The Godfather Part II

Summary

We follow the twin stories of the rise of Vito Corleone, played by Robert DeNiro, as well as the dominance of Michael, played by Al Pacino.

I thought this was a near perfect sequel and as such it gets the same top rating as the original. There is no fat to trim here which is incredibly surprising considering the incredibly long run time of this film

Both of the character journeys are equally fascinating and importance and the themes and such text of each feed into the other nicely. I think you can really tell that these are two young actors at the top of their games as it is a fierce fight between the two for who gives the better performance. I would lean to DeNiro, but maybe that is just personally preference.

The plot of the film about familial betrayal strikes hard and deep and it seems to effect both you watching and the characters at the same time. The first film teaches you to like Michael and to relate to him, but then this film highlights his monstrosity and shows you why that emotion was misplaced.

Overall, an incredibly well done sequel.

5/5

Pros.

The tension

The family drama

The performances

The pacing

The interconnectivity of the two split narratives

Cons.

None

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Till: A Mother’s Story

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A mother, played by Danielle Deadwyler, campaigns for justice after her son, played by Jalyn Hall is murdered.

You can’t say that this film doesn’t move you because it does. Whether you are a parent or not, whether you know the insidiously acidic taste of injustice or not, this film will stir you. This is an incredibly affecting film on many levels that screams out to be heard, and one that seeks to open your eyes to the horrors that are sometimes happening right under our noses on a daily basis.

However, I think the social awareness of this film also becomes somewhat of a double edged sword for it. This film is incredibly preachy, and though that is understandable to an extent this film is relentlessly so, not only that but it goes about its preachy in an incredibly smug way. Make no mistake dear reader that this film is Oscar bait and knows what it is and that makes the preaching all the more blatant. This film thinks it should win and Oscar.

I thinking putting real world issues to the side for a moment and turning instead to just focusing on the film we are met with a fairly middle of the road social commentary/drama film that though covering a new instance of injustice doesn’t do anything new with it the plot of the film is one we have seen many times before. Yes, I acknowledge that the reason we have seen this particular narrative so many times before is because these sort of issues are common place and happening all the time within our society and Hollywood is right to talk about them through film, however, from a film narrative perspective it is creatively repetitive.

Deadwyler is a terrific lead, and this along with The Harder They Fall highlights not only that she has a lot of talent but also a lot of range. I see big things in her future. Deadwyler really is the beating heart of this film and deftly carries the weight of it on her shoulders throughout.

Overall, a powerful film yet one that is brought down by being incredibly preachy.

3/5

Pros.

The emotion

It is a powerful story and a powerful message

Deadwyler

Cons.

The delivery of said message is incredibly heavy handed and the preaching does become incredibly too much at times

The narrative feels repetitive

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A Comic Readers Guide To The MCU: The Council Of Kangs

Written by Luke Barnes

Hi folks, in this new series of articles I am trying to merge two of my main passions into one easy to read piece, a true labor of love. I am currently in my mid-twenties and have been reading Marvel comics since I was young, I have read others besides but I know Marvel well and so decided to make a series of posts wherein I talk about concepts, ideas, and possibly upcoming stuff from or to the MCU and try and give you a bit of a comics background and explain my own thoughts on where these things are going. I hope you enjoy.

Spoilers for the end of Ant Man and The Wasp Quantomania

Okay so at the end of the film we see a lot of different variants of Jonathan Majors’ Kang, in what comics readers will know as the Council of Kangs, these are a group of different Kang variants that work together and that at least in the comics was lead by Prime Kang, though really it was Immortus who was calling the shots, having Prime Kang kill off all the divergent versions of Kang so that he would become Immortus down the line. Fairly confusing time travel nonsense. As it pertains to the MCU the Council of Kangs will effectively be a source of villains for the various upcoming films and will no doubt be further explored and have its origins and members better explained as time goes on. It is important to note that not all of the Kangs are alike and also that they don’t always work together, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see one break off and help out the Avengers a little down the line.

Some fairly big questions and theories for the MCU going forward.

Now we know that the Council Of Kangs is the direction the MCU is heading in a few things are fairly certain. One, Iron Lad the kid version of Kang that doesn’t want to grow up to be a villain and who is a member of the Young Avengers in the comics is a lock. Two, I would not be surprised to see Rama-Tut, the ancient Egyptian Kang, be the villain for the upcoming Fantastic Four film. It would make sense to kick Doctor Doom down the road for a sequel, especially as we know the film won’t be an origin for the group so he doesn’t need to feature.

My question for you all that I will leave this article on is how do the Council of Kangs and Victor Timely, another version of Kang, relate to He Who Remains, who many people thought was Immortus, and why didn’t he mention the Council to Sylvie or Loki in that show. Was he another rogue variant on the run from the council?

I hope you enjoyed this new idea for my blog that mixes my twin muses of films and comics together, if you have any ideas for future topics or things you would like me to talk about please do write to me and let me know.

Infinity Pool: How Deep Does This Go?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of wealthy tourists discover the pleasure of committing crimes and then having a double of them produced and executed.

So I have to say after his last outing I had high expectations for what Brandon Cronenberg was going to do next and was very much looking forward to this film, but after watching it I have to say it feels quite hollow.

Whilst again the visuals are there it lacks any kind of substance or deeper meaning, this film feels like it is trying to parrot the virtues that were taught to us by The Island but that was a long time ago and as far as dark science fiction goes probably the better film. I suppose time has moved on from that film and this one explores the idea of clones in a more up to date way, but still it lacks anything real to say.

I would say that in terms of scares or thrills this film does have a number of good moments and goes in directions I wasn’t expecting it to, however, sometimes this results in scenes that push the line of taste and veer slightly over into Ti West territory.

Mia Goth does her best to save this film and gives probably her most manic and intense performance yet, but even she can only do so much.

Overall, a surface level horror film that is crying out for something to fill the void.

2/5

Pros.

The visuals

Goth

Cons.

It feels a little too edgy at times

It is shallow and has nothing new to say

The pace is off

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Crossing

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Clone Force 99 become stranded on a baron world after someone steals their ship forcing them to confront some difficult emotions.

Though this was a lot slower than the last few episodes I thought there was still a lot of good stuff here. It was nice to see the Bad Batch deal with the departure of Echo and their emotions surrounding that, yes this was done through the medium of Omega, who is annoying as usual, but even still it makes for quite an interesting introspection on change.

My issue with this episode comes from its ending and conclusions. In the end the Batch manage to contact Sid for help who promptly refuses them until she is guilted into reconsidering, my issue with this is how can the Batch have not seen thus far that Sid wasn’t there friend. They are supposedly expert special forces soldiers but they couldn’t see she has been using them this whole time? Hopefully after this weeks episode we can finally be done with Sid forever, she was never an interesting or likeable character and hopefully her villainous turn this week will lead to her being written off.

Overall, an interesting episode on an emotional front, but the conclusions reached feel like they have been obvious for a long, long time.

3/5

Pros.

Tech’s emotional journey

This feels like a very character driven episode

It is nice to have a platelet cleanser after the more action focused episodes from the week before

Cons.

Omega is just the worst

Sid’s betrayal

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Ant Man And The Wasp Quantumania: The Train-wreck You Heard It To Be?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Antman, played by Paul Rudd, heads off to the Quantum Realm.

So I went into this film with incredibly low expectations, a lot of the bad reviews had got to me and I was going in expecting a trainwreck from start to finish, but, and I don’t know whether this was just because I went in with low expectations, I ended up enjoying it far more than I thought I would.

So first off let’s talk about what doesn’t work. Cassie, played by Kathryn Newton, is a deeply underdeveloped character and to make matters worse she is quite annoying. I don’t know what they were going for with making her an activist and having the cringey line ‘just because it is not happening to you doesn’t mean it isn’t happening’ but honestly it made her scenes ones where I tuned out. People don’t want to be preached to in a superhero film.

Other less appealing aspects of the film come from Corey Stroll’s Modok, and how they change him fairly drastically from the comics and then kill him off, wasting all of his in universe potential, though I suppose he could always come back at some point. The Modok CGI is horrible by the way, but you already knew that. Finally I will add that this film did make me miss the more street level Marvel fare as I am starting to get sick of these big CGI movies that all end up feeling the same.

Now into the positives. I thought both Michelle Phifer and Michael Douglas had really great moments here I enjoyed learning about Janet’s past and I thought Hank bringing the advanced ant civilisation to save the day at the last minute was both quite smart and also funny. I also really liked his line about socialism.

The new characters, bar Bill Murray’s Krylar, were very welcome I thought both Katy O’Brian and William Harper Jackson did a great job and I hope their characters come back in future sequels if they manage to find a way out of the Quantum realm. Of course in this regard I would be remiss to not talk about Jonathan Major’s Kang, who whilst not new as he appeared in Loki, is new in this variant. I thought Major’s was terrific and did a lot to make Kang feel like a serious threat in the MCU, I would argue he still has further to go to feel Thanos level, but I did really like seeing the Council of Kangs at the end of the film and think the MCU is going to have a lot of fun with him.

Finally, though it is a bit soppy I wanted to say that I enjoyed that the film continued the wholesome romance between Hope, played by Evangeline Lilly, and Scott, it is a nice throughline in these films and I was very worried that they were going to kill Ant-Man off and end it, I am glad they didn’t. The scene towards the end of the film wherein Hope saves Scott’s life during a fight with Kang and they hold each other after defeating him is probably my favourite of the whole film.

Overall, fairly enjoyable Marvel fare and better than most are saying.

3.5/5

Pros.

Douglas and Pfeiffer

The new characters

Kang

The romance

Cons.

Cassie

Modok

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Maybe I Do: The Rom-Com Genre Is As Toxic As Ever

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Yet another toxic rom-com in which a group of once loved actors trade away their remaining industry respect for an easy pay check.

Honestly this film has one of the most toxic plot lines I have ever seen. Emma Robert’s character thinks she can pressure her boyfriend, played by Luke Bracey, into marrying her by saying if he won’t then they will break up. What makes this more troubling is that her character’s mum, played by Diana Keaton, thinks that this is a totally fine thing to do as well. For what it is worth it is not a normal thing to do, you shouldn’t pressure your partner into doing what you want before they are ready and marriage isn’t the be all and end all that this film seems to think it is but hey.

Really you shouldn’t expect very much from a film that has such clunky lines of dialogue as this is my heart and this is my brain, whilst holding the character’s significant other’s hand over these areas. To say it is cringe is both an understatement and well as giving this film too much credit, the writing is just so subpar that it becomes impossibly not to notice bad.

Overall, avoid this at all costs and Michael Jacobs should probably never write anything ever again and hope that one day he lives down the shame of this film.

1/5

Pros.

It is short

Cons.

It has a bad message

It has deeply unlikeable characters

The romance is troublesome

It is tedious and generic

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The Godfather: Truly A Titan Of The Form

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando, is the Godfather of a crime family and everything seems to be going well that is until a gang war erupts and things take a turn for the worse.

This film really does last the test of time. Many times in my life I have had people tell me that I have to watch The Godfather and that it is an important film that someone like me, who is really into film, simply must watch, however, for one reason or another I have never gotten around to it. That was the case until recently when I finally decided to sit down and watch it, and boy was it worth it.

I think simply put this is one of the best crime films ever made, and I have seen a lot of gangster films over the years, I would say that this film is very much on the same level as the in-genre works of Scorsese. Everything about it works from the story which feels both incredibly relatable and also completely foreign, to the performances which are just top notch across the board. Even the pacing, which is usually something that bothers me a lot about films and TV shows works, not a second of this film is wasted.

It is hard to decide who has a better showing here between Brando and Al Pacino, both are terrific and have fantastic moments but I think upon reflection the beauty of their performances is really enhanced by bouncing off each other.

Overall, probably the best Gangster film ever made.

5/5

Pros.

The acting

The drama

The family dynamics

The action and the tension

The scope

Cons.

None

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The Whale: A Life Of Grief And Pain

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A dying man, played by Brendan Fraser, spends his last days trying to reconnect with his daughter, played by Sadie Sink.

This is a powerful film in a lot of different ways. It is powerful as a film about a man who has been driven by grief and guilt for all his life and who has turned to destroying himself, it is shocking as a film about a man who is eating himself to death, and it is bone chilling as a film about human cruelty and loss.

Brendan Fraser is fantastic here and really does deserve to win awards for this film as it is easily the best performance of his career and spoke to me on a number of different levels. This is truly Fraser at the top of his game. Sadly, and this may serve to be the only real negative of the film, Sadie Sink sticks out for all the wrong reasons here. In many senses there is an idea that she is being type cast, her performance here is very similar to that in Stranger Things, though one may add it seems a little more malicious here. I think her range and acting ability really doesn’t come through here at all and she is certainly blown out of the water by Fraser.

I think the strongest thing this film has going for it is a clear sense of emotional purpose and truth. This film does not mess around with its emotional impact, every scene and line is carefully crafted to make you feel something, whether it is the monstrosity with which the whale himself is shot at times or the scenes of him binging, or the final scene of acceptance and moving on. Each shot serves a purpose and infuses itself with so much emotion that it is nigh on impossible for you to feel nothing.

Overall, a powerful film that marks Fraser fighting his way back into Hollywood.

4/5

Pros.

Fraser

The emotion

The imagery and cinematography

The pacing

Cons.

Sadie Sink lets the side down

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Your Place Or Mine: If Only This Could Be What Life Was Like, Charmed Doesn’t Begin To Cover It

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Debbie, played by Reese Witherspoon, and Peter, played by Ashton Kutcher, have been friends for multiple decades but are only just now realising that they want to be with each other romantically.

In many senses this is a safe choice, it is a bog standard rom-com, nothing more nothing less. If that is enough for you then great, but don’t go in expecting anything that is going to change the game or be in any way remotely new or fresh.

I thought both Witherspoon and Kutcher brought a level of charm and warmth to their respective roles, but at the same time you would expect that from two such genre pros. In regard to their romantic chemistry on-screen, there were some sparks there and at times I found myself believing it, but it never really came alive and struck me as authentic.

As it is a rom-com we have to ask the age old question of is it sexist? The answer to that is yes, however, it is not the most sexist rom-com I have ever seen. I am of course referring to the fact that Kutcher’s Peter is a fairly well put together chap, if a recovering addict and a bit lonely, whereas Witherspoon’s character is a stereotypical overly involved mum who lives through her kid, Lord knows they can’t break away from genre archetypes and try and give her a more nuanced role. No, no as she is a woman she is stuck in the obsessive mother role, in the end she is seen trying to branch out to new horizons and work in publishing, however, this is with the implication that Kutcher’s Peter helped her calm down and stop worrying so much about her kid. Yikes.

Overall, pretty much exactly what you would expect from a rom-com both for good and for bad.

2.5/5

Pros.

Witherspoon and Kutcher both give good performances and have a little chemistry

It is fairly well paced

It is very watchable

Cons.

It is sexist

It is fairly forgettable and generic

Some of the side characters are barely characters at all

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