superhero

Film Review – The Batman (2021)

films, reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I would call myself a Batman fan but I also wouldn’t pretend that I was overly excited about the prospect of another film. Nothing to do with R Patz because I think that he’s a good choice. I also can’t help but love his sarcasm. Every interview he’s given to promote this film has been great. I just don’t know that we need to explore the character so soon after Christopher Nolan’s trilogy and The Justice League did their business. Especially as it’s become quite clear that we must take Batman seriously these days. It just becomes a bit of a drag.

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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.

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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.

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TBT Review – Superbob (2015)

films, reviews, TBT

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Have you heard the news? Brett Goldstein isn’t CGI. Is it weird that this had to be confirmed? Yes but that’s the world we live in. And I can kind of see it. I mean, I’ve not seen an episode of Ted Lasso but the pictures do look suspicious. I guess he just has one of those slightly uncanny faces. It’s such a ridiculous story but is one of my favourite conspiracy theories in recent years. I love the internet. With the focus on Goldstein, I decided it was time to finally watch his 2015 British superhero movie. I used to listen to his podcast every week and always meant to watch it. Why not now?

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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?

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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.

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TBT Review – Hancock (2008)

films, reviews, TBT

Rating: 3 out of 5.

When I first head about this film I thought it sounded shit. That’s mostly because a friend of mine described it to me and he didn’t do a very good job. It didn’t help that I just associated Will Smith with bad films thanks to the likes of Hitch. So, I didn’t want to watch it. Cut to a few years later and another friend telling me to watch it. This time, I trusted his opinion and gave it a shot. I didn’t hate it but I can’t pretend that it’s a film I’ve thought a lot about since. Until it appeared on my Netflix home screen the other day. Then I got the sudden urge to watch it again. As it’s been a while since my last TBT, I decided it was worth going back to it. Maybe it would make more of an impression this time?

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Book Review – All My Friends are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman

books, reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

One of the positive side effects of taking part in my friend’s virtual book club is that I find out about loads of great books. Of course, most of the time we don’t end up reading the ones that I’m really interested in, so I have take it upon myself to read them. This book was my pick or February’s Valentine theme and it was one that I knew I had to buy for myself. It just sounded like such a different take on a love story. Although, I did have some fears about it. I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel about super heroes that I’ve enjoyed. The superhero genre is such a visual one that I think it’s really hard to translate that in words. Could you imagine trying to write a novelisation of some of the most popular graphic novels? It’d be so difficult. As this book didn’t sound quite as bothered about the superhero element, I figured that it might be a bit safer.

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Tuesday Review – Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

films, reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I don’t want to say that I had high expectations for Wonder Woman 1984 but the first film did make me cry in it’s opening sequence. Then there was the fact that the movie poster is absolutely astounding. It had everything we needed. Diana looked like an absolute powerhouse and the 80s vibes were incredible. I’m not a big DC fan but the first film was such a great celebration of female superheroes. Plus, it showed that women can be given the lead role in a comic book movie and make a shit ton of money. The fact that DC were sensible enough to bring Patty Jenkins back was comforting. Over the years, they’ve often put their trust in the wrong hands and its not something that’s really worked well for them. Not since The Winter Soldier has a second comic book film been better than the first. Would Jenkins and Gal Gadot be able to work movie magic again? Would it be worth the £15.99 rental fee? There was only one way to find out.

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Book Review – The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá

books, reviews

17261250 5_star_rating_system_2_stars This weekend I, like so many other Netflix users around the world, sat down and binge-watched the second season of The Umbrella Academy. When the first series came out, I didn’t know much about it. All I knew was that it was based on a comic book series written by the lead singer of My Chemical Romance. Now, I admit that Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge is one of my guilty pleasure albums but I’ve long outgrown MCR. I didn’t expect to enjoy the show but Netflix is clever. It kept playing the trailer over and over until I couldn’t help but watch. I was quickly obsessed. It was a great show and the soundtrack was phenomenal. It felt new and nostalgic at the same time. I couldn’t wait for the follow-up season and, though the narrative wasn’t quite as slick, it was still bloody entertaining. So, when I realised I wouldn’t finish a book in time for today’s review, I knew I had to do something drastic. I bought the Kindle edition of the first volume of the comics. I had to see for myself.

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