Mission: Impossible series- Mission: Impossible- Fallout review

Now its time to review the recent addition to the Mission: Impossible series (at least at the time of writing this) Mission: Impossible- Fallout (2018). The sixth entry to the Mission: Impossible series in my opinion is the strongest one to date. With non- stop action, a heavy plot with a load of twists and tensions between the IMF and the C.I.A.

The film starts off 2 years after Rogue Nation with Hunt being sent on a mission to find some uranium in order to prevent the Apostles (the new name for the Syndicate) from inventing a bomb that can wipe out a whole country. The mission goes sideways as the Apostles steal the uranium leaving Hunt and a agent trusted by the C.I.A August Walker (Henry Cavill) to find more from a dealer known as the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) who is later revealed to be the daughter of Max from the first film. Hunt, Walker and his team track down Lane (Sean Harris) and capture him. However things go sideways again with Walker turning out to be an Apostle known as John Lark. With the Apostles having the uranium for the bombs, Hunt and his team must stop them from destroying the world.

Again the films director is Christopher McQuarrie, who at this point is the director with the most Mission: Impossible films under his belt with another two yet to go into production.  Like Rogue Nation, McQuarrie directs Fallout similarly with the non stop action and a heavy plot with a lot of twist and turns. However the film has a slightly slower pace to it for us to engage with the character as there are a lot of big character moments in the film.

Like any other M:I movie, the film has a lot of great action set pieces such as the skydive over France in a thunderstorm where Walker goes unconscious and Hunt as to save him without being caught by lighting. Also the whole chase scene where Hunt and the team capture Lane and run from an assassin (Isla Faust) who is chasing them around town. And of course the third act were Hunt and Walker fight each other on a mountain to reach for the remote that can disarm the bombs from blowing up. Their are a lot of character driven moments in this film which make it us feel engaged with the characters than ever before, at the start of the movie Luther (Ving Rhames) nearly dies as he is captured by Apostle agents as they make Hunt chose between him and the Uranium. For Hunt he has nightmares of Lane killing his ex- wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan) who makes her return to the series.

However, like any movies there are some things that drag the movie down a bit. First of all I feel that Henry Cavill's performance as Walker is a little flat, this makes Walker feel a little forgetful as a character and I worked out that he was the Apostle John Lark after he talks to his superior Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) as he frames Hunt as being Lark. I also I felt that the White Widow and her brother Zola (Frederick Schmidt) were a bit underused in the film, while their mother Max from the first Mission: Impossible film didn't have the biggest part, they feel like they were an after thought and I hope they return in a future sequel. Also I felt that Hunley (Alec Baldwin) was also underused as he is only in two scenes and is killed off and feels a shame as he had a lot of potential to become the secretary for the IMF in future movies. One more thing, although this is a minor thing and doesn't really drag the film but they do not explain where Jeremy Renner's Brandt is. Although Renner was filming Avenger: Endgame at the time so he was not available for filming, they don't bother to explain what happened to him or where he is. Hopefully we get to see him in Mission: Impossible 7 which is set to release in 2021 as his Hawkeye series as nothing new since it announcement at the D23 event last year.

Before I give this movie an overall score, I just want to talk about how much the Mission: Impossible movies have evolved over time. The first Mission: Impossible film was a spy thriller that had a lot of tensions for the protagonist, over time the plots for each movie get bigger and bigger with Hunt evolving from the sole survivor of a botched mission desperate to clear his name, to a confident and skilled team leader with a lot of experience under his belt. The stories for each film get bigger and bigger as Hunt is recruited to stop a spread of a man killing virus to stopping a terrorist organisation from building a bomb that can wipe out billions. Also in the first film Hunt didn't use a gun and since then although compared to most action character he uses a gun very little, he still has used one in each movie as well as riding a bike in a chase scene although that might be down to Tom Cruise's obsession with motor vehicles.

Overall I would give Mission: Impossible- Fallout a 9/10- A heavy plot with a lot of character moments however suffers from some underused characters with their potential wasted, also would need to see the previous film to understand half the story of this one.

Mission: Impossible series- Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation review

It's been a few weeks since my last review and now that I have seen all the Mission: Impossible movies (so far). I thinks its far to continue where i left by reviewing the fifth movie in the series Rogue Nation (2015).

The film takes place a few years after Ghost Protocol with Hunt and his team on a mission to stop a band of soldiers who are a part of a special terrorist group known as the Syndicate in smuggling some atomic weapons. A few months after the IMF is shut down by C.I.A director Hunley (Alec Baldwin) and Hunt being marked as a fugitive. While on the run Hunt meets another fugitive named Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) an M.I.6 agent working undercover to eliminate the Syndicate leader Soloman Lane (Sean Harris) a former M.I.6 agent. With the help of Ilsa, Hunt and his team take on a mission to stop Lane and the Syndicate but meanwhile are in hiding from Hunley and the C.I.A.

This time round the film is director is Christopher McQuarrie who is known for being more of a writer with credits on The Usual Suspects and Edge of Tomorrow. He has also worked with Cruise on Jack Reacher (2014) as well as the next few Mission: Impossible movies to be released.  McQuarrie directs the film in a similar vain to Ghost Protocol where the action is non- stop with the team going to country to country in order to stop the Syndicate.

There are a lot of great action pieces such as Hunt going underwater to help Benji (Simon Pegg) get through a security system with a whole load of fail safes to get through. Also the opera scene at the beginning of the film was well shot with a lot of tension behind it as Hunt and Benji need to protect the President of Vienna from being assassinated, which would fail as the Syndicate planted a car bomb if the assassination back fired. Which gets me on to the Syndicate and Lane as they worthy opponents to Hunt and the IMF in general as like Hendricks from Ghost Protocol there are always one step ahead of them. Lane is a good nemesis to Hunt as he makes Hunt and his team desperate to try and stop him, he also is the only main villain in the Mission: Impossible series not to be killed off in the third act as they capture him and hand him over to the British Government so that Ilsa will stop being hunted down.

Rebecca Ferguson is a welcome addition as Ilsa, as she is portrayed as a female version of Hunt with her own motivations to stop the Syndicate. These motivations make the character feel complex and make us question if Hunt is doing the right thing by trusting her as she helps him and the team stop the Syndicate.

However there are some small things I feel could have improved the movie. To me the story did feel a little too similar to Ghost Protocol with IMF being shut down and Hunt and his team stopping the bad guys with their own research. I mean the story has enough thing to make it not a total rehash of Ghost Protocol but the story does play off far to similar.

I would give Mission: Impossible an 8/10: Non stop action with great new additions however the story felt a bit to similar to the previous film.

Mission: Impossible series- Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol review

As I said with the last Mission: Impossible film, the series seems to be going on a up hill slant that is continued by Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol (2011). Now from the films I've seen so far in the series this films is the best one as it has massive stakes to the main characters and a thrilling plot that has non- stop action till the end.

The film starts of with Hunt being rescued from a Russian Prison by a IMF team lead by Benji (Simon Pegg). After accepting a mission to steal something from the Kremlin, however the plan backfires with the bombing of the Kremlin which cause huge tensions between the US and Russia. As a result of this the IMF goes under something called Ghost Protocol which means they are shut down with Ethan and the new team to find out who bombed the Kremlin and to clear the IMF's name.

The director of this film is Brad Bird who is well known for animated movies like the Incredibles 1 and 2, Ratatouille and the Iron Giant. Brad is known for character driven films like the Incredibles, he uses this experience in Ghost Protocol as each member of the team have a motive for each action they do in the film especially as on of the minor villains deeply effects Agent Jane Carter (Paula Patton) as they killed some one she was close with. These motives make us feel connected to these team members more than any other Mission: Impossible film.

The film as a lot of great action set pieces like Hunt climbing up Burg Khalifa in Dubai (the tallest building in the world) in order to get to the server room to help Benji set up the cameras to help acquire the nuclear codes stolen from the Kremlin. The third act in the car park was well shot and choreographed also the car chase in the sandstorm was a memorable set piece in the film which was very suspenseful. Jeremy Renner does a good performance as Brandt a former field agent turned secretary after the supposed death of Hunts wife Julia. The villain Hendricks is a step us from Hoffman's Davien as he is always one step a head of Hunt and his team making us wonder if the team will stop him in time.

However there are some small things that bugged me or in my opinion could have changed. Lea Sedyoux's Sabine Moreau could have had a bit more screen time as she seemed to be a good foil for the IMF team as she already killed one of the team. However in my opinion she was killed off far too early and if felt like she shouldn't really have been in the movie at all. Also the fact that Benji was almost like Luther's replacement for the film bugged me a little. I never talked about Simon Pegg's role in the third film manly because it was very minor and in this film he gets a much bigger role as he graduates from field training and is now a field agent. In my Opinion although Simon Pegg did a really good performance, Benji is not the same as Luther. Although to be fair to this Luther has a small cameo at the end of the film.

Overall I would give Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol a 8/10- A suspenseful story that has massive stakes not just for Hunt and his team but the whole IMF organisation and a villain who always his one step ahead, however there might have been a few characters that could have been removed.

Mission: Impossible series: Mission: Impossible 3 review

After the last M:I film I was, my hopes for me getting into this series seemed to be getting slimmer. Although I enjoyed the first M:I film is wasn't an amazing movie and its sequel seemed a bit more like a total reboot with the same title character. This all changed when I saw Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), although not the greatest film I've ever seen, it is probably (at this point) the best since the first film.

Based six years after the second film, Ethan seems to be semi- retired from the IMF and is about to get married to his fiancée Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Ethan is sent on a rescue mission, to save agent Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) in order to find out more information on arms dealer Owen Davien (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Hunt and his team reduce Farris but unfortunately she dies while they escape the warehouse meaning they failed the mission. However they learnt that Davien is trying to acquire something known as the Rabbits Foot which Hunt needs to prevent.

This time the films director this time round is J.J Abrams, who is known for directing Star Wars episodes 7 and 9, The Star Trek reboot, as well as producing popular TV series Lost. Abrams would have a producer credit in all other films in the series as his company 'Bad Robot' would have a hand in all future instalments after this. Abrams directs this movie almost like if the first movie was made in 2006 instead of 10 years before. 

The performances in the film are great, with the usual's Cruise and Rhames being great at playing Hunt and Luther, the new team are likeable feel like fleshed out characters for amount of time we see them for. Keri Russell does a good performance for little material she is given, Phillip Hoffman does a good performance as Davien and make the character one of the better villains the series has so far. 


The things I like about this movie is that Hunt has personal stakes again as Davien threatens to go after Julia. Davien seems to be one of the better villains so far as he smart and calculating and has a back up for everything making him a dangerous individual. Hunt seems to be more like his first film self as he's smart and improvised alot (although he did that in the other two films as well). The scenes between Hunt and Davien are well shot and feel very tense, and example of this can be found when Davien threatens to shoot Julia if Hunt gave up the location of the Rabbits Foot.


However there are some things I didn't like. Although I said I like the other two team members, I don't remember there names, this isn't just a problem with this film it seems to be with every film so far. However the later movies seem to fix this problem, also the twist in this movie comes too late in the film in my opinion and it makes it worst that was a bluff made by Musgrave (Billy Crudup) and as a result the third act seems a little rushed to the end.

Overall I would give Mission: Impossible 3 a 7/10: A good plot, with massive stakes for the lead character. However felt a little rushed near the end.

Mission: Impossible series: Mission: Impossible 2 review

Now that I have reviewed the first film in the series, the day after I saw the sequel Mission: Impossible 2 (2000). In my opinion, I didn't think that the sequel was a good movie. I'll admit the series so far hasn't impressed me as much as I thought it would have but there's enough time for that to change with the other movies in the series.

The film takes place 4 years after the first with Hunt being sent on a mission by Commander Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins)  to stop a disease called 'Chimera' that has the potential to wipe-out the whole of Australia and if large enough the world. In order to do this he is allowed to recruit a team but one of them has to be Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton) the ex of the main villain Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott).

This time round the films director is John Woo who is known for doing Face/Off staring Nicholas Cage and John Travolta and plenty of Chinese films in the 80's. Personally, I preferred De Palma's direction in the first film as it was suspenseful tense spy thriller and is quite a unique film for it's time. But Woo's vision seems to be almost like Hunt it the American equivalent to James Bond (which could be true). I now future films take this direction going forward but to me I preferred the thriller the first movie was, as it was something different. However this could be the direction Paramount wanted for the series as well so I guess it could be 50/50.

I've said quite a few negatives so far so I'll go on to the good moments that the movie has to offer. Cruise does a good performance as Hunt and Ving Rhames also does a good performance as Luther the only character aside from Hunt that returns from the first one. I never talked about Luther in my review of the first film but I like the character and interested to see him back in other movies. The fight choreography is good, you can see John Woo's Asian influence there. Also the scene where Hunt tries to destroy all the remaining copies of the virus was well shot with it playing similarly to the first film with no music in the background with complete silence with Ambrose walking towards Hunt giving suspense and tension to the scene.

But there are things that I didn't like. The villain wasn't as effective, although Dougray Scott does a decent performance, he comes off as a bit cartoonish and times and isn't a threat to Hunt at all. I felt that the mask unveils were really overused and a bit cliched. I know that its a staple of the series but when the first film done it, it was used to great effect especially at the third act of the film. But in the this film they just overuse it to many times and it undermines it shock value. Also I felt the whole imagery with Hunt and the white bird in the films third act to be stupid and over the top.

I would give Mission: Impossible 2 a 5/10: A generic action movie with a lack of plot,with a cartoonish, non threating villain and some over the top herioc imagery with Ethan Hunt.

Mission: Impossible series: Mission: Impossible review.

So funnily enough till recently I was probably the few people who have seen any Mission Impossible films. To be honest I haven't seen that many Tom Cruise films in general. The Mission Impossible series to me looked like one of those franchises that seemed like it probably need 4 times the movies it actually needs, a lot like the Fast and Furious movies however I keep hearing that the last few Mission Impossible movies have been some of the best the series has to offer. So I decided to watch the series from the beginning with the first film Mission: Impossible (1996).

The story focus on Ethan Hunt an agent of the Impossible Missions Force or the IMF for short. He is sent on a mission with his team lead by Jim Phelps (Jon Voight). One by one the team is killed off with Hunt being the only surviving member (although later you find out he isn't). He requests a meeting with IMF boss Kittridge (Henry Czerney) who accuse Hunt off being a mole. On the run Hunt is desperate to clear his name and find the real mole.

The film's director is Brian De Palma who is known for directing films such as dressed to a kill and the Scarface remake starring Al Pacino. This would be De Palma's only entry into the series with John Woo directing the second. De Palma brings a lot of suspense to the film which can be apparent in the scene were Hunt is copying over a list from a computer in a heavily secured room in the IMF HQ. There is no music of any kind in the scene and everyone is silent as if Hunt or any one in his team speak or make a sound then the alarms go off and the room goes on lockdown, the suspense in the scene is done really well as we can see Krieger (Jean Reno) struggling to hold Hunt from the cable he hoisted down on and a worker who has been drugged to make sure he doesn't come in while Hunt is transferring data on to a disc. This works has there are problems that can have big consequences on Hunt and his Mission and there is a threat that he must avoid as well.

The film as lot of unique shots that you wouldn't see in films any more. There are a few examples of POV (Point of View) shots that wouldn't be used like they way in this movie. This is done to establish the surrounds of were Hunt or any one from his team are. There is a scene where Hunt is in a car with an arms dealer called Max (Vanessa Redgrave), you can see they are in a car in a studio with a green screen but they make the car rock a bit to give the effect of the car going over the speed bump. There is another seen near the end of the film where Hunt is on the top of a train and needs to stop Phelps and Krieger from escaping, although again this done on a green screen they must have had a big fan to give the effect of the train passing through the wind and its quite effective.

However although there a lot of clever techniques used to great effect. I have to talk about the things that in my opinion drag the movie down. For me it was mainly the team at the beginning of the film as they are established well enough but to me they didn't really do much in the mission that i would feel a little emotional to each of them dying, to be fair to this some did more that others like Harmon (Emilio Estevez) who controls the elevator but even then we don't get them to interact with Hunt that much for me to feel connected to them. Also some of the effects are a little crappy but it was the late 90's so I think I'll let that slide.

Overall, I would give Mission Impossible a 7/10: A decent plot with massive stakes for the lead character, but can feel a little hard to follow at times.

Moana Review

Over the course of this lockdown period, I've been either playing video game, watching whatever I can find or doing odd jobs for my mum to keep me busy. But usually on the weekend me and my family would all sit down and watch a movie together. And on that day we decided to watch a Disney movie that we never saw in cinema's but heard that it was a good movie. This of course was Moana (I mean its on the title).

Released back in 2016, Moana is an animated, fantasy adventure, comedy, musical based in Ancient Polynesia. The story centres on Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) as she is chosen by the ocean to save her island by restoring what was stolen by the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson). Like the wreck it ralph movies I reviewed previously, the animation is on point. Especially with the parts with the ocean itself. The songs in the film are an enjoyable part of the film from the popular 'your welcome' to 'how far I'll go' and even 'shiney' and there more a less the most notable song everything else is a variation of one of them.

Moana feels like a return the Disney films known back in the 90's, while at the time it was released, Disney seemed to have increased the quality in there animated movies with Frozen or Wreck-it- Ralph the year before that. Although know they might have a slight decline with Wreck-it- Ralph 2, we never know what it round the corner especially with what they could do on their recent streaming service with their future originals.

The most interesting thing in the is movie is that there isn't really a villain. I mean don't get me wrong there are antagonistic characters like whatever Jermaine Clement's crab character was called but apart from there isn't really a threat that Moana and Maui face except maybe Heihei the chicken (Alan Tudyk) I mean that chickens just trouble. If you haven't seen the movie you might not have got the last sentence.

Overall I'd give Moana a 8/10-  For a fun adventure with a bunch of great song with some great voice performances.

Wreck it Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet review

It's been a while since I have done a review and since my last post a lot has happened in the world. At the moment I currently live in isolation with my parents, as of last month Disney + came out across the UK and Europe. Me and my family have been on it either watching the Forky shorts or any Pixar short, the Simpsons or watching some of there films. The first film we saw was the exclusive Lady and the Tramp remake, long story short the films ok, theirs not much to talk about in that film to be fair. However last weekend me and my family sat in our lounge and watch both the Wreck it Ralph films. So in this review I will be talking about both the films.

So I think its fair to start with the first film 'Wreck it Ralph', the plot of the film is a simple yet effective one of a video game bad guy deciding that he's had enough of his life and wants to try something new.  In order to prove himself he goes into another game and steals a hero medal. From their he goes into another game and befriends a racer named Vanellope voiced by Sarah Silverman. Ralph helps her to build a cart and get ready to race and at the same time save the game from a virus. The films animation and voice acting is amazing and holds up pretty well, there a lot of arcade and console game characters like Pac-Man and Sonic. The relationship between Vanellope and Ralph is quite sweet and both John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman do a good job of presenting the friendship between them. Other side character like Fix it Felix are enjoyable to watch as well. Overall I would Give Wreck it Ralph an 8-10 for some nice gaming references, enjoyable characters and a heartwarming ending.



Now you may be wondering why I gave the first film a short review as there is lot more to talk about like going Turbo or Vanellope's secret. Well don't worry, I did this on purpose as now we are going to talk about the sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet. The film starts 6 years after the first as the arcade owner installs Wi-Fi and all the characters are wondering what it its, however they are banned from going in there. Vanellope tells Ralph that shes getting tired of doing the same tracks over and over in her game and as an act of kindness Ralph creates a new track for her, however in the arcade it looks like the game is malfunctioning and as a result the game gets unplugged. In order to save the game Ralph and Vanellope must go into the internet to get a new steering wheel.

One of the things I left out in my review of the first film is going turbo. The story of this was a racer named Turbo got a jealous as a new racing game entered the arcade and stole his thunder, so as an act of revenge he goes into that game and glitches it causing both games to be unplugged. In the first film Ralph goes turbo to get the medal but he planned to go back into his own game afterwards but things got a turn for the worst as a Cybug ruined that plan and he went into Candy Crush and well he ends up saving that game from the Cybugs and Turbo himself who disguised himself as King Candy. So the act of going Turbo is serious to the world of Wreck it Ralph. And in the beginning of the film Ralph literally went into Candy Crush to build a new course in the arcades opening times and as a result gets Candy Crush unplugged.

The story of the film is not bad and is handled a lot better than I thought it was going to be. There are a lot of new characters such as Knowsmore and Yasss. However the main characters arc seem to be lacking with Ralph seeimg to be the selfish one, in defense of this Vanellope is Ralphs best friend and the fact he wants to be protective of her in fear of losing her is quite interesting yet they don't fully explore that. As for Vanellope she has the same story arc Ralph has had in the first movie as she wants to try something different and as a result stays in the internet at the end of the movie.

Overall I would give Ralph Breaks the Internet a 6-10: Interesting plot, great acting and animation but lacks with character arcs and development.

Parasite review

Last week, I went to Cineworld in Wembley with some friends from uni to go and see this years best picture parasite. The film is set in South Korea and follows a poor family called the Kim's as they find work for a rich family, however a secret found in the families house changes their lives forever.

The film's acting was really strong, all the characters situations felt understandable and we can really sympathise with the Kim's struggles. The moral of the story highlights the treatment between the higher class and the lower class and how the lower class are looked down upon, this is seen in the movie as Mr Park keep saying that Mr Kim has certain type of smells him that is off putting. The film's use of cinematography in my opinion was the highlight of the film, each shot was well thought out and had good attention to detail, an example of this are the establishing shots that showcase the rich families household as you can everything happening in the house like the families youngest child playing outside the garden. After the Kim's find out about the secret hidden within the park's household, the film becomes more and more suspenseful leading to you guessing what is gonna happen next.

The film's director is Bong Joon Ho who has directed other movies such as Okja for Netflix and Snowpiercer starring Chris Evan. He not only directed these films but wrote the screenplays and produced them. Recently HBO has announced to make a series based on the film of rumour Mark Ruffalo taking the lead role, it will be produced by Bong and Adam McKay.  At the 2020 Oscars the film made history as the first international film to win Best picture. Bong also got awards for best screenplay and director. With this in mind not seeing any of his films prior to this, it gets me excited to see what else this man will do in the future and makes me want to watch his other films to see if  they have a similar style to this one.

I would give parasite a 10 out of 10 – for an amazing story, brilliant camera and good performances.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review

This review might be a bit overdue but you know what they say, 'better late than never'. Star Wars has now entered a new territory with the sequel trilogy and the 'Skywalker Saga' closed and with a new trilogy rumored to be based on the 'high republic' in the works, Stars Wars fans are interested to see what will happen next.

Last year had a lot to offer for Star Wars fans with the successful video came Jedi: Fallen Order and the release of the first season of The Mandalorian. The Rise of Skywalker had a lot to compete with especially with the divide of the fan base after The Last Jedi and the previous film Solo becoming the first Star Wars film to bomb at the box office. But did The Rise of Skywalker save what was considered to many a dying franchise, well here's what I thought as in this review I talk about the last entry in the Skywalker Saga.

The plot goes like this, Emperor Palpatine has mysteriously returned and Kylo Ren is in search for him, he finds the Emperor and he sends Kylo on a mission to find Rey and bring her to him. Meanwhile Rey is training at the resistance base with the help of Leia, until she is sent on a mission with the gang to fetch supplies that will help the resistance defeat the first order. Know this doesn't really sound like the plot of a grand finale especially to Star Wars. It doesn't fill like a finale to anything as it fills like we start half way through another smaller story so it takes a while to be invested what is happening in the movie.

The movies cast is the same as most with Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaacs as Rey, Finn and Poe. Some new faces such as General Pryde played by Richard E. Grant, Naomi Ackie as Jannah and Keri Russel as Zorii Bliss. Now its time to talk about what I liked about the movie and that isn't that much, some of the shots were good especially when they first showed the emperor as the lighting made it looked like something from a horror film and the fact he looked like a zombie made it all better, C-3PO has a much bigger arc in this movie in fact it might be the biggest we have seen for the character and Anthony Daniels does an amazing job portraying him as he has done for more than 40 years. The effects were great and was accompanied by a great score composed by John Williams.

Now on to the things I didn't like about the movie, the script for one thing was awful. Now I already said how the plot didn't feel like a finale to this sort of franchise (or any) but the dialogue was just awful. The movie was directed by and co- written by J.J Abrams who also directed and co- wrote the Force Awakens. I feel Abrams was a little forced to direct this movie since original director Colin Trevorrow was fired by Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy for creative differences. And it really shows in the film as no one on that side wanted to make the film, but it needed to be made to finish the story they started back in 2015.

Overall, The Rise of Skywalker is a mess of a film, it has a messy plot that felt like it was written at the lat minute, directed by a director who clearly didn't want make another Star Wars but was forced to do it as Disney couldn't find a replacement and overall feels like a bit of a let down, especially with all the good Star Wars media that was out this year.

I would give Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker a 5/10- for a messy plot, made by a team of actors and writers who were clearly done with the franchise and marginally has a satisfying conclusion to a 42 year old story.

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.

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.