comic books

Tuesday Review – Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Spoilers man. You can’t get away from them these days. I’m not just talking about idiots on social media either. I’m talking news outlets. Or at least websites that like to think they’re news outlets. The new Spider-Man film has been out less than a month and one of the biggest plot points has become common knowledge thanks to countless articles. I know it’s not as if we hadn’t already figured it out but it still seems unsportsmanly for there to be quite so many articles about it. Not everyone can get to the cinema within the first few weeks of a film and they should get to experience the joy firsthand.

Continue reading →

Tuesday Review – Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

After watching the first Venom film in 2018, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea of a sequel. It wasn’t something that I was rushing out to see. However, I had did have enough faith in Andy Serkis to be interested. It’s taken a bit of time but this week I finally got around to seeing it. My friend had already seen it and I’d got them to tell me about the post-credit scene but that’s not a big problem. Although, a lot of the feedback that I’ve seen have said that the post-credit sequence is the best thing about it. Could the second film possibly be as bad or worse than the first one?

Continue reading →

Tuesday Review – Eternals (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 3 out of 5.

It’s probably quite odd to be reviewing another Marvel film this week considering how much I’ve been banging on about my MCU fatigue. It’s true. I can’t say that I was exactly rushing to watch Eternals but I also had to give it a go. After the reaction from the critics, I needed to see for myself. It’s been funny watching Disney market this film without many positive reviews from the usual places. It’s why so many of their trailers are filled with quotes by random Marvel fanboy bloggers. It just screams of desperation but Disney is doing whatever they could to make this film seem worth watching. But who was right? The professionals or the fans? I had to see for myself.

Continue reading →

Tuesday Review – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Is anyone suffering from Marvel fatgue? It just feels so overwhelming to be a fan of the MCU these days. Not only are all the films pretty formulaic right now but they are trying to do something huge. It doesn’t help that I was reading about Dr Strange 2 today and the prospect of characters from Fox’s X-Men movies finally arriving in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s become so big. So much has changed since those early days when there were only about 6 superheroes to contend with. This general fatigue is part f the reason that it’s taken until now to watch Shang-Chi. I just needed a break. What with WandaVision and Loki ending in such cliched Marvel ways, I just wasn’t ready to go back to the big blockbusters. Now that it’s on Disney+, I figured it was time to see what it’s all about.

Continue reading →

Bitesize Book Reviews 7

books, reviews
img_20190301_122235-012509286171921630735.jpeg

Marvel’s Eternals is out now and I can’t say that I’m that bothered. It doesn’t help that the critical reaction hasn’t been ideal. It says a lot about a film when they are pushing the reviews of normal people on social media or random people with film blogs. I guess it doesn’t help that I don’t know much about the characters. I’ve never read any of The Eternals comics so I’m utterly clueless about where they fit into the world. I’m also suffering from Marvel fatigue and can’t really face the new directions they’re going in. The total expansion of the MCU and the nonstop Marvel franchises. It’s all so much. The fact that everything has to link also irritates me. When you are manufacturing scenes just to tie films together then something is wrong. Write to add to the story not or don’t write it at all. Anyway, to try and increase my excitement, I decided to delve into a few graphic novels. The first 3 that I got free on my Kindle in fact.

Continue reading →

TBT Review – Spider-Man 3 (2007)

films, reviews, TBT

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Yesterday, the official teaser trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home was released. It comes after months of speculation about just who would be turning up wearing the spider suit in this film. Are Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield really make an appearance? We’ve known for some time that some of the familiar villains would be returning for this film and the trailer gave us a glimpse of what we’re in for. With obvious references to the Green Goblin and Electro, there is also the possibility that Sandman and Lizard are hiding in there. With so many evil faces returning, it reminds me of the last time that a Spider-Man film tried to cram too many foes into one film. So, I decided to do what many wouldn’t dare and watch the worst Peter Parker film of the lot. Yes folks, I actually went back to watch Spider-Man 3.

Continue reading →

Tuesday Review – The Suicide Squad (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

When the original Suicide Squad film came out in 2016, I wouldn’t say that I had high hopes exactly but I was looking forward to seeing it. After all, Harley Quinn is one of my favourite DC characters and I thought it would a refreshing change from the usual DC films that had come before it. At the time, I didn’t completely hate it. I mean, I didn’t really enjoy it but I thought bits of it were fine. I watched it again after watching the new one and I regret my initial laidback feeling. It’s just embarrassing and I have no idea what Cara Delevingne was doing the whole time. So much cringe. Blame can’t really be placed at director David Ayer’s door. It’s clear that the studio messed with the film to and absolutely butchered it. Something that has been confirmed recently when pages of the original script were leaked. Not that I want to delve into that right now. What we should talk about is whether my slight change of heart has more to do with how awful Suicide Squad is or with how great the new one is?

Continue reading →

Sunday Rundown – That’s What She Read

books, films, rundown
Sunday Rundown

What have you been reading this week?

The last week of July was a bit of a blur. A miserable and rainy blur but a blur nonetheless. August is going to be a pretty busy month, so hopefully I’ll get through all of the books I wanted to read. But I can worry about that later. For now, I’m finishing the month having finished more books than I expected. It’s been a difficult month and I haven’t felt up to reading much. This week was especially tricky and I was convinced that I’d fail to finish the books I needed to. So, how did I do?

Continue reading →

TBT Review – Iron Man 2 (2010)

films, reviews, TBT

Rating: 3 out of 5.

During all of the press surrounding Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson criticised the film in which she made her first MCU appearance. Johansson spoke out about the “hypersexualisation” of her character during the film. Of course, she didn’t have an awful lot to say about Joss Whedon’s decision to focus on her arse as much as possible during Avengers but never mind. It’s not like you can disagree with her. Everything about Nat’s first appearance in this franchise problematic when you look back. First and foremost, the way she looks. It’s her worst look by far and speaks to the male gaze that comes from the comic books. That awful red wig doesn’t really work and makes Johansson look much less beautiful than she really is. Yes, she’s still one of the best looking people on the planet so it’s all relative. Now with all of this talk of Iron Man 2, I decided it was time to go back and rewatch it.

Continue reading →

Tuesday Review – Black Widow (2021)

reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

It’s been a long road getting to this Black Widow film. The character first appeared in the MCU way back in 2010 and has been sidelined ever since. Then the news finally hit that she was getting her chance in the spotlight. Of course, it wasn’t smooth sailing and Covid put the release date back by over a year. It’s fair to say that Natasha deserved a better deal but at least she’s finally the star of the show. Yes, it’s 4 years after Wonder Woman debuted and we’ve met Captain Marvel already. The fact is, Black Widow is here and we’ve got a lot to celebrate. For one thing, Scarlett Johansson is playing a character with an appropriate ethnic background. But this has always looked like a genuinely good film. The cast looked awesome ad there was plenty of potential to get to know the character from a different point of view.

Continue reading →