Sunday, 10 March 2019

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.

Captain Marvel Poster





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.

Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Lowden, and Florence Pugh in Fighting with My Family (2019)