The month of May is here, and with Kenobi approaching I'm doing my yearly Star Wars viewings for the month. I'll be watching everything prior to the events of Kenobi. Just finished watching Phantom Menace, and I noticed something I've never noticed after watching this movie over 50 something times. The scene where Qui-Gon tells Anakin he's been freed and then he asks about his mom being freed, there's a look on Qui-Gon's face of concern that I've never really noticed, it's almost like he may have caught a glimpse of something. Probably reading too much into it, but the look on his face was very intense. People can shit on the prequels all they want, but they're still fun movies and an essential part of Star Wars (the new sequel trilogy is garbage, fight me). I'll never forget seeing this movie the first time, and how excited I was for a new Star Wars movie. Better times, those days were. Happy MAY The Force be with you month everybody.

 

I’ll shit on Phantom Menace all day long; but Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn was a fucking master stroke, right up there with Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan.

 

I remembered that Redbox existed so I didn't need to buy the movies I wanted to see...

Jackass Forever

It's Jackass. Not all of the humor hits but there's enough of it that makes this worth a watch. They keep finding creative ways to get themselves hurt and have some good pranks in this one. Some are really simple but still go well. It's a trip back to stuff that would have me rolling on the floor at college age and below.

Some recommended segments to try to find on the net:

- Dum Dum Game
- Body Surfing
-The Quiet Game,
- Silence of the Lambs
- Triple Wedgie
- The Marching Band
- Electric Tap Dance
- Scorpion Botox
- Musical Chair Bag
- Flight of Icarus
- Spider Helmet
- Human Ramp
- False Wall

... and the pranks.

A little worried about Johnny Knoxville there with his traditional bull encounter. I'm younger than him, my favorite physical activities are basketball, jogging and football but I have a bad knee, arthritic feet and an achey hip. Here he is getting hit by a bull.

6.8/10

Scream (2022)

The Scream movies have probably the most consistent quality out of any horror franchise that I have seen. The first was by far the best, but with the only real low being Scream 3 and the other now three films all circling around the same quality level which is leagues better than most slashers I am really impressed.

They heavily marketed this movie on Neve Campbell, but I must warn that this is the first Scream where she is actually in a pretty minor role. What we get of her is really consistent with the development we see in the past movies. Part of me suspects her more minor role might have something to do with being a mother, which is carried over to this character. Honestly a good reason in universe and out to keep her out of the limelight. Just let her live her life now. There's plenty of reasons why a crazy person might kill people while dressed in a Halloween costume that don't have to do with Sidney. It would be funny if 6cream made some commentary on geezer final girls making their big stands like Laurie Strode and Sally in that godawful new Texas Chainsaw.

Speaking of funny, pretty good laughs in this movie. I would say the tone is grimmer than some of the others but there's still some commentary on nostalgia bait sequels, sequels losing the magic of the original becoming overly flashy in the process (*coughJurassicParkHalloweenTexasChainsawStarWarscough*), horror becoming more high brow since 2011 and some nods to the original. If you're a fan of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, you also get the bonus of hearing Brooklyn shout "motherfucker" and my God my sense of humor has regressed.

Cast has some talented young people who I have no idea who they are. The new main character is interesting because I think she's the first time I have seen a schizophrenic character in horror not only not be portrayed as a bad guy even if they got addicted to their meds. The best actors are probably that guy from Goosebumps and Jenna Ortega, however. Jenna's raw acting and baby face make me feel really bad seeing her become a pincushion. She looks no older than the kids I often interact with.

The death scenes are ruthless and bloody. There's a pretty great sequence with a mother and son which had a lot of good emotion to it and suspense. We see a lot of people getting repeatedly, viciously stabbed with a knife. So I am glad to say Scream continues to be horror instead of devolving into total self parody.

Will add that the mystery elements were downplayed. We have a lot of characters accusing each other of being the killer while half the killers is damn obvious. It's like they weren't quite sure how to do clues and red herrings well so instead they had the characters saying things that the movie should be making us think.

Spoiler: Killers' motive

I would have a big gripe with this film about the overly cartoonish motives for the killers but I joined Reddit for the hype train of the movie and since I have been there it's been weekly I have seen stupid shit on the Scream subreddit. Some examples: constant bickering over Matthew Lillard's character, people calling younger fans not true fans and microanalysing why they weren't already on Reddit and people being so incredulous that a mass murderer would cheat on his girlfriend whom he planned to kill. Naturally, these people are mostly not murderers but neither are most Stab fans in Scream. It's sort of a rule really that if there's something people are passionate about, there is going to be a person who takes it incredibly far. And the movie played into that.

Not only that, but given that the mastermind was a man in his late twenties having an affair with a high school age girl there's a heavy implication of online grooming. The girl even states she is radicalized although this is probably just her trying to deflect blame. This makes it pretty unsettlingly down to Earth.

7.3/10

 

The Bad Guys-9/10

-1 point for the fart jokes. Holy shit though the Sly Cooper fan in me is living!! This was a fun time and a half and the animation is wonderfully intense.

If a Sly Cooper movie or show ever gets legs again, I hope they look to the Bad Guys for how cel-shaded 3D animation on a large scale budget can still work wonders more than semi hyper-realistic 3D animation.

 

Thor - 9/10

I have a big soft spot in my heart for the Thor movies in the MCU, and the first one is a fun little romp. Every second on Asgard is brilliant and I’d forgotten how relaxed (if rushed) the chemistry between Hemsworth and Portman was. Best bit is obviously when Thor’s powers are restored against the Destroyer - and I’m still salty that version of the music isn’t on the soundtrack - and the end credits are beautiful.

Can’t wait for Love and Thunder.

 

Dr. Strange In the Multiverse

2 critiques and 1 actual question.

1) For some people this movie could have done with 2/3 2 min breaks of nothing. Not to handhold and explain what's happening but just to give the audience a chance to catch up, cos this movie is non-stop
2) The keying (believe that is the correct term, please correct me if not) of the green screening at the beginning does seem off. It's in the fight scene that marvel released 2 clips online so it's no spoiler territory but I won't go any further on the specifics of the scene but at points, it does feel like the actors are separated from the background. That does get fixed quickly after that. Maybe it's just the high standard Marvel has set themselves that this stands out more

The 1 big question I am left with is... How in the blue hell is this a 12a? I will say no more

Very enjoyable film if you can keep up and have not been spoiled. And if you think the trailers reveal too much you will probably be surprised 8/10

 

I didn't read any spoilers but I've read reviews and they all seem to lean towards it being gory and violent beyond anything Marvel's put out before. Would you agree that it's closer to an R-rating? (We use R in the US, I'm assuming you have an adult rating in England. I'm not well-versed in it, so I don't know what it would be labeled.)

 

For us, it's U, PG, 12A, 15, and 18. This movie I think could easily fall in the 15 bracket cos its horror elements and the violence

Violent is definitely the word. Gory not so much in a sense due to there being limited amounts of blood when injuries are inflicted. I think what helped them manage to get them a 12a is the mild language and the fact the blood use was still minor.

The best way to describe it is, in Infinity War when people got snapped you saw them dematerialise, and disappear. You can say ok they're not dead. When there are acts of violence in this movie it is upfront, in your face, and spelled out to you very clearly.

 

Ooh. Okay, that's a new level for the MCU. Perhaps a welcome one, but surprising nonetheless since the House Of Mouse is at the helm. Thanks for the clarification, much appreciated!

 

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness:
Multiverse of Madness is a wild ride across the universes, but I feel it didn't utilize it enough. Way too few universes were shown. Chavez felt like more like a plot device than a character, and then you have Wanda.

Spoiler

She's a straight up villain. There's no way around it. She has gone coco for cocopuffs and will need a miracle to get redeemed again.

7.5/10

 

Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness - 8/10
Straight up marvel horror.

 

Dr Strange In The Multiverse of Madness 7.5 / 10

It’s at its best when it does dark horror stuff. It’s at it’s worse when it’s trying to expand the concept of the multiverse. The movie spends most of its time between two universes. The main MCU universe and an alternate utopian version. If anything the title is misleading.

A great part about the movie is an overall plot line that I see no one talk about and that is accepting that you might never get the thing you want and moving on accepting that.

 

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Probably the last person to see this but I am glad I finally got around to it. My first impression is that this might just be my favorite of Tom's Spidey movies. It brought back talent from the earlier movies and used them to great success. This movie takes Dafoe's already superb Green Goblin and makes him in my opinion the best Marvel film villain by a landslide when Molina's Doc Ock used to come in a little ahead.

Molina is used a little underwhelmingly. He still has his moments of gravitas where he performs circles around Tom and friends, but other times he was just made out to be a joke. Probably one of the MCU's most poorly placed jokes and that is saying something. It's odd because for the most part the villains had glow-ups and surprisingly stayed in character.

Movie has a lot going on. It definitely is a "big" film, which gave me a little whiplash after watching grounded stuff like Jackass and Scream. It however felt more like a Spider-Man story than really either of the two, with Peter being screwed by a combination of misjudgement and bad luck but rising to the occasion while still making sacrifices. He feels like the most grounded MCU hero at the moment because of the struggle and it being treated with seriousness. Hopefully Captain Marvel, Thor, Ant Man, Hulk, the Guardians and other heroes I can't remember right now can get some of this extra pathos.

8.2/10

 

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness 7/10

 

Fanboys. You would think I would have seen this movie by now...lol. It's free to watch on YouTube, so I couldn't help clicking on it when it popped up in my feed. I really liked it. It was a great combination of stupid, funny and touching. I would have to give it a 7/10.

 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - 8/10

 

As much as I've fallen out of love with the whole Star Wars phenomenon, I adore this movie. So much fun to be had.

And the story behind the movie and how it sat in limbo for a VERY long time because the studio wanted the whole sick storyline cut out because it was "too sad for a comedy" is yet another of the long fabled tales of Hollywood trying way too hard to be perfect, and failing. I'm glad it finally got out the way it was intended. So much goofy shit in there. The sad parts just help offset the fun parts.

 

It's a damn good thing they left in the sad stuff...it grounded an otherwise ridiculous movie. That was the emotional hit it needed.

 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - 8/10

When it comes to visuals, this is probably one of the most standout MCU entries for that. I think I enjoyed this one a bit better than the 1st Dr Strange movie, as I think in a few aspects such as characters, visuals, and storytelling ideas this movie does a lot more interesting stuff that makes this one a more entertaining watch.

 

Turning Red
This was very cute and loved the female angle of growing up. The family dynamic was great and everything looks nice. I was not left wowed however I left feeling pretty great.
8/10

Raya and the Last Dragon
Not bad, never was a bad experience but was never a fantastic one either. It was a very beautiful movie though.
6.9/10

Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
I didn't really feel anything throughout this movie. For the most part I did not like it. The music fight and his second cap were cool moments and the big cameo was fun but outside of that I was borderline board. Not much madness nor Multiverse to be had. Felt like the fun snark of DS was absent as well. Just reminds me why I left the Marvel movies, they are still all middle ground and same-y.
5.9/10