There’s a major problem in the MCU right now. Spoilers. The Dr Strange sequel has been out for less than 2 weeks and already I’ve seen so many spoilers. First, Charlize Theron ruined the mid-credits scene on her social media. Then Elizabeth Olsen confirmed a character’s presence by talking about an actor in an interview. Yes, I know they were both rumoured to be happening but why do they need to be confirmed by the cast within the first week of release?
I hadn’t expected to enjoy Sing so it took me a while to get round to it. I think, in the end, it was only after I heard Taron Egerton singing ‘I’m Still Standing’ that I decided to watch it. I enjoyed it. I mean, it wasn’t groundbreaking or outstanding but it was fun. Fun enough that I was interested in watching the sequel even before I knew Adam Buxton had a starring role as a Proboscis monkey dance instructor. But was that enough to make this film necessary?
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?
I know that a lot of people out there will say that the original Home Alone film is a timeless classic and that it could never be topped. These people will say that the most recent film in the Home Alone franchise is ruining their childhood and that its very existence is an absolute travesty. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the first Home Alone film but I wasn’t outraged that Disney was attempting to cash in on the premise again. Especially as it was going to star Archie Yates who was an absolute delight in Jojo Rabbit. He seemed like the perfect choice to take over the Macaulay Culkin role. I also think there was a lot of potential to update the story for 2021.
I know that there is a lot of debate at this time of year about what the best Christmas film is. Something that will keep happening until everyone just accepts that it’s The Muppet Christmas Carol. Many people may mistakenly believe that Home Alone is superior. Some may even believe that its sequel is the best. While both films are great in their own right, they’re just not the greatest. A lot of what makes the films good is down to Macaulay Culkin. So, it was very upsetting for me to learn that there is a fourth film in the franchise that sees Kevin McCallister played by some other kid. Yes, I knew about the disappointing 3rd film but another sequel that tried to recapture the magic of the first two? I had to see what this was about.
Recently I did a survey for a well known publisher and one of the final questions was “which celebrity would you like to see publish a book?” A question which sums up the world of publishing. It’s not about the writing or the story. It’s about the personality. Publishing houses will give a contract to every famous person who wants to write because they know people will buy them. Even though I love Richard Osman, I wasn’t convinced that his debut novel would be worth bothering with. He was just another famous name being given the chance to write a book because they knew it would sell. Though I had my issues with the first book, I actually enjoyed it and couldn’t wait to see what Richard Osman came up with next.
I’ve mentioned my love of the original Space Jam before but it’s always worth repeating. It was the first film that I saw multiple times in the cinema. I first saw it with a friend and I loved it so much that I forced my mother to take us to see it again. I adored it. I laughed at jokes that I didn’t understand and I had a bloody good time. I rewatch it all the time because it’s such a joyous thing. It’s a film that shouldn’t work. It’s based on an advert and it’s just shameless in its self-promotion. It relies on ridiculous cameos and in-jokes. Yet, somehow, it just comes together. So, of course, I was interested to see how the sequel would work out. It’s been 25 years. We neither needed or wanted it. But it’s here now. Would LeBron James ever be able to step into Michael Jordan’s Nikes?
I have only seen Coming to America once before. I watched it as part of my Throwback Thirty series during my 30th birthday blog celebration. I know that there is a lot of love for the film but it didn’t really do much for me. It’s sad that in 2021, its all-Black cast still feels so ground-breaking. It’s also important to note how important the film was and still is in terms of Black art. It’s not that I’m dismissing its entire existence. I just didn’t really think it was that funny. So, I wasn’t exactly overjoyed to hear that a sequel was coming to Prime. Was I still going to watch it? Of course. Did I think I’d enjoy it? Not really.
I never read Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events when I was younger. I remember seeing it in bookshops all the time but I never picked it up. Even when the film adaptation came out, I wasn’t really bothered by it. It wasn’t until I watched the Netflix series that I was interested in reading the books. The show was so well made and so much fun. So, I started thinking about reading the series. Of course, as my TBR is currently huge, I didn’t actually do anything about it. Not until I needed to cross off a couple of letters on my February Spell the Month Challenge. I knew that I’d be able to get the first 2 books finished in time and get the letter B and an R sorted before the month ended. It seems to make sense that I review these together, so consider this the first in Motherbooker’s A Series of Unfortified Reviews. Disclaimer, you’ll probably forget them in no time.
I had quite a bit to do on Sunday and my day ended up massively going off the rails. Meaning I forgot about watching a film for today’s post until that evening I didn’t really have time to watch what I’d originally planned so I ended up finding the first quick thing I saw on Netflix. What I didn’t realise at the time was that this film was a sequel. I’m not saying that it became difficult to follow because it’s still a kid’s film. It just meant that I was a bit slow on the uptake with certain references. I just thought the writers couldn’t be bothered to include all of the necessary context, which seemed quite an interesting choice.
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