Terminator: Dark Fate Review

In this review, I will be talking about the latest instalment in the Terminator franchise. Every Terminator Movie seemed to be getting worse after Terminator 2. The news of a sixth movie naturally got many concerned, although fans got excited as not only was Arnold Schwarzenegger returning to his role as the T-800,  Linda Hamilton would return as Sarah Connor and James Cameron would be returning as a producer on the film. This all sounded amazing and there seemed that there was little hope that this would save the Terminator franchise from all its other films. However, as the movie drew nearer people were less and less keen to see it as the marketing for the film didn't help to sell the film to the audience e.g: the bad trailers. Before I start this review there will be spoilers so if you want to see this movie come back after seeing the movie to read my opinion on it.

Terminator Dark Fate ignores the other Terminator movies and opens a few years after T2 with Sarah and John Connor relaxing on a beach. A Terminator appears out of nowhere and does what most of the Terminators have tried to do since 1984's The Terminator and kills John Connor. We then move on to the present day where a Terminator named the Rev 9 (Gabriel Luna) and a Cyborg named Grace (Mackenzie Grace) arrive in Mexico City. If you've seen any Terminator you can guess that one is sent to terminate and the other is sent to protect. Grace is sent to protect a girl named Daniele Ramos (Natalia Rayes).

From this short paragraph about the film's story, there is nothing original as it follows the exact same premise as the other movies. But another element of the film that feels lacking is the characters. The main character Dani has the same storyline as Sarah Connor in the first film, but her offspring won't be the leader of the resistance fighting the new future, no in an obvious twist, she is the leader of the resistance. This twist was obvious to see coming and was the only thing they could do with the character without copying the entire arc of Sarah Connor from the first Terminator.

Another character I feel was lacking was Grace. On paper, Grace sounds like a unique character as she is a cyborg sent back from the future to protect Dani to repay her debt to her as Dani saved her as a child. However, she comes across as a not very likeable person as she shouts a lot and acts like a bit of an asshole especially round Sarah Connor. Talking about Sarah Connor she feels like she was only including in this movie for fan service and nothing else, the reason I say this is because she just feels like she is in the background and doesn't serve much in the overall story.

Now we've talked about some of the weaker parts of the film, its time to talk about some of the film's strengths. The chase scenes in the film were well filmed, the CGI looked good, Arnie does a really good performance as the T- 800 as well as Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, the film's concept was quite interesting but the execution wasn't great.

Overall I would give Terminator Dark Fate a 5/10- great concept, bad execution.

Spider-Man: Far From Home Review

As I haven't been active for a good few months now, I decided to review the next instalment in the MCU. Before the third Spider-Man 2 film was released there was a little event called Avengers Endgame that ended the 'first half' of the MCU off, giving us closure for two of their biggest characters Tony Stark and Captain America. A lot of people where know wondering how Far From Home will play out after this event and if the MCU could still live up to its reputation after the release of their biggest film ever (at least at the time of writing this anyway).

However, after seeing Far From Home, I am now able to say that the MCU reputation is still in good hands. This film may not be one of the best Spider-Man movies ever made, but maybe the best standalone MCU movie for a good while. The film takes place a few months after the events of Endgame with Peter's school on a field trip around Europe, Peter (Tom Holland) has plans tell MJ (Zendaya) that he likes her on the trip but however there is a more pressing matter as Peter is called by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to stop these new threats from another universe known as the Elementals with the help of the lone survivor of that universe Quentin Beck/ Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) making Peter's plans for the trip even harder to achieve.

SPOILER WARNING:

Now there is going to be some spoilers from here as there is a lot in the trailers don't show, in fact, the trailers show at least the first quarter of the movie. Anway on to the cast of this movie was great, they made us feel invested in their characters and hoped nothing bad was going to happen them and there are some returning characters from other films in the MCU as well but more on those later. Jake Gyllenhaal did a great performance as Mysterio making him a likeable character and a big influence on Peter as he understands what he is dealing with and how hard it can be at times, however, when the big twist, I say big but Mysterio is a Spider-Man villain so its not really comes that he is the main person behind the Elementals, it stings a little as he was such a likeable character and the reveal kind of makes you want to punch him in the face.

Anyway, I said about some returning MCU characters in the film. Mysterio's origin in this film is that he was an ex Stark Industries employee who helped to develop the technology that was used in the conference scene in Civil War which showed how Tony wanted his last time with his parents to be. Mysterio complained to Tony about the name and that he took the credit for his work so he was fired. However, this tech was used to help develop his illusions and making the Elementals. He has a team of ex Stark Industries employees who helped him develop the technology and the character of Mysterio. One member of the team has a scene in the first Iron Man where Obadiah Stane fires him as he couldn't deliver on an arc reactor for his Iron Monger suit. The last two Spider-Man movies have seemed to reflect on the consequences of Stark's actions, with Vulture and his crew in homecoming being fired from there cleaning up sight as it was being taken over by Tony's new Damage Control. Other returning characters include Nick Fury and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) as well as the Skrull General Talos (played again by Ben Mendelsohn)  and a surprise returning character J. Jonah Jameson (played once again by J.K. Simmons).

There are a lot of good scenes in the film with one of them being an illusion trick that Mysterio does on Peter reflecting his failures as Spider-Man such as giving him the technology that could be used to control Stark satellites and that Peter feels he has failed Tony by trusting Mysterio at all, this is shown through a corpse of Tony in an Iron Man suit. This is a good scene as it is visually amazing and it represents the power that Mysterio has over Peter.

There are two new suits in this movie, there is the stealth suit that Spider-Man wears for most of the movie to help conceal his identity a to his school mates as they might question why Spider-Man is in Europe and that Peter is not with them which would make them question is whereabouts. And the upgraded suit which is the Homecoming suit with a brighter shade of red and instead of blue it has black with a white spider logo on its back.

However, there are a few parts of the movie that I felt lacked a bit. Such the Peter and MJ scenes as although they could be sweet it could drag a bit making them slightly awkward to watch at points. And the end credits scene seemed a little bit pointless to include apart from hinting at what the future could look like.

Overall, Spider-Man Far From Home is a fun and entertaining Spider-Man movie that deals with the impact that Tony has on Peter which makes him want to become a better hero like Spider-Man.

I will give Spider-Man: Far From Home an 8/10- a fun film with some prolonged scenes.

Avengers: Endgame review (SPOILERS)

It's finally time to talk about one of the biggest Marvel films to date marking an 'end' to an 11-year cinematic milestone. Now before I start there will be spoilers as I can't really review the movie in depth without spoiling anything as a lot happens in this movie.

Now it's not the first time we have had a finale type film, there's been Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2, The Dark Knight Rises, Star Wars episodes 6 and 3 and 9 (coming December) and so on. But none of these films apart from the exception of Star Wars have really had a huge cinematic milestone to celebrate. If this doesn't make sense to you then I will explain, Star Wars success helped pave the way for Sci-Fi movies going forward, Marvel, on the other hand, have done something different. Marvel has managed to keep a whole cinematic universe successful for over 10 years and has succeeded in this while other big movie studios try and fail at starting up there own cinematic universes.

Now let's talk about this film, Endgame marks an end to 22 movies over the last 10 years. It may not be the best Marvel film plot-wise but the areas it is strong in are its characters who they have developed for 10 years and their themes. The plot of Endgame is set a few weeks after the events of Infinity War, the Avengers struggle with there failure and try to find a way to reverse Thanos's actions. Once they find a way some of the Avengers are divided by this decision but in the end, they come together to defeat Thanos. That is a brief summary of the plot without spoiling anything in the movie.

The film has the surviving members of the Avengers which consist of Tony Stark/ Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Steve Rodgers/ Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner/ Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and James Rhodes/ War Machine (Don Cheadle). There is also the inclusion of other characters who help such as Paul Rudds Ant-Man, Brie Larson returning as Captain Marvel, Jeremy Renner returning as Hawkeye or Ronan as he's called now and of course Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon and Josh Brolin reprising his role as Thanos.

Now it's time to get into spoiler territory so if you haven't seen it yet, which I'm sure you probably have but if not read the score at the bottom. What I like about the movie is its characters, one of the shocking things that they did in the movie was the five-year time jump so it is now 2023. We get to see how the characters have dealt with the events of the snap, some of the highlights being Thor who after feeling he failed everything he believed in his people, the universe, his friends (which he did) he becomes a fat, lazy, drunk slob of a man who doesn't even go outside as he doesn't want to witness the result of his failure.

Another one is Bruce Banner/ The Hulk. Why I feel this one was a high light is because after five years he finds a way to tame the Hulk and become the best of both worlds. Also, it was quite funny to see him get embarrassed after seeing him smashing stuff when they go back to the battle of New York in the first Avengers. And the last one is Iron Man because compared to the others who have either become worse because of it or have tried to find a way to move around it, Tony just moved forward and had a life with his wife and has a daughter. So when Scott, Steve and Natasha come to him with time travel he refuses as he doesn't want to lose what he gained.

There are many more characters that are like the three I mentioned such as Hawkeye where his family where victims of the snap and like Thor became a shadow of what he used to be and Natasha sacrifices herself so he could become himself once more giving him a second chance.

Another strength with the movie was the way it was shot and it uses of CGI. I felt the way it was shot was very well done with a lot of close-ups and Extreme Long Shots to show how the characters and their surroundings have changed and become unrecognisable. Marvel's CGI can often be really obvious as there is usually a lot happening in the scenes and if feels they are trying to do more than they can handle but it felt different in the film with the CGI spreading out evenly till it was needed in the third act of the film.

Another strength would be the third act of the film as it might be one of the best third acts that Marvel has ever produced as not only do they save everyone but it also celebrates the 11 year legacy that they have produced with every character either a background character in a movie before this helping in the battle against Thanos.

However, the movie does have its downsides such as the plot holes that they left open due to either future movies or TV shows on Disney +. Also, its use of time travel is very confusing as it does not follow the laws of time travel that we have grown accustomed to through movies like Back to the Future as the time travel seems element seems to work on dimensional plain where it, if something happens in a timeline that is not supposed to it, creates a reality where it happened. An example of this would be Nebula killing her past self from the first Guardians as she does not fade away which it weird because killing her past self would mean that her future never existed, but in the films case killing her past self mean that she knows exists with her future self being her past self living her present which is very confusing and I hope they address the timeline in future movies or TV shows.

Overall, Avengers Endgame is a movie that celebrates an 11-year legacy and marks the end to an era. Although it suffers from plot holes and questionable time travel, the film mainly focuses on the characters that they have developed for a long time. This may not be the last movie Marvel will ever produce considering there is a Spider-Man movie coming out in the next few months and Marvel already announcing its next six movies as a part of Phase 4, it will never feel the same and makes me question how long I will watch these movies till they become shadows of what they used to be.

I would give Avengers Endgame an 8/ 10- Great character moments, lots of emotional moments but it suffers from its plot holes and confusing time travel which I hope they can explain more in future movies like Doctor Strange 2.

Shazam! review

So recently I saw the latest film in the DC film universe. There was a lot riding on this film due to its previous film Aquaman being a box office success and this film hoping to continue that streak. So has this film managed to be as successful as DC biggest grossing film? Well as of writing this it has not finished its opening weekend so I don't know how much it made or making so far, however, the film might be one of the best films DC have ever produced.

The film's plot goes as follows, a street kid who goes by the name of Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is on a search to find his mother. He gets taken into a group home by his foster parents (Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans). One of the kids in the group home Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) grows a liking to Billy. Once Billy helps Freddy out from bullies at school he suddenly is transported to a cave where he meets a wizard known as Shazam (Djimon Hounsou), he then receives the power of Shazam and transforms into a superhero (Zachary Levi). He then goes to Freddy who is a superhero nerd to help him become a superhero and together they help to stop crime in Philadelphia and stop Dr Sivanna (Mark Strong) from destroying Philadelphia with the Seven Deadly Sins.

The film has many familiar faces in the film such as Zachary Levi (Shazam) and Mark Strong (Dr Sivanna). There are also new faces like Asher Angel (Billy Batson), Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), Grace Fulton (Mary Bromfield), Faithe Herman (Darla Dudley), Ian Chen (Eugene Choi) and Joven Armand (Pedro Pena). And a DC regular John Glover who plays Dr Sivanna's father.

The film's director is David F. Sandburg who has only directed horrors such as Annabelle Creation (2017) and Lights Out (2016). So he has not had any experience with these type of movies before. But for his first and hopefully not his last entry into Superhero blockbuster was a good one as he understood the character of Shazam and managed to view a different side to the DCEU that hasn't really been seen apart from the TV shows.

There a lot of good things that happen in this movie such as Zachary Levi's performance as Shazam as you can tell that he enjoys playing him and does a good performance of being a kid in an adults body. The acting was good all round with no character seeming boring or uninteresting to see on screen. There are a lot of ties to the overall DCEU from batarangs to a bullet shot at Superman which make all the films easter eggs enjoyable to spot.

However, as much as the movie does do a lot of things right, it has got some faults to it. The main villain Dr Sivanna is more a less a generic villain as he does not have much screen time in the film and is only there because they decided to give Shazam's arch-nemesis Black Adam his own solo movie which has no confirmation since that announcement. However, he does have a lot of good motivations which make Dr Sivanna not entirely forgettable. Also, some of the scenes are dragged out a bit to fill in the movie's runtime.

Overall, I would give Shazam! an 8/10- For being a fun and enjoyable film and a good addition to the overall DCEU.

Captain Marvel review

So here's the second review of the day, this hopefully won't be a regular thing but it will hopefully make up some space having a month gap and not having the chance of reviewing movies that I have recently seen. So for my second review, I will be reviewing the latest instalment in the MCU, Captain Marvel.

Now Marvel is in an interesting position with the all four (five if you want to count the Defenders) of the Netflix shows being cancelled with the last show Jessica Jones season 3 coming this June and three highly anticipated movies coming out this year and the possibility of a rebooted X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises joining the roster after the original MCU line up leaves after Endgame. But nevertheless, the future of the MCU seems to be in a bright spot. So today I will be looking at the latest instalment and answering what impact it will have on the MCU's future.

Captain Marvel is set in the late '90s deeming it a prequel to Iron Man and the rest of the MCU films that comes after in that timeframe. It centres on Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) who lands on earth after being captured by the Skrulls an army of shapeshifters, she meets Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and forms an alliance in a mission to stop the Skrulls. However, during this journey, she discovers she had a life on earth and everything is not what it seems.

The film like all Marvel films has a few big names including returning characters. Brie Larson plays Captain Marvel/ Carol Danvers who has been deemed the most powerful superhero in the MCU to this date according to Marvel President Kevin Feige. Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg return as Nick Fury and Agent Phil Coulson in their younger days. Lee Pace returns as Ronan the Accuser who many fans will remember from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie and Djimon Hounsou as Korath reprising his role from GotG as well. Ben Mendelsohn plays Talos the general of the Skrull army, Jude Law plays Yon-Rogg, Captain Marvel's teacher back on the Kree homeworld, Lashana Lynch plays Marie Rambeau Carols friend from her days as a pilot and Anette Benning as the Supreme Intelligence.

The film is very entertaining with impressive action and special effect. The high point for the CGI was for Fury and Coulson as the actors are both older than they were in the 90's so they had to use CGI to make them younger. Although it's not the first time Marvel has done this to there actors, it was probably an example of how to do it right as it looked like they were that age and you couldn't tell that the face was digitally advanced to make them younger.

The lead actress Brie Larson has had some heat with some fans calling her out over hating white men, so the fans are hoping to sabotage the movie so it's deemed a flop. But however, this has not worked as the film has scored over $400 million worldwide in its opening weekend and will most likely continue to grow in its theatrical run. The reason I have said this is because they complained she was trying to ruin the movie with her bland expression seen in the trailers. However, in the movie, she does not always like this and has her quirky moments and does quite a good performance in the role

However, saying all of this there are some faults in this movie. One of the faults is that the first few minutes of the opening feels very rushed and some of the shoots felt very messy like they wanted to get the opening done quickly. Some story elements in the film which answer some of the questions in the overall MCU feel a bit underwhelming such as how Fury lost his eye, although that could feel like its a bit of a nitpick.

Overall, Captain Marvel is a good start to what is leading up to be the next stage in the MCU's future. With a lot of easter eggs to keep fans happy and to answer some of the questions that weren't really explained in other MCU films.

I would give Captain Marvel an 7/10- For an entertaining action film that will hopefully pave the way for the MCU's future after Endgame.

Fighting with My Family review

It's been a while since my last review so I decided that I will try to do two reviews in one day, hopefully, this should get me back in the habit of doing reviews again instead of waiting a few months to do the next one. Today I will be reviewing a film I saw recently called 'Fighting with My Family' written and directed by comedian Stephen Merchant.

The film is a true story about a family who perform at wrestling events in Norwich. An offer for the family's children to go to the WWE tryouts where only the daughter known as Paige gets through to have a shot at the title. She then goes to Florida to train with other hopefuls aiming for the same goal, After overcoming some family struggles and struggles with the other hopefuls she gets a shot at the Diva title and wins.

The film has a memorable cast to is such as Nick Frost who plays the father Ricky and Game of Thrones Lena Headey who plays the mother Julia. The children are just as memorable with Jack Lowden as the brother Zak who teaches a wrestling class with a blind kid as one of the students also Florence Pugh who plays Saraya whos wrestling name is Paige who becomes the youngest ever champion of the Diva title at the age of 21. It also has Vince Vaughn who plays Hutch the coach for the WWE hopefuls and the Rock who plays guess who, the Rock.

The film was written and directed by comedian Stephen Merchant who got the idea of writing the film from a documentary he watched about the real family. This is Stephen Merchants first feature film that he has directed, as he as produced, written and directed episodes of the BBC sitcom The Office which he also starred in. Merchant is not a wrestling fan but when watching the film that fact does not matter as he shoots the fight choreography very well and it feels like your watching it live.

The film technically mainly has close ups and mid shots but it also has high crane shots for some of the wrestling scenes which makes it feel that you are watching it from a TV screen. The fight choreography is fast-paced and entertaining like what you would expect from a real wrestling match. There are some good character moments between Paige and Zak.  Zak's story is emotional as he feels rejected as he never got through in the tryouts and tries his best to get back in but is constantly let down which makes everyone around him miserable as he never got to pursue his dream of being in WWE.

Overall, fighting with my family is an emotional and enjoyable film which tells the story of a family that wrestles who has a daughter that becomes a heavyweight champion.

I would give Fighting with My Family an 8/10- Heartbreaking story and emotional character moments with a few comedic moments along the way.

Creed Review

I am a big fan of the Rocky movie series. I have enjoyed watching the evolving story of Rocky Balboa from starting out as a small-time boxer to a well-respected champion in the boxing community, through to retirement reminiscing about past glories to the customers and friends in the restaurant he owns. The series itself has been ongoing for over 40 years and still manages to feel new, fresh and exciting with every instalment released.

Today I will be reviewing the 2015 reboot/ continuation of the franchise Creed directed by Ryan Coogler. The film centres around Adonis the illegitimate son of boxer Apollo Creed played by Michael B. Jordan, who is adopted by Apollo’s widow Mary Ann played by Phylicia Rashad. One day Adonis tells Mary Ann that he wants to become a boxer like his father, but Mary would not support him fearing that what happened to her husband would happen again. He moves away to follow his ambition, eventually persuading Rocky to train him. Adonis then wins his first fight and signs up for his second fight with the champion Ricky Conlan played by Tony Bellew. After months of training Adonis is ready to fight against Conlan.

The film's director is Ryan Coogler, before this movie Coogler was not a very well-known director, he had only done one feature-length film and a few shorts. So, stepping into a huge franchise such as Rocky is a pretty big step. Regardless, Coogler took to the challenge and came up with a film that not only drove the series into a new direction but took time to pay homage to the films that came before.

The films cast was important with old faces such as Sylvester Stallone reprising the role as Rocky Balboa and Mary Ann Creed played by Phylicia Rashad along with new arrivals   Adonis Creed played by Michael B. Jordan and his girlfriend Bianca played by Tessa Thompson. These two characters were good additions to this ongoing franchise as they reflect Rocky and his future wife Adrian from the first movie as Adonis’s and Bianca’s relationship is similar to Rocky and Adrian’s they both feel like outsiders who get to know each other as the story progresses.

Technically the film mainly has mid-shots and close-ups in its camerawork with occasional shaky cams and a continuous mid- shot near the start of the third act, the boxing match in the ring is mainly mid-close-ups of the character making you feel part of the action as you see every punch close up. The film's lighting is low key giving it a more grounded and realistic tone.

The film's soundtrack was composed by Ludwig Göransson, who would later compose the score for Black Panther which was also directed by Ryan Coogler. The soundtrack celebrates the old and the new with new tracks and themes for the new characters, with renditions of tracks from the original Rocky soundtrack composed by Bill Conti.

Overall, Creed is a good addition to this long and ongoing franchise which has no sign of stopping. The film is well written with new additions that will hopefully be remembered for years to come just like the original characters are today.

I would give Creed an 8/10- A good continuation of the franchise which will lead the series into a new direction for years to come.

The sequel Creed II is currently playing in cinemas, I have not seen it yet but look out for my review when I do see the film.

Aquaman Review

Happy New Year everyone. It hasn't been too long since my last review (which is quite a surprise) so to start the year off I am going to review a film that everyone thought would be terrible but turned out to be a fairly decent and enjoyable action movie. If you couldn't tell by the title its Aquaman DC's latest film in there universe, after Justice League flopped at the box office, the future of the DCEU was very uncertain with movies being added and actors quitting due to other contracts it all looked like a mess and then this movie came along and surprised a lot of people.

The film's plot is set after Justice League as Arthur Curry is told to stop his brother from conducting a war on the surface by obtaining a trident held by the first king of Atlantis in order to become the one true king of Atlantis and stop his brother from making war with the surface. The film also has a strong cast to it with reprising roles from Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/ Aquaman and Amber Heard as Mera. There also many new arrivals such as King Orm/ Ocean Master played by Patrick Wilson, Vulko played by Willem Dafoe, Tom Curry played by Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, Black Manta played by Yahya Abdul- Mateen II and Queen Atlanna played by Nicole Kidman.

The film's director is James Wan who is famous for directing horror franchises like Saw and The Conjuring universe and also famous for directing some of the Fast and Furious instalments. So he has experience in both the action and horror genres which shows in the film as there are well-shot fight scenes and a very tense scene towards the third act of the movie.

The things I liked about the movie were Patrick Wilson's performance as Ocean Master as he plays a good villain and we understand his motivation for the war against the surface, The fight scenes were well shot as like the Marvel Netflix show Daredevil it has it in one continuous shot and as a result its the best fight scenes that I've ever seen in a superhero movie. Also the soundtrack by Rupert Gregson- Williams is amazing as you get to feel the mystery and beauty of the world that Aquaman lives in.

However, the problem I found with the movie was that some scenes felt a little rushed such as one scene in the first act where there is a giant wave coming towards Aquaman and his dad and after that, he decides to join Mera and Vulko to stop Orm from making war. The reason I say this is rushed is that it comes out of nowhere and just happens however the scene does not change the plot of the movie that much.

Overall, Aquaman is a decent and enjoyable movie to watch with great performances, amazing soundtrack, impressive CGI for a DC movie and outstanding fight scenes. This definitely makes me want to watch more of this character and am interested to see what the future of the DCEU or Worlds of DC or whatever its called is going to look like with films such as Shazam in April which might be Henry Cavill's last film as Superman although don't take my word on that, and Joaquin Phoenix's Joker Movie directed by Todd Philips in October and of course Wonder Woman 1984 next year and possibly the Flashpoint movie the year after that (I know it might actually happen). 

I would give Aquaman an 8/10- well-shot action scenes, great performances, however, some scenes felt a little weird. Also, Black Manta was kinda there he didn't really do much apart from setting up a sequel.