Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) - Review

Review:

*Originally written July 6th, 2019*

Far From Home is probably exactly what this series needed after the massive and heavy epic that was Endgame. I wasn't sure what to expect from this, as after Marvel followed up their nearly as huge Infinity War with the massively average Ant-Man and the Wasp, I was expecting something along those lines, but this surprised me in several ways I didn't expect.

Following from the events after Endgame, humanity has pretty much recovered from everyone returning to life after Thanos' snap and things are pretty much back to normal. It does also answer some lingering questions about the implications of bringing all these people back to life when people had moved on in the mean-time. Parker returns to college and his school trip to Europe is interrupted (Obviously) by some elemental demons being hunted by Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio and Nick Fury looks to Spider-Man to live up to Tony Stark's name.

Far From Home manages to balance things a lot better than I'd imagine. Peter progresses a lot here as he struggles with both living up to the hero Tony Stark was and dealing with his new responsibilities  while also wanting the normal life of a teenager by attending school and getting a girlfriend. The awkward John Hughes inspired teen stuff from the first film is thankfully intact, as the awkward chemistry between Peter and MJ make for some of the funniest and surprisingly sweet scenes in the film.

While there are huge CGI set-pieces, Far From Home is pretty much character focused first, which I always appreciate. We spend lots of time with Peter as he struggles with his responsibilities and it shows in Holland's ever growing performance as Spider-Man, who is just the right amount of awkward, smart-mouthed and easy to root for. At this point I'd say he's definitely surpassed Tobey Maguire in the role and easily Andrew Garfield's weird, almost special needs like Marty McFly impression he bought to the misguided Amazing Spider-Man films. 

A lot of these MCU films also suffer from humour problems, but the tone works really well with these characters. It makes sense that teenage characters would take things a little less seriously and be cracking a joke every now and then, it also helps a lot of the writing seems to be a lot stronger than the usual stuff we get in these films and the hit rate is also a lot stronger. Not everything lands, but some of the funniest stuff of the whole series is in here, especially the two absolutely gold post-credit scenes. I wish the MCU would keep tone down the humour a bit and leave it to separate films like this, as hearing middle-aged men making the same quips you'd here from teenagers is one of the main reasons I find the jokes in these films so cringe, but in the context of a high-school setting, it works.

While none of the action is massively spectacular, it still has a lot of energy to it, while it sadly amounts to big CGI things hitting each other. The more interesting set-pieces are saved for Mysterio's mind tricks, which creates a sequence so zany and out-there, it was close to Doctor Strange in terms of mad imagery and it made perfect use of the character to create that scenario for Spider-Man.

Mysterio himself is a little bit of a mixed bag. Jake Gyllenhaal utterly commits to such a barmy and crazy character, bringing a lot of his usual charm and charisma to the role, he honestly steals every scene he's in, but I just wish they spent more time with his motivation, which honestly isn't the most convincing. It connects to previous MCU films in a fun way and the reveal might divide fans the same way Iron Man 3's twist did. While his motivation isn't the best, the film certainly got more interesting once his intentions are clear and leaves Gyllenhaal much more room to ham it up to incredible effect. 


Far From Home is another excellent film from the MCU (Who are also 3 for 3 this year), it ups everything I loved about the first one, continues to develop Spider-Man in new and interesting ways, while delivering a screen-grabbing, but flawed villain. Looking forward to how the third film wraps up this trilogy, especially with THAT post-credit scene.

8/10 Dans

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Dark Phoenix (2019) - Review

Review:

*Originally written June 6th, 2019*

The X-Men films have always existed in a strange place. They kick-started the whole superhero boom in 2000's before dropping in quality for a few years, coming back and making some of the best films of the genre, then taking a huge step back with the generic Apocalypse. For me I've always liked this series more the MCU, for the most part. Logan is by far better than anything Disney has produced, while the series also never hit the lows of their films like Thor 2 or Avengers 2.

As much as I like X-Men, I had absolutely no faith in this. I was expecting it to be a complete disaster, as did most people. After some appalling trailers and well publicised problems behind the scenes (Seemingly the entire third act was scrapped and refilmed). Then there's the problem with Disney's acquisition of Fox, meaning all these characters will be entering the MCU within the next couple of years, with Disney looking to recast everyone and scrap thing continuity, aside from Deadpool. 

This meant that now this entry wasn't just another film in the series, it also had the responsibility of being the culmination of nearly 20 years of X-Men films , to give this broken timelined series a satisfying ending and make way for a reboot under the new Disney overlords. It was also rumoured that the reshoots were to give the series a more definitive ending. Which just turned out to be nonsense, as this ends with clear intentions of continuing these adventures, while the cast know it's not going to happen. It's deeply unsatisfying.

Dark Phoenix itself has a lot going on. I also have to bring up the fact X-Men is completely dropped from the title, what is that about? This tries to retell the story told by the much hated The Last Stand, but without Wolverine and lots of other elements that honestly made that a marginally better film. For all of Last Stand's faults, it at least delivered some genuine emotion in the form of Wolverine having to kill Jean Grey in its finale. There is just nothing here even close to that in terms of satisfaction or emotion. 

This is probably due to its truly awful script. With characters spouting lines that feel like something from an era of superhero films we've truly moved on from. Characters do and say things that feel nothing like what we've seen from them in previous films. It is absolutely insane how quickly characters go from 1 to 10 in terms of extremeness with next to no motivation at all, then just change their minds so quickly after. It's baffling. 

Aside from a couple of surprising performances, everyone just seems tired and not happy to be there. Jennifer Lawrence just looks like she doesn't want to be there at all, calling out her lines without the slightest hint of enthusiasm. It's no surprise that what happens with her character doesn't solicit any kind of emotion from the audience. Nicholas Hoult is also just completely one note and also bored. James McAvoy's performance is so inconsistent here, his character actually gets some interesting exploration, but some of his line deliveries are questionable at the very least. I was sad his hilarious and widely mocked "I don't know what to do" line from the first trailer was removed. 

Michael Fassbender continues to be the best thing about this prequel franchise, being gravitas and emotion to the role that makes everyone else pale in comparison. It would have helped to have in it more, as he doesn't even appear until around half way through the film. He deserves better than this. 

The two surprising performances are from Sophie Turner and Jessica Chastain, one for the better and one for the worst. Turner's less than charismatic performance in the previous films was easily one of the weakest parts, but here, she seems to have actually grown a lot as an actress, delivering a far more convincing accent and performance as she actually holds some of her scenes together quite well, despite the script.

Then there's Jessica Chastain as the villain. She is one of the most talented actresses of this generation, so I was actually very intrigued at what they might do with her. It turned out to be nothing. She plays the leader of the boring and badly designed group of aliens looking to harvest Grey's power for their own use. You've got an actress of Chastain's calibre and you get her to play such a bland, uninvolving villain that feels completely wasted. Again, another reason this feels like a superhero film from a different era, these films are slowly getting better with villains and this was a huge step back.

In terms of the good, as bad as some of the acting and the script is, it's still very watchable and quite entertaining in stretches. It even runs at a reasonable length of just around 1 hour 50, which is a whole half hour shorter than the previous film. It's definitely a welcome comedown, considering the last superhero film released was the draining 3 hour epic Endgame.

Some of the action is genuinely creative and fun too. There's actually very little action in the whole thing, but the final set-piece on a train makes great use of all these characters mixing their powers up and combining them to take out these forgettable villains. While I was worried about how some of special effects might turn out, it's actually a very nice looking film with some gorgeous moments here and there. It's a hell of an improvement on the ugly third act of Apocalypse where everything is just ugly brown sludge.

5/10 Dans

Dark Phoenix is out now in cinemas in the UK
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Avengers: Endgame (2019) - Review

Review:

*Originally written April 26th, 2019*

*Spoiler Free*

Well, here we are. The end of this first run of Marvel films that started back in 2008 and has spanned 22 films of varying quality over those 11 years. There's was a lot of worry and doubt at how they were going to pull off what is probably the biggest film event of this decade. But they pulled it off, in a glorious, 3 hour epic that brings a satisfying, emotional and extremely entertaining end to these stories and paves the way for the future to come.

It's so hard to talk about this without going into spoilers or any key plot details, but I'll try my best. Pretty much anything beyond "What's left of the Avengers come up with a plan to undo Thano's snap that erased half the life in the universe" is spoiler territory. So I'll leave it at that. Many of the theories I've read are pretty accurate in rough strokes, but there was so much more here to unfold.

This feels more like a tribute to these 11 years of films, filled with a callback to what must be every single one of these films to date. There is so much to unpack from one viewing. I was surprised that Endgame goes back to what is undoubtedly some of the weakest and often hated films of the franchise, ones that have mostly been forgotten and swept under the rug. It's basically a trip through memory lane, bad moments and good included. 

Not all the fan service is perfect though. It does get a little grating at times. A lot of script feels like pandering, to the point nearly every line is a callback to a previous event, which works for the most part. It does bring a lot of new and iconic moments to the table for the most part, but it does feel a bit indulgent. It wasn't helped that I was in a packed midnight screening where people would scream and clap and the most obvious and inane of references. Seriously, a woman in my screening was screaming with laughter for what felt like a minute straight after a callback to Infinity War, which was fine, it was a good callback, but to her it must have been the funniest thing she'd ever seen. It's fine to enjoy something, but when you're screaming with laughter to the point other people can't hear the dialogue on screen as the moment had well and truly past, then you're just a prick or extremely stupid. 

Which brings me to the ongoing humour problem with these Marvel films and Endgame truly does have a tonal problem. While there's nothing as abhorrent as the moment in Guardians 2 where Starlord learning his father gave his mother cancer is interrupted by a David Hasselhoff cameo, there is lots of time where the joke just goes on too long and really gets in the way of things. It's fine to put a joke in here and there, there are some jokes that absolutely do land, ones I'm amazed they commit to with character choices which I love. There's build-up, pay-off and hilarious visual creativity with some of these jokes, then there are just jokes that are quick, lame lines that are groan worthy thrown in the middle of them. At times it feels like something created by a 6 year old, there's even an horrific Fortnite scene which definitely ranks as one of the cringiest things in the whole franchise.

I just don't understand the mentality of writing films like this, the humour has not grown with its audience, it's digressed to Family Guy levels of lameness without the crude element. It's just awful and I was genuinely embarrassed that a film of this magnitude could have such forced, cringe-worthy humour. Less is more, guys. Have jokes that are actually set-up and clever. Not just a quick line thrown into a scene for nothing more than a cheap laugh. It's really making me question if I'll like this more or less on a rewatch.

Bad jokes aside, the emotional scenes really do resonate. Many of these characters with seen over the past decade have grown, changed and all get their own sort of ending that actually feels genuine and earned. I was getting a little scared that Marvel would wimp out and try and milk some of their characters for more, but no, they really do show a moment of rare maturity that sends off these characters in a perfect way. If you feel nothing during that final shot, then you're a monster. 

While I'm a big believer of less is more, this is one of those rare films that justifies its 3 hour run-time. There is so much going on and happening, that I'm amazed that they managed to cram it all into one film. It's paced so wonderfully that the 3 hours barely felt like an hour. I was worried I'd have to leave and use the toilet at some point, but I didn't, as that would have been a disaster as something big or important happens in what felt like every 5 minutes. 


This also didn't just feel epic because it was 3 hours, but because it felt like such a huge, grand display of finality that manages to juggle all these characters, but never taking the main focus off the original Avengers. Being a blockbuster of this size, it was inevitable that the last act would be some pile of CGI wank. Which it was. But the stakes were there to make me care and all the characters got a crowd-pleasing time to shine. The last act of Endgame really is something to marvel and behold.

Avengers: Endgame truly is the biggest film of the year and one of the biggest film events of all time. It's a daunting task to pull off, bringing an end to 22 films and 11 years of storytelling, but the Russo's pulled it off. It's not perfect and very self-indulgent, but it brings it all together in a crowd-pleasing, heartfelt and fun epic. Possibly the most entertaining 3 hour film I've ever seen. I honestly can't see the MCU having this same impact in the future now a lot of these characters stories are wrapped up. I cannot wait to watch it again. An imperfect achievement in cinema.

8/10 Dans

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Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - 4K UHD Review

Review:

*Originally written April 24th, 2019*

It feels weird just how far this series has come from its humble beginnings before being eaten up by Disney. I'm not saying Disney haven't improved the direction of this series (For the most part), but the films under Paramount certainly have a different tone, look and feel to them, for better or worse.

The First Avenger is a more earnest entry in the series that wears its honesty on its sleeve, making for a pretty entertaining and sweet World War 2 adventure that effectively sets up the Captain America trilogy and some of the groundwork for the MCU as a whole. 

Chris Evans makes for an easy to root for hero. A malnourished young adult from Brooklyn who wants nothing more than to do the right thing and help the war effort, despite the danger and his lack of anything close to combat skills. Evans makes the character work so well, so inherently earnest and likeable as he goes from scrawny asthmatic to 'roided up super-soldier.  It is weird seeing the CGI in making Chris Evans look so small though, while I remember it being very impressive back when this released, it doesn't hold up very well.

Not a lot of the CGI or action has aged well either in all honesty, but the more cartoony look of the film and special effects works in favour of its tone, making it feel like a more Indiana Jones esque take on World War 2 and Nazis. I mean, these aren't your Schindler's List monster Nazis, these are cartoonish super-villain Nazis, which I suppose they were, but the portrayal here is much harder to take seriously. 

I wasn't a massive fan of the look of the film either. It's very drab and colourless for the most part and made even worse by a 4K disc that only exacerbates these flaws. The whole film has this flat digital look to it. I always found the first two Avengers films to not look like actual films, but more big-budget TV. First Avenger suffers from the same problem. There's not really any moments of striking cinematography as everything just looks pretty bland and the direction lacks anything with a signature.

I sound like I'm criticising this a lot, but I did enjoy it quite a bit. Which is also very much due to the character work with Steve Rogers and his journey. I particularly loved the travelling roadshow montage to Star Spangled Man that involved him punching a fake Hitler at the end of every performance, before realising he could make much more of a difference if he actually helped in battle. 

Then there's the romance with him and Peggy, which is probably the only romance in the MCU outside of Tony and Pepper that actually feels like it has any weight to it. I always forget just how touching the last moments of the film are, helped by the fact they have genuine chemistry throughout. Everything with Steve and Bucky is surprisingly effective too, especially knowing how that all goes in the next two Captain America films. 

Hugo Weaving's Red Skull is also a pretty solid villain. Again, his motivations are very cartoonish and his look is ridiculous, but it works in favour of the films tone. Even with the tone, I was surprised at just how violent this was at times too. When people get shot, there's pretty strong blood splatter and even a pretty shocking moment where Steve throws a nazi into a plane engine and he turns to bloody mulch, something the MCU would in no way get away with now. I'm amazed they even got away with it in a 12 rated film from 8 years ago. This came out 8 years ago, Jesus.


Captain America: The First Avenger is a solid first outing for the Evan's Steve Rogers, helped enormously by strong character work, Evan's earnest performance and fine campy tone that saves the film from it's forgettable action and bland, drab visual look. 


7/10 Dans

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Captain Marvel (2019) - Cinema Review

Review:

*Originally written March 13th, 2019*

So... this is the sort of film you virgin incels try to boycott? Not films starring or directed by rapists, racists or homophobes? But a film starring a woman who made a joke about a terrible film at the Oscars and suggested media journalism needed more diversity than mostly just white males? You chronic wanking hentai watchers will take any excuse to hate women because they won't fuck you in your mums basement after you tip your fedora to them and hold a door open for them, won't you? Time to shave the neckbeard and focus on real problems, losers. 

Anyway, Captain Marvel is another very solid entry in the ever-growing MCU. I had my reservations with this due to the very underwhelming trailers that made it seem like any other Marvel affair for the most part, but aside from the odd shot of formulaic familiarity, I ended up having a really good time with this. Might have been low expectations, but I believe this is definitely one of the best of the origin stories for this series.

I'll admit it gets off to a rough start with a pretty incoherent first act and I really had very little idea what was happening. It throws you right into the middle of things and bombards you with exposition, making it very easy to get lost and confused as to what these characters and their motivations are. Thankfully, once it hits Earth, things are a lot more fun and engaging. 

Brie Larson shines in the titular role, playing it with a strong amount of confidence, charm and just the right amount of snark. I got a little worried early on that she'd just be sarcastic and annoying most of the film, but that quickly went away as she won me over. There's even a surprisingly compelling arc she goes through as she slowly discovers her true origins and her previous life on Earth. It all works very well.

Larson shines most when she's paired with Nick Fury (Who has an insanely convincing de-aging job that makes Samuel L Jackson look like he walked straight off the set of Pulp Fiction). The two have great chemistry together, making all their scenes a joy to watch. Plus it was great to see a younger, more inexperienced Fury, who had yet to discover the existence of super-humans/aliens. I'd love to see a series based around Fury's adventures in the '90s on Disney's upcoming streaming service.

One of my worries was the appearance of Ben Mendelsohn, an actor I love, but I was afraid he would be wasted as yet another forgettable and bland MCU villain. But again, my expectations were subverted and he gave a far more interesting performance with a nice twist that turned things on its head towards the end. It was nice to see him not be yet another forced bad guy he's sadly been typecast in these past few years in films like Robin Hood and Rogue One. Check out The Place Beyond the Pines to see what Mendelsohn is really capable of.

One of my biggest question marks surrounding this was the appearance of Jude Law and he's merely fine. It was pretty quick and easy to see what was going to happen with his character based on just how obvious it was towards the beginning and the trailers. I just wish they'd done something far more interesting with his character than what we ended up getting.

Being a hugely budgeted blockbuster, everything is gorgeous CGI wise, from the space stuff at the beginning, alien designs and explosive third act. It makes me wonder what went wrong with the CGI in Black Panther that was similarly budgeted. How on Earth can the same company release a film with effects as good as the stuff here, then release a film with those awful CGI rhinos and PS2 cutscene final battle? 

As fun as the action is at times, there really lacks a sense of directorial style. There was just no signature here, leading me to believe it was competently made, but lacked any sort of personality or visual flair, which is a great shame, as the MCU was really growing in starting to let directors do their own thing, but it seems to be gone here. At the very least this actually looks like a proper, cinematic film and not the televisual ugliness of say Avengers: Age of Ultron. I was also pretty disappointed with the score, which started off pretty well with some great synthy stuff, but quickly devolved into me forgetting the film even had a score at points.

I have to get it off my chest that the fact the MCU has only just released a female starring film after 11 years and over 20 films while DC managed to do it in less than half the time and films. I don't know what went wrong there, but it's a severe and backwards decision from Disney that should have been amended years ago. It's a shame that they waited this long, because it clearly works (Like it obviously would) and I really hope they finally ramp up with the Black Widow film after the success of this.


Captain Marvel is another great entry in the forever growing MCU. It starts out rough, but quickly became some of the most fun I've had with this franchise in a while and Brie Larson is an excellent addition to the series and I cannot wait to see more of her and how she factors into Avengers: Endgame. My superhero film fatigue might have just got a new boost of life.

8/10 Dans

Captain Marvel is out now in cinemas in the UK
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) - Cinema Review

Review:

*Originally written December 9th, 2018*

Damn, no way was this meant to happen. Spider-Man has had a rough ride in terms of consistent quality with its films, there was a long stretch after Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 when we didn't even get a good one for 13 years with the excellent Spider-Man: Homecoming. After many false starts and uncertainty with what Sony is doing with the franchise, I never expected Into the Spider-Verse to not only be as good as it was, but also the best Spider-Man film we've had yet. 

While superhero films are becoming quite stale at the moment, often walking a line between mediocrity and excellence (The MCU delivers some of the most serviceable, but vanilla films in the past decade), Into the Spider-Verse comes along and derails everything in a self-aware piece of gorgeous animation that has more in common with The Lego Batman Movie than anything that's come before it. 

I'm not that big into comics, but I know Miles Morales is someone everyone has wanted to see in a film as Spider-Man for years and I can see why. He's both similar to Peter Parker in some ways, but is also a very different person with a different origin story and personal life. From the opening moments he's a very likeable character that's easy to get behind, forced into an elite school by his father where he feels he doesn't belong, only to get bitten by a radioactive spider and gain powers of his own. But that gets turned upside down as he sees Kingpin murder his universe's Peter Parker and open a portal that sends several different variations of Spider-Man into Mile's life.

Each one of these Spider-Man's has their own unique tone and style that works perfectly. Jake Johnson is an actor I usually find very irritating, but his voice work here as a more lazy and faded Spider-Man is equal parts pathetic and likeable. Then Nicolas Cage as "Noir Spider-Man" might just be the best version of the character available, a black and white coloured, private detective from the 1930's filled with lines that spoof the Noir genre cliches we know and love.

Hailee Steinfeld's Gwen Stacy is also infinitely more interesting than Emma Stone's take on the character from the Andrew Garfield films. She plays a great part in the dynamic and brings a lot of character to the role. The two more throwaway and sillier Spider-Men I possibly could have done without, but they were there for some serviceable comic-relief and it was fine.

From the trailers I was very excited by the unique animation style that Into the Spider-Verse takes on and it was even better as an actual film. It's hard to describe, it's sort of like cell-shaded, but stop-motion. It might be a bit off-putting for people who've never seen stuff like this, but it is absolutely gorgeous to look at. A bright, vibrant and colourful comic-book brought to life and being an animation makes it easier for some of the bigger and more cartoonish stuff that would be hard to do in live-action work. 

I was also taken back by how mature and emotional some of the character arcs and story could be at times. Morales arc of being who he wants to be was oddly touching and some of the big reveals towards the end actually worked and I didn't see coming, which is rare for a film like this. Some of the beats towards the end could actually Pixar a run for its money too, I'd even argue this is better than anything Disney or Pixar have released in years.

While going to some dark places and hitting emotional highs, they still manage to balance its comedy and self-aware tone very well. I'm sure there's a whole load of references to the comics that I didn't get, but there is an amazing jab at Spider-Man 3's emo/dance scene that I absolutely loved. 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is an incredible achievement for the franchise and Spider-Man in general who has already had an insanely strong year already (Avengers: Infinity War and the PS4 game), but this incredible little animated film has managed to top them all and not only become the best Spider-Man film yet, but one of the best superhero films ever. A huge surprise and easily the best comic-book film of they year in an already very good year for the genre.


Who would have thought the future of Spider-Man was in animation? I know there's a sequel to this and several spin-offs in development, I just hope one of them is Nicolas Cage's Noir Spider-Man. 

9/10 Dans

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is out in cinemas in the UK on December 12th
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Venom (2018) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written October 6th, 2018*

After the piss-poor marketing and universally negative reviews, I expected the worst from Venom. It had been described as this years "Fan4stic" and "Catwoman". After watching it, that is an absolutely absurd notion. It does very little to break new ground, but for the most part, it's a perfectly acceptable and watchable ride. I 100% guarantee if the exact same film had been made, but under the MCU logo, it would have got an easy free pass from critics. This is far better than half the Spider-Man films and a lot of MCU entries. 

We hit a lot of ground covered by several other films. Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock gets a new set of powers, has to deal with that, embraces it and then takes on a bad guy with the exact same powers. It's cookie cutter stuff, but it's done in such a competent manner, that's largely entertaining for the most part. 

By far the most interesting stuff going on here is Eddie dealing with Venom himself, who is an actual character within him. Venom really comes alive when it's just Eddie dealing with the sarcastic symbiote inside him. Some of the exchanges between the two are genuinely funny and something I've not seen done much before in comic-book films. We got hints of that with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, but devoting a whole film to a character's split personality works far better.

It's just a shame it takes so long to get there. I appreciate them taking the time to build up Eddie Brock as a character while we see him lose his job and fiancee (A thankless Michelle Williams), but they really should have fast-tracked this, as it takes a good 50 minutes or so to get going, or at the very least dedicated more time to Eddie being an actual journalist. None of this stuff is exceptionally terrible, but it is a bit of a slog. Once the action gets going in the second half, things are much more exciting.

I'm still trying to put my finger on Tom Hardy's performance. I'd seen people compare it to Jim Carey, which is just utter bollocks. There is definitely some comedic elements to his performance, particularly some slap-stick stuff towards the middle, but it's nowhere near as abrasive as people have made it out to be. Some of the absurd humour is when Venom actually feels like it has a voice of its own, it's very different to the lame cringe humour of the MCU films and works much better.

Where Venom doesn't work is easily with some of its action scenes and its villain. Riz Ahmed is a fantastic actor, so it was a shame to see him reduced to another cookie-cutter and disposable Marvel villain, he was so unbelievably bland and uninspired. A power hungry billionaire who eventually gets infected with a symbiote and has to go head to head with Venom. There is no time dedicated to actually making this character feel human, he's evil from the opening scene and never gets to do anything of note. Comic-book films have come a long way from 10 years ago in terms of villains, so it's annoying to see them backtracking at this point.

Part of what people seem to love about Venom is the fact he's an anti-hero. This was a big part of the marketing. Which turned out to be a huge lie, he's another superhero, but he has homicidal tendencies as he needs to consume living flesh to survive. We see him eat a couple of people, but never anyone good, it never goes far enough with the "Anti-hero" vibe it so wants. 

While the action is completely serviceable (The motorbike chase is the only standout I can think of) it is completely butchered by editing. Things come to a climax in one of the most spectacularly bland finales I've seen from a superhero film in a while. We get two characters with the same powers come head to head in a fight that I can only describe as "Two blobs of CGI ink smashing against each other". In terms of CGI, it all looks very good, I sorta love the design of Venom and there's no absolutely awful special effects that stood out. Good job.


This was also clearly shot with an adult rating, but they got cold feet at the last minute and cut it down. It's hugely noticeable. People are eaten and dismembered to bloodless results, it sticks out like a sore thumb and I'd really like to see an uncut version for home video release. I have to slam the BBFC for rating this a 15 too, aside from some mild moments of body horror, this is a 12A through and through, there is nothing about this to earn its adult rating in the UK. It's embarrassing that it was even considered for this rating.


Venom is not the disaster you expected, nor the great definitive film of the Spider-Man villain you wanted either, it's somewhere in the middle, joining the long list of Marvel films that are perfectly watchable entertainment. There is definitely room for improvement and I'd love to see the cut with "40 minutes of Brock and Venom" footage cut from the film, but for now, it is utterly fine.

6/10 Dans

Venom is out now in cinemas in the UK and a 4K UHD steelbook is available to pre-order from HMV

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Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written August 4th, 2018*

While Ant-Man and The Wasp is probably a much needed step down in scale after the insanely huge Avengers: Infinity War, it's also one of Marvel's most forgettable films in a while. A completely risk free piece of fluff that did nothing to stick in your mind. I usually defend the genre when people who barely watch superhero films say "They're all the same" , but when comic-book films like this exist, I have a hard time arguing with those people.

It's just such a shame, Marvel have had such a strong run these past few years. Infinity War, Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 and Thor: Ragnarok. All films that had their own unique voice and at the very least, some interesting action. For the most part, the MCU have made sequels that have massively improved on their original, with the odd exception (Age of Ultron and Iron Man 2). Ant-Man and the Wasp sadly can't even live to the decent standard of the first.

This all starts off so well, the opening 20 minutes have Scott Long/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) stuck in his house after the events of Civil War, finding himself bored until his house arrest is over. He builds elaborate cardboard mazes, watches too much TV and routinely plays the drums. It's this sort of humanising of characters that the MCU needed, but it quickly falls apart when Hope Van Dyne/ Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) and her father, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) enter the picture. 

From then on, it is such a dull, formulaic affair and I lost interest so fast, I fell asleep for a good 15 minutes or so towards the end of the second act. Despite this missing that much of the film, I felt I had missed nothing, I still knew what was going on, I just wish I'd slept a little longer. The villain problem is something that Marvel had struggled with in the past, but it seemed like it was a hurdle they were finally over, but it comes crashing back here with such wasted and uninspired villains in Hannah John-Kamen's "Ghost", an angry person who can shift through walls and has a personal vendetta towards Pym and Walton Goggin's Sonny Burch, a charming, Southern arms trader. Both of these fine actors are completely wasted in thankless roles.

I was also surprised at what little action there was, the first Ant-Man had some genuinely inspired set-pieces involving ants and changing sizes in the middle of a fight. The sequel just does this again with no real effect, but at a bigger scale. A car chase in the third act started off with the cool idea of a car shrinking and growing on the go to evade pursuers, but they use the same trick several times in a row and it become tiresome very quickly. I suppose a big problem was just the fact there was no emotional weight to anything, there is no real consequence. It was mostly just frustrating.

While Marvel has continued to improve in many respects, where I find them lacking is with it's lame cringe humour clearly aimed at children (Which you know, is fine, it's a kids film after all), but there is some really awful stuff here. It's not Thor: Ragnarok or Age of Ultron levels of obnoxious, but there is some real cringe, especially from Michael Pena, who is quickly becoming the worst part of every film he's in. His eye-rolling, fast talking monologues from the first film is just lazily rehashed and thrown in again here. It really did just feel like people liked it in the first one, so let's not doing anything new, so just do it again.

I know there was no way this would have anything close to the stakes of Infinity War and I didn't expect it to, but I was hoping for something far more substantial than this. If there was any word to describe this sequel, it would be "Inconsequential". The only real change by the end of film is related to Pym's wife, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), which is a spoiler, so I won't talk about that, but every character goes through no change. I still like Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, he's completely charming and watchable, but his character goes through absolutely nothing here, he's completely the same person by the end of it, it just felt so pointless. I did appreciate how Janet had more to do this time, relegated to a much more action orientated role, which is a huge improvement from here role in the first. 

I've ragged on Marvel films for looking "Televisual" and drab before, and like their villain problem, it's something they've massively improved on over the years, but they've sadly regressed once again, as a Ant-Man and the Wasp is such a bland and dull looking film, the colours are flat and looked washed out, the lighting is so plain and TV like (Expensive TV). I'm not sure if this is how director Peyton Reed wanted the film to look, but if he did, my god, he does not have the visual eye for making a good looking film. There is some good anti-ageing CGI and all the set-pieces are technically impressive, but cinematography wise? Gross.


I'm making it sound like I hated Ant-Man and the Wasp, but in all honesty, I didn't. It's perfectly watchable, just absolutely forgettable and made that much worse based on how strong the recent Marvel offerings have been. It's just such a lower tier MCU film that lacks any consequence and barely manages to be anything more than serviceable. 

5/10 Dans

Ant-Man and the Wasp is out now in cinemas in the UK
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Ant-Man (2015) - Film Review

Review:

*originally written August 1st, 2015*

Compared to Marvel's last film, an overblown and dull display of special effects in a genre that is reaching serious levels of fatigue, Ant-Man is a pretty refreshing change of pace.

Giving us the origin story of a lesser known superhero was a pretty risky move for Marvel, especially with a character that is so easy to mock, but thankfully Ant-Man works far better than it should.

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang was extremely likeable and carried a lot of charisma, more so than most of Marvel's characters. Kate from Lost was fine, even if her character isn't given much to do for most of the film. Michael Douglas was a nice surprise, having a role that is a lot more fun than the usual stuff he does.

Ant-Man had a long, troubled production, which is even more commendable that the end product turned out so well. There are clearly flashes of Edgar Wright's touch here and there, I just wish Marvel would have let him do the film how he wanted, I'm sure that would have made Ant-Man one of Marvel's best and unique films.

It's becoming a joke the blandness of Marvel villains. Yellow Jacket is yet another forgettable villain to throw on the pile. It's not that the guy from House of Cards did a bad job, it's just that the motivation is poor and you really don't care about him or what he does. I'm honestly struggling to remember a moment he stood out and did anything interesting.

The action scenes were easily Ant-Man's highest point. Although all the action doesn't happen till the last half hour, what they do give us more than makes up for the lack of set-pieces in the first 2 acts. The use of mundane household objects being used as the centrepieces of the action was a stroke of genius. A scene that takes place on a railway set with Thomas the Tank Engine, gold. 

There is a heart in the middle of Ant-Man too. With Scott Lang's motivation being to see his estranged daughter and the relationship with the actual ants themselves, which are also used pretty creatively in set pieces.


Ant-Man is a refreshing and smaller film which doesn't hinge on being part of this wider universe, telling its own story with some creative set-pieces that nearly outweigh its been there, done that plot.

7/10 Dans

Ant-Man is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Iron Man 2 (2010) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 1st, 2016*

Well, it certainly isn't as good as the first Iron Man, or most of the other Marvel films for that matter. I remember this sucking, but I actually liked it more than I remember. Don't get me wrong, it's quite messy and arguably bland, but at the same time pretty entertaining.

This time around, Tony Stark must deal with his failing health and a crazy Russian guy who wants to kill him while the government want their hands on his Iron Man technology. 

It deals with Tony's alcoholism laughably and there is some awful drunk acting here, not that Robert Downey Jr's performance was bad (He was once again excellent), it just portrayed alcoholism in just a terrible and unrealistic way and led to some of the worst moments of the film like the dance fight. That said, I did love the arc of Tony dealing with the fact he might die due to his arc reactor poisoning him, it was nice to see Stark genuinely scared for once.

Mickey Rourke pops up as the villain this time around as a Russian who wants revenge on Tony for what his father did to his father years ago. I don't know how much to criticise a hammy comic-book accent, because Rourke's Russian accent was laughably terrible and so many of his lines were incomprehensible. He did get some solid action scenes, the race track fight is really awesome and I loved the design of his character with the electric whips that look like a weapon from the Ratchet and Clank games. I was severely disappointed at how the ending turned out, it was far too similar to the first, the bad guy gets his own Iron Man suit and must fight him......

Sam Rockwell is also a side villain here, who is funny and I love Rockwell, but he didn't make for a convincing or compelling villain for one second. Brody (Recast by Don Cheadle) is also given a much more significant role this time too, getting to don (eh?) the War Machine armour and actually help in the final set-piece.

We get to meet Natasha Romonoff/Black Widow for the first time and she wasn't given much to do bar an awesome action scene towards the end. She just didn't seem like the same Black Widow from the later Marvel films at all. Odd. 

There was quite a bit of world building here. I think that's what a lot of people took issue with when this first came out, it spent too much time hinting at something greater. Samuel L Jackson was excellent here as Nick Fury in his first proper role outside a post-credits cameo, he seemed much more Samuel L Jackson than I remember him being in the later films. He is essentially here to try and recruit Tony into the Avengers Initiative despite his out of control behaviour and recklessness. We also got a post-credits stinger of Thor's hammer leading into the next film Marvel has to offer. 

I will mention I did find it a lot funnier than the first, the court scene at the beginning was well written and hilarious, easily the best moment of the film, it's just a shame they couldn't keep up to the quality of that scene. 


It has its moments and is a breezy, entertaining watch and contains lots of elements that made the first film so great, but Iron Man 2 is a huge step down from the last film in the series and is one of Marvel's weakest films to date.

6/10 Dans

Iron Man 2 is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Deadpool 2 (2018) - Film Review

Review:

I don't think anyone could have imagined how big the first Deadpool turned out to be, I remember loving it when it first came out, but slowly went down in my books with each viewing. It's good fun, but ultimately a very safe and boring origin story mixed with childish humour and adult rated violence.

2 years later and we have the inevitable sequel that had a lot to live up to, and for the most part, it more or less exceeds expectations, despite a few problems. Deadpool 2 is essentially everything the first did, but dialled up to 11. This feels like a hyperbolic statement, but this is one of the most grotesque mainstream releases I remember seeing in quite some time.

It picks up a few years after the first and Deadpool is now an international assassin, taking out kingpins, drug dealers etc, but after some spoilery events he gets involved with a young mutant with fire powers and a time travelling soldier trying to murder the kid. It's straightforward enough, but the stakes are much more worth investing in than the first. 

What everyone came for in Deadpool 2 though is the humour and that is both the best and worst part of the sequel. The run-time is extended from the first and the joke rate is so outrageously high, it's a bit relentless. Meaning, since there are such a huge amount of jokes, only a good chunk of them actually hit, with a lot of the gags being instantly outdated and not very funny. 

There was a lot of Deadpool saying random things with no real context that mostly left a shrug from me. Where the jokes exceed most though is with its jabs at superhero films, pop-culture and Ryan Reynold's career (The mid-credits scene is genius). It does feel like cameo galore at times too, with a couple of great ones and a couple I didn't even realise till I read online after. 

What really interested me in Deadpool 2 was the change of director. The first was directed by a first time filmmaker who did a fine job, even if his action wasn't massively memorable and I was surprised re-watching it recently just how little action there was in it. 2 on the other-hand is a huge improvement in terms of action. John Wick and Atomic Blonde director David Leitch brings such energy and brutality to the action. There's nothing as memorable or impressive as the club scene from John Wick or the stairway fight from Atomic Blonde, but it's still extremely fun to watch and there is a ton of action here that stood out. The opening montage and convoy attack for one. I hope Leitch returns for part 3.

The sequel also includes a much more impressive cast. Josh Brolin is damn good as Cable, a time-travelling cyborg Terminator with a personal mission and a huge improvement over "Francis" from the first. The "X-Force" are also introduced kinda, and in all honesty they are pretty wasted, but done so in way that makes for a genuinely funny and expectation diverting scene. Also did not expect Zazie Beetz Domino to leave much of an impact, but she was definitely one of the better characters. Lastly, T.J. Miller's Weasel is massively sidelined and barely in the film, which is easy to see why, I imagine there is a lot of his work left on the cutting room floor.

None of this really matters though, because this is Ryan Reynold's film through and through, he is still the perfect version of Deadpool, continuing to seek redemption for what was done to the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While a few of his jokes don't land, Reynold's still carries this film and makes it an endlessly watchable ride that is just a blast despite its shortcomings.


Deadpool 2 isn't perfect and it might be a little too relentless, but it's one of the most entertaining and grotesque mainstream releases I've seen in a while. Insanely violent, a lot of fun and makes up for a lot of the originals shortcomings. 

8/10 Dans

Watch the trailer below:

Deadpool 2 is out now in cinemas in the UK
With a 4K UHD Steelbook available to pre-order from HMV

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Avengers: Infinity War (2018) - Film Review

*Originally written May 3rd, 2018*

Review:

Avengers: Infinity War had a lot to live up to. It's the culmination of an insane 18 films of hit-or-miss quality and 10 years of build up. I had my worries about Infinity War. Packing all these characters into such a huge film. Would it work? I wasn't sure. While it is far from perfect, this is a fun, effective, ambitious and surprisingly emotional epic that spells the beginning of the end for a decade worth of superhero films.

The structure is more in line with Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, while the characters never all meet up in one huge scene (And a couple are curiously absent), everyone has their moment to shine and a part to play. A lot of the team-ups were unexpected, but mostly work. It's hard to talk about without spoiling, which I will not do.

Marvel has always had a villain problem, 90% of them are bland and throwaway fodder just to fill the space of a bad without any real character. Thanos, on the other-hand is a completely different beast. Josh Brolin delivers an extremely developed and compelling villain. It's so rare that a villain comes along where you completely agree with his motivation and why he does what he does. Despite being the bad guy, he has genuine heart and emotion behind him, leading to a moment of surprisingly brutality that I didn't think the MCU had in it. It really helped that Brolin is given such a huge amount of screen-time, possibly more than the heroes themselves.

Much like the Guardians films, this is an extremely gorgeous film to look at, filled with mostly impressive CG (Aside from a couple of Thanos' throwaway goons). It's not just the CGI too, the cinematographer is top notch too, there's so many bright and beautiful locations, a far cry from the ugly and televisual Age of Ultron.  Alan Silvestri's score was also fantastic. Again, scores are something the MCU seem to overlook, so it was great to hear a memorable orchestral score in a Marvel films.

Like I said, it's not all perfect though. A big problem I have had with the MCU is the lame humour and while there is quite a bit of eye-rollingly embarrassing comedy here, it's not as intrusive as it has been in the past. It's much more in line with Civil War, where they let moments of emotion breathe rather than throw in some stupid joke and remove any kind of tension. That said, there are some moments that are genuinely funny, it's not massively hilarious, but I do have to remember these kids films, despite how dark and mature Infinity War gets.

And Infinity War does get dark. A lot of people die, some long running, some not. While some of the deaths will be impossible for the MCU to commit to, it didn't make the ending scenes any less haunting or unsettling. There were one or two deaths that just got a collective shrug from me though, particularly the ones early on.

Infinity War really is a hard film to talk about, it's half a film, despite losing the "Part 1" in the title, this really feels like the first part of a film, and luckily we only have a year to see the resolution to the Empire Strikes Back style ending, but based on this, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.


Superhero fatigue might be slowly kicking in, but Infinity War manages to be an ambitious and devastating entry into the now 19th film MCU that are slowly learning from their mistakes. I don't know what more I could have wanted from this film.

8/10 Dans

Avengers: Infinity War is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written April 14th, 2016*

Definitely not the "political thriller" people seem to claim it is. Sure it has elements of this, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier really is just another Marvel affair, although it's one of the best efforts from them.

In Captain America's second solo outing S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised and he doesn't know who he can trust as a new villain emerges in the form of the 'Winter Soldier', a killing machine with ties to Cap's past.

I know it's widely considered so, but Winter Soldier is easily one of the best films in the MCU so far, top 3 material for sure. I wasn't a huge fan of the first Captain America film, so I was pleased at what huge step-up this one was.

The themes of national security play a big part here, although I feel it could have been explored a bit more, but whatever, this is a comic-book film, not a statement on society. The film asks what's more important, freedom or protection, but it never gives a clear answer either way, which is fine. This looks to be explored a lot more in the upcoming Civil War.

What Winter Soldier does better than any Marvel film to date is finally the first decent villain in the form of the Winter Soldier. He's a terminator sort of character, violent, scary and emotionless. He is way more intimidating than anything the MCU has had to offer before hand. It's just a shame that Robert Redford's bad guy was kinda boring and forgettable.

There are some cool nods to other Marvel films. I never even noticed at Dr. Strange got a mention in any of the other watches, but that's probably because he's still in my mind due to the recently released trailer for his solo film. Also gotta mention a fantastic cameo that was Abed from Community in a tiny role.

The action is also far more impressive and less "CGI smashy-smashy". There are some genuinely memorable action scenes like Nick Fury's SUV attack and the now iconic close quarter elevator fight. I'm the directors of this film are back for the next one, they have a talent for creative set-pieces.

I still really like Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America. Still the most likable of all the Avengers. He's modest and easy to get behind, unlike some of Marvel's other characters. Evan's brought the heart to this film, I've always liked the "man out of time" idea and he nails it pretty well, his fight at the end also feels like it has genuine weight to it, mostly thanks to the performance.

My only real complaints are it goes on a bit too long and my problem with all Marvel films. They don't look like films, they look like really expensive episodes of TV and really lack their own visual style, which is such a shame. That said, this looks a lot nicer than both the Avengers films.


The Winter Soldier is one of the most successful films in the MCU to date, filled with memorable set-pieces, Marvel's first decent villain (Outside their Netflix shows) and an engaging story.

8/10 Dans

Captain American: The Winter Soldier is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK

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