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Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
To infinity and beyond
#avengersinfinitywar is an intense, fast, slick & fun ride that pulls its viewers along at such a thrilling pace that you rarely have time to breathe. Im #happy to report #infitywar is a solid, well made & a very entertaining #film (it is however by no means perfect but it does come out overall as one of the best films that marvel has produced). From the start you can instantly tell production is high here, costumes & makeup ooze detail as do sets, the score is #beautiful & extremely epic & cgi its stellar (minus a few scenes where it looked a bit soft). This is a film that clearly has had not only alot of money but a lot of love put into it. Fight scenes are weighty, fluid & pack a sometimes brutal punch to them & they come thick & fast but never out stay their welcome. Set pieces are #gorgeous too with great camera work ranging from tight claustrophobic combat to huge dizzying establishing shots giving the film great scale. Acting is great all round with #joshbrolin as #thanos being the standout here, hes constantly intimidating visually & vocally with so much unpredictability & power his presence alone instantly made me #anxious. Story wise it keeps it interesting & everyone's motives are clear but i do feel that with so many characters to juggle you loose that connection & emotional impact from time to time. Also its a darker film but peril is quite void here & at times I felt no one was really in that much danger of being fataly hurt. Themes of sacrificing the things you #love for a greater purpose & the effects/impact power can have in different hands were interesting but id need to watch it again to see what its deeper over all message was. Lastly the ending is so clever, perfect, beautifully done & shocking that it left most of my screening breathlessly glued to our seats. Comedy works well here too with most jokes hitting without being to cringe. Overall its a damn good time & watching it with a big excited audience reminded me of what going to the cinema is all about 'Escapism' & 'fun' & #avengers really does provide both. #comicon #superhero #marvel #disney #guardiansofthegalaxy #thor #hulk #captainamerica #spiderman #groot #ironman #marvelcomics #mcu
  
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
2010 | Action, Sci-Fi
Iron Man 2 picks up right where the first one left off, and manages to continue the enjoyment without losing too much steam in the process. Jon Favreau has kept the exciting action, lost a bit of character development, but added more of a comic-book dimension to the film series.

The plot was slow to start, but once you see how events start fitting together for the eventual showdown, the movie picks up speed and leads in for a very satisfying finish. Thankfully, there weren’t too many slow moments (this is an action movie, after all), and the plot flowed well from scene to scene. The action-packed ending more than makes up for any slow moments toward the beginning.

The interplay between the characters definitely felt more formal than the first film. Robert Downey, Jr. plays the title character with just as much snarky humor and snide dialogue as he did in the first film, but he seems to play his dramatic scenes with less emphasis than the first. Don Cheadle, as Colonel Rhodes, continues with the memorable character that Terrence Howard defined, but doesn’t come into his own until near the finale. Scarlett Johansson performs the part of the sultry and mysterious Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff quite well, although aside from one stunning action scene, her role is relatively minor compared to the rest of the cast. The villains, Ivan Vanko, played by Mickey Rourke; and Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell, more than match their opposition on screen. Rockwell in particular is absolutely fantastic in his portrayal: totally believable, animated, and fun to watch. I just wish everyone had his enthusiasm for the film, because I sensed less emotion this time around.

Iron Man 2 also has much more of a comic-book feel than the previous movie. Marvel fans will notice quite a few more nods to the Marvel Universe, but even more than that, Iron Man feels more like the fantastic character that he is when he has a properly villainous opponent. In the end, this film is a fitting sequel that nearly matches it’s predecessor.
  
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)
2012 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
In what can only be described as a failed attempt at a sequel, Nicholas Cage reprises his role as Johnny Blaze, and Blaze’s alter ego Ghost Rider.

In this follow-up chapter to the 2007 film that first brought Marvel’s Ghost Rider to the big screen, Cage’s character has left the States to run from the demon inside him. His attempts to control the Rider work best when he is far from people, but his plans are derailed upon the entrance of a young boy and his attractive mother. The boy is the object of desire for Mephistopheles (the demon who turned Blaze into the Rider). The film takes you on a wild ride while Ghost Rider attempts to prevent the devil from getting his claws on the boy.

Lets cut right to the chase: this is, bar-none, one of the worst films I’ve seen in at least a decade. It’s right up there with D-Wars. While the first film had decent acting (minus Cage), a well-thought-out script, and special effects that made sense, the sequel is a complete failure even when compared to its predecessor.

The complete lack of a coherent script, the terrible acting, and the nonsensical actions of the Rider (not to mention the extremely cheesy dialog) make it clear that this film is an extremely poor attempt by Hollywood to capitalize on the recent success of other Marvel/DC titles. Unfortunately, this movie was cobbled together with one liners and special effects that weren’t convincing enough to pass the test.

Being a long time Marvel/DC comic fan, I always approach these films with low expectations, so I can be surprised when they’re done well — and at the very least, enjoy it. Despite this, I still feel like the hour and twenty minutes of my life spent watching Ghost Rider is time I can’t have back.

The only moment of hope this film had was Christopher Lambert as the tattooed monk.

I encourage all of you who wish to see it, even after reading this review, to wait until it’s available for cheap home viewing.
  
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Sarah (7798 KP) rated The Boys - Season 1 in TV

Sep 21, 2020  
The Boys - Season 1
The Boys - Season 1
2019 | Adventure, Comedy
A refreshing take on superheroes
Note: This is a copy of my review of the main series, as it was done solely on the basis of the first series.

I’ve never read the comics, so took a punt on this as it’s been recommended by a few of my friends, and i absolutely loved it.

It’s the perfect antidote to the homely, suitable for kids superhero films like Marvel that bombard our screens every year. Instead The Boys is rude, crude, dark and downright hilarious at times. It’s full of blood and gore too that you’d never find anywhere near any Marvel films. There’s something beyond refreshing watching a show with superheroes behaving badly like villains, and the take on superheroes being owned and represented by a massive corporation is rather brilliant. You can almost imagine that this is how superheroes would turn out if they lived in today’s society.

This has a great cast too, and there are some wonderful performances in this. I adore Karl Urban and he’s good in this, although I feel like he’s let down a little by the fact that they’ve made him a cliched cockney. Antony Starr is seriously creepy and yet charming as Homelander, and he was great to watch. Although my favourite had to be Chace Crawford as The Deep. I feel like he was a little under-utilised in the main plot, but he provided some of the funniest scenes in the entire series and I really wanted to see more of him.

The ending was good and a nice reveal, although I wanted more and felt like it ended maybe a little too abruptly. Aside from Karl Urban’s English accent, the superhero names grate a little after a while because they are super cheesy and cringey (which I’m assuming they’re meant to be). And I felt like the character of Black Noir was a complete mystery and whilst this may be intentional, I do there has been a little bit more of him.

Aside from these little niggles though, this is a refreshingly entertaining series. So much so I’d love to watch a second series, like now.
  
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
2017 | Action, Sci-Fi
It was Ok I guess
Contains spoilers, click to show
The movie on the whole was pretty decent yet I felt there was something missing. I feel like there was questions left than answers given. I also feel they tried to mimic Empire just s bit too much especially with the opening scenes where the rebels were evacuating the base. I had hoped for a bit more information as to who Lord Snoke really was and as a character he was wasted. I felt Disney tried to Marvel the movie by adding unnecessary humour is Finn banging his head on his healing capsule and walking around half naked with tubes dripping or with Snoke hitting Rey in the head with a floating light sabre just to mention a few. That being said I did enjoy the movie and strongly recommend it to any Star Wars fans out there. The light sabre battle at the end between Kylo and Rey vs The imperial guards was worth the wait and Luke's triumphant return to the force was a spectacle to behold.
  
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TCBellflower (2 KP) Dec 29, 2017

I think the set up from The Force Awakening was diminished by this movie. It wasn’t as bad as the Episodes 1 - 3, but I had high hopes for this one. I did like the “remake” of Obi-Won scene with Darth Vader between Luke and Kylo. But it looked like they tried to add force humour to this one. I’m ready for the next one to see how it closes. I think changing directors is what did this one. The vision changed.

Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything
Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything
Elizabeth Gilbert | 2016 | Biography
10
7.2 (34 Ratings)
Book Rating
A book that inspires you to live while you're alive and to find yourself (2 more)
Easy to get lost in this book, you'll find yourself wandering thru Rome, India and Bali, personally experiencing Elizabeth's journey
Loss, humor, insight and drama and romance, this book has it all
"I used to have this appetite for my life. And now it’s just gone. I want to go someplace where I can MARVEL at something." Elizabeth Gilbert
Contains spoilers, click to show
Elizabeth Gilbert is one of my favorite authors so I knew this would be an amazing book and I was not disappointed! She has this amazing ability to make you forget you're reading a book...suddenly you're in the book, experiencing everything due to the beautiful detail and honesty with which she writes. An inspiration to everyone who has ever felt lost, stuck, hopeless or lost their zest for life. While we can't all take off and travel the world to find ourselves like Elizabeth, we can live vicariously through her writing and gain hope, insight and in the end happiness.
  
Howard the Duck (1986)
Howard the Duck (1986)
1986 | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Not as bad as all that.
Before he was an upcoming maybe movie, maybe TV series and part of the Disney/Marvel juggernaut, he was a cheesy 80s movie with one of my serious 80s crushes, Lea Thompson (from Back to the Future).

When Howard is pulled through a "wormhole" from his duck planet to Earth, he has to try and not only figure out what is going on and how he came to know this extremely hot chick (and nerd Tim Robbins) but he also has to save the world from the "Dark Overlord of the universe" (Ferris Bueller and Beetlejuice alum, Jeffrey Jones).

I think the biggest problem with the film was filmmakers (George Lucas among them) didn't get the tone right. It was too racy to be for kids which was probably their target audience. The "duck out of water" element was my favorite part the ways his world was different than ours and how he tried to fit in.

It's a charming 80s romp I've probably seen too often.

  
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
The start and the ending (0 more)
The middle (0 more)
Almost the perfect film
Contains spoilers, click to show
So having just watched captain marvel and the final 'End Game' trailer I felt a need to rewatch this film, and to change my underwear - my god that trailer!!!....So this is probably my 5th or 6th watch of 'war' and it keeps getting better. It starts at a pace that barely let's up all the way through. There's a slight pacing issue in the middle but that's just because the action let's up in lieu of story - I'm nitpicking really. Then we get duelling battles on titan and wakanda which was really great. When Thor, rocket and groot turn up I lost my shit!!! Then the ending! My god the ending. I mean I knew their would be 'casualties' but bloody hell. I expected capt or iron man to die but half the avengers and pretty all the guardian's was unexpected!!! And then the credits scene with captain marvels signal! Unbelievable...such a dark ending but perfect cliffhanger...I really cannot wait until 26th April.
  
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
2019 | Sci-Fi, Thriller
Almost everything (0 more)
Saying 'goodbye' (0 more)
A Sufficient ENDing For This Phase
Contains spoilers, click to show
Even though I've seen all of the MCU movies to date, I wouldn't say that I was obsessed, but I AM a completionist, so I felt like I had to see it through... With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, despite the sad goodbyes. Also, even though it was amusing, I didn't like the prolonged gag of Thor being overweight and out of shape. Aside from those two things, though, I thought it was really good. The pacing was excellent, and it didn't even "feel" like 3 hours. I was also satisfied with the amount of time each character got...with the exception of Captain Marvel; I would liked to have seen a bit more of her. In addition, I felt like the mix of humor and seriousness was spot-on. As to the story and resolution from the previous film, I thought it made sense, and it wasn't too difficult to follow, so I was happy with that aspect, too.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) in Movies

Mar 2, 2018 (Updated Mar 2, 2018)  
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
2003 | Action, Sci-Fi
A career that spanned over forty-five years, included nearly seventy movies, and featured the same accent every single time came to an end with this, Sean Connery's final on-screen appearance, in a would-be blockbuster based on Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's idiosyncratic comic series. The original heroes of pulp fiction are assembled to battle a mysterious villain with plans for world domination.

Connery had one of his massive spats with the director and virtually disowned the movie, but it's not really as bad as all that. It's not nearly as subtle, dark or clever as the comic book, obviously, and there's a horrendous moment in the second act where the whole thing grinds to a halt, but the effects are never less than competent, and the art direction is good. In the Marvel age of movies this is not without interest, making clear as it does the debt comic book heroes owe to the characters of an earlier age. Inevitably a bit of a disappointment, but not even the worst superhero movie of 2003.