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Reviews
History of the World: Part II (2023)
Nowhere near as funny as Part I
History of the World Part I was comedy genius. Mel Brooks was in his prime, putting out hit after hit.
Part II is nowhere near that. This honestly doesn't even feel like Mel Brooks is involved outside of narrating. Like some others have said, HOTW Pt II is basically a combination of the shows Drunk History, SNL and Mad TV. It would have been better if they'd done one episode per scenario, like one episode for U. S. Grant, one episode for Judas, etc. But mashing up multiple short clips into a 30 minute episode doesn't work here.
I know this type of comedy isn't for everyone. But it feels way too forced. Some of the actors are way past their prime and should have called it quits years ago.
Overall, this just isn't it. And it's a shame because people waited 40+ years for a sequel that sucks.
Santa Inc. (2021)
This isn't for kids (or most people)
In a time where people needed Christmas cheer, this is the exact opposite. Almost like the Grinch influenced it. Another HBO failure.
Hollywood's crudest come together to make a show that is basically the lovechild of Robot Chicken and Bad Santa. Within the first 5 minutes of episode 1, you've already heard numerous f-bombs, seen an elf flash Santa her boobs and heard a reindeer mention a threesome. And that's really all you need to know about the rest of this show.
There is a lot of creativity when it comes to the North Pole and Santa. But it feels like they ran out of ideas when writing this. So they decided to modernize Santa and make it as explicit and sexual as possible.
The hardcore fans of Rogen and Silverman may like it, but considering 100+ give it 1 star, it isn't for everyone.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Doesn't deserve all the hate people give it
I've got a feeling some of the hate for this is coming from people are used to the big action of the Marvel and previous DC movies. And it's not fully deserving of that. In a way, the reaction to this movie was fairly reflective of 2020. We didn't get what we wanted, so we complained.
This one is a bit different from its predecessor. And if you go watch the interview the director did with IGN, you'll understand why. DC/WB made a lot of the big scenes mandatory in the first WW. She wanted to tone it down a bit for this one and show more of the human side of the character.
In a way, it has some elements of the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman film series and other 1980's superhero movies/shows. The hero who constantly feels out of place, someone they meet becomes the villain, and the villain is just a nobody who becomes a somebody.
The ending of the intro sets the stage for the film. Diana has to learn a lesson as a girl, which will carry over into the future. The lesson that we don't always get what we want, and lying doesn't help the cause. It's been almost 70 years since the first movie ends, and Diana has seemingly been covertly helping keep the bad guys in check. Nothing is said about what she did over that time span. She's learned new powers, but at the same time she is reserved and not as bold as in WW1.
You have the 2 villains, who are both misfits of society who just want to be noticed. And they're willing to do whatever it takes for that to happen. And their lust for greed and power slowly overtakes them to the point they lose who they are. And the truth eventually gets to them.
The battles are spread throughout the movie, instead of one major climatic battle to end it.
The Steve Trevor side plot is weird and eventually boils down to helping Diana remember who she is supposed to be. It almost detracts from the story.
WW3 was announced the same week WW84 released. In a way, this movie felt more like a setup for something to come. There are some subtle hints at things that happen in the comics.
Deliciousness (2020)
Needs a different crew
To be honest, you need someone with some comedy background to host this show.
A lot of Tiffany Theissen's intros felt forced. Like Rob Dyrdek from Ridiculousness wrote the script and had her say it. It wasn't natural for her. And it was clear the cast didn't have a ton of chemistry because there weren't any huge laughs re was some visible confusion at times.
It felt like some of the cast had already watched the clips because they didn't have a ton of reaction to them. Unlike its parent show where it's have seen them because they aren't actors.
I honestly think it would have been much funnier if the Ridiculousness crew had done it with guests who own restaurants or have cooking shows
Greyhound (2020)
Sea Battles not worth making movies on
Although promoted as a WWII movie, it almost plays more as a psychological thriller similar to Hanks' role in "bridge of spies". The premise is Hanks' character is a lifelong Navy sailor who finally gets command of a ship. The ship, however, happens to be an escort ship for the convoys headed to Europe from the east coast. Hanks (and ship) is the commander of the fleet of escorts.
Long story short, Hanks and his fleet have to deal with German U-Boats that camp out just outside of air assistance range. They deal with low munitions, little sleep, etc.
It's not a bad movie, but sea battles are just hard to make interesting. The movie seems to focus more on Hanks character and his actions/decisions. The battle scenes are relatively short and don't show much. Plus, it's only an hour and a half. It's like they knew the movie would be hard to make
Scoob! (2020)
Caught worst break possible, but a decent Scooby homage
This movie was supposed to debut around the time COVID-19 reared it's ugly head. So the studio ended up sending it straight to digital, which was a mistake. No telling how much they lost on this. Within a month of release, it was already on HBO Max. It likely would have made some decent money at the box as it's kid friendly.
The movie is somewhat of a standard Scooby Doo mystery while incorporating an homage to Hanna Barbera.
While the intro shows how Shaggy and Scooby meet, there's not much origin story. It springs into a near reference to the live action movies of the early 2000's. But then turns into a standard Scooby mystery where they have to stop a villain and his evil plot.
Dick Dastardly was never a Scooby villain, but was actually a character on another HB show called Wacky Races. The same goes for Blue Falcon, Dynomutt and Captain Caveman, who were on other shows. There are also some hidden references to the Hanna Barbera cartoon dynasty throughout the movie.
Scoob! has a huge cast, which plays their parts fairly well. The original Scooby voice plays Scooby, but the rest of the characters are new. They did tweak Velma to be Latina, which isn't obvious except for a few words. Will Arnett sounds a lot like the original Shaggy.
I feel like people ripped this movie for the box office fiasco, and the fact it was made to seem like an origin story. While not as good as the classic cartoon, it does give a fresh look at the characters.
There are some minor adult humor/references that would likely go over most kids heads and give older viewers a possible laugh. But overall any age would not have an issue watching this.
Robin Hood (2018)
New take, but Script, etc. destroy what could have been a Good, if not great, movie
Fact: this movie has a pretty high quality cast. Mendelssohn is the new and obvious villain of the 2010's. Jamie Fox is the sidekick. Rising star Edgerton is the title hero. Bono's daughter is Marion.
Besides that, it flops like a fish out of water.
It's a very different take on the Robin Hood story. Only part that lines up is Robin goes to war, and comes back much later. Almost much more political than an action/drama film.
The script doesn't flow at all. It skips around way too much. People who are key parts of the traditional story have all new roles. They added slavery as the role of the people of Nottingham. Marion is a commoner instead of a castle dweller who meets(and moves in with) Robin before the war. Robin is lord by day, thief by night after returning home. John is more based on the prince of thieves role.
Costumes are way too confusing. The sheriff looks like a Nazi, and some costumes look modern while others look period appropriate. But they are blended into the same scenes. Marion's costumes are a little too revealing for her status.
Effects are muddled. Some look great, but some are so blatantly obvious there is a green screen involved. It's blurry behind them in some scenes.
Basically, lots of potential that fell flat because of the script.
A View to a Kill (1985)
Everything but Moore had potential to make this better
The storyline is pretty on par for Bond movies. The villain has a lot of potential. But sadly, Bond himself brings this down.
Despite the fact he was nearly 60 when this released, it must have been sheer loyalty to Moore to let him do this movie. He looks old (granted he was in his mid 40's when he started as Bond). It's clear that the action scenes are stunt doubles. Moore almost looks tired in the scenes where he's involved. (And if you think about it, Moore is at 30-40 years older than his female co-stars......)
Walken makes sense as the villain type. The voice and demeanor lend perfectly to it. While not the best "Bond girls," they are far better than "Bibi".
Could have been much better if they'd gone ahead and moved on to a new actor for the role. But I guess some Bond's need a swan song (like Brosnan)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
A fitting conclusion to the Infinity Saga
It's hard to believe that after 22 movies and 11 years that Endgame wraps up what is now known as "the Infinity Saga". Marvel does not disappoint with Endgame.
While it does start out pretty slow, it all builds to the climatic final battle between the heroes and Thanos. The battle is reminiscent of those in the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit trilogies: massive scale, good vs evil, whatever it takes.
It's not what we necessarily expected, but it's what we deserved. It perfectly wraps it up.
Black Panther (2018)
Sorry, but not the best Marvel movie ever.....
Does it have the aspects of all great Marvel movies? Yes. It has the stunning visuals, amazing CGI, near-perfect soundtrack, and a well put together cast.
Is it the best Marvel movie ever? No. It took 18 movies for Marvel to set up the MCU to get to a point to actually make this. If they had tried to make it in Phase 2 or 3 of the Infinity Saga (aka after The Avengers or Avengers: Age of Ultron), it may not have been the success it was. Black Panther, although a key Avengers member, is not necessarily the most well known comic character.
Like the rest, it does have flaws. Some of which are major. Killmonger is a little too over-zealous to make him supportable. Some characters aren't developed enough, even though they do show up in Infinity War later on. And the flashback scenes don't explain enough.
It probably got a little over-hyped because it was the first minority superhero blockbuster (although Wesley Snipes' Blade trilogy was the first minority Marvel hero film). Marvel is working on a more diverse, inclusive film slate, which will bring about a new era. And may get those who aren't "nerds" into the theaters.
Hulk (2003)
The Hulk movie that never should have been
This is up for the worst Marvel movie of the "modern era". While not a part of the MCU, it was made trying to capitalize off the success of the Spider-Man trilogy success. Only decent part is the Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno cameo as security guards.
The first issue "Hulk" faces is the storyline. A good chunk of the movie's early stages and latter stages involves Bruce's dad, who is more or less one of the villains. There is way too much backstory that takes kills the movie at the start. There's not really a flow to the story. It starts with young Bruce, then basically jumps to college, then jumps to adult Bruce. Once it hits the "main story", it jumps around way too much.
The second issue is the cinematography and score. The movie has way too much of an artistic style for a comic book movie. I assume they were trying to make it somewhat like a comic book. But it just makes you dizzy. The CGI Hulk looks nothing like Eric Bana. It looks like Hulk is almost of Asian decent. The score makes no sense. It borders on copying "The Lord of the Rings" soundtrack at times and almost has an Egyptian/Middle Eastern vibe, despite being set in California and Arizona. An action movie needs an upbeat soundtrack, not awkward vocals.
The last issue is the acting. Eric Bama was not the right choice for Hulk/Bruce. He doesn't command the screen. Josh Lucas clearly doesn't know how to play a power hungry character. It's laughable how "hard" he tries to go after the Hulk.
Sadly, Marvel and Universal went all in on this. This is the Hulk movie that may have led to the roller coaster. Fortunately, Edward Norton saved the character in that later "The Incredible Hulk." However, he also killed the character by wanting too much money and forcing Marvel to change once again to political nutcase Mark Ruffalo.
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
1st one was better overall, but this one explains more of Ant-Man's background
Overall, it's not bad. Felt like (as did the first one) this was on the edge of a stand alone film. Really doesn't have a connection to the MCU until a certain point (spoiler below). Has more of the Ant-Man background tale in it (excluding certain parts which made Scott Lang the primary character instead of Hank Pym). Number of references Marvel fans will get.
Could have focused a lot less on the villain "Ghost". There were times it felt like the movie was more about the Villains than Ant-Man and Wasp. Michael Peña and his cronies are more hilarious in their roles in AM2 than AM1. Stan Lee has a hilarious cameo (as always).
Spoiler: Mid-credit scene ties Ant-Man into Infinity War. And yes, it's painful to watch.
Spoiler: the post credit scene is pointless. It was partially featured on a trailer (think big ant).
CHIPS (2017)
A modern spin on a "classic" show
By modern, I mean language, sex/nudity, intense violence.
Pena is Ponch, a sex addict FBI agent who goes undercover to figure out who is robbing armored cars. Shepard is Jon, a washed up (and severely injured) former motocross racer.
Shepard's injuries are slightly overplayed, but fairly funny. Pena's addiction is very overplayed, to the point he has an intimate yet awkward FaceTime with his captain.
Felt Vincent D's villain character was underrated. Knew he was evil, but didn't realize extent until the end.