was surprisingly good also. The theme song was really catchy and infectious, and although the show was set up in the DCEU with The Flash played by Ezra Miller, Aquaman played by Jason Momoa, this new DC universe, now coined the DCU has started with Creature Commandos as a cartoon animation and the first film to come out from Warner Bros. new DC universe is, Superman. With a new universe, with different characters and actors, some of us fans have wondered, what would be the difference between the old universe, which was spearheaded by Zack Snyder and this new one, which is now run by James Gunn? Well, if we are able to take a few notes from this movie and where we think the universe is going, for a start, it will be less dark, bleak and moody. Or at least, Superman will not be brooding and dark, something many film fans complained about initially, all those years ago. This movie is bright, joyful, funny and...hopeful? But is it any good? I'll explain.

Clark Kent (David Corenswet) has now shown Superman to the world, and he has been Superman for 3 years on an Earth that has had metahumans for 300 years, but with all the things he can do, Superman is the new kid on the block the world loves, but Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) does not. Clark works at the Daily Planet, he is in a relationship with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), and although Lex Luthor does not like Metahumans, and likely the Justice Gang, he despises Superman the most, so much that he has decided to put a plan in place to finally kill the man of steel by any means necessary.

This movie is not perfect at all, and although the story is good, we needed a bit more justification and fleshing out in places so we could understand the motives behind some of the actions taking place. With that said, although I have heard the film was likely longer and was cut short because it was too long for a first film in this new DCU, and the pacing does feel a tad choppy in places, this film is a really good time. As I stated earlier, this movie is bright, joyful, funny, and in some places, very dark. The city of Metropolis seems as though it is a great place to work and live, plus you have a few metahumans and Superman to protect you should anything happen. The skyscrapers are tall, the people seem nice, it just looks like a great and lively place, which lends to the tone of the movie, which is the exact opposite of what we saw last.

The three main characters and actors, David as Superman, Nicholas as Lex and Rachel as Lois, are all really good. I feel we need to see a bit more Clark Kent because he is only around for a small amount of the movie, which is fine, because we really want to see Superman mostly (which is not a bad thing), but there was not much duality seen on screen, but he does carry across everything Superman stands for with ease. Truth, Justice and the American way...or just being a good person/human. The moment in the film that supports that is the interview scene in the trailer with Lois, plus there are other moments highlighted in the movie, even a part that made me roll my eyes.

The supporting cast of Nathan as Guy, Isabela as Hawkgirl and Edi as Mr. Terrific were just as good as the main cast and whenever Mr. Terrific showed up, Edi stole the show. Nathan is just as great as Guy Gardiner, and from what I understand of the character, he portrayed the character just like in the comics. Isabela did not have much to do in comparison to the other two and had the least amount to say, but the scenes she had were ok, especially a moment she had with a certain someone in the movie, and she made an executive decision that was hilarious. That was a moment where I burst out laughing. Anthony as Metamorpho was good, brought in some of the heart, and I liked what they did with him. The rest of the characters, like Jimmy, Eve, and Perry, are all ok. Jimmy was more of the standout as he had a role along with character Eve, but Wendall, as Perry should have had more to do, but I am guessing it was either cut and left on the cutting room floor, or he was not given much. It just seems like a waste of an actor. Ma and Pa Kent were also great, and I loved the way they were portrayed in comparison to how they have been played in the past, plus it was nice to have both parents in this movie for a change. Krypto the dog is really good, and I feel he worked for me. He was set up, it was explained, and he was consistent.

The special effects and the music, as usual, were great. It is James Gunn and he has a unique spin on things such as music, visuals and humour. The humour felt a touch off in places, ot many, but for the most part, it worked as it was very funny where it needed to be. It wasn't people necessarily being funny or jokes, more situational or a character's behaviour, more than anything. There were some really great laugh-out-loud moments for me. The flying was a concern going in from the trailers, but in context, it worked very well, which seems to be the ongoing thing here as well. There was a lot of uproar about the dog, about the flying, about this and about that, but when you watch the movie, everything is explained in context. The one thing I felt the movie was lacking, and it is likely because I recently rewatched Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, and his entire trilogy, James used great music in the films that I have seen, and this film feels a little stripped down, and the music mostly comes from the score itself.

I initially missed the first 10 to 15 minutes of the movie, so I went back to watch it again, and the film felt more complete on the second viewing. It felt more like a whole movie (because I did not miss the beginning), but most of what you see in the trailer is in the first 10-15 minutes, and those minutes give context. There was an explanation in the movie of something, and I thought I missed it, but it turned out you never saw it anyway.
All in all, this movie is the polar opposite of Zack Snyder's DCEU universe, or at least from a Superman perspective for now, and this does not feel like an interpretation or James Gunn's take on Superman (although it is), but this very much feels like Superman from the comics and cartoons. It is very comic-booky. The characterisation and portrayal feel more authentic to who Superman is at his core and not the departure Zack did, although it was beloved. If there is anything I would have wanted from this movie, is more time. More time to work on the story a bit more, the side characters and although we did not get an origin for Superman, some more time with Clark would have been great because the dialogue in this movie is great when we have those small characater moments, so it would have been nice to have some more of that because the action is the action, and it's great, but the intimate bits, the quieter moments, and even some more dialogue choices to explain some things would have went a long way. I got emotional on the second watch, maybe due to some real-life things, but the film is good, has some issues, but it is good, real good. Nothing spectacular, phenomenal or great, it's just a good solid movie and a great intro into this new universe. There are two post-credit scenes, and one pre-credit scene was interesting, going forward.

(trailer review) - Tron: Ares

(TEASER TRAILER)

If you are as old as me, you watched the original Tron movie when you were young, and as close to when the movie was first released. If your parents were cool enough, as a child, you watched it, and like most children seeing something sci-fi and cool, this movie was everything. Albeit very dated now, but the ships, the light cycles, red against blue, was there not a green in the original? I cannot remember at all now, but the long and short of it was, it was epic at the time, and we still hold fond memories of the original. Then there was Tron Legacy. The trailers looked amazing at the time, but the film never really delivered. The special effects were ok, but I think we had better around that time, the story was a little weird and bringing back Jeff Bridges and the dodgy effects to make him look younger was awful. However, Ares, that first trailer was pretty good, but this one, this trailer, THIS TRAILER!!! definitely sells this movie for me, as not only does it look epic. The first trailer had my attention, but this trailer fully has my attention. I am getting a sense of AI self-awareness, which is all the rage since, well, maybe the first movie, and we are still talking about it now in real life.

Having Evan Peters explain that they have managed to "harness/create" the AI NPCs, or just an AI, (maybe) to use it/them as soldiers by bringing them from the digital world into the real world and having a specific character named Ares to be the top/best soldier, because he is intelligent, strong, fast, is great and all, but now he wants to be human? Wait, what? Is he trying to break away from his "grouping" to become human? Why is the city being attacked? There are a few sequences in this trailer that look great, RoboCop, Terminator-esque. The Light cycle, the (what I can only explain as) the mechanical wing-propulsion suit, even that big thing we see going past the offices, I thought was called a dreadnaught (I need to rewatchrhe movie). But, the shot at the end is indeed the money shot! All those missiles firing out and moving angular like in a computer game, epic. That first trailer was good, but this one is leagues better. Let's see!

(trailer review) - Mortal Kombat II

 

Up, Down, Left, Right, Finish Him! Mortal Kombat was that rival game for those who loved Street Fighter II. It has come a long way, too. The earlier film can be argued as a guilty pleasure, but was definitely better than the Street Fighter film (that one was so bad, Raul Julia had some iconic lines and made it good). The most recent Mortal Kombat film, though, whilst not amazing, was actually a really good and entertaining movie. Ultimately there was not much to the strange story, not many or any one-liners or quotables that I can remember, but some of the characters were introduced, and there were some decent fight scenes, but when it ended, I did think at the time, "that wasn't bad, a sequel would be nice", or something along those lines, but because I enjoyed it. And here we are, a sequel to a decent Mortal Kombat film, and the gang is back, and then some.

Grabbing Karl Urban from Lord of the Rings, Thor Ragnarok, Dredd, Star Trek and The Boys fame, is an absolute get, as it seems as though, having him play the actor Johnny Cage is superb casting, as Karl is an awesome actor. What I will say, though, seeing those other characters is nice and all, but what is happening? A little like the first movie, you are seeing all these different characters that appeared later in the games and although we may not be following the game's storyline at all (something I know little about and they could be making their own), or maybe loosely, what happened to the other guy in the first movie? There is a quick shot of him in the trailer, a blink and you will miss it, moment. Where is Sub-Zero? Granted, I have definitely forgotten what happens at the end, and he may likely be "dead", and maybe I need to watch it again, but this looks like a continuation, but the main character has been swapped out? Or is it, "Here comes a new challenger!" I dunno, I like the trailer, but is it all about Cage now? Regardless, some money has definitely gone into the sequel, and should this be just as good as the first one, we should have a decent time with it. Remember that frozen blood turned into a weapon,  something like that! The "Get over here!" is good and all, and expected, but that slice-a-man-in-half at the end is expected as it is a fatality, but we need a better trailer. Maybe, just maybe, some X-ray shots like in the games. That might be cool!

(trailer review) - Stranger Things

If you are not on the Stranger Things train by now, where have you been? Stranger Things is a show about children who discover a different dimension, coined "The Upside Down", when they go looking for their missing friend, Will. Fast forward many years later over the course of the series, the children have battled to save their town from monsters, government officers trying to cover up or seek control of the goings on within their town, but most importantly, the monster behind it all is out to get them and they must defeat it, once and for all.

There is obviously a lot more to Stranger Things than government conspiracy and monsters, and now we are finally here, and this trailer looks GREAT! They were tiny little kids when this series first started, and now the kids are all grown up, and we have seen them grow from season to season. We have gone through 4 seasons of storytelling introducing new characters and storylines; there has been some casualties along the way, and although all the seasons were good with some better than others, the last season to me was epic, which ends cliffhanger-esque bringing us back to Hawkins, these kids, the big bad, the government, Linda Hamilton (great to see here) and Hopper with Eleven. The last season was great, and the final showdown is here. This trailer is phenomenal, and it is only a teaser trailer. Get on board if you haven't already started any of it yet. Retro 80's goodness like blowing out your cartridge before playing!

(trailer review) - Wednesday: Season 2

 

(OFFICIAL TEASER TRAILER)

So we are here, at the official trailer for Wednesday season 2, and this trailer is delightful! The quotables. The antics. I think they may have even picked up where we have left off and raised the stakes, because although I said in the last review "this trailer makes it seem as though the second season will be just as great as the first", this official trailer definitely implies that and I am absolutely here for it. Remember, I did say that I grew up on the Addams Family and Wednesday was my favourite character, and the first season was really good because it was kooky like it should be, but moreover, Jenna Ortega plays an excellent Wednesday after the great Christina Ricci.

This trailer starts off the same as the teaser trailer, but there are far more special effects and more of the story involved here. Wednesday seems to be crying black tears, and her vision shows her that she lets her roommate Enid die, but it seems as if Morticia also had a similar experience in her past. There is this new woman on the scene, maybe the new headmistress, and I am guessing Wednesday and Thing will work together to stop Enid from dying with help from other school "mates". We see monsters and a flying Phoenix, maybe. And the quotable with the deadpan line delivery is just superb, "I only sign my name in blood", "I'm where fun goes to die", "I already know where the bodies are buried",  "Addams with two 'D's' like Padded Room. I really enjoyed the first one, and I am here for the shenanigans and lots of dark twisted humour, and more shenanigans and more quoteables. I hope this season sticks the landing, as it is just as good as the first. This trailer dropped on a Wednesday!

(series review) - Ironheart

 

To be clear, Disney-Marvel has made some questionable decisions lately. When I say of late, within the last six years. For me, it stemmed from a scene in Endgame (so obviously longer than six years), but there was a moment when all the women came together to fight. It had nothing to do with women coming together to fight, but more about the heavy-handedness of it all that even the show 'The Boys' made fun of it. With that said, it is all about directives and execution. Ryan Coogler had directives for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and under the circumstances, his execution was near flawless, considering the challenges he faced. Bringing a character like Riri into the MCU is obviously something they wanted to do, a black girl with intellect on par with Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and Shuri, so in Wakanda Forever, she goes. It was not an excellent fit, but Ryan made it work the best way he could. Riri was a decent addition to the movie, but was ultimately not needed; it drove the plot along. So here is the series, something they mentioned many years ago, which was in production and finished many years ago too. Under the mandate of Bob Chapek, formet Disney CEO who wanted everything out quick and fast and also onto Disney Plus, this show was struck with issues like a few movies and other shows of thay era, but the show...well, whilst not amazing or great, I still had a great time with it.

The first episode sets us up with what this story is going to be about: Riri dealing with her lost best friend and trying to find a different type of hustle to raise money to build an Iron suit. She finds a group of "Robin Hood-esque" people led by The Hood, aka Parker, where she feels she will be able to get money fast.

The second episode introduces Riri's AI N.A.T.A.L.I.E, who looks just like her best friend. While they both try to figure out how the AI came into being, Riri wants to complete a couple of missions for The Hood and his gang, but Riri needs more components for her suit when the 1st mission is complete. Riri also tries to figure out how The Hood uses his powers or where they derive from.

The third episode introduces Joe, a guy who has been living under the tech radar with his own dreams of being a revolutionist, but wants to stay as far from his father's endeavours as possible. He helps Riri, and Riri can continue with the heist, but things go wrong when the lab starts to lock down.

The fourth episode leaves Joe in a situation where The Hood helps him out and offers him assistance with his tech. Riri seeks help from her mother and her mother's friend at a magic shop that realises the nature or origin of The Hood's powers are rooted somewhere unfathomable. Xavier, Natalie's brother and Riri's friend, is forced to confront Riri's AI.

In the fifth episode, The Hood's gang decide to leave Parker to go on the last heist alone. Angry, Parker brings Zeke along with him, and Riri decides to armour up against The Hood to fight magic with magic.

The sixth and final episode gives us the origin story of The Hood and the deal he made to become who he is. Riri and The Hood battle it out, but ultimately, neither of them becomes the victor.

In short, the show was entertaining. It had its shortcomings with some of the story beats, the pacing, some logistics and The Hood's crew, but other than that, I really enjoyed the show.

Riri is a great but flawed character. She is acted very well by Dominique Thorne, and she is very relatable, other than the fact that she can build iron suits and is super intelligent. She is someone who, like most of us, runs away from things they do not want to face head-on. She makes silly decisions, but ultimately, she is a good person. Seeing Riri have panic attacks due to her realisation and the weight of her actions is very real and relatable. The N.A.T.A.L.I.E AI played by Lyric Ross, for me, steals the show. With so much personality and youthfulness, the AI is different to ALL other AIs in the MCU and stands apart by being just as clever as Riri but also acts as Riri's best friend. Their interaction and chemistry are undeniable.

Parker, aka The Hood, played by Anthony Ramos, is not one-dimensional. When we get to the latter episodes, you see where he has come from and why he is the way he is. He is not necessarily a bad person, as he also has layers like Riri, but is easily manipulated due to his drive and goals. His cousin John, played by Manny Montana, is loyal and faithful to Parker. You could see him as the person pulling the strings because he has a quiet demeanour about him, and he isn't just a henchman. He looks out for his cousin and protects him no matter what. All these characters and the acting from the actors are great, with zero flaws.

The Hood's crew. They are just in the show to act as Parker's henchmen to do what he asks them to do and to help pull off the heists. It is possible Parker could pull the heists off by himself, but he also wants his friends to earn money. None of these characters really stand out, nor do you care about them. You might want to know the backgrounds of maybe 2 of them. But ultimately, they are in this show to help build it out and flesh out the world. They are not important, even if one of them does mention a place we have heard before a few times in the MCU. Another character who was great was Joe. The chemistry between Dominique and Alden works well! His character is great, and he plays the character great, but going forward, it would be great to see more of Joe.

The mother, mother's friend and daughter are side characters I wish I got more screen time with and found out a bit more about them. Even the dad was great. Maybe after Doctor Strange 3, we might get something that has been mentioned (rumored) and an interesting and different Marvel show rather than film is defintely the way forward here, and maybe it can open up to a lot of possibilities epecially with fleshing out the MCU even more, but they were great side characters.

The show, as stated earlier, was entertaining, and it did act more like a show than a film spliced into six, but with that said, the show felt a little rushed to me. There seemed to be no sense of time passing, so the show feels like it spans a week, if that, rather than maybe two weeks or a month. Maybe it does or maybe it is shorter, but it seems like a lot gets done within hours from when the show starts to when it ends.

The music is great, and the special effects for a TV Show are great. The Iron suit looks great on screen, and it really pops. A lot of money has gone into it, and it shows.  It is a very high film quality, and the Iron suits look amazing, especially as they are all different from one another.

Although this show is likely to get mixed reviews over a myriad of reasons, ultimately the show is heading places that require a season 2 or the story to continue elsewhere. How the show ends is very ballsy for Disney and is all in line with the character. It had been a while since we had seen a flawed character like Riri, and this type of storytelling needs to continue within the MCU. If you have not seen it, give it a watch; it is not that demanding of your time, and it is entertaining. Hopefully, we can see more of these great side characters to open the doors for something else. Considering this show was delayed and chopped and re-written and this and that, the end result was not terrible, and for those who think it was, maybe consider Secret Invasion, or Echo or She-Hulk or Hawkeye or Moon Knight! I enjoyed Echo. She-Hulk, Moon Knight and Hawkeye were ok, but I do believe people are quick to say something is trash, forgetting other shows they called trash that came before it. It is not top quality and needs a bit of work here and there, but we have a good show with a great character and supporting characters, with an ending that needs resolving 

(trailer review) - The Running Man

 

I was more of an Arnold guy than a Sly guy. I believe my cousin liked them both, as he had the popular movies of the 80s. Total Recall, Predator, Cobra, Rambo, The Running Man. He was two years older than me, so I was too young, but I watched those movies off the back of him, and The Running Man was definitely one of my favourites. One of Arnold's best, next to The Terminator and  True Lies, not to mention the aforementioned Predator. The original movie was set in an Arena, and the protagonist had to get through all the different stages, beating all the bosses to win, but this looks different, and I'd be lying if I told you that I watched this trailer and did not compare it to the original.

This trailer took me a little while to get used to what they were going for, the tone and the story, because as I mentioned before, it was set in an arena, and this one seems to be set within the world, and the contestant has to try and survive for 30 days. The original had flashy, flashy suits, explosions and deaths, whereas this one seems to be a little isolated, but in Edgar Wright's fashion, had style. I was getting Baby Driver vibes (only loosely) likely due to cinematography and action scenes, but it did look entertaining, so maybe a second trailer will sell it more, but as this is meant to be closer to the Stephen King novel, maybe this might end up being a lot better.