Spider-Man: Into the Spider- Verse Review

Just yesterday I saw Sony animation's latest flick Into the Spider-Verse. I was interested in the film since its first teaser this time last year and it kept looking more and more interesting as the months drew nearer to its release. 2018 seems to be the year for Spider-Man as he was in Infinity War, had the fastest selling PS4 game and also two spinoff films. So as you can tell this film had a lot to contend with, but it not only delivered it may have succeeded in being the best Spider-Man related film of the year.

The film focuses on a kid named Miles Morales who gets bitten by a radioactive spider in the subway. He coincidently stumbles onto  Spider-Man as he tries to stop the Kingpin from setting off a machine that is a portal to parallel universes. There is a big explosion and Spider-Man is then killed by the KingPin. Miles sees another Spider-Man and he explains he is from another universe, they team up to try and stop Kingpin but are outnumbered so try and find other Spider people and once they unite they can stop Kingpin and find a way to put the Spider people back to there respective universes.

The film also a strong cast both main and supporting. It features Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker/ Spiderman, Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacey/ Spider Gwen, John Mulaney as Spider-Ham, Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker and Nicholas Cage as Spider-Man Noir. It also has Lily Tomlin as Aunt May, Zoe Kravitz as Mary Jane, Brian Tee Henry as Jefferson Davis, Mashershala Ali as Aaron Davis/ The Prowler, Chris Pine as Peter Parker/ Spider-Man and Liev Schreiber as Kingpin.

As well as the cast the movie's animation is some of the most creative animations I think I've seen in any Hollywood animated feature film as it blends the comic style, cartoon style and anime style all in one to make some unique looking scenes. The film is also written as it has many elements from the comic books but it is understandable for people who have never read a comic book. An example of this the origins for all the Spider people as they are based on their comic book origins but narrows it down so you know who the character is without reading a single one of their comics. It also makes fun of things that have been seen in other Spider-Man films such as the weird dance in Spider-Man 3 and his catchphrase 'with power comes great responsibility'.

However, the film did fall flat in some areas. One of which was the use of a villain. There were a lot of villains in the film such as The Kingpin, The Prowler, The Green Goblin (voiced by Jorma Taccone), Doc Ock (voiced by Kathryn Hahn) and the Scorpion (voiced by Joaquin Coslo). But one of the most disappointing was Tombstone (voiced by Marvin Jones III), the only reason I found him disappointing is that he did nothing in the film apart from being the goofy character and didn't really affect the plot as much the other villains so he seemed a bit unnecessary to be in the movie, also the animation looked off in a few scenes which disturbed me a bit as it looked really weird.

But in conclusion Into the Spider-Verse is overall a good film to see and would recommend that you see it. The film's music is one of the strongest soundtracks I heard and easily competes with the soundtrack of Black Panther. Also, the film's score by Daniel Pemberton is just as good and makes every scene entertaining.

I would give Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse a 10/10 as it is a highly enjoyable film to watch, with great use of the animation and well-written characters that we get to know as the film progresses.

Die Hard Franchise Review: A Good Day to Die Hard

We are now nearing the holiday season and as I haven't finished my Die Hard series review I decided that I should finish it off. So today I will be reviewing the last film in the franchise (for now at least) A Good Day to Die Hard or Die Hard 5. For this instalment, I will be talking about what worked and what didn't as this entry is known as the weakest but it does try and separate itself from the rest of the series.

The movie's plot goes as follows, John McClane goes to Russia in order to free his son Jack McClane (Jai Courtney), he discovers that Jack is a CIA operative who is apart of a mission to stop an undercover organisation in Russia. Both John and Jack join forces to stop this organisation. From this plot, it sounds interesting and focuses on the son as the last one focused on the daughter but what really drags this done is Jai Courtney's performance as he doesn't do much apart from calling his dad a jerk and what not and shoot people for good measure. The character comes across as bland and uninteresting and is a weak part of the film for me.

The films cast is ok, the only returning characters are John McClane and Lucy McClane. The film's villain is Komarov played by Sebastian Koch. For most of the movie, he is portrayed as a man who was convicted because he had a falling out with a politician. This already sounds interesting but the problem with this is that he doesn't work as a villain, reasons why are that he is not a villain for very long and he comes across as weak. The film's director this time around is John Moore who is known for films such as Max Payne, The Omen (2006) and Behind Enemy Lines. Moore tries his best to make something different out of this film but at times it comes off as unrecognisable as a Die Hard movie and becomes a bland action movie.

The lighting as well is quite bland with very bleak colours and makes the film look dull and boring. The camera work is pretty standard with not many unique shots. It mainly has long shots, mid shots and close ups. These two things don't work well at all as it makes the movie look quite boring which is not what the Die Hard Franchise is meant to be.

However, the movie does have its good moments. Such as the Cab driver played by Pasha D. Lychnikoff as he is a likeable character and has quite good chemistry with John McClane for the little time we see him on screen. John McClane is still a strong point for this film but the problem in this film is that he feels more of a background character as he moans He is on Vacation and seems to be a weaker portrayal than the other films which I think is more of a writing problem than Bruce Willis's acting.

Overall, A Good Day to Die Hard tries to be different from the other films but the pay off backfires miserably. It has its moments but is the worst film in the series as it comes across as bland and boring and has a lot of weak characters. With the next Die Hard, a prequel titled McClane with Die Hard 4 director Len Wiseman set to direct, the Franchise might have a saving grace.

I would give A Good Day to Die Hard a 5/10- as it is a bleak and boring movie with very few good moments.