At the Movies with Kane and BN

[NDX]

Yeah, it's definitely a weak movie. Only thing really keeping it afloat is Murphy's charisma as Foley and even then that's a stretch.

The first 2 are so strong and work so well with each other even when they look very different from each other. I've been watching these films regularly since I was 8 (10 for BHC3).

 

[Kane52630]

The Aviator

If Howard Hughes were alive today, he would have absolutely thrived during covid and be completely disgusted by the Jackass films.

A fantastic biopic on Howard Hughes that covered roughly 30 years between the talkies era to the construction of the TWA airlines. It's oddly weird watching this knowing it's by Martin Scorsese because it feels like him trying to mimic the style of Steven Spielberg or Ron Howard. I guess it has to do with the decades-long development of this biopic that changed hands multiple times. Still, it has his signature moments and themes he likes to tackle. Leo DiCaprio is so brilliant in this as expected and how even with the questionable aging looks throughout the movie, he still managed to pull it off. Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn was really well done even if she's not in the movie as much as you think. Most of the supporting cast was great but Alan Alda, Matt Ross, John C Riley, and Alec Baldwin in particular stood out the most. I think I really enjoyed the majority of the movie until it started sputtering toward the end where they clearly ran out of money and time to get to the finish line even though the congressional hearing scenes were so well done. I also thought it was an interesting trick to change up the color grading in the first hour where it felt like you're watching an old technicolor reel from the 50s. Overall, it's the Citizen Plane of movies.
4.5/5

 

[InCali]

The Truth vs. Alex Jones

Those crazies really thought they were clever when they called it "Sandy Hoax". Also, Jones selling his snake oil merch while on trial was INSANE.

A pretty devastating documentary that talks about Alex Jones and his Sandy Hook defamation trials as well as the parents of the victims who suffered through this madness. Like with most docs, it does start out pretty standard with a lot of talking heads and going into detail about the events that unfolded which is harrowing to listen to but then they eventually do something more with this doc. I did like the little touch of exploring what public access television was in Austin TX in the 90s. The second half actually becomes a crazy inside look at this trial with all the cameras and mics in the world catching every little detail and what the ramifications are when you're dealing with someone like Alex Jones who refuses to acknowledge the facts or throwing a hissy fit like a child. Overall, definitely worth checking out.
3.5/5

I didn't see this. Who won?

I went to see the new Planet of the Apes movie today and, even though I'm a lousy critic, I didn't like it too much. Maybe it was the margaritas I had at the Islands restaurant beforehand, but it just seemed like a setup for another movie that aped this one.

I would have gone to see Furiosa (and now wish I had), but they only had 2 late showings and I had very important business to take care of in the afternoon. Last time I checked, my patio only has a couple of leaves on it.

 

[Kane52630]

I didn't see this. Who won?

I don't know who won but sanity definitely took a big L.

 

[Kane52630]

Trigger Warning

ngl I was really invested in that iguana who did absolutely nothing.

Aggressively mediocre to the point of being terrible. This was like watching a lot of those bad Steven Seagal or Chuck Norris movies back in the day. Can't tell if it's Netflix not giving them enough of a budget but it's a very basic and cheap revenge story that doesn't have a good enough script, story, or actors to pull it off. You're just there for the action and even then the action fails to deliver on an entertaining level. It's also shot really poorly at times with some terrible lighting. Jessica Alba does try in some moments but you can tell she's really rusty with her acting and everyone else is super forgettable including Evil Dies Tonight's Anthony Michael Hall. Overall, it's sadly a nothing burger of a movie that follows in the same path as Gal Gadot's Heart of Stone or JLO's The Mother.
1.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

The Exorcism

The best part about this movie was hearing my theater's AC turning off every time they were setting up something spooky. Incredible timing.

A very strange and quiet metatextual take on possession movies namely the original Exorcist... that somehow works (kinda?). While it is funny that it stars Russell Crow who just played a priest in The Pope's Exorcist, here he plays an actor playing a priest in a knockoff Exorcist remake. It really tries to subvert expectations of what you think the movie is going to be by being more centered around this actor who's down in the dumps and this father-daughter relationship that is interesting enough. I think the problem is they made each scene linger a little too long for its own good and there's not enough meat on the bones to give something more to say about the meditative quality of fighting personal demons and seeing Kevin Williamson's name as a producer makes a lot of sense. They also offer very cliche possession horror scenes that almost feel like clockwork, it's so repetitious that you see almost every scare coming but there are a couple of moments towards the end that really work. The movie also feels like it was made during COVID but I did like how they were able to use that dollhouse of a set to great effect. Overall, it's probably forgettable and boring for many people but I thought it was an interesting experiment to do something a little different and I did like the smaller scenes a lot, unfortunately, it needed more time to cook.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

The Bikeriders

They really had Norman Reedus show up out of nowhere and the whole cast was like "Alright you're in."

So happy to see Jeff Nichols come back after a 7 year hiatus to make a classic machismo hang about a biker gang from the 60s and it absolutely rules. The way it's constructed and the thematic nature of it feels part Outsiders and part Goodfellas but with a very laid-back plot. It's based on a photo book and a series of interviews from that time that help shape the movie and what it's truly about. It's centered around Jodie Comer's character who's being interviewed and I thought she was fantastic even if she's kinda doing a similar accent that Margot Robbie did in I, Tonya. The rest of the cast and especially the supporting cast were so much fun to watch and it's so interesting to see most of them almost acting like the part that got them famous. Tom Hardy is basically doing Marlon Brando, Austin Butler is hilariously still acting like Elvis, Norman Reedus is still playing Daryl, Michael Shannon is still playing a cool weirdo, Mike Faist is still acting like he's in Challengers, and weirdly enough Boyd Holbrook is actually playing somewhat against type for once. While there is something that can be said about the state of masculinity, the movie also just wants to have fun and vibe out. It also kinda reminds me of David Lowery's The Old Man & the Gun with how they treat the tone of the movie (super underrated btw). Absolutely loved the editing and cinematography, it just flows so well together and the soundtrack is pretty on point. Overall, while I don't think this will make it to my top 10, this is pretty high up as a fun and chill drama that has a terrific cast.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

I Used to Be Funny

DO people really like Riverdale though?

An interesting mix of drama and comedy that ultimately doesn't work as well as they thought it would. It's one of those movies where you'd expect more comedy out of something that presents itself as comedy, but they really double down on the depressing character drama that is 90% of the movie. I think the biggest problem I have with it is it's edited in a confusing non-linear way that hurts the movie. It almost feels like they were going out of their way to make something simple, very complicated, and confusing to follow. Still, I thought some of the directing/camera work was pretty interesting and Rachel Sennott is fantastic in this and takes a more dramatic turn even more than in Shiva Baby. Although I thought the rest of the cast was a bit of a hit or miss, especially that teenager towards the end who can't act to save his life. Overall, while this feels like a typical indie festival movie, it's a bit of a bummer that this wasn't better structured and better edited because there is a great movie inside of this mess.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Kinds of Kindness

Yorgos's Spotify playlist for this movie is nothing but every version of Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics known to man.

If there's one thing you can't deny about Yorgos Lanthimos, it's that he makes sure every movie he makes is super weird and this is no exception. This was a strange and bizarre three-part anthology movie that reuses the same cast for 3 different stories. I feel like with each story it progressively gets more weirder and esoteric to the point where Yorgos kinda gets lost in the sauce a bit. The first one is probably the best one and the one that could sustain a full-length movie. It almost feels like watching Good Time with how crazy it gets with Jesse Plemons's character. The second one is less effective but stuff fun to watch and seeing how Emma Stone gets weird was also fun. And the 3rd one gets so weird that I don't even know what to make of it but Willem Dafoe was having the most fun in that one. I also liked seeing Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, and Hunter Schafer doing their thing in this. It's definitely a passion project that only Yorgos can understand and while I thought half of the movie really worked, the second half went off a cliff. Overall, it's an absurdist comedy that is definitely not for everyone unless you're really into his films and even that can not be enough.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

A Quiet Place: Day One

Your only objective is to get NY-style pizza before you die? say less fam.

A somewhat surprising well-made prequel to an already extremely solid alien invasion horror franchise from John Krasinski. This was originally supposed to be directed by Jeff Nichols and after seeing this, I'm curious to see what his version would be. This is by another indie filmmaker Michael Sarnoski who directed one of my favorite movies during the pandemic, Pig, and you really do see his influence throughout this movie which I didn't expect. This gets you inside what the chaos looks like during day one in NYC but only focuses on a couple of characters. Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn are incredible in this and their chemistry is 90% of why this movie works and there's a cat that gets a fair amount of stealing the show. They do a great job letting the character development go to the forefront while having all the fun thriller moments be secondary to the story. There are also a couple of serious nods to the Alien series even more so than the previous two and there's even a little bit of The Last of Us Part 2 that feels intentional or coincidental. Michael Sarnoski does a great job framing some shots that feel horrifically majestic and it looks like an oil painting come to life. I love how they were able to make a prequel without reminding you of the things that came previously aside from Djimon Hounsou who's bearly in it and even then he gets a couple of interesting moments. Overall, while I don't know if it's better than the previous two, this was still highly entertaining and refreshing that a blockbuster got an indie flare.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

Bro had a million characters to write and didn't even think about including my boy Arthur Morgan.

A confounding experience honestly even knowing going in that this is part 1 of 3(?) Kevin Costner really wanted to create a Western epic about the frontier in the 1860s that looked incredibly cinematic and shot on location as much as possible with a ton of different storylines that would ultimately connect through this series of movies. The problem is he made a TV show with a TV show mindset and tone of writing as a movie. Plot and storywise, it's got all the ingredients of a television show in the vein of an epic show like Game of Thrones and Chapter 1 is basically the first three episodes combined as a "movie". I will say I thought at first it starts pretty cinematic and where that leads to was pretty intense and feels like a movie, but the moment Kevin Costner shows up an hour in, the bland TV writing comes out in force. Aside from Costner, I thought the acting was pretty solid from most of the cast even when it gets corny with sentimentality.

Storywise, there are so many unnecessary minor side plots with different kinds of tones in this that slow down the momentum and the pacing that doesn't work as a movie. Still, there is a lot of great scenery that just completely takes your breath away, and some moments throughout it work better than others. The only major ding I have against this aside from the bland TV writing is the white gaze of it all and the Native American stereotyping is extremely unfortunate even if they do the bare minimum of not making them all total "savages". It's just hard to watch and what little agency they have in the movie is not enough compared to the other storylines they have in this that give them the emotional journey. It's honestly a bizarre watch with some interesting moments in between even when you get to the awkward ending that is cut immediately to an out-of-context montage of the next film. Overall, it's a beautifully shot mess of a movi... tv show that is ultimately a setup for the next three episodes. Also, I kinda would love to see Coster just put all this effort into making a Red Dead show instead.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Daddio

Sean Penn: "I like how you're not glued to your phone."
Dakota Johnson 2 minutes later: *on her phone talkin to a creep*

A really well-made two-hander that is entirely set inside of a cab in NY going from JFK to Midtown. It definitely reminded me of Locke in many ways but with less anxiety-fueled tension as well as Taxicab Confessions for obvious reasons. It's all entirely based on the performances of Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson who both are brilliant in this. It starts off with some small talk that ultimately leads to more complex discussions about life, observations, and how to deal with relationship problems. They do a good job making you feel like you're in the cab with them while looking outside for the views but have it all feel captivating and intriguing to watch and listen to. There is a whole section where the cab does not move for the entire second act and it's the movie at its most intimate. Overall, it's a much better movie than what the trailer made it out to be.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

I know it's the whole conceit for the last three movies, but you'd think Alex Foley would just move to Beverly Hills by now. It would save him an overpriced plane ticket.

Solid movie that pretty much played it safe enough but also has some room to make it fun and relevant. Like many legacy sequels in the last 5-10 years, it does all the nostalgia plays that you'd expect this to have, but they still manage to make it appealing to watch and Eddie Murphy does a good job getting back into being Axel Foley. They do bring back Rosewood, Taggart, and Paul Reiser and they really used them effectively to where they don't dominate the entire movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Taylour Paige were really good in this and how they interconnect with Eddie Murphy is the heart of the movie. There are also some cameos and references to the other movies that I thought mostly worked. I will say I thought the villains were just kinda there and Kevin Bacon felt like he was on autopilot for a bit. Another big thing that made this movie work is they really did a good job shooting most of the movie on location with some practical stunt work and they don't really use a lot of CG that overtakes the movie. Adil & Bilall were originally supposed to direct this and as much as I enjoyed this, I would think they would have made it even better than it was. Overall, while I don't think this was better than the first two films, it takes the spot as the 3rd best Beverly Hills Cop movie.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Hundreds of Beavers

If that was my beaver lawyer representation, I would be SO cooked.

Undeniable genius filmmaking and true cinema. It's so fun seeing someone who truly understands slapstick comedy and knows pure imagination done through a shoestring budget. It's a movie clearly inspired by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, The Three Stooges, and several Tex Avery/Looney Tunes cartoons. It's entirely done through a black-and-white silent-era style of filmmaking where every scene is done visually with clear objectives and emotions. Almost every comedic bit in this worked so well and so many old-school slapstick tropes are done masterfully well. Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews did an incredible job creating this world where almost every animal is a dude in a costume but in this world, it all makes sense that they're real animals. It's got a ton of visual effects and the cheapness of it all adds to the charm of the movie and I love the old-school cinematography especially when it gets to the 3rd act. Overall, I love this so much and it's shockingly one of the best movies of the year. It's true indie filmmaking at its best.
4.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Kill

Shout out to that big uncle with the neck scarf who has zero fighting experience getting his head whacked in 5 million places. Also, I bet the train conductor was scrolling on tiktok the entire time while this was happening.

Mildly disappointing. It's essentially pitched as The Raid meets Train to Busan but it fails to reach either of those heights. What you got here is what people thought Monkey Man was going to be which is a barrage of nonstop fight scenes for the lowbrow audience. This doesn't really have much to say other than a single strand of plot that really goes nowhere and none of the characters are that interesting to give a sh** about especially the lead who basically starts out as an egoistical meathead and kinda stays that way even after what was done to him. They're mostly paper-thin characters with somewhat below average performances and in fact, you almost start rooting for the villains at one point before they start going overboard with their revenge. While some of the fight scenes are impressive and gory at times, they do become really monotonous over time, especially by the time they get to the 3rd act. Overall, pretty mediocre. While it's not terrible per say, it's really uninspiring, and watching it you wish you were watching something better.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

MaXXXine

Would that scene be on the series finale of Ow My Balls! from Idiocracy?

Fun film that pays homage to 80s B cinema that came out of the video nasty era as well as the culture of the US at the time with Satanic panic. I think with each film of the Ti West trilogy it unlocks something we've seen before but done through a different kind of lens and some work better at certain things than others. With Maxxine they do such a good job setting up the time and the vibe of it all and it's really inspired by a lot of the Giallo films and Brian de Palma. Mia Goth is still fantastic even though it's not the Pearl level manic performance that you kind of hope she gets in this. I really dug the supporting cast especially Giancarlo Esposito, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kevin Bacon and it's crazy looking back at Ti West's early career because this is the biggest catch he's ever had with (I think) the biggest budget he's ever spent. I think while I dug a lot of the Hollywood callbacks and references to other movies and stars, it does get a little muddled with the focus on the movie and I feel like they could have done more with this premise and while the reveal was predictable, it does deliver something interesting with it. Overall, while it's probably ranked 3rd on the trilogy, this was still a fun campy horror flick.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Evil Does Not Exist

That town hall scene is basically every work meeting on Teams I've ever been to.

An incredibly beautiful yet slow-paced and small-stakes ecological drama about the clash of city people who prioritize capitalism meeting up with small-town folk who prioritize the natural world. The first half of this is really calm and meditative look at a man who's one with nature and it almost feels like watching one of those tranquil Turkish village cooking videos on youtube. The second half deals with these company people who are seeking out plans for their camping venture and how they handle the town folk who are asking all sorts of questions. Ryusuke Hamaguchi did a good job not making any of the characters feel one-dimensional and giving some interesting insights that don't feel mundane while also giving some interesting visuals that keep you invested. There's also an interesting ending that don't know if it fully worked as they intended but it is something to think about. Overall, really dug this a lot and it honestly pairs really well with Perfect Days.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

Longlegs

The real horror of the story is... she didn't have any friends to come to her birthday party?

An excellent atmospheric horror film that has some interesting things going on and is very tense from start to finish. It's a movie that is hard to gauge based on what you expect this movie to do. Despite the incredible marketing, this is not the movie if you're expecting jumpscares per minute on the level of The Conjuring, Insidious, or even Hereditary. This movie is more in line thematically with Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, Saw, and True Detective. It does at times feel a little too barebones with the story and character moments, but the atmosphere makes up for most of the scenes that help the overall dread very much like Oz Perkins's previous two films: The Blackcoat's Daughter and Gretel & Hansel.

The performances are excellent particularly with Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, and Nic Cage depending on if you're on board with the Nic Cage experience. You'd expect him to be more like Anthony Hopkins and Anthony Perkins in Silence or Psycho, but this is Nic Cage uncaged and he does the thing you want Nic Cage to do even if it doesn't really fit this movie's tone. I will say the scene between Nic Cage and Maika Monroe in the interrogation room might be derivative but it was still pretty damn effective.

The horror imagery and droning shots were the highlights of the movie and Oz Perkins does a great job of giving you that unnerving rising tension. The last act is also gonna divide some people but I fully expected those twists and those different elements. Overall, it's a movie that I fully expect a backlash towards because of the high-level marketing from Neon even though to me, this is Oz Perkins elevating himself as a director and delivering a great atmospheric experience.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

The Peasants

I'm waiting for someone to grab the ending of this movie and change the music to Hillary Duff's Come Clean.

An absolute knockout of a film that is a continuation of DK & Hugh Welchman's project of creating features out of pure painted animation like their last film, Loving Vincent. It's based on an award-winning Polish novel from the early 1900s and while the story is fairly familiar, the execution is so well done and its strength is not only in the really beautiful animation and score, but the performances that instantly transport you into this world and time period. Where Loving Vincent is more experimental with its storytelling and shown through various artistic styles, this was told in a mostly straightforward narrative with a few moments toward the end that were dreamlike. It's very similar to stories like The Scarlet Letter where it is about a woman vs the village and the struggle of being alienated from society. Kamila Urzędowska as Jagna gave one hell of a performance and I also really enjoyed the performances from Robert Gulaczyk, Sonia Mietielica, and Mirosław Baka. Overall, it's probably one of my favorite movies of the year and I can't wait to see what they do next.
4.5/5

 

[Slick]

The Bikeriders

They really had Norman Reedus show up out of nowhere and the whole cast was like "Alright you're in."

So happy to see Jeff Nichols come back after a 7 year hiatus to make a classic machismo hang about a biker gang from the 60s and it absolutely rules. The way it's constructed and the thematic nature of it feels part Outsiders and part Goodfellas but with a very laid-back plot. It's based on a photo book and a series of interviews from that time that help shape the movie and what it's truly about. It's centered around Jodie Comer's character who's being interviewed and I thought she was fantastic even if she's kinda doing a similar accent that Margot Robbie did in I, Tonya. The rest of the cast and especially the supporting cast were so much fun to watch and it's so interesting to see most of them almost acting like the part that got them famous. Tom Hardy is basically doing Marlon Brando, Austin Butler is hilariously still acting like Elvis, Norman Reedus is still playing Daryl, Michael Shannon is still playing a cool weirdo, Mike Faist is still acting like he's in Challengers, and weirdly enough Boyd Holbrook is actually playing somewhat against type for once. While there is something that can be said about the state of masculinity, the movie also just wants to have fun and vibe out. It also kinda reminds me of David Lowery's The Old Man & the Gun with how they treat the tone of the movie (super underrated btw). Absolutely loved the editing and cinematography, it just flows so well together and the soundtrack is pretty on point. Overall, while I don't think this will make it to my top 10, this is pretty high up as a fun and chill drama that has a terrific cast.
4/5

Glad you reviewed this because I bought my ticket this morning for this coming Wednesday and I was wondering if it was any good like the trailers made it out too be. Glad you enjoyed the film and your review has me looking forward to watch it.

 

[Kane52630]

Glad you reviewed this because I bought my ticket this morning for this coming Wednesday and I was wondering if it was any good like the trailers made it out too be. Glad you enjoyed the film and your review has me looking forward to watch it.

Yeah, i'll say it's very much a Jeff Nichols film so it's got a lot of indie flair to it. It's as if Goodfellas was an indie movie.

 

[Kane52630]

Twister

That one guy driving in late to the drive-in just to see Psycho must have been extremely confused.

Thought I'd watch this again since the new one is coming out and my only memory of seeing this was over 20 years ago. I really enjoyed it and an obvious true staple of cable TV for decades now. What really stood out in this movie is that it's a cast full of character actors and a couple of them would later on become more well known like Philip Seymour Hoffman who's great in this. Really dug the Helen Hunt/Bill Paxton/Jami Gertz dynamic which is really the heart of the movie. For Jan de Bont, where Speed was his extension of John McTiernan since he was the DP on Die Hard, Twister felt more like an extension of Steven Spielberg who produced this and it also feels like a movie made for them to experiment on their ILM technology. So to me, this movie has more in common with Jurassic Park and Jaws than the other bigger disaster movies of that time. While the movie does have some parts that are rough around the edges, I think a lot of the set pieces do work like the iconic cow scene and the crashing through the house scene which are pretty well done for a movie that you'd think would just solely rely on CGI. It's got a ton of practical effects that still hold up. Overall, really enjoyed it and while I don't think it's a perfect movie, it's got a ton of charm to it that holds this together.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

IF

You know it's a fantasy story when a teenager of today understands how to operate a camcorder.

What a weird movie that is so vastly different than the marketing made it out to be. I think on paper John Krasinski wanted to make a 90s-style kids movie and a live-action Pixar movie but it ended up being more of a drama that talks to the adults about the nostalgia of imagination when you were a kid and the trauma of potentially losing both of your parents. It weirdly doesn't have the typical frantic pacing and joke per minute that I thought it was gonna be which I appreciate but what they do instead is also not that interesting. Ryan Reynolds and his antics were really dialed back aside from a couple of moments which is not bad if you look at his recent non-Deadpool stuff. I thought despite the clunkiness of the story, Cailey Fleming, who was on The Walking Dead, was really good in this. And weirdly enough she looks like she could have played Ellie in The Last of Us show. Even though she doesn't get a whole lot to do I thought Fiona Shaw was also decent in this. A lot of the voices they got for the imaginary friends were also not bad, but it is odd to me that a lot of the designs and references felt like someone older like John Krasinski came up with instead of what a kid of today would come up with. The plot also definitely encroaches on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends turf even Steve Carell as Blue is basically Bloo from that show. But I will say I really liked Louis Gossett Jr. in this as an elderly teddy bear, he got one really great scene in this. Also, the movie reminded me of A Monster Calls only it's not nearly as great. Overall, it just ends up being sorta there and sorta emotionally engaging but not really. And it's really not for kids, not that they can't understand the themes of it all but I feel like they would be the most bored by it.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Twisters

Just me by my lonesome in the theater doing the Leo pointing meme when the lead singer of TV on the Radio showed up.

I not only felt it, I smelt it. And I even dealt it. This was a fantastic way to bring back the old-school 90s way of making a disaster blockbuster. While this is essentially redoing the first movie for modern times, it puts a lot of the real-world stakes back into a mainstream movie that we don't see much anymore. Lee Isaac Chung who directed one of my favorite movies of that year Minari, did a great job here as well with a larger budget and a much larger canvas to work with. I love how this was shot on film and you do see a difference in the filmmaking and how well they did the VFX work. It's also got some great practical effects and tangible sets that add to the realism. Where the first Twister movie is roughly about a couple getting back together while chasing tornados, this one is a more traditional meet cute but under the tornado chasers umbrella. I thought Daisy Edgar-Jones was great in this but this is really Glen Powell's movie who chews all the scenery every time he shows up. I also dug all the supporting cast like Anthony Ramos (who's actually the 3rd lead), Brandon Perea, David Corenswet, and Tunde Adebimpe. And there are a ton of notable cast members just like how they did the original with Katy O'Brian, Kiernan Shipka, Sasha Lane, Nik Dodani, and Maura Tierney. I like how with each chase the stakes get more and more dangerous and how they ended the movie with that set piece in the theater (which was a nice throwback to the original) was so well done. I'm also glad they didn't go too overboard with trying to connect the original by making someone related to Helen Hunt or Bill Paxton and making it a Marvelficiation of the Twisters movies. Overall, it's an above-solid summer popcorn movie that does a lot of things right that we haven't had in a long time and is worth seeing in IMAX or Dolby.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

Deadpool & Wolverine

I'm just picturing comic-accurate Wolverine (yes that one) in all of the Fox X-Men movies instead.

A fun theater experience for a Deadpool movie that is less of a proper Deadpool movie and actually more of a swan song of the entire pre-MCU Foxverse. It's more or less how Spider-Man No Way Home operates in being a celebration of the Sony Spider-Man movies. Funny enough both movies do a bit of a disservice by not giving a proper storyline that involves the established characters in the previous two movies. They get moved to the side so quickly and what you get is a cameo-palooza of all kinds that are used for the story. With Deadpool & Wolverine, I think I had a little more fun with the nostalgia factor of it all and the references to other Marvel characters and projects, as well as Deadpool lampooning everything including the multiverse saga thus far. There are a couple of cameos that really stole the show and were easily my favorite moments in the movie including one in particular that gave us the most laughs in the theater.

I will say this movie is definitely not for some who weren't a fan of the Foxverse to begin with. I dug the buddy action comedy duo of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and it is really both of their movies almost equally. Emma Corrin gives a fantastic performance as Cassandra Nova and I like how interestingly complex her character is. Aside from them, this movie is pretty much only going for action and laughs and people's mileage may vary for the Adult Swim-level humor, but I really had fun watching it more so than the last Deadpool movie that doesn't completely work. They also do have the emotional character stuff but it's not as fleshed out as they wanted it to be. Overall, it's a solid fun Marvel movie that knows what it is and is not ashamed to be anything more than a silly Deadpool movie that wants to say goodbye to an era of comic book movies that meant so much to so many people including me.
4/5