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Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021)
Fun and deliciously oldschool
As others have said: why the hate? Ok, there is is noticeable step down in "realism" (ahhaha) compared to the first movie. But seriously, are we going to talk about realism? This is a buddy comedy action movie, where everything is overblown. And blown up. The leads have great charisma, there are a lot of laughs, every actor and stuntpeople seem to have had a great time, the story is cookiecutter but works as intended. And there's Italy which is just beautiful.
Kid Cosmic (2021)
One of the best toons in recent memory
Netflix knows its animation. For me, The Dragon Prince and Kid Cosmic are 10 for 10. Kid Cosmic is near and dear to my heart also because its animation style and its overall visuality is a refreshingly original one in today's animation landscape. It's wacky and cute.
Yes, the Kid is cringy, and he shouts a lot. But that's exactly because he is what he is. And he grows a lot by the end of the first season. He is totally relatable, because as Stuck Chuck put it ever so succintly, he "sucks" at being a superhero. But what he lacks in ability he more than makes up in heart.
But this is an ensemble show if there ever was one, and all the characters are good to great. My personal favourites? Stuck Chuck (absolutely hilarious, especially his Hungarian dub who adds yet another layer to his obstrusiveness), and of course, Tuna Sandwich.
And finally, about the storyline... It's hardly original, but it's really good, and the twists and turns in the last 3 episodes would fit a serious scifi series, too.
Crain McCracken did it again. BRING ON SEASON TWO!
Mortal Kombat (2021)
Much better than I hoped
But then again, I had very little hope. However, this movie proved me wrong. It was surprisingly entertaining, and even if lacking a bit of humor that was very welcome in the first one, its seriousness actually didn't hurt it. It was a good ensemble piece, and it did its world-building deftly, and the fights were good if not memorable.
Anyways, enough to get me stoked for the next one, so mission accomplished, I guess.
Dispatches from Elsewhere: Simone (2020)
Loss for words
Some people say it's the new Twin Peaks. It's not. It's entirely different. It's weird, but not because it wants to be, but because existence itself can be weird. And weird can be beautiful, weird can be heartbreaking, weird can be funny, and weird can be exciting. This show, so far, is all of these.
If you remember John from Cincinnati, it has a similar vibe. The "it's weird now, but trust us, everything's gonna be alright, and life is wonderful" vibe.
Regarding this episode: the actress playing Simone is brilliant. She puts so much warmth, insecurity, awe and misery in this part yet makes it feel so natural, it's a real gift. She and Peter play off each other wonderfully well.
Dracula: The Dark Compass (2020)
That ending, though...
Talk about a whimper instead of a Bang. (Sorry, couldn't resist the joke.) The finale was good up until the tearing down of the curtain. After that... what WAS that?! What sort of sorry excuse drove messy-eurs Moffat and Gatiss to come up with THAT?!
Doom: Annihilation (2019)
Better wait for Doom Eternal
Let's acknowledge that this was nothing else but a cheap attempt at keeping the adaptation rights at Universal. Or at least, for me, that's the only way the existence of this... series of images and sounds is justified. This is clearly neither a work of love, nor a dimwitted attempt at having fun with the IP. This is a boring, soulless, pointless exercise in near-zero budget cinema.
Ok, granted, Doom is not the headiest game IP ever, but there is mysiticism, gory fun, body horror, straight-up hardcore knee-deep-in-bowels action and big stakes in the original game series. With such rich source material I am baffled how this lukewarm, middling, unoriginal and, above all, BORING adaptation ever came to be. Like, you have to consciously work on delivering such a bland screenplay.
All, and I literally mean, ALL dialog is recycled from far better movies. The leading lady's (Joan Dark -- is this meant to be a funny dig at Joan D'Arc? Seriously? Was this written by stoner college kids?) acting and delivery rivals an unpolished oak desk working for UPS. Is it possible to have negative chemistry with everyone? She certainly makes it possible.
Everyone else is completely forgettable, apart from the big bad, whose... twist? is perfectly obvious from the minute he shows up after the shutdown. At least he puts in true, 100% all-natural ham when everyone else is clearly just baloney. He chews more scenery than the acid from the Alien.
Music, cinematography, VFX? Who cares. Soulless, but serviceable.
It's a bloody mess, literally and figuratively. And it clearly ends with the intention of a sequel. But why? Doom: Annihilation certainly succeeded in one aspect: it annihilated the IP for the movies.