Spider-Man Far From Home: Gone Yet Not Forgotten

Spider-man Far From Home is a Marvel Superhero film directed by John Watts. The plot of this film follows Peter Parker (Tom Holland), and his friends as they go on a European vacation after the world-changing events of Avengers Endgame. In this film Peter considers his place in the world after the death of his hero Tony Stark (Robert Downy Jr) and ponders if it’s time to just be a regular kid and give up being the friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

I have to admit I was one of the few people who wasn’t taken with Spider-man Homecoming or Tom Holland’s portrayal of the character. Maybe it was because I grew up during the Raimi era, but Homecoming did little for me and I believe Peter was better used in the Avengers film he appeared in. However, I liked Holland and his portrayal a hell of a lot more this time around, I truly think he has grown into the character over time.

Holland manages to capture the emotion of the character really well ,excelling in the film’s dramatic moments, him dealing with his grief over the death of Tony is a truly moving thing to see. What’s more, I liked how Holland plays the character in the sections of the film that see Peter just being a regular teenager and whenever it is him and his friends interacting on screen it is a joy to see.

The soundtrack of the film really helps with this, Watts is definitely drawing on 80’s Teenager movies like Ferris Buller’s Day Off and other works of John Hughes and it shows 100% in the soundtrack. It feels like this film could easily have come out in that time period and that really enhances the film for me.

The wider connections to the MCU are fantastic and it is nice to see Peter fight classic Spider-man villains like Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), and the dynamic the two characters have is electric. The end credits stingers for this film leave the franchise in a really interesting place and I can’t wait to see where they will take the character from here.

My one issue with this film is that they continue to make Spider-man and Peter Parker feel like Iron Man Jr, I understand the father son dynamic between the two is important for Peter’s arc, but to have Tony so involved in his story makes him feel like he has less free agency of his own and is rather Iron Man’s side kick and I don’t like this for the character, hopefully Spider-man 3 goes another way with it.

Overall, a very solid film, a strong step up from a lukewarm first entry, both Watts and Holland feel more in their respective groves this time around. They need to watch out and make sure to not turn Peter Parker into Iron Man Jr, as that was my main cause of concern when watching this film.

Pros.

Watts is better.

Holland is better.

Gyllenhaal is incapable of giving a bad performance.

The end set-up.

Cons.

Iron Man Jr?

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Malevolent: Menacingly Average

Malevolent is a British horror film directed by Olaf de Fleur Johannesson. It follows brother and sister duo Angela (Florence Pugh), and Jackson (Ben Lloyd Hughes), who pretend to be paranormal investigators to make money. However, when they arrive at their latest case both siblings learn that not only is the paranormal real, but it wants to see them dead.

When I was going through Netflix and I saw a horror film staring beloved up and comer Florence Pugh I expected big things and boy was I disappointed! This film is as run of the mill and as generic as a horror film can get, all of the ideas this film has have been done before and so much better. It reminded me in a lot of ways of The Boy from a few years ago, expect that felt novel and fresh and this just feels like a retread.

This film greatest crime is how average it is and how it seems to be okay with it, everything from the performances to the scares had me at an eh. The horror genre is in a near-constant effort to reinvent itself: because there are only so many times you can jump at a jump scare before it becomes obvious and crucially not scary. This is what I think befell this film, had it come out 5 years ago it could have done well, but it came out now and that my dear reader is what killed it.

Another baffling thing this film does is have Florence Pugh a British actress speak with an American accent. This is a British film that takes place in Britain, so it would make sense if Pugh spoke with her normal accent, I wouldn’t mind but her and her brother being American’s doesn’t really fit into the plot at all and it just seems a bit odd.

The ending the of the film, when it is going full kilter into all the lip-sowing action, is when it is at it’s best and I will give it that. The ending is genuinely a bit creepy and left me thinking about it after the credits rolled, if the rest of the film could have been like that it would be a much better film.

Overall, this film felt incredibly bland, it had all been done before, and other than a creepy ending and a somewhat decent performance from Pugh, it is on the bad side of forgettable.

Pros.

Creepy last 10 minutes.

Florence Pugh gives an okay performance.

Cons.

It’s boring.

It has been done before, better.

The accent thing bugged me.

It is very much a 2014 sort of film.

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Current State Of Doctor Who: Please Someone Put It Out Of It’s Misery!

*Bonus Content

Doctor Who is a British institution it has been so far decades, but what I want to talk about today is how the series has been since it’s 2005 revival, the steady decline. I have watched Doctor Who since I was a kid, I loved Eccleston and Tennant’s Eras, I stuck around during the Smith years, I skipped Capaldi and I came back for Whittaker.

For me what makes Who Who is off world adventures, unique and memorable aliens, and story lines and characters you care about, these I would stay are the staples of good Doctor Who that feature in most iterations of the show. However, New Who seems to have an identity crisis it is so hellbent on being new and different that it is hemorrhaging viewers like it’s going out of style.

Remember what I said a few lines up about what makes good Who? Well let’s look at some of the recent episodes of Doctor Who and see if they stack up. Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor seems to have a fear of going off world as most of the episodes of these newer series are set on Earth, that shouldn’t be a bad thing in and of itself as there are plenty of cool things they could do with it, but oh my they don’t.

Then you have memorable aliens, New Who seems to like to have most of it’s villains be humans, so it can make overt and blatant political points, but to it’s credit when they do have new alien villains they do work well such as in the Nicola Tessla episode. Although something that New Who seems to do, most likely to play on audiences’ nostalgia is bring back classic monsters and I’m sorry but it is just cheap. You can’t have your cake and eat it; they want so badly to be new and fresh and yet they still play up the nostalgia to get people to stick out the new series. What’s more when they do bring these classic monsters back, they ruin them, here’s looking at you Dalek New Year’s Special.

Finally we have characters and storylines that you care about, now I have no issue with Whittaker’s portrayal for the most part, I think she can shine when the writing is good, but the issue here is that it very rarely is and this leads to the new Doctor having a sycophantic personality. Moreover, the companions are fine, but there are too many of them, this stops anyone of them from getting meaningful development outside of tropes and clichés. In terms of storylines, we might have one good storyline such as ‘Fugitive of the Jadoon’, followed by a never-ending wave of trash like ‘Praxeus’. The writing is horrific and often far too on the nose, yes before you say it I know Doctor Who has always been a political show, but it was done in a subtle way, now it has become a weekly lecture about the evils of humanity and how we are terrible and for me that just isn’t fun.

So across my criteria current year Doctor Who is a failure.

I hope the BBC end this before the ratings drop much lower, current Who is already an embarrassment of what it used to be, but surely it can’t get any worse.

I will be back to do a review of the new season when it ends!

Luke

Narcos Mexico Season 1: A New Era Of Narcos

Narcos Mexico Season 1 is a crime drama series and spin-off to the Netflix series Narcos. The new series as the name would suggest shifts the focus of the program from the cocaine fields of Columbia to the weed fields of Mexico, though some familiar faces do make a return. The series chronicles the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel and Felix Gallardo’s (Diego Luna), kidnapping of American DEA Agent Kiki Camarena (Michael Pena).

To briefly describe this series, it is more of the same, if you liked Narcos and enjoyed seeing the DEA slowly busting drug dealers over a period of years than you will enjoy this. As usually there are some cheer worthy monuments (in this season it is the burning of the weed fields), some sad moments (Kiki’s death), and a hell of a lot of frustration as the corrupt system gets in the way of these agents doing their job.

As someone who loved all of that in previous seasons, I fully enjoyed Narcos Mexico Season 1, I found it to be both captivating and thrilling and it proves the creative team behind the show still has it.

Michael Pena plays against type here, he has done some dramatic work before (End Of Watch, Fury), but he is mainly known for his more comedic work. He played Kiki as a man on a mission, much like characters of past seasons his whole life revolved around bringing the drug lord to justice. My one issue is that the character could be annoying at times and do reckless and dangerous things without thinking about his family, who had moved down to Mexico with him.

I thought Luna’s Gallardo was a villain on the same level of Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura), this is exactly what the series needed and was the issue the final series of Narcos was disappointing: because the villains were lacking. My one issue on this side of things was that I would have preferred to see Gallardo’s rise and fall within one series as opposed to two, it just feels more dragged out. A lot of episodes have plot points that go nowhere and feel put into pad out the 50+ minute runtime.

Overall, Narcos Mexico Season 1 is good, the characters are working and that is what made the first two series of Narcos feel so special, I still have a few issues with it, such as I feel like it didn’t need to be spread over two seasons and that I found Kiki’s character annoying at times. Ps. Don’t even get me started on Raffa or more adeptly the worst character ever written.

Pros.

Back to basics in a good way.

Interesting new villain.

It feels fresh again.

Cons.

It is too dragged out.

Some of the characters are annoying.

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Toy Story 4: Saying Goodbye

Toy Story 4 is a computer animated comedy film directed by Josh Cooley. The plot continues on from the ending of Toy Story 3 with the toys now having moved on from Andy and are now loving life under Bonnie. However, one of the toys feels as though he doesn’t fit in this new world anymore and questions where he does belong, this toy is Woodie (Tom Hanks).

I firmly believe this film doesn’t need to exist, Toy Story 3 wrapped the character arcs up for everyone in such a nice and satisfying way we didn’t need to revisit them, maybe in 30 years when the series will inevitably be rebooted, or remade, but we didn’t need another sequel. Pixar billed Toy Story 4 as an epilogue, a whole film that would serve as the end. So, it is by that definition I will judge this film.

I thought this film was good, but not great, by far it is the weakest instalment in the quadrillage. This film is very much Woodies film and yes, he has always been the main character of these films, but he has just been one part of a larger ensemble. Here he is the main focus. As such characters like Buzz (Tim Allen) and Jessie (Joan Cusack), are not really in this film, they have sort of appearances here and there, but they are given nothing of note to do, Jessie especially.

In terms of characterisation Woodie goes on quite the journey, he starts the film trying to make Bonnie into the new Andy, when he realises, he can’t do that and Bonnie makes Forky (Tony Hale), a new toy to replace him, he realises he needs to move on. In many ways Woodie is the audience in this film as he realises the time has come to say goodbye. They tie into this Bo Peep (Annie Potts), coming back into Woodie’s life, she is the one who got away and she shows him, very much the film shows us that it is okay to move on.

Audiences of my generation have grown up with these films and now we are being told it is okay to move on and leave the Toy Story films behind and I think there is something beautiful about that. Though I think this film was deeply unnecessary and was most likely a cash grab it still had heart and it still had soul, I liked seeing where it left Woodie and I hope they leave him there.

Ps. Please Pixar don’t make Toy Story 5!

Pros.

The ending.

Woodie’s Arc.

The new characters are good for a laugh.

Cons.

Side-lines Buzz and Jessie.

You can’t shake the feeling this film doesn’t need to exist.

3.5/5

The Full Monty: Bearing It All

The Full Monty is a comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo. The plot follows a group of unemployed men in Sheffield who turning to striping to make money. This film isn’t afraid to touch on some very real, very dark themes, such as the rights of a father, body image and sexuality, but it handles them all in a thoughtful and mature way.

This is one of those late 90’s early 2000’s films that were social realist with a twist of fantasy in there. It tries to show the world in a realistic way, not in a Hollywood happy ending sort of way, there is a touch of happiness at the end, but the fate of the guys if left relatively ambiguous. It is in the same sort of vein as Trainspotting.

Robert Carlyle does a great job as Gaz, he plays him as a man who has made a few mistakes, his life hasn’t turned out the way he wanted it to, but he always tries to do right by his son. I liked this angle for the character and thought that the relationship between father and son worked well and was affecting, especially when it looked as though Gaz wasn’t going to be able to see his son anymore.

Another thing that I thought worked really well was Mark Addy’s Dave. Dave has body confidence issue that deeply affect him, we the audience don’t realise this right away, however throughout the film we see how his issues are controlling and ruining his life and his marriage and it breaks your heart. Like I said before this film doesn’t pull any punches it hits you in the face with these unpleasant truths about life and they make you think. I think Dave and the way he is represented on screen is so important for cinema as a whole, as it shows people who are suffering from similar issues that they are not alone.

Overall, I think this film doesn’t really work as a comedy film it didn’t make me laugh once, but it works incredibly well as a drama film. It has a strong message about loving yourself and how there is always hope for tomorrow as well as highlighting a lot of the struggles people have to go through on a day to day basis. Dave’s struggle with body confidence has stayed with me since I saw the film a few days ago and I think that proves just how powerful it is. Half a really important social commentary, half an unfunny comedy film.

I’m mixed.

Pros.

Robert Carlyle.

Mark Addy’s character works on so many levels and the struggle he has to go through is one that so many people can relate to, as such it is deeply impactful.

The social commentary and darker themes.

Cons.

It is not at all funny.

It does drag on a bit at times.

3.5/5

Reviewed By Luke

Yoga Hosers: The Great White North

Yoga Hosers is a horror comedy film directed by Kevin Smith. The film serves as the second instalment in Smith’s True North trilogy after Tusk. The story this time around sees the Colleens (Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp) return, to fight Nazi clones that take the form of Bratwurst people and once again save their hometown. If that premise sounds out there and weird to you, it should. Yoga Hosers is aware that it is an hour and half exercise in nonsense and silliness and is proud of it, it revels in it.

*Before I watched this film, I had heard people say nothing but, bad things about it and I have to say I disagree I quite liked the film. For me the Colleens are likable and funny protagonists, Harley Quinn Smith once again proves that she has a lot of upcoming actor potential. I think the film has strong horror and comedy elements, it leans more towards comedy most of the time though and is at times both scary and funny.

The humour for me worked about 75% of the time, which is less than what I would give Jay And Silent Bob Reboot, but that film was great. That said the humour in this film had me chuckling quite often and had me laughing out loud once or twice. Don’t get me wrong there are some jokes that drop like lead weights, but for the most part the comedy works.

The hidden Nazi’s element on the plot was genuinely scary at times, however this was deeply undercut by having them be bratwurst people, which for me was just a little bit too ridiculous and I didn’t find them scary. There was some quite good gore across the film that might make you happy if that is your kind of thing, personally I love a good bit of gore in a horror film.

A final point to note is that Johnny Depp is in this film as Guy LaPointe a detective who helps the girls out. Depp for me was easily the best character in this film and the one I liked the most, he was charming and likeable and very easy to warm to. I like when Depp plays over the top eccentric characters.

Overall, I think this film has been judged a bit too harshly, yes, the bratwurst people are ridiculous and yes, the jokes don’t always land, but on the whole this is still an above average horror comedy film and one that does have things to enjoy for the right audience.

Pros.

The Colleens.

Johnny Depp.

Wonderfully Silly.

Cons.

The Bratwurst people.

The humour for me is hit or miss.

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Jay And Silent Bob Reboot: Who Said All Reboots Are Bad

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a buddy comedy film directed by Kevin Smith. This film sees the titular duo head back to Hollywood to try and stop a remake of The Blunt Man and Chronic movie, facing various foes along the way, and also dealing with Jay finding out he has a daughter he never knew about.

I was not expecting to like this film as much as I did, it was terrific and easily one of the best films of last year at least to me. This film has made its way onto not only my favourite comedy films of all-time list, but also my favourite films of all-time list, it is simply that good.

As someone who has become a lapse Kevin Smith fan in recent years it is nice to see him back in top form. Characters from previous Kevin Smith films such as Matt Damon’s character from Dogma show up here, it is nice to see all the familiar faces and inside jokes. What’s more this film is fantastically meta, it knows it is a film and milks it for all it is worth.

The comedy in this film is great, all of the characters are hilarious; especially Jason Lee who is only in the film for a short amount of time, but he makes the most of every second, that Alvin and The Chipmunks joke made me laugh out loud. This film had me laughing constantly, there was very few to no jokes that didn’t land, as a comedy film this is perfect.

The relationship between Jay (Jason Mewes), and his daughter Millennium (Harley Quinn Smith), is incredibly endearing. We see Jay come to terms with being a parent and having to overcome his own father issues so that he can be a good dad to his new daughter. Harley Quinn Smith does a great job as well, she is loveable and hard not to root for, her dream of having a dad that loves her is as sweet as it is heart-breaking. The final scene of the film acts as sort of a passing of the torch moment between Jay and his daughter and it is beautifully done, ending the film on an extreme high note.

Overall, a bundle of laughs, joy and heart from start to finish. Hilarious and heart-warming, a must see!

Pros.

It’s hilarious.

It has a great heart.

All the cameos from Smith collaborators.

The relationship between Jay and his daughter.

A beautiful ending.

Cons.

None

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Justice League Dark: The Mystical Side Of DC

Justice League Dark is an animated science fantasy superhero film. The plot revolves around a team of DC Superheroes, the more mystical ones, who have to investigate a pattern of strange behavior that has turned fatal. The Justice League themselves can’t understand the problem, so it is down to Batman (Jason O’Mara), and his strange collection of allies to save the day.

*Justice League Dark is one of my favourite DC comics, I have read many runs of the team over the years, so when I heard about this project, I knew I had to check it out. I was disappointed, this was an incredibly average film, nothing more, nothing less.

I will admit it was nice to see the team of Constantine (Matt Ryan), Zatanna (Camilla Luddington), and Deadman (Nicholas Turturro), get together; furthermore, it was nice to see Matt Ryan return to play Constantine, he is fairly synonymous with the character to me. However, my issue was the overall story just felt flat. The best issues of the comic have strong horror elements, but I didn’t get that here, other than the shades and a few other things it was mainly without horror.

What’s more though I liked Constantine I felt that a lot of the other characters were short-changed so that he could have more screen time. An example of this would be Swamp Thing (Roger Cross), who has been a major part of the team before in the comics, here only gets a few lines. Worst of all after he gets defeated, he just goes away and we don’t see him again, which feels like a big unresolved plot thread.

As I said before, this film is everything I would expect from a Justice League Dark film, a group of the more mystical DC heroes fighting against a supernatural opponent, but that isn’t enough to sustain my interest across the film’s runtime, I wanted more. More depth to the characters, more scope to the narrative, I don’t know exactly what but, something that felt better than bog standard.

Overall, this film fell short my expectations, it didn’t wow me in anyway, in fact it annoyed me a lot of the time. I wish they had put more time and energy into the characters and the story overall, if they had this might have been something special.

Pros.

Matt Ryan.

It is nice to see all of the characters team up.

A solid foundation.

Cons.

Other than Constantine and Zatanna very weak characters.

How they handled Swamp Thing.

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: Danny DeVito Is A Cultural Icon

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is a dark comedy sitcom series created by Rob McElhenney. The series revolves around a group of friends who run a bar and the hijinks they get up to. The series is famous for its pitch-black sense of humour, it is this that sets it apart from other sitcoms; especially ones like Cheers that are also about people running a bar.

*As of the time of writing I am just finishing the 14^th season so the things I say in this review/overview of the series will reflect all of these seasons.

When I first started watching this show I thought it was good and that it had potential, but I didn’t think it was anything special. The first season is by far the worst, it is still very good, but it pales when compared to later seasons. I think the show definitely came into its own in season 2 with the introduction of Frank Reynolds (Danny DeVito), to the group. From there It’s Always Sunny managed to do something few other series have done, it stayed good. Seasons 2-14 have all been very consistent in terms of quality, this isn’t like The Good Place that had some seasons stronger than others, no this show has always stayed consistently good.

The majority of the charm this show has, comes from its characters. Outside of Frank, who I previously mentioned there is Mac (Rob McElhenney), Dee (Kaitlin Olsen), Charlie (Charlie Day), and Dennis (Glenn Howerton). All of these characters are richly explored are a multi-layered, there are entire episodes dedicated to fleshing out details about individual characters, which help us the audience to feel like we know them. Even though they’re supposed to be the worst people imaginable they still somehow come across as likeable. Moreover, the world this show creates is fantastic as well with there being a rich cast of supporting characters who all have their own dynamic with the group and a large amount of backstory.

The humour of the show is not for those with a delicate disposition as it is often times incredibly dark with no taboo subject off the table for the gang to debate and lampoon; often in a very clever way. It never fails to make me smile if not laugh out loud or chuckle.

Overall, I can’t accurate put into words what this show is like it is something that needs to be seen to be understood. Other than a weak first season, which is still a solid 4/5, this show is a masterpiece in dark comedy and is something everyone should at least watch an episode of to see if it is for you, as it really is something special.

Ps. My other minor, minor gripe with the show was that they brought back Dennis after they have effectively written him off, I thought that was a cop out and if they had followed through with it could have sent the show as a whole down an interesting new path.

Pros.

It is hilarious.

The cast are great.

It is rewarding to long time viewers.

The surprisingly good world building.

The great social commentary.

Cons.

None really.

5/5

Reviewed by Luke