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David McK (3600 KP) rated Superman: Red Son in Books

Jan 28, 2019

"For Truth, Justice ... and the Soviet Way"

I must admit, this has an intriguing premise: what if the spacecraft carrying the infant Kal-L crash-landed in Russia, instead of in rural USA?

What if, in other words, Clark Kent had been brought up in a Communist society instead on in a Democratic one?

Reading that, you might think that Mark Millar would go down the route of making Superman and out-and-out villain, but that's not the route he chose. Instead, we still have a Superman who is doing what he believes to be the 'right thing': the only difference is in his view of just what that is.

You also might think that the story might concentrate on his upbringing. That, however, is barely touched upon with the story starting roughly 30 years after his arrival just as he comes onto the world scene. It also has Superman and other major characters interacting with actual historical characters such as Stalin or J.F.K., alongside showing his (Superman's) own-going battles with Lex Luthor, and also brings in other comic-book characters such as Wonder Woman, Batman, Brainiac and Hal Jordan.

I have to say, also, that I didn't see *that* link at the very end coming ...

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Cats (2019) in Movies

Dec 24, 2019

Cats (2019)

2019 | Musical

3.8

(16 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Here's where I wrinkle my nose up at the Smashbomb scoring system - Cats isn't so much 'shoddy' as - well, it's such a particularly strange film that it's actually quite hard to tell whether it's any good or not. My instinct is to say not: a selection of character actors, comedians and musical theatre stars are CGI'd into human-animal hybrids like something out of The Island of Dr Moreau and hoof and yowl their way through a selection of TS Eliot's comic poems set to music. The plot does a good impression of being absolute gibberish, as the singing cat-people compete to get sent off to the bit of the sky that radio waves bounce off where they will receive a new life, while Idris Elba schemes to rig the contest. It's just weird.

Alternatively, this is a quasi-Lovecraftian surreal Arabesque which, fatally, fails to consider the difference between presentational and representational performance modes inherent in the transference of a narrative between theatrical and cinematic contexts. (i.e., people dressed as singing cats in a theatre can be beautiful and moving; people CGI'd into singing cats in a big-budget movie is more disturbing than anything else.) Jennifer Hudson's maximum-Streep, maximum-volume onslaught on 'Memory' made me want to hide under my seat.

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) in Movies

Jul 16, 2019

An absolute joy from start to finish

Into the Spider-Verse is nothing short of excellent.

The animation style is beautiful, quirky, packed with colour, and doesn't let go of your attention until the credits have finished rolling.
The assembled voice cast are all great, and compliment the emotion and humour felt throughout.
The humour in question is flawless...every joke and humourous beat land perfectly. It's a funny movie, as well as carrying along a powerful message about growing up, and realising that you're not alone.

The storyline is pretty crazy, and as it deals with multiple dimensions, there's a chance to pull in some fun characters from the comic world, including Peni Parker, Spider-Ham, Spider Gwen, and Spider-Man Noir (hilarious btw). It's definitely out there, but it works very well.

Miles' universe, where the movie takes place, is a setting that allows the writers to take free reign, tinkering with classic villains we know and love, making this a Spider-Man movie worth seeing for fans old and new.

Possibly the best Spider-Man movie yet (maybe in a par with Far From Home).

End note - the post credit scene is just the best thing ever.

Kudos

Lenard (726 KP) rated X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) in Movies

Jul 4, 2019

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)

2019 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

5.5

(81 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

The producers behind the X-Men series once again rush to tell one of their best storylines from the comic series. Unfortunately, The Dark Phoenix Saga does not lend itself to a one-off movie. Once again, the people with the money are too afraid to gamble on breaking the story into two or three movies. Imagine It, The Lord of the Rings, or Infinity Gauntlet as just film. You can't because all of them were split up into two or three films and they all made huge profits. Dark Phoenix needed the same care and guidance. Jean Grey was not introduced in this timeline until Apocalypse. We the audience did not have time to get to know her and her backstory so we have no sympathy for her when she is taken over by an alien force or any understanding why she is able to battle within herself. There is no real tension in the relationship between Scott and Jean since they have only been together in our minds for 1 movie even if the movie was set ten years ago. We have not experienced those ten years along side them. Every detail is cobbled together in an effort to jam this story which lasted ten issues in the graphic serial.