It wasn't just a puppy (John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum 2019)

233.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

 

5/10

We have somehow made it to the third instalment of John Wick movies and for me, this is up there with the constant rubbish from the Fast and Furious franchise or even Xander Cage movies. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and mine is that these movies are pointless. Very rarely they have a decent storyline and the first two movies prove this. This time Wick is a wanted man and we are about to find out what happens when the other assassins try to cash in on the prize of taking out Wick. All he is trying to do is clear his name and bring a truce within the assassin's league. To help him out, he turns to Halle Berry's character, who only adds to the 'fun' with her killer dogs.

The movie was completely forgettable for me, just like the first two and if there is a forth, I really don't want to waste another 2 hours of my life. The action and fights scenes were second to none but once you've spent 5 minutes watching one, they all seem to blend into one. With an endless stock of ammo for any gun he seems to pick up, the guy evens starts killing people with books in a library. He has taken down another assassin and now he needs to stay alive by any means and after the high adrenaline scenes, which lack a lot of storyline at times, we end up with Wick winning the day but being battered to within an inch of his life for his troubles. He even gets shot several times off a rooftop but the manager of his main go-to hotel. By the end, he is carted in front of another side character where he is coming back around, stating he is pissed off and ready for action. This worries me. This could actually lead to a third.

For some reason, I have never taken to Keanu Reeves as an actor. I enjoyed some of his earlier movies but he is very one dimensional for me. With a lot of head shaking, which I'm sure I've mentioned in another review he was involved in, his character gets boring and fast. There were a lot of 'oh's and ah's' within the fights scenes as people died in all sorts of ways but soon after, especially the gunfights, they got pretty boring. I do love the look on some of the shots and the cinematography, especially the shots in the rain make the movie look a lot more interesting but I could watch the movie on mute to enjoy that. Every character just ends up being expendable and when it comes to the main villain, they are pretty uninteresting. It goes over the top sometimes with its action and trying to make Wick look god-like and as if someone is playing a video game. I'm still surprised that so many people rate this movie and the trilogy so highly.



I love you 3000 (Avenger: Endgame 209)

232. 

Avengers: Endgame

 

 

 

8/10

The end of an era comes about in the shape of Avengers Endgame. We have been following the story all the way from Iron Man in 2008 and now the climax is about to take place. All of the end credit scenes, stand-alone movies and re-introduction of Spider-man into the MCU can not prepare the audience for what is about to begin. Whether you are a fan of Marvel or the superhero genre in any way, it isn't hard to know the names of these characters and even the cast who help them to come alive on the big screen. Let's get down to the bulk of it and put a lid on the last 11 years. I have some predictions, one being a major death but let's find out how right I'll be.
The scene is set a little while after everyone has turned to dust and we are finding out how the survivors are carrying on and looking for Thanos. Captain Marvel has found Tony and Nebula, bringing them back to Earth, Bruce Banner is now half Hulk half-human and is a big green gentle giant and even Hawkeye makes an appearance as he is now killing for fun after his family has been wiped out. Having tracked Thanos down to a planet which looks a lot like Earth, they confront him and Thor beheads the Titan, leaving me wondering what the hell I've just witnessed as an opening to this movie. They wanted to get the stones back in order to try and return to normality of some sort. Another few years in the future, Ant-man is released from the quantum realm but a rat and has no idea what has happened. To him, it's been 5 hours. Now, getting all remaining Avengers, everyone sets back in time to get the stones in places they have been in history, whether that is in a movie we have already seen or a lot further in the past.

 They succeed and only one man is up for giving his fingers a snap. Hulk steps up and manages to bring everyone back but there's a problem. In their time travel, Nebula was caught by the past Gamora and Thanos and even the other Nebula. The past Nebula disguises herself and manages to use the time portal to bring through Thanos and his army to wreak havoc.
Now before I head any further into the storyline, I have a bone to pick with all of this bullshit time travel crap. So they are using Pym Particles in order to travel through time and only have enough for each person to travel once, really needing to make it count. They falter a little, head back further in time where there would be more particles and finish their missions. Now then, tell me how Thanos can use one of the same tubes of Pym Particles and transfer 1000's and I mean 1000's because we'll see them later, his ship and all that comes with it, through the time portal and into the future. The Avengers could have all traveled together and made sure each grab went seamlessly. Stupid loophole.
Back to the story and we are about to have the massive showdown. The 'remainers', and not with Brexit are ready to face Thanos and his lot, just before they get a call and everyone who has come back enter through portals by Dr. Strange and the gang.
 

 

 Fighting ensues and for me, it doesn't last long enough. We get the ultimate cringe moment when the females stand together for no fucking reason what so ever other than the creators shitting their pants for not putting it in there and the movie comes to an end the only way that Dr. Strange knew it would. Tony steals the stones and snaps. Taking out the villains, Tony has given the ultimate sacrifice and now he can finally rest.

The movie draws to a close with Tony's funeral and everyone is there, even the kid from Iron Man 3 and as the camera pans further into the crowd, in walks Fury. As the team head to put the stones back into the past where they came from, Captain America is the man for the job. It should only take seconds but he doesn't return and instead, we see him sitting on a bench by a lake. He's a lot older now and chose to stay in the past with Agent Carter and live his life. He hands his shield over to Falcon, which I totally disagree with, it should have been Bucky, not this wet blanket. One other thing I think would have worked a lot better was instead of making Chris Evans look a lot older, they should have used Stan Lee is an elderly Captain America, but that may just have been me.
This movie from me wasn't as good as Infinity War and I may even feel a tiny bit disappointed. There were moments of awesomeness, for example, the reunion of Tony and Peter or Thor's moments once more. There were also moments to dislike. Majorly the Captain America moment where he is worthy enough to get Thor's hammer. Now I don't mind hat part but if the hammer is used for Thor to control his control of lightning then why the hell does Cap manage to control the lightning too! For us unreligious Marvel fans, it seemed a step too far. It was great to see the character that Hawkeye had become, which was a lot darker and the loss of Black Widow was a little unexpected but within the scene, you knew which one was going to go. This comes for Iron Man too. This was my major prediction for the movie but I honestly put Cap in the same bracket too, but he let time do the job. The graphics, once again, along with the musical score, played a massive part in this movie. The music, more importantly, adding to the suspense and the joy, especially as most of the characters returned for the final showdown. It'll be interesting to see where we going from here now. Who steps up to be the leader and from what I can see, there isn't a stand-out character I'm really looking forward too now hat even Thor has taken a back seat. The next phase looks mediocre at best. 

I have nothing to prove to you (Captain Marvel 2019)

231.

Captain Marvel

 

 

 

 7/10
 

As we were on the home stretch to the Endgame, we needed to find out the story of who Nick Fury sent a beeper message too. We know it as Carol Danvers, more know as Captain Marvel, but what is her story, where did she come from and where has she been all this time. A lot was made of when Brie Larson was announced as the role and it wasn't hard to notice that the reaction was pretty much split 50/50. I was intrigued by the choice after seeing Larson's performance in both Room and Free Fire, I was optimistic for her. We know that the movie is going to be set in the '90s, meaning that a lot of the references for the other movies may be lacking but I can imagine we are going to take a trip for memory lane for nostalgia. We are also going to be introduced to some Skrull, with Ben Mendelsohn a favourite for me as a villain right now, as their leader. Along with Samuel L. Jackson back as Nick Fury, minus the eye patch and Jude Law playing Yon-Rogg, the cast is shaping pretty well. By the trailer alone, there was something about Jude Law's character that didn't sit right. I'd be keeping an eye on him but for now, let's find out with this movie is truly something to marvel at.
With the film starting away from Earth, going through some scenes of Vers, Larson's character, combat training and going on missions, we are quickly thrust into some dreams that are troubling her and ones that Yon-Rogg blames for holding her back.

 On their mission, they are ambushed by the Skrulls and Vers is taken and put into some machine to read her mind. The Skrull are searching the same memories that she dreams about but has no idea what they actually mean. On escaping by using some of her powers, she crashlands onto Earth and into a Blockbuster Video, our first piece of nostalgia. She communicates with the rest of her team off-world as Fury and the team turn up to investigate. With this being set earlier in the timeline, even Coulson is around. The Skrull have made it down and disguised their screen skin by transforming into humans.
Now as the movie gets on, there is a lot of focus on trust and Vers finding out who she really is. We even catch glimpse of the pager from the after credits of Infinity War, which Vers takes the piss out of. In the archives, we find out that Vers name is Carol Danvers, a fighter pilot feared dead in a training exercise. He dog tag exploded at the crash and all that was left and collected by Yon-Rogg's lot was the Vers on the end of Danvers. Her memory has been wiped since. The leader of the Skrulls has now taken human shape and is in full Mendelsohn flow. He is acting as the head of 'S.H.I.E.L.D', which I have a massive problem with for the continuity of the MCU. Now in Iron Man, they call themselves by their full name and are made fun of, by the end, they are called Shield. How come years before then, they already go by Shield?

The story moves on and things start to unravel. Yon-Rogg is on a team with Ronan the Accuser from Guardians of the Galaxy fame. Knew there was something about his character. They are trying to wipe out planets and species, Skrull included in order to rule the rest. They know that Danvers is something special and are trying to hold her power. With Danvers looking for her old co-pilot, we are finally going to get some answers. Talos, the Skrull leader has even turned up and explains that they mean no harm. They are simply refugees. There is a black box from the crashed plane, finally revealing what caused the crash. Danvers and the woman she had been dreaming about were shot from the sky whilst attempting to make it into space. As the crashed, we always saw the scenes of a Skrull walking from the smoke to finish the job against Danvers but now, the truth and the memories flow and it was actually Yon-Rogg. They are after an experimental energy core which was created by Danvers' boss Lawson. They were trying to destroy it before it fell into the wrong hands and Danvers shot it after the crash to make this a sure thing. Instead of it simply being destroyed, her body absorbed all of the energy and she was then transported to Hala to keep her under wraps. The energy was to help Talos and the Skrull escape from the Kree and the rest of the Skrull were in Lawson's hidden station in space.
One thing we haven't mentioned is the wait for Fury to lose his eye. We've seen a car crash, which didn't do the job but since then, we have been introduced to a cat, which has been taken everywhere. On the space station, Yon-Rogg has brought his gang to kill everyone and steal the energy core, which turns out to be the tesseract by the way but things don't go to plan. It turns out that the Kree implant which was meant to give Danvers Kree powers was actually used to limit her own. Once she fights back and kicks ass, she finally gets everyone to safety and even Fury who has taken a scratch from the cat and lost his eye. The cat is also being used as a smuggler as it's swallowed the tesseract. Ronan has even turned up for support and after Danver's destroys the missiles fired at Earth, he quickly retreats. Where now where his timeline takes him, to an extent, but let's find out what happens after our Captain Marvel defeats Yon-Rogg.
 

 She decides to help the Skrull find a home. This is the reason she has been away for so long and is contacted by Fury, just before he turns to dust. As for fury, he's sitting in his office, getting the start of the team together and after seeing one more picture of Danvers, the name on the side of her plane reads Avenger, leading to the name of the Avengers Initiative. The only things left to mention would be the end credits scenes and yes, I did say scenes. Neither is relatively long this first is the remaining Avengers look at Fury's pager with intent until it stops beeping. Turning around, we seeing Danvers pop the question of where Fury is. The final scene is the cat coughing up the tesseract.
I'm a little bit torn with this movie after only seeing it the once so seeing it a second time was a must for me. The second time really helped and this MCU installment was pretty decent. I enjoyed it a lot more than Black Panther as an introduction movie and I think it had a lot more interesting factors to it. I always figured that the Skrull are actually bad and this was how 75% of the movie portrayed them. When it came to the twist and although I knew something was up with Law's character, I was pleasantly surprised as Mendelsohn's character had grown on me a lot. This leads us nicely into discussing the cast. Mendelsohn once again gave us a real solid job, playing what we thought was the villain and was actually quite deceptive to then becoming a good character. He brought humour along with seriousness when reunited with his family. Larson would be the main talking point of this movie as beforehand, a lot of critics said that she had no emotion within the movie's promotional posters. Come on, posters a simply a photo and anyone can look like a mime in one. I think she gave a pretty good account of the character as she has forgotten a little what it is actually like to be human. I had no qualms about the portrayal. Even Jude Law deserves an honorable mention as his MCU introduction again was a pretty strong one. The style of the movie reminded me of Ant-Man with the aspects of seriousness sometimes being broken up with a good amount of humour and after Thor Ragnarok, this brings about a bit of a regular occurrence now. The rest of the talking points, including the special effects, have come to a formality now but another thing I enjoyed was the number of nostalgic references. From beginning to end, they either included old shops, songs or even 'nods' towards other movies, such as Talos drinking from the same fast food cup that Sam Jackson's character did in Pulp Fiction. This is not going to be a movie that I will be clambering to buy on DVD or even rushing to the cinema to see a sequel too but it was still a decent filler movie for us to answer a couple of questions regarding Captain Marvel and experience what a pivotal role she may have when it comes to the Endgame!


Don't worry, Lucy. Everything can still be awesome! (Lego Movie 2: The Second Part 2019)

 

 

 

230.

Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

 

 

 

6.5/10

 

We have recently had some instalments of Lego movies, whether we asked for them or not. Some of them more successful than others but now we are having a sequel to the one that began it all. The first movie ended with the younger sister of Finn being allowed to play with their dads Lego, which didn't exactly go down well, bring characters from out of space, destroying things faster than they could be built. I wasn't really keen on the Ninjago movie so I really hope this one can 'build' my confidence back up.
We are sent back into the world voiced by Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks and Will Ferrell as the animated world is destroyed and we are shot 5 years into the future. There is pretty much aftermath of an Apocalypse and whilst every character is adjusting to their new surroundings by being dark and broody, the Justice League have left to fight the Lego Duplo enemies but never returned. Batman stayed to have his own side mission and now remains in a massive mansion. The only person with a smile on his face is Emmet, of course. He has recently been having dreams about a dolphin clock at the time of 5:15 and I doubt this would be the last time we see this mentioned. He has also had images of a portal opening and swallowing all of his friends. A ship drops down above the city and hires a heart at them and as the invader follows their escape, they are lead to Batman's mansion where she introduces herself as General Mayhem, needing to speak to the leader. Emmet is pointed out as the 'Special' but Mayhew disagrees and instead kidnaps everyone else. No one will help Emmet get them back as he is too immature. Could this be a movie about Emmet growing in stature with his fellow citizens?

 

 

The characters are taken to the Systar System, which isn't really an original name considering it's the sister's toys and the leader is Queen Whatever. She appears to be evil, giving an evil persona but also doing her best to persuade everyone otherwise with her song, which was completely annoying. Voiced by Tiffany Haddish, you can imagine how sassy she is. Everyone is convinced, other than Lucy and then the main plan is to unite both worlds with the marriage of Whateva and Batman. On his way through space, Emmet meets Rex, a character also voiced by Pratt, who is a galaxy defending cowboy and Raptor wrangler. In other words, he's Pratt. He gives his back story of being left under the dryer in Finn's home and managed to save himself. They head off to save the day, as Lucy tries to free herself and do the same. At a dinner, Whateva realises about Batman's insecurities are hidden within his ego, not too unlike her own. The only reason that she wants to be with Batman is to make her crush jealous and at first Batman didn't want the marriage but now knowing he is unwanted, ends up properly proposing.

 

 

Upon everyone getting to the wedding, invited or not, we catch glimpse of a few fights. Firstly we have Emmet and Rex arriving with Rex not liking Lucy, believing she is brainwashed. She has a fight with Mayhem, who reveals herself as a scared girl, not wanting to die and is then saved by Lucy before she falls to her death. She explains that the wedding is only to bring them both together as two groups but it seems a lot worse than it actually is. This leads her to think that Rex is actually the true villain, he is the one trying to keep the friends apart. She watches the wedding from afar and sees Wateva take her true form. She is the heart that Emmet built at the end of the first movie all those years ago. Before Lucy can get to Emmet, he is convinced to use his 'grown-up' power and breaks open the portal he dreamed off.
Back in the real world, all of this is taking place because Finn's sister has taken his Legos into her room to play with her own. This is making sense with the story now as Finn breaks in and smashes her toys. This leads to the mother coming in, shouting at them and in the process, stepping on a Lego with her bare feet. Now we all know how painful that is and you wouldn't blame her for losing her shit. She orders them to put everything into storage which, back in the animated world, is the black portal that swallows everyone. Now Rex is ready to reveal himself. He is Emmet from the future, who was a lost toy and after growing bitter, built a time machine from all famous one, even the hot tub and used it to go back and replace Emmet before he got lost. Rex tosses him under the dryer and leaves him for 'dead'.

 

 

Lucy and the gang start to sing about how everything isn't awesome, whilst in the real world, Finn realises how much of a dick he has been to his sister. They used to enjoy playing together and plans on making amends with her by bringing her the heart. Emmet is trying to move from under the dryer in real life and with limited movement and Rex joining him for a fight, it isn't going to be easy. Now that Finn and his sister Bianca are playing again, this frees up Lucy to help Emmet. They use a heart bomb to defeat Rex and now realising how wrong he was and as he disappears into nonexistence due to Emmet being saved. The movie draws to a close with the brother and sister playing together, joining the two worlds into one. Lucy buys Emmet the original copy of 'Everything is awesome' and on close inspection, Emmet notices Lucy on the cover. She was one of the OG's on the song!
By all means, the Lego Movie was a breath of fresh air and felt really fresh but now we wonder whether we should still ask for more. This movie had an upturn in fortune from the movie that came before it but again, it didn't feel as strong as the first or even the Lego Batman movie. There was a deeper lesson to learn for it's younger viewers with the fact that being nice to your siblings means that everyone can be happy and avoid disappointment, just like the first having a hidden message between father and son. The cast has become known for this movie and with the addition of Tiffany Haddish, it added a much sassier role to the cast, with a new song to get stuck in the head, literally and a twist towards who the villain truly was, the character worked quite well. Switching between animation and real-life again worked well and in the end, emphasised the true story that lay beneath. I felt the movie was alright at best. The novelty is starting to wear off a little now and if this was because of a recent poor instalment, only time can tell if I will really get back on board with the franchise.

It's you and me bud. Always (How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World 2019)

 

 

 

229.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

 

 

 

7/10

 

How to Train Your Dragon fires back with a third major installment to the surprisingly successful and popular franchise. The first two in the series were the first two movies I watched when I decided to keep tabs on things I was watching. The sub-title for this one is 'The Hidden World' meaning there could be a lot more to come in this story. We are treated to the usual voice actors in this animation as Jay Baruchel and America Ferrara continue their steak and even Kit Harringon is back for another dose. From the trailers alone, we know where this story will lead to Toothless finding love, whilst another dragon hunter comes to wreak havoc.
The movie begins showing our heroes saving other dragons from a ship on which they are entrapped. On returning home, we see how this village has now taken on many many more dragons, sometimes leading to major accidents. One of the old heads at the village suggests that it's about time that Hiccup and Astrid speak of marriage soon, with neither ready to take the next step.
Across the other side of the ocean, we are introduced to a new villain named Grimmel the Grisly. Cracking name for our new killer. Voiced by F. Murray Abraham and looking like a vampire, it's not long until he states his intentions.

 

 

He meets with the warlords that have been capturing the dragons and learns of Hiccup and Toothless and finds himself in shock as he believes that he has killed the last night fury. The warlords reveal a dragon that was left behind at the beginning and it is another Night Fury, but white. Grimmel decides to use this one as bait to grab toothless. Grimmel is far from worried about Hiccup as a kid in over his head. From there, we have a flashback fo Hiccup with his father, talking about the fabled hidden world. Hiccup has always sought to find this place in order to stop the war between Vikings and dragons. Toothless heads off alone at night and bumps into the trap. Being called Light Fury, Toothless is quick in the chase and attempts to woo her, too many failings. He's quick to fall in love and constantly tries to catch her gaze, constantly failing and even Hiccup follows to help.

 

 

 

 One day, Hiccup comes across one of Grimmel's traps. He takes the trap to Erin, Harrington's character, who recognizes the work of Grimmel. He fears that the trap was left to be found as a means to bring them out of hiding. The night ends with Grimmel finding his way into Hiccup's home, tranqing Toothless and expressing his ideas of how Humans and dragons should not co-exist. As he makes his way to Toothless, it turns out to be some of Hiccup's mates dressed up as a trap but this does not slow him down. Summoning some acid-spitting dragons, but our gang make hast and escape. Knowing that Grimmel will not slow down, it is time to leave their home. Hiccup gives a speech that the place of Berk is where ever their people are. Reminds me of Thor and his home to be honest. Problem is, Grimmel is planning on them heading out, tracking them with the warlords and all the while, making some more venom to tranq the dragons.
They arrive at a new island for now and in the clouds during travel, we once again catch sight of the Light Fury. It knocks Hiccup off Toothless' back, thinking he's an enemy. We enter some more scenes of Toothless trying to woo her and later, Hiccup decides to fix the tail fin for good, meaning that Toothless can head off to find Light Fury. Meanwhile, Hiccup's mother has headed back on themselves in order to make sure they were not followed but they were, she narrowly avoids capture to warn everyone. Back with Toothless and he is learning about his actual abilities with help from Light Fury. He can use lightning to disguise himself and as their 'date' comes to an end, he is lead to a waterfall into the ground.

 

 

Hiccup knows of Grimmels intentions and plans on taking the fight to him but once again, Grimmel knows the game and is expecting the move. Narrowingly avoiding capture once again, they manage to make it back to their makeshift home, only to find that they have left Ruffnut behind in the chaos. Hiccup is now being pressured into another way of stopping Grimmel but his mind is elsewhere as he realises that Toothless has not yet returned. Astrid reminds him about Toothless being given his freedom to be with Light Fury, this could mean he won't be seen for a long time.
Grimmel is back in his castle planning his next move, whilst an annoying as shit Ruffnut is on his last nerve. He ends up letting her go but not before she blabs about the village's new location, leading Grimmel to send a scout with her and making his job a bit easier. As for Hiccup, he and Astrid ride to try and find Toothless, coming across the waterfall and heading down into the Hidden World of the dragons. They set sights on Toothless, acting as the alpha male with Light Fury as his mate. Hiccup makes a wrong move and is spotted, being chased by every other dragon until Toothless comes to their aid. On his escape, Hiccup realises that this hidden world needs to remain that way.
With everyone making it back to the island, Grimmel is ready to attack, taking the Night and Light Furies, along with the other dragons as they have captured their alpha. Hiccup once again fall silent, thinking he has failed as a chief but with Astrid at his side, he is ready to round everyone up and go for the throat. As Grimmel presents his prisoners to the warlords, our gang drop in and attack. With Grimmel riding Light Fury and Hiccup on toothless, they take to the sky for the main fight scene. With the acid dragons aiding and surrounding Toothless, he harnesses the lightning and then vanishes. Grimmel and Hiccup once again head towards each other, this time with both tackling each other off their respective dragons as Toothless is tranqed once again. Hiccup orders Light Fury to catch a falling Toothless as himself and Grimmel fall together, tussling in the sky. Grimmel has one hope left of dragging down Hiccup but as Hiccup loosens his own prosthetic leg, Grimmel is left to fall to his death as Light Fury catches Hiccup to save his life.
Hiccup now realises that it is time to let Toothless go and the celebrations do not last long. He bids farewell to his best friend and the two have a tearful embrace. The whole village says goodbye to their dragons as they leave with Toothless to their safe and hidden world below. The scene ends powerfully as Hiccup and Toothless share one last eye contact. A while later, Hiccup and Astrid as finally married and we then move onto several years later, as the two now have a son and daughter. They ride a boat to the waterfall we have seen before and come across Toothless and Light Fury sitting upon a rock with three youngsters of their own. Toothless notices the humans and acts to protect his family, not recognizing Hiccup at first but once the memories flow back with a slow movement of a hand towards the snout as seen in the first movie, the too finally embrace. The families take to the sky as Hiccup narrates the closing scene, explaining that humans now believe that the dragons have all gone but only the Berkians know the truth and they shall protect that truth until the dragons can come back out into peace.

 

 

This seemed like it could be the final film in the series of How to Train Your Dragon and if this is the case, it ended in a really strong way. With another strong storyline, this time revolving around friendships and relationships, it is as though the movie is of a coming of age genre. I think whilst watching, you would always know where the movie was heading and how it was going to end. Bad guy defeated and friends separating for the best and to continue their own journeys to start a family. We have come to know the cast over the series of movies and the main new addition being F. Murray Abraham as Grimmel meant we had someone else to focus our hate upon. He brought a wickedly good voice to the table, one that demanded listening to and this would always be a good trait. Kit Harrington, on the other hand, was as boring a voice as normal. I enjoyed his portrayal of Jon Snow but under the same circumstances, he was always made fun of due to his lack of expressions. As for the rest of the cast, it is always great to see side characters play such pivotal role  It is always good to see an animation away from the mainstream of Disney because it really takes something to be special and standout. We have been waiting nine years for this finale and I believe the ending that was brought to us was very fitting of the trilogy. 

With great ability comes great accountability (Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse)

 

 

 

228.

Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse

 

 

 

9/10

 

So we've been given quite a few Spider-man movies over the years but this one is going to be completely different. This time we are given an animation but from the extended trailer, it looks like a type of animation I haven't watched before. This is already making it stand out for me with its retro colours and graphics, making it look like you are viewing an actual comic strip. Coming with a cast well-known and some new kids on the block, I'm really intrigued by how this Marvel movie is going to play out. We already know that for once, we are not going to be mainly focusing on Peter Parker. This time we are focusing on a younger character, Miles Morales, an African-American lad from Brooklyn. Let's swing into the action.
A quick run-through of the storyline may be enough to give anyone who hasn't seen this movie, enough of a reason to. Then the movie begins with a synopsis of Spider-man's background, told by himself before we settle to Miles' story. Miles is on his way to private school and on his way, he stickers some lampposts with his own graffiti. This is before he trips in front of a police car, driven by his dad and is dropped off outside of school. On entry, he tries quickly to fit in but you can tell his actions and style doesn't fit with the others. That night he heads to meet his uncle, who takes him to an abandoned subway to put a massive graffiti up. We know he's miles, mind the pun, ahead in school but tries to fail on purpose. Being around his uncle, he can be himself. From nowhere, a glitching spider drops down and decides to change Miles' life. Bitten, he thinks nothing of it until we get the usual awkward scene of someone trying to control their powers. Bumping into a really awkward blonde girl and finally going back to the subway to find the spider.

 

 

 

Whilst down there, what seems like a small earthquake hits and a crack opens, exposing a fight between Spider-man and the Green Goblin. Spider-man even has time to save Miles, who has fallen off a ledge. Knowing he too has powers he's willing to show him a couple of moves after this night. Kingpin is trying to open a mortal to the multi-verse and as the Goblin holds Spider-man into the void, we see a flicker of other characters before it causes an explosion and wipes out the surrounding area. Kingpin makes his way down to ground zero and comes across Spider-man, unmasking and killing him.
The news of the death is broadcast around the city and Miles knows it might be up to him to step up. He visits Peter's grave, only to be disturbed by someone who is a canny resemblance of the dead hero. He electrocutes him by accident and is chased through the streets by the cops. Once he's woken Peter up, he explains that he needs to help, explains the portal and that the other Peter had given him a USB, which can help to shut it down. Problem is, he's broke it when trying to jump from a rooftop. Right now, he's wearing a fancy dress Spider-man outfit, which he bought from a seller who looks a lot like Stan Lee. Finally being allowed to help. The two head to Kingpin's lab to get the info that was once on the USB. They find it in the female head scientists room and Miles once again cannot control his powers. That's until he is told to calm down by doing something he likes. He starts singing and his drop to the ground alerts the scientist. Miles finds a new super-power though, he can now turn invisible. Prett handy. Peter is interrogated by the scientist, who is, in fact, a doctor and not just any doctor. Her enemies call her DOC OC! Love that twist and here come her extra arms. They head into the woods to escape, only to get into a spot of bother and that's when we are introduced to another Spier-person. This time from a third universe. This time its Spider-Gwen and we've already met her. She's the blonde from school, who was acting awkward because she also knew that Miles was like her. The three finally escape and head to the only place they can create a new USB, apparently. Arriving at Aunt May's, who back in this Peter's dimension, is dead. They have their introductions and explanations and then she takes them underground to her real nephew's lab. There they meet some others who have come through the portal too. We have Noir Spider-man, voiced by Nicholas Cage no less, we have an actual pig named Peter Porker and an Asian style hero with a young girl in a robot spider that holds her dad's brain or something.

 

 

 

Each come with their own characteristics and each ready to go back to their own time. Now in this time, we have found out that Kingpin is doing what he's doing because he wants his family back. They once walked in on him fighting with Spider-man and driving away from him. On their way, they died in a car accident and no he wants to gain them back from another dimension.

 

 

Now with the plan in action, they need to make a start. Not a great start though as one of Kingpins henchmen has rounded up the troops and followed them to Aunt May's, the thing is, this henchman is actually Miles' uncle Aaron from earlier in the movie. He refuses to kill his nephew and instead is killed by Kingpin. Miles' carries the body to an alley where he is found by his own dad, obviously remaining masked, he flees and once the body is recognised, an arrest warrant is put out for Spider-people. The gang doesn't take well to Miles not being in control of his powers and web him up as they go to complete the final mission.

He finally has a little control of his electricity and escapes, heads to Aunt May's and makes himself a new outfit. Now a really clever scene takes place if you were paying attention. When they first came underground as a gang, Miles went up to the case the Spidey outfit was in. You could see his reflection around chest height. This time, it seems like he's ready the reflection is head hight and Aunt May swings around in a chair like a Bond villain with a cuppa and asks what took h so long. Making his new outfit with a graffitied spider on the chest, he heads to a rooftop and begins a swing. We switch back to the gang and their fight with the villains as they try to shut down the portal but not before they return home. They know one has to stay behind and our chubby Peter has offered to do so. There's nothing back home for him now. That's until they start to lose and it takes Miles' introduction to save them.

 

 

Kicking arse, they finally get around to going home, saying their goodbyes and Miles' filling Peter with confidence to make it up with MJ and then dropping him through the portal. We get a final fight between dimensions between Miles and Kingpin before the day is saved and our new Spiderman can reap the rewards from his unknowing father. The movie ends with a recap of Miles' new confident life, making friends, swinging well and at the end, we hear Gwen's voice addressing him before the credits roll as a portal opens. The movie is dedicated to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko before an after-credits scene shows Spider-man confused pointing at another futuristic one.
I loved this movie and may well have seen it more than 5 times already this year. A couple in the cinema and a few on flights. This was a completely different approach to the Spider-man movies and I think that's what worked so well for it. With so many characters, it may have been easy to get lost but the way it introduced each one's back story in, at times, humorous way. Talking of humour, it really was in abundance for this movie and it was far from out of place. You had deaths of family members and main characters which really were sad and affected the characters but the humour quickly brought the audience back. The cast was really clever, not only to have a mix of ages, styles and ethnicities but even bringing in a bloody pig character. There was someone for every style of audience member, even the farmyard animal. The style and animation were the other major talking point. The way it was made to look like a comic book at times, even with little pop-ups and animations like a Japanese cartoon was really clever. It's not something I've seen on the big screen before and I was unsure how I would take to it but it only added to the enjoyment. I'm really interested to see where they go next with this movie and what the future has in store. This is definitely up there in terms of favourite Spider-man and even Marvel movie.


Yeah, he'll take a bowling ball to the bollocks! (Fighting with my Family 2019)

227.

Fighting with my Family 

 

 

9/10

 

Being a WWE fan since I can remember, back when they were actually great and called WWF, this movie is going to show the background of one of their most recent pioneers on the female side of the curtain. We are about to see the rise and rise of Saraya Knight, also known to the wrestling world as Paige. Florence Pugh is going to bring her to the big screen and with Nick Frost playing dad, Lena Headey playing mom and Vince Vaughn as our main coach, it seems like we are going to get some British comedy with an American heart. Being written and directed by Stephen Merchant can only be a good thing, surely? Let's get into the ring and see what's in store.
The Bevis' are a wrestling family, doing the rounds across Britain and we are quickly introduced to young versions of the siblings as they fight over the TV. They are stopped by their dad, who shows them better techniques. This then skips into the ring as they are teaching local kids in the family gym. Zak, the brother and Saraya, now going under the name Paige from her favourite TV show, often perform on the circuit. Zak's missis falls pregnant and the two families have to meet over dinner at the Bevis household. Being from two different worlds, The Bevis family are vulgar and come with no filter, whilst the other parents are much more upper class. During dinner, the family receives a call that the siblings have been asked to try out for WWE. 
On arrival, they bump into The Rock who gives them his own style of pep-talk and then head into the ring. Hutch Morgan played by Vince Vaughn, puts them bother and others through their paces and at the end, Paige is the only one chosen. She runs after Hutch, demanding that he also takes Zak but that isn't an option. Zak is the one who demands that she does it for the family. They have an older brother who is in jail after not taking the same rejection too well. She gives in and heads off to NXT to training.

 

 

In Florida, Saraya feels really alone. She's a plain girl with a gothic style whilst the other girl involved are mostly models or the cheerleader type with zero experience of wrestling. She gives it her all but is truly exhausted. Calling home now and again to let the family know how hard it is out there. We don't see Zak much though, as the parents are making loads of money off her success already. They don't really seem to care for how she is actually feeling and are trying to live their dreams through her. This is what they wanted for themselves and are not kind of forcing it on their children. Saraya tries to get in touch with her brother for some support but he's no help. He too jealous and even calls Hutch begging for another shot, but is told to just leave it go. Back home, he ignores the wife and child and even the students at the gym.
At her first match with NXT, Paige is badly heckled by the crowd and the other divas take advantage of this on the mic. This leads her to change her image to a blonde, tanned piece, just like the others. Back on the bus, this turns nasty as she thinks the other girls are talking about her but they are actually only chatting about their families and reasons for them being there.

 

 

They argue with Saraya, telling her that she never really made an effort with them and this is overheard by Hutch. Outside the bus, she asks why Zak was never chosen. He explains that he saved him from a life as a jobber, which would alienate his family and lead to injury on the chase. This is exactly the life that he led until this training job. Given the advice to quit, Saraya heads home for Christmas with a choice to make.
Whilst at home, she is made to perform with her family and Zak, in his jealousy, doesn't hold his punches. The night ends with him breaking the news to the parents that Saraya is thinking of leaving the training camp. The father is tamping but the mom actually supports her decision, all whilst they are driving around to find Zak. He found his way to a pub to pick a fight with a group of lads. Before it gets too nasty, the dad is there to drag him away and he once again storms off. Saraya finally catches up with him and they have a right barmy. He doesn't want her to throw away the one thing that he can't have. She's left to explain that he has a girlfriend and child that love him and he's in fear of losing them.
Saraya has made her decision and she going to carry on the Paige persona, going back to her black hair and pale skin. She trains harder than ever and makes friends with the other girls in any way she knows how. The older brother is now out of the joint and even Zak is coming around, making amends with the students and begins training again. Paige survives another round of cuts and as a reward, the group is taken to Wrestlemania. Hutch brings her into a private office and in walks The Rock. Hutch leaves and Paige is asked to call her parents with The Rock wishes to talk to them. At first, they hang up, not believing that it's truly him. He tries again and this time, after a little proof, they listen to what he has to say. He breaks the news that Paige will make her debut on TV the night after Mania. All of this after Paige thinking that this was the end. Everyone, as you can imagine, are both shocked and thrilled. The next night Paige is in the dressing room, waiting to debut but is clearly nervous. The one person she can call is her brother, who clarifies everything and tells her to get out there. She heads out, beats the champ and becomes champion on her first night.

 

 

 She addresses the crowd, finally being successful on the mics, telling them she done it for the misfits and that this is 'HER HOUSE NOW', which is a trademark phrase for her these days. The text at the end explains how much of a trailblazer Paige has been for the company and as the credits roll, we are treated to snippets and pictures of the real family.
I absolutely loved this movie and even got around to seeing it on the big screen twice. Being a fan of wrestling and knowing the story that came after this movie definitely helped with the enjoyment but I think this movie possessed such a storyline that anyone who doesn't know the ins and outs may want to go away and follow up on the rest. As each hit came from the movie, I found myself getting more and more invested. Smiling as she got confirmed to be on raw and even getting goosebumps. They had changed the end a little as she was already a champ in NXT and didn't shy away from the mic like the ending to this movie but it worked much better for the storyline to have her be more confident and address the misfits after she held the title. The acting is this was very good and an almost complete cast. Vaughn as a drill sergeant, just like in Hacksaw Ridge, was a very good role for him. The comedy came from Frost and Headey, which took away from the rest of the seriousness within the story but they could switch to such just as easy. Florence Pugh gave us a great account of a troubled girl, torn between what life choice to make and struggling with the journey she was on. This is the first time I have seen her on the big screen and I very much doubt it will be the last. This may be a movie that will go under the radar in a lot of circles but believe me, give it a chance even if you're not into wrestling, mainly because the story and a true story at that, is a mix of emotions and brilliant watch. It truly is a fight with her family.