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Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys - stories by Booker-shortlisted author Will Self 'Self at...
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) in Movies
Jul 24, 2017
Batfleck (1 more)
It's every comic fan's childhood dream
Sloppy editing (2 more)
Bad performances
Poor script
A Whole Mess Of Awesome
Contains spoilers, click to show
Okay, if you are reading this I assume you have at least read a few other reviews of the movie, as it is all that anyone is talking about online at the minute, so what is left to say I hear you ask? Well first off I’ll give you some context, for the last three years I have been reading and collecting comics to an obsessive level and it is due to this movie. I have always been a superhero fan (especially Batman,) and I had read some comics in the past, but when this movie was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013, (3 years ago!!) I was so hyped and I decided that I had to read the comic that this film was taking inspiration from. So I went to my local A1 Comics and bought The Dark Knight Returns, which underwhelmed me but that’s another story. Since then I have become a huge comic book fan and that is thanks to this movie. Seriously what was not to like here, it would have been so difficult to get this wrong, it’s Batman fighting Superman, how amazing is it that this actually happened? And yet they still managed to fuck it up…
Do you read? You will. And then realise how superior the comic that this is based on is to the actual movie itself, (and I’m not even a massive fan of the comic.)
I saw 10 Cloverfield Lane last week and while that movie wasn’t perfect, what made that a great movie is exactly what makes BvS a subpar movie. 10CL had a small team of people working on a restrictive budget, so every aspect of the movie was scrutinised and perfected to make up the end product and that attention to detail really paid off. BvS had a huge budget and a massive team of people working on it and I think that is what gives the movie it’s unfocused and sloppy feel. The script is a mess, there are clearly scenes cut, the editing is jarring, not all of the performances were up to scratch and while the imagery and visuals are incredible, the best way to describe this movie is all style and no substance. I like Zack Snyder, I love his Watchmen movie, I like 300 and I enjoyed Man of Steel, but I can’t help but feel that this is his fault. His decision to make years of comic book stories into one two and a half hour movie honestly baffles me. The events of this movie should have taken place over at least three movies, which I will discuss more in the spoiler section of this review, so stick around for that if you have seen the movie already. This movie really is all over the place and the pace and tone are random at best and if you have seen the trailers then you have essentially seen the movie. Let’s talk about the best part of the movie, which is quite easily Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jeremy Irons’ Alfred. Seeing the two characters and their chemistry are worth the ticket price of the film alone. This is probably the most faithful to the source material Batman that we have had on the big screen to date, except for one pretty major change. Batman in DoJ is pretty much Punisher in a cowl. During the Batmobile chase (which was really fucking awesome by the way,) he questionably kills some goons. I mean, some of them could have survived like, if they had Wolverine’s healing powers I guess? But then there is that badass warehouse scene that we see in the trailers and during that he near enough shoots some guys himself. If you can get over this and see this as an alternate version of Batman you should be able to appreciate Affleck’s performance though, which by the way is amazing, he knocks it out of the park. I would have liked some kind of reference to it, even a scene where he discusses breaking his code with Alfred, just a few lines would have made me get on board with this version of the character a lot quicker. Critics have been calling Henry Cavil’s Superman performance wooden, but I think that is too harsh, he is perfectly serviceable but he isn’t going to be praised for his memorable performance either. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is badass, my only complaint is that she isn’t in the movie enough as Wonder Woman. Jesse Eisenberg is the stand out worst performance in the movie. It isn’t necessarily a bad performance, it just does not fit that character at all. He was truly miscast here, if they had cast him as Riddler in the Batman solo movie and he put in this performance I would be praising him like mad. Lex Luthor shouldn’t be crazy on a surface level, he should be a respectable businessman and an intellectual force to be reckoned with and he will go out of his way to ensure that this is what everyone sees him as, it is only ever the people closest to him that that he allows to see him crack. He certainly shouldn’t be making strange noises and gestures like someone with OCD or a mental issue. Also Doomsday is silly and is just shoehorned in at the end for the sake of giving the trinity and enemy to battle against.
Do you pee? You will. After sitting though near three hours of this garbage.
So to give my overall opinion before I get into spoilers, I will say that I enjoyed this movie better than Man of Steel, but only slightly and I dislike it for a lot of the same reasons. Just like Man of Steel there are parts of this movie that I adored and parts that I hated. Mixed emotions is an understatement. In my mind any movie above a 7 is a great movie and unfortunately I can’t call this a great movie. I fully believe that everyone should see this movie and form their own opinion, especially since reactions have been so mixed, but I felt that it simply didn’t live up to the hype that it set for itself and I feel like Zack Snyder may be doing more harm than good setting up the DCU. 6.5/10.
Do you see? You will. Or at least you better have seen it by now because I am about to spoil the shit out of the whole movie.
Like I said earlier, the events of the movie really should have been split across several movies and explored more rather than rushed through at a breakneck speed. We should have had a whole movie on Batman V Superman, the conflict ideals between them and the discussion of whether or not this world needs a Superman. Then we should have had a movie just based on the dawn of the justice league, with Batman and Superman eventually understanding each other and becoming friends and with way more scenes with Wonder Woman and a proper introduction to the other characters rather than the literal plot device USB stick we got in BvS. Then we should have had a few Justice League movies and once Superman was an established character within the universe, they should have killed him off then and did the Death and Return of Superman story, not in this one where Batman and Wonder Woman hardly know him and the public still don’t know whether he is good or bad. Also if Batman kills now, what reason is there for the Joker to still be alive? The whole point of their relationship is that Batman won’t kill Joker because of his code and Joker won’t kill Batman because he loves fighting him, but if Batman has no code and he has been Batman for years then he really should have killed Joker a long time ago. I did enjoy Batfleck and I am very much looking forward to his solo Batman movie, but BvS is rushed and sloppy. So I’ve said my piece, now let the fanboy hate commence.
Do you read? You will. And then realise how superior the comic that this is based on is to the actual movie itself, (and I’m not even a massive fan of the comic.)
I saw 10 Cloverfield Lane last week and while that movie wasn’t perfect, what made that a great movie is exactly what makes BvS a subpar movie. 10CL had a small team of people working on a restrictive budget, so every aspect of the movie was scrutinised and perfected to make up the end product and that attention to detail really paid off. BvS had a huge budget and a massive team of people working on it and I think that is what gives the movie it’s unfocused and sloppy feel. The script is a mess, there are clearly scenes cut, the editing is jarring, not all of the performances were up to scratch and while the imagery and visuals are incredible, the best way to describe this movie is all style and no substance. I like Zack Snyder, I love his Watchmen movie, I like 300 and I enjoyed Man of Steel, but I can’t help but feel that this is his fault. His decision to make years of comic book stories into one two and a half hour movie honestly baffles me. The events of this movie should have taken place over at least three movies, which I will discuss more in the spoiler section of this review, so stick around for that if you have seen the movie already. This movie really is all over the place and the pace and tone are random at best and if you have seen the trailers then you have essentially seen the movie. Let’s talk about the best part of the movie, which is quite easily Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jeremy Irons’ Alfred. Seeing the two characters and their chemistry are worth the ticket price of the film alone. This is probably the most faithful to the source material Batman that we have had on the big screen to date, except for one pretty major change. Batman in DoJ is pretty much Punisher in a cowl. During the Batmobile chase (which was really fucking awesome by the way,) he questionably kills some goons. I mean, some of them could have survived like, if they had Wolverine’s healing powers I guess? But then there is that badass warehouse scene that we see in the trailers and during that he near enough shoots some guys himself. If you can get over this and see this as an alternate version of Batman you should be able to appreciate Affleck’s performance though, which by the way is amazing, he knocks it out of the park. I would have liked some kind of reference to it, even a scene where he discusses breaking his code with Alfred, just a few lines would have made me get on board with this version of the character a lot quicker. Critics have been calling Henry Cavil’s Superman performance wooden, but I think that is too harsh, he is perfectly serviceable but he isn’t going to be praised for his memorable performance either. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is badass, my only complaint is that she isn’t in the movie enough as Wonder Woman. Jesse Eisenberg is the stand out worst performance in the movie. It isn’t necessarily a bad performance, it just does not fit that character at all. He was truly miscast here, if they had cast him as Riddler in the Batman solo movie and he put in this performance I would be praising him like mad. Lex Luthor shouldn’t be crazy on a surface level, he should be a respectable businessman and an intellectual force to be reckoned with and he will go out of his way to ensure that this is what everyone sees him as, it is only ever the people closest to him that that he allows to see him crack. He certainly shouldn’t be making strange noises and gestures like someone with OCD or a mental issue. Also Doomsday is silly and is just shoehorned in at the end for the sake of giving the trinity and enemy to battle against.
Do you pee? You will. After sitting though near three hours of this garbage.
So to give my overall opinion before I get into spoilers, I will say that I enjoyed this movie better than Man of Steel, but only slightly and I dislike it for a lot of the same reasons. Just like Man of Steel there are parts of this movie that I adored and parts that I hated. Mixed emotions is an understatement. In my mind any movie above a 7 is a great movie and unfortunately I can’t call this a great movie. I fully believe that everyone should see this movie and form their own opinion, especially since reactions have been so mixed, but I felt that it simply didn’t live up to the hype that it set for itself and I feel like Zack Snyder may be doing more harm than good setting up the DCU. 6.5/10.
Do you see? You will. Or at least you better have seen it by now because I am about to spoil the shit out of the whole movie.
Like I said earlier, the events of the movie really should have been split across several movies and explored more rather than rushed through at a breakneck speed. We should have had a whole movie on Batman V Superman, the conflict ideals between them and the discussion of whether or not this world needs a Superman. Then we should have had a movie just based on the dawn of the justice league, with Batman and Superman eventually understanding each other and becoming friends and with way more scenes with Wonder Woman and a proper introduction to the other characters rather than the literal plot device USB stick we got in BvS. Then we should have had a few Justice League movies and once Superman was an established character within the universe, they should have killed him off then and did the Death and Return of Superman story, not in this one where Batman and Wonder Woman hardly know him and the public still don’t know whether he is good or bad. Also if Batman kills now, what reason is there for the Joker to still be alive? The whole point of their relationship is that Batman won’t kill Joker because of his code and Joker won’t kill Batman because he loves fighting him, but if Batman has no code and he has been Batman for years then he really should have killed Joker a long time ago. I did enjoy Batfleck and I am very much looking forward to his solo Batman movie, but BvS is rushed and sloppy. So I’ve said my piece, now let the fanboy hate commence.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated The Batman (2022) in Movies
Mar 7, 2022
Like many others, I've been pretty much sold on The Batman since the first trailer dropped, to the point where I was worried that my own hype would leave me disappointed. Luckily that's not the case. Matt Reeves has crafted the definitive live action Batman experience.
The character himself has gone through many iterations over the years, and most of them come with their own merits, but he works aesthetically and thematically better at the darker end of the spectrum. This Batman is certainly that. The narrative takes place wholeheartedly in the criminal underbelly of Gotham, bathing in it's corruption. It's noir-thriller construction compliments the setting perfectly, presenting a slow burning crime piece, with occasional bursts of action, that never feels boring over its near 3 hour runtime.
Pattinsons take on the character could be the very best yet. Through projects such as The Lighthouse and Tenet, he's proven that he has the chops for this kind of thing, and he nails it without a doubt. I was pleasantly surprised by how much on screen Batman we got. He's under the cowl more often than not, and it's an understandable direction to take considering how great the suit looks alongside the general aesthetic of the film. Paul Dano's Riddler is a worthy foe as well. This villain is portrayed as unhinged and dangerous from the get go, a person who is angry and upset with the world, and who has the capacity to bring Gotham to its knees. His master plan is wonderful to watch unfold. Dano is golden in anything he appears in, and my only real complaint about The Batman is that we didn't get more of him.
Colin Farrell, Zoe Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, and John Turturro are all fantastic supports. It's a well rounded cast, playing well written characters.
The direction and cinematography on display is some of the best I've ever seen in a comic book movie. Reeves has a great eye, from Cloverfield to his Planet of the Apes entries, he has a certain brand of cinema magic that suits Gotham down to the ground. Throw Greig Fraser into the mix, fresh from his outstanding work with Dune, and you have a pretty solid pairing that results in a breathtaking, visual feast, all backed up by a phenomenal music score, from the ever reliable Michael Giacchino.
I can't heap enough praise onto The Batman, a patient, unforgiving, enthralling, and bleak comic adaption that sits at the top of the pile that is deserving of its glowing reviews.
The character himself has gone through many iterations over the years, and most of them come with their own merits, but he works aesthetically and thematically better at the darker end of the spectrum. This Batman is certainly that. The narrative takes place wholeheartedly in the criminal underbelly of Gotham, bathing in it's corruption. It's noir-thriller construction compliments the setting perfectly, presenting a slow burning crime piece, with occasional bursts of action, that never feels boring over its near 3 hour runtime.
Pattinsons take on the character could be the very best yet. Through projects such as The Lighthouse and Tenet, he's proven that he has the chops for this kind of thing, and he nails it without a doubt. I was pleasantly surprised by how much on screen Batman we got. He's under the cowl more often than not, and it's an understandable direction to take considering how great the suit looks alongside the general aesthetic of the film. Paul Dano's Riddler is a worthy foe as well. This villain is portrayed as unhinged and dangerous from the get go, a person who is angry and upset with the world, and who has the capacity to bring Gotham to its knees. His master plan is wonderful to watch unfold. Dano is golden in anything he appears in, and my only real complaint about The Batman is that we didn't get more of him.
Colin Farrell, Zoe Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, and John Turturro are all fantastic supports. It's a well rounded cast, playing well written characters.
The direction and cinematography on display is some of the best I've ever seen in a comic book movie. Reeves has a great eye, from Cloverfield to his Planet of the Apes entries, he has a certain brand of cinema magic that suits Gotham down to the ground. Throw Greig Fraser into the mix, fresh from his outstanding work with Dune, and you have a pretty solid pairing that results in a breathtaking, visual feast, all backed up by a phenomenal music score, from the ever reliable Michael Giacchino.
I can't heap enough praise onto The Batman, a patient, unforgiving, enthralling, and bleak comic adaption that sits at the top of the pile that is deserving of its glowing reviews.
Ryan Hill (152 KP) rated Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) in Movies
May 9, 2019
"i'm just a kid from brooklyn"
"I'm just a kid from Brooklyn"
A rip-roaring homage to old fashioned serials and comic books. Joe Johnston somehow pulls off the tone and look, firmly planting me into the 1940's time period. As fantastical as it is I still feel the real world within the picture.
Protagonist Steve Rogers makes for an easily likable guy who at the start is a smaller guy, who stands up to bullies even if it means getting his ass beat. His dream is to serve his country and although not meeting physical requirements for the army, he proves the heart and courage to become the specimen of a super soldier syrum. With this experiment, Steve's size, strength and conditioning is greatly enhanced and becomes the face of WW2 propaganda. His desire to fight however gets him involved with the battle against a division of the Nazi's known as Hydra, headed by Johann Schmidt, the "Red Skull".
Red Skull is one of the best villians of the Marvel cinematic universe. I couldn't imagine him played by anyone other than Hugo Weaving who brings such gravitas and personality to the role. Red Skull is an experiment of the soldier syrum himself which gives him a certain connection to Rogers, but chooses to use his power for the service of himself and his evil desires. The film includes the element of Nazi fascination with science and experimentation, taking it a step further. Red Skull discovers other worldly magic, the Tesseract of Asgard, which he utilizes for the use of weaponry. Thus, blending historical events with an exciting dose of imagination. A Nazi more powerful than Hitler? That's pretty scary.
The action comes swift and mighty, combining the fleshy violence of war with creative comic book thrills. It's some of the most entertaining action I've ever seen. I love that the presence of Hitler can be felt even though he is not on screen. It seamlessly connects the future with the past, makes the looming threat of the entire world felt, and contains elements of other Marvel films past and present that only adds to the movie and never detracts. Tony Stark's father has a direct influence on Captain America which adds a layer to the proceeding films. Thor and Loki's place in future events are tied in perfectly. Steve's friendship with Bucky and presumed death is one of the emotional cores to the film that also plays into the sequels. Unbelievable.
Can I just mention the charming romance between Peggy and Steve Rogers? It's so natural and plays out over the duration of the film without anything ridiculous. When Peggy tears up as Steve is speeding toward the unkown in a downed plane, I lose it. I lose it every time. They never got that last dance and my heart is broken.
When Red Skull calls Steve a "simpleton with a shield" I'm like YES!! that's why I love him. I could be Steve Rogers. I could be Captain America. Well, not really, but he's one of the most relatable on screen super heroes. I'd even say he's the one I can see myself in the most. Consider me #TeamCap.
I must make mention of the wonderful musical score and songs written for the film. Very important piece to the puzzle. I listen to "Star Spangled Man" just about every time I take a walk. The costumes and production design deserve all the love in the world as well. Tommy Lee Jones is great and makes me laugh as usual. All performances are great. Points for finding a use for Captain America's vintage comic book costume and re-enacting the punch to Hitler's face from Captain America issue #1.
Who taught Cap how to fight like that though? Guess that's one of the perks of the syrum too.
A rip-roaring homage to old fashioned serials and comic books. Joe Johnston somehow pulls off the tone and look, firmly planting me into the 1940's time period. As fantastical as it is I still feel the real world within the picture.
Protagonist Steve Rogers makes for an easily likable guy who at the start is a smaller guy, who stands up to bullies even if it means getting his ass beat. His dream is to serve his country and although not meeting physical requirements for the army, he proves the heart and courage to become the specimen of a super soldier syrum. With this experiment, Steve's size, strength and conditioning is greatly enhanced and becomes the face of WW2 propaganda. His desire to fight however gets him involved with the battle against a division of the Nazi's known as Hydra, headed by Johann Schmidt, the "Red Skull".
Red Skull is one of the best villians of the Marvel cinematic universe. I couldn't imagine him played by anyone other than Hugo Weaving who brings such gravitas and personality to the role. Red Skull is an experiment of the soldier syrum himself which gives him a certain connection to Rogers, but chooses to use his power for the service of himself and his evil desires. The film includes the element of Nazi fascination with science and experimentation, taking it a step further. Red Skull discovers other worldly magic, the Tesseract of Asgard, which he utilizes for the use of weaponry. Thus, blending historical events with an exciting dose of imagination. A Nazi more powerful than Hitler? That's pretty scary.
The action comes swift and mighty, combining the fleshy violence of war with creative comic book thrills. It's some of the most entertaining action I've ever seen. I love that the presence of Hitler can be felt even though he is not on screen. It seamlessly connects the future with the past, makes the looming threat of the entire world felt, and contains elements of other Marvel films past and present that only adds to the movie and never detracts. Tony Stark's father has a direct influence on Captain America which adds a layer to the proceeding films. Thor and Loki's place in future events are tied in perfectly. Steve's friendship with Bucky and presumed death is one of the emotional cores to the film that also plays into the sequels. Unbelievable.
Can I just mention the charming romance between Peggy and Steve Rogers? It's so natural and plays out over the duration of the film without anything ridiculous. When Peggy tears up as Steve is speeding toward the unkown in a downed plane, I lose it. I lose it every time. They never got that last dance and my heart is broken.
When Red Skull calls Steve a "simpleton with a shield" I'm like YES!! that's why I love him. I could be Steve Rogers. I could be Captain America. Well, not really, but he's one of the most relatable on screen super heroes. I'd even say he's the one I can see myself in the most. Consider me #TeamCap.
I must make mention of the wonderful musical score and songs written for the film. Very important piece to the puzzle. I listen to "Star Spangled Man" just about every time I take a walk. The costumes and production design deserve all the love in the world as well. Tommy Lee Jones is great and makes me laugh as usual. All performances are great. Points for finding a use for Captain America's vintage comic book costume and re-enacting the punch to Hitler's face from Captain America issue #1.
Who taught Cap how to fight like that though? Guess that's one of the perks of the syrum too.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
I refrained from doing my review until I'd seen both of the preview screenings on at Cineworld. I had some serious issues with the visuals, and it turns out I wasn't the only one.
I want to talk about the positives first because there really are a lot of things to appreciate. The fact that they've linked the action so directly to the comic book format is wonderful. Having both the storyboard transitions, the lettering and the actual comic books involved brought everything together. Even the "little" things like Spidey-sense and the dot work overlay.
All of that took a back seat to the bizarre background elements at times. In the 2D showing in particular it looked like they were showing a 3D version of the film. The most distracting moments contained areas blurring into double vision, when it wasn't the blurring it just looked like some of it was unfinished.
Spider-Verse had some very good promos in the run up to the film. You see some amazing bits during all of that but luckily they held plenty back for the rest of it. We've already seen the "I love you dad" scene in the trailer, but the extended version is so much better.
Miles' story makes for a great centre piece. Every step of him trying to learn about his new found abilities is done in a humorous and well thought out way and give him a great opportunity to mingle with his spider-friends.
... And those spider-friends... you can't help but love them just a little bit. Noir is probably my favourite, he's taken a leaf out of Pocahontas' book in Ralph Breaks The Internet and has his own personal wind machine, and a confusing relationship with colours that make him a perfectly eccentric character.
Aunt May kicks ass. I can't deny that I'm loving this incarnation of her just a little bit. She definitely could have saved a few Spidey movies for me.
I actually can't believe that Spider-Ham has been in the Marvel Universe since 1983. He featured in a One Shot Marvel Tails originally that featured other Marvel hero parodies including Captain AmeriCat, Hulk-Bunny and Goose Rider. The series definitely requires some further investigation... particularly Ant-Ant, Croctor Strange and Nick Furry: Agent Of S.H.E.E.P.. Honestly there's no end to punny names. Sadly, this amusing back story doesn't save Spider-Ham for me, apart from the issue I had with the graphics he's my low point. He really is just too hammy for the storyline.
What you should do
You should definitely watch this one, there's enough amusement and action for everyone. For the older nerds, wait until the end of the credits for a scene that most of the kids won't understand but you'll appreciate.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Having the ability to stick my hands to things wouldn't be bad. Climbing walls would be good, I'd never need a ladder to paint those hard to reach spots in the house... and I'd never drop my phone. Lots of possibilities there.
I want to talk about the positives first because there really are a lot of things to appreciate. The fact that they've linked the action so directly to the comic book format is wonderful. Having both the storyboard transitions, the lettering and the actual comic books involved brought everything together. Even the "little" things like Spidey-sense and the dot work overlay.
All of that took a back seat to the bizarre background elements at times. In the 2D showing in particular it looked like they were showing a 3D version of the film. The most distracting moments contained areas blurring into double vision, when it wasn't the blurring it just looked like some of it was unfinished.
Spider-Verse had some very good promos in the run up to the film. You see some amazing bits during all of that but luckily they held plenty back for the rest of it. We've already seen the "I love you dad" scene in the trailer, but the extended version is so much better.
Miles' story makes for a great centre piece. Every step of him trying to learn about his new found abilities is done in a humorous and well thought out way and give him a great opportunity to mingle with his spider-friends.
... And those spider-friends... you can't help but love them just a little bit. Noir is probably my favourite, he's taken a leaf out of Pocahontas' book in Ralph Breaks The Internet and has his own personal wind machine, and a confusing relationship with colours that make him a perfectly eccentric character.
Aunt May kicks ass. I can't deny that I'm loving this incarnation of her just a little bit. She definitely could have saved a few Spidey movies for me.
I actually can't believe that Spider-Ham has been in the Marvel Universe since 1983. He featured in a One Shot Marvel Tails originally that featured other Marvel hero parodies including Captain AmeriCat, Hulk-Bunny and Goose Rider. The series definitely requires some further investigation... particularly Ant-Ant, Croctor Strange and Nick Furry: Agent Of S.H.E.E.P.. Honestly there's no end to punny names. Sadly, this amusing back story doesn't save Spider-Ham for me, apart from the issue I had with the graphics he's my low point. He really is just too hammy for the storyline.
What you should do
You should definitely watch this one, there's enough amusement and action for everyone. For the older nerds, wait until the end of the credits for a scene that most of the kids won't understand but you'll appreciate.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Having the ability to stick my hands to things wouldn't be bad. Climbing walls would be good, I'd never need a ladder to paint those hard to reach spots in the house... and I'd never drop my phone. Lots of possibilities there.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Mortal Engines (2018) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
I refrained from doing my review until I'd seen both of the preview screenings on at Cineworld. I had some serious issues with the visuals, and it turns out I wasn't the only one.
I want to talk about the positives first because there really are a lot of things to appreciate. The fact that they've linked the action so directly to the comic book format is wonderful. Having both the storyboard transitions, the lettering and the actual comic books involved brought everything together. Even the "little" things like Spidey-sense and the dot work overlay.
All of that took a back seat to the bizarre background elements at times. In the 2D showing in particular it looked like they were showing a 3D version of the film. The most distracting moments contained areas blurring into double vision, when it wasn't the blurring it just looked like some of it was unfinished.
Spider-Verse had some very good promos in the run up to the film. You see some amazing bits during all of that but luckily they held plenty back for the rest of it. We've already seen the "I love you dad" scene in the trailer, but the extended version is so much better.
Miles' story makes for a great centre piece. Every step of him trying to learn about his new found abilities is done in a humorous and well thought out way and give him a great opportunity to mingle with his spider-friends.
... And those spider-friends... you can't help but love them just a little bit. Noir is probably my favourite, he's taken a leaf out of Pocahontas' book in Ralph Breaks The Internet and has his own personal wind machine, and a confusing relationship with colours that make him a perfectly eccentric character.
Aunt May kicks ass. I can't deny that I'm loving this incarnation of her just a little bit. She definitely could have saved a few Spidey movies for me.
I actually can't believe that Spider-Ham has been in the Marvel Universe since 1983. He featured in a One Shot Marvel Tails originally that featured other Marvel hero parodies including Captain AmeriCat, Hulk-Bunny and Goose Rider. The series definitely requires some further investigation... particularly Ant-Ant, Croctor Strange and Nick Furry: Agent Of S.H.E.E.P.. Honestly there's no end to punny names. Sadly, this amusing back story doesn't save Spider-Ham for me, apart from the issue I had with the graphics he's my low point. He really is just too hammy for the storyline.
What you should do
You should definitely watch this one, there's enough amusement and action for everyone. For the older nerds, wait until the end of the credits for a scene that most of the kids won't understand but you'll appreciate.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Having the ability to stick my hands to things wouldn't be bad. Climbing walls would be good, I'd never need a ladder to paint those hard to reach spots in the house... and I'd never drop my phone. Lots of possibilities there.
I want to talk about the positives first because there really are a lot of things to appreciate. The fact that they've linked the action so directly to the comic book format is wonderful. Having both the storyboard transitions, the lettering and the actual comic books involved brought everything together. Even the "little" things like Spidey-sense and the dot work overlay.
All of that took a back seat to the bizarre background elements at times. In the 2D showing in particular it looked like they were showing a 3D version of the film. The most distracting moments contained areas blurring into double vision, when it wasn't the blurring it just looked like some of it was unfinished.
Spider-Verse had some very good promos in the run up to the film. You see some amazing bits during all of that but luckily they held plenty back for the rest of it. We've already seen the "I love you dad" scene in the trailer, but the extended version is so much better.
Miles' story makes for a great centre piece. Every step of him trying to learn about his new found abilities is done in a humorous and well thought out way and give him a great opportunity to mingle with his spider-friends.
... And those spider-friends... you can't help but love them just a little bit. Noir is probably my favourite, he's taken a leaf out of Pocahontas' book in Ralph Breaks The Internet and has his own personal wind machine, and a confusing relationship with colours that make him a perfectly eccentric character.
Aunt May kicks ass. I can't deny that I'm loving this incarnation of her just a little bit. She definitely could have saved a few Spidey movies for me.
I actually can't believe that Spider-Ham has been in the Marvel Universe since 1983. He featured in a One Shot Marvel Tails originally that featured other Marvel hero parodies including Captain AmeriCat, Hulk-Bunny and Goose Rider. The series definitely requires some further investigation... particularly Ant-Ant, Croctor Strange and Nick Furry: Agent Of S.H.E.E.P.. Honestly there's no end to punny names. Sadly, this amusing back story doesn't save Spider-Ham for me, apart from the issue I had with the graphics he's my low point. He really is just too hammy for the storyline.
What you should do
You should definitely watch this one, there's enough amusement and action for everyone. For the older nerds, wait until the end of the credits for a scene that most of the kids won't understand but you'll appreciate.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Having the ability to stick my hands to things wouldn't be bad. Climbing walls would be good, I'd never need a ladder to paint those hard to reach spots in the house... and I'd never drop my phone. Lots of possibilities there.
PA
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