Not astounding, and not all of the plot and aesthetic choices work IMHO, but better than I had expected, and quite solid in the Bruce/Selina angle of things (which is in fact the driving thread of the narrative).

( Spoilers have been excommunicado to under the cut. )

Wrote unspoilery comments, but on second thoughts, there's always a chance of misjudging that sort of thing, and no reason to risk it.

The tl;dr: it was better than I thought it would be, without being better in a different way than I thought it would be, although it's certainly more ambitious ( Read more... )

Non-spoilery:

• Loved it. Straightforward superhero awesomeness, and very funny. At no point you feel that something is a drag.
• Marvel casting keeps batting it out of the park. Brie Larson is Carol Danvers as much as RDJ is Tony Stark, Chris Evans is Steve Rogers, etc.
• I don't know of many people who enjoys her life as much as Carol Danver enjoys hers ( Read more... )

In a move of mind-boggling Hollywoodness, there's now a Hobbs & Shaw (yes, that's the frakking title) trailer for a buddy spy semi-comedic movie where the both of them have to take on an Idris Elba that has seen Cipher's super-hacker-with-a-flying-base move and raises with a classic bio-enhanced superhuman (exoskeleton and/or biotech, it's not ( Read more... )

It's (mostly) sweet and funny, almost an straightforward resolution/redemption arc with mild shenanigans mixed in and a rather unique McGuffin; it suffers a bit, IMHO, because some of the interpersonal dynamic stakes are set up before the movie begins, and while they make sense in-universe (and I don't oppose in media res) it does affect a bit ( Read more... )

I think the word I'm looking for is unapologetic. Deservedly, beautifully, straightforwardly, why should it be otherwise? so. And indeed no reason at all.

It's not uninteresting, but the thing to keep in mind before watching it - and what tripped me at the beginning - is that, tonally although not in terms of screen time, this is a Jack the Ripper movie, not a Batman one. The violent misogyny (with a side dish of classist crap) ranges from quite nastily explicit verbal aggression to, well, Jack the ( Read more... )

With some uneveness, the post-Original Trilogy Star Wars movie I enjoyed the most, very likely. It has more humor than I expected, and a few unarguably gorgeous shots.

YMM, of course, V. If you're planning to watch it, though, best do it as soon as you can to minimize the chances of spoilers; it's not entirely devoid of (IMHO, well-deployed)

Not that I expected it to, but it regrettably failed my gets out of the movie humming the main theme from the soundtrack and half-seriously planning to become a superhero superhero movie test.