Reviews

The initial three episodes were watchable at best. To be honest, I might have given this one a wide berth after the first episode if it wasn't for the stellar voice acting cast that includes Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows), Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd) and Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso). But the fourth episode actually grabbed my attention, got a few chuckles out of me, and even felt kind of touching at times.

Here's to hoping the show has finally found its footing and continues in the vein of ep. 4. There is certainly potential here and some of the characters are starting to grow on me as their personality traits are becoming more refined.

The show suffers from the much smaller scale and greatly condensed plot compared to the comic book event on which it is based. I fully understand why the limitations were unavoidable. The CGI budget must have been unusually high for a TV show from the looks of it, and stars like Samuel L. Jackson don't come cheap either. Meaning there was sadly no way to involve the Avengers and other superpowered MCU characters.

Of course this makes the show far less epic and somewhat less believable than the comics event that involved the entire who-is-who of the Marvel universe, from Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four to Deadpool and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Just imagine this in a TV series. It would blow the budget of any MCU blockbuster. Still, one wishes the show were just a little longer with a few more familiar faces and some locations other than the US (mostly filmed in England), Russia (also filmed in England) and, well, England. The lack of locations makes the supposedly global threat feel a little too provincial.

On the bright side, the effects are top notch by TV standards and some of the new MCU character additions are interesting and well-developed. Sonya Falsworth in particular is an utter delight. The writers did a reasonably good job at explaining why a disgraced Nick Fury stands almost alone against the Skrull invasion, and I assume that the events of this series will be important in the MCU going forward. Bottom line: It had to be done, the writers worked around the limitations to their best ability, and the result is perfectly watchable if you don't expect another Loki or WandaVision.

Gimple must have watched Army of the Dead and/or Train to Busan 2: Peninsula and thought, that's a great backdrop for yet another TWD spinoff. The flimsy story about Maggie and Negan is completely forgettable. The show is all about the big-metropolis-full-of-zombies aesthetic, which already starts getting old in the first episode.

If you've long stopped watching the original TWD and its other spinoffs, and if you've seen one of the two movies mentioned above, you can spare yourself watching this snore fest. It's fascinating how a series can be so full of violent action and at the same time so incredibly boring.

Say what you want about the Whodunit filler side quest, which was diverting enough in my opinion, but this might just have been the most visually stunning Star Wars experience of my entire life. A seamless blend of the usual gritty, lived-in Star Wars universe with neon-chic cyberpunk aesthetics and Naboo-esque Art Nouveau fashion. And as if this mixture wasn't heady enough, we're also treated to some Film noir elements as a tip of the hat to Blade Runner, as well as several unexpected cameos.

The extravagant visuals almost came as a culture shock. I'll definitely revisit this episode a couple of times since there was so much to take in despite the rather straightforward plot. I absolutely love how much worldbuilding is going on in this season. Not only do we get more insights in the Mandalorian customs but also the cultures of Ugnaughts, spacefaring Quarrens and Outer Rim aristocracies. All in all a highly enjoyable filler episode with dazzling sets, costuming and special effects.

I was rather disappointed with the fan service-laden first episode of this season. In hindsight I understand how it served to set the stage for this masterpiece by reintroducing a certain familiar character.

We're once again treated to a lot of fan service and easter eggs, but this time it all feels very plot-relevant and had me on the edge of my seat for the better part of 40 minutes. Which felt a lot longer to me, almost as if a feature film plot had been condensed into this brief runtime.

PS: I loved the new addition to Din's party who goes all the way back to A New Hope. Here's to hoping he'll be a permanent addition from here on in.

I have to deduct one star for the rather formulaic plot, but otherwise this was a perfectly executed comic book movie that felt just like reading an actual comic. One of those old '90s superhero comics that were light on the plot and heavy on the action, with lots of infrastructure-leveling battles between the various hero and anti-hero factions before everyone came together to help save the world.

Usually I tend to space out when action scenes are very drawn out and there is barely a breather between them. Not this time though. My inner kid was giddy with joy watching his lesser known childhood heroes like Hawkman come to life on the big screen. If you've ever watched an animated DC feature where titans with deity-level powers relentlessly laid into each other, and you thought "Wow! Why can't they do exactly this in their live action movies", your wait has come to an end. Black Adam delivers just that. And it does this one thing better than any DCEU film before in my opinion.

It's hardly surprising that the critics, who are typically not genre fans, were bored to tears by the non stop action. But that's precisely why this movie works so well for a fan like myself. It doesn't try to please the critics or the superhero-averse friends and relatives who were dragged along to the theater by comic book enthusiasts. There is no attempt at Oscar-worthy dialogue, no deeper moral message, no social commentary, and barely a hint of interpersonal relationships. It's just highly entertaining popcorn fun with gorgeous costumes and dazzling effects. Which is all I really expect from a superhero flick.

The initial two episodes still felt a little uneven, and above all too short. It was all setup and no resolution. This was the first episode that included both and made the runtime feel just right. The show has also found its comedic voice now and featured some genuinely funny moments.

My only minor complaint is the fourth wall breaking, which feels a little too frequent. I can see why the writers thought this would be a good idea - after all, Deadpool was previously the only on-screen comedy involving Marvel characters, so it makes sense to take a cue from the movies - but I'm not sure it works as well for Jennifer as it did for Wade. She's overall a serious character rather than a quipster and the comedy here is more situational. I feel like her conversations with the audience only take me out of the plot without adding much.

A legal comedy with superhero elements that is not only told from a female perspective but actually written and directed by women is a bold new direction for Marvel. Of course it'll take a few episodes for this show to hit all the right notes, especially with an episode length of 30 minutes that doesn't allow for a lot of plot development. But the first episode wasn't bad at all and I'm confident they'll work out the minor kinks.

One such kink is the CGI, which isn't entirely up to MCU movie standards. It's not as bad as CGI Luke in season 2 of The Mandalorian but the facial expressions don't feel completely natural. I've seen a few text-to-facial-animation solutions and the expressions look very similar here, as if they were software-animated rather than motion-captured. It's probably a budget limitation. Other than that, my only complaint is the runtime. The plot feels rather condensed in this half-hour format.

Now for the elephant in the room that has the self-appointed anti-wokeness police REEEEEEing at the top of their lungs. The superhero genre is a power fantasy, and for once it's not about a Billy Batson who stumbles across a wizard and immediately gains the combined powers of all the Greek gods and heroes. Or an orphaned tween who becomes the sidekick of none other than Batman and learns in record time how to beat up adult criminals twice his size. Or a teenager who suddenly develops mutant powers, finds a Nova Corps helmet, etc. Pp. You get the picture.

Point being, this is a power fantasy by and for women. It should come as no surprise that it involves a lot of the things women have to put up with on a daily basis. Such as condescending men who assume women couldn't possibly naturally excel at anything, especially not to the point of surpassing men.

Being surprisingly great at something is the whole point of a power fantasy. Hal Jordan comes into possession of a Green Lantern ring, everybody on Oa doubts that a primitive human could do the job, but he proves everyone wrong as he quickly surpasses his teachers and it doesn't take long before he single-handedly saves Earth and Oa and the entire universe. But when a woman so much as masters emotional self-control faster than her cousin Bruce did, everyone loses their expletive minds to quote Nolan's Joker. Even when it's true to the comic books, where Jennifer also retained her persona and intellect in Hulk form.

Bottom line: I think female Marvel fans will love this show. As a male fan I realize that it wasn't made exclusively for my demographic but I still find it very enjoyable. MCU Bruce was always a bit dorky and I really don't feel he's getting an unfair or uncharacteristic treatment here. I can't wait to see where Kat Coiro, Jessica Gao et al are taking the MCU's latest offering.

A satisfying end for an overall very enjoying show. We knew from the start that the writers had to work within the constraints of the continuity, so this was never going to end with a conclusion. The show is meant to be watched in between the prequels and Rogue One followed by the original trilogy and it does a great job at filling this space with events that feel meaningful even though they did not need to be told.

After reading some of the other reviews, I feel compelled to add a personal note. As a lifelong Star Wars fan ever since Episode IV (THE Star Wars), I absolutely love all this unexpected new fan fare. To think I spent most of my youth and young adulthood believing we would never get to see another Star Wars movie or TV show. Then came the prequels and I was deeply disappointed in Star Wars for the first and last time when I saw The Phantom Menace.

I eventually managed to let go of my resentment when I rewatched the prequels and asked myself, is this really as vastly superior as you remember it? Is this high art to rival Shakespearean drama and the Victorian novel? Of course it wasn't. This was pulp. Gloriously cheesy popcorn pulp with very mixed acting performances just like the latest installment of the franchise.

It was back then that I stopped putting my childhood memories of SW on a pedestal and decided to approach all new content with an open mind. I wish more people would come around to do this instead of trying to ruin the enjoyment of younger fans who grow up with newer characters and love them the same way we loved the OT or the prequels when we were kids. Life is too short to hate and resent new bonus content that unexpectedly fell in your lap, something that was never owed to you, because it doesn't live up to your rose-tinted view of the past.

I look at new movies and shows and see new cosplay opportunities for demographics who previously lacked them. I see photos of conventions with children cosplaying as Rey or Finn and people my age dressed as Old Luke or Leia. How is this not wholly positive? Let's all be glad our beloved franchise keeps growing and expanding and increasingly offers something for everyone.

I made it to the end of season 2 and it was entertaining enough, but I can only watch a person make all the same mistakes all over again so many times. I also find this portrait of the LGBTQ+ community a bit depressing. Is that really how Hollywood writers see us? A bunch of hyper-promiscuous drug addicts? It's like the goal was to pack all negative stereotypes about the so-called "lifestyle" into a single show, with a generous helping of bi erasure. Takes me right back to the '80s, which wasn't a great time for us.

And there it was, summed up in one line. The single best, most harrowing portrayal of mental health struggles and their traumatic origins in the history of serial television. I usually have a profound dislike for "journey into the mind" episodes that serve as an all too convient deux ex machina or simply as filler, but this wasn't that. This was something else entirely, with an Oscar-worthy performance by its namesake Mr. Isaac.

What an episode. It packed more worldbuilding and lore than some of the recent Star Wars movies. The effects were big screen quality, especially during the little history lesson. Who would have thought that everyone's favorite Imperial security droid could be creepier than any Terminator! This was one for the fans from start to finish. Now I can't wait for the next Mandalorian season!

It seemed like an interesting premise, but I couldn't get into this show. Early on, we're introduced to a 25 year old female lead and her 28 year old boyfriend. I thought surely she must be a teacher or maybe the coach, but it turns out we're supposed to believe they're both high school age teenagers. I'm sorry, but this simply doesn't work anymore in the 21st century, the golden age of realistic TV.

Hollywood movies and TV shows can do better and have done better in the past. Take Saved by the Bell for example, or the 16 year old Molly Ringwald in Breakfast Club. If the production company is unwilling to accept the limitations of teen labor laws, simply change the premise to college students or an adult soccer team. Pretend-teenagers going on 30 look ridiculous to audiences outside of the US and pose a major problem for the self-image of actual teenagers, who see these mature actors waking up in the morning with perfect hair and makeup during a time in their lives when they're already feeling insecure and overly body-conscious. It's time to stop accepting the tiresome Dawson casting trope.

It took a while to introduce all the chess pieces, but now the board is finally set up and it becomes clear how masterfully the writers weave some of the finest Marvel works together.

The backbone of the show is of course the excellent Hawkeye solo comic run (or duo run actually, seeing as this was where we first met Kate Bishop). It is joined by another masterful comic series, namely the "Parts of a Hole" story arc in the 1998 Daredevil run that introduced Maya Lopez aka Echo. Which brings us to Netflix's genre-defining Daredevil show and my favorite TV Marvel villain, the ominous "big man", who plays a big role indeed in Maya's life. The final ingredients in this delectable stew are the MCU events of Infinity War / Endgame and the Black Widow movie.

It's almost too much for a single mini series, but the writers make it work at the risk of leaving everyone but well-versed Marvel fans in a breathless haze. This episode alone could have easily filled an entire feature film and I have a feeling that the final episode will be even more densely packed. Which works perfectly fine for me as a Marvel aficionado, but I'm a little concerned for the confused minds of some reviewers who appear to be under the impression that Kate was created for this TV series in order to steal the show from Hawkeye and advance some sinister agenda.

To clear up this misunderstanding, Kate *is* Hawkeye and has been for years. So is Clint Barton. This isn't the first time two costumed vigilantes share the same moniker and it shouldn't come as a surprise that a show dubbed Hawkeye features both eponymous characters. Someone who thinks Disney+ is ruining "their" heroes must be woefully unfamiliar with the source material. Which means these aren't their heroes. They're ours. The MCU is created by and for Marvel fans. If people have a problem with the diversity and progressivism that have been Marvel's trademark since the 1960s and a hallmark of the creative arts in general, the MCU might not be their cup of tea.

It's hard to ignore that this is Netflix doing for the US police forces what Hollywood has long been doing for the US military. In an era where people increasingly realize that there aren't just a few bad apples (and are the remaining apples who look the other way really good apples?) comes a PR show that heroifies the police and greatly exaggerates the dangers of a job that is statistically safer than farm work or garbage collection, all the while avoiding difficult socio-ethnic conversations.

Of course our likeable Canadian-American hero quickly woos the most desirable girl on the force. And of course she's Asian but not too Asian (Hollywood-Asian, just the right amount to appeal to a mainstream audience.) Needless to say he saves lives on a daily basis and is a paragon of virtue. It's all very cringeworthy and I hate myself a little for enjoying the show as much as I admittedly do. In my defense, it's impossible to resist the ol' Nathan Fillion Charm.

This episode was just a bit of brainless fun with so many easter eggs and fanservice. I found it very enjoyable and it was obvious that the writers enjoyed themselves too. Thor and the Guardians o.t.G., who always had a more light-hearted tone than the rest of the MCU, made the perfect cast for this intergalactic spring break romp.

I thoroughly enjoyed this caper that reminded me of Ocean's Eleven with a side of Lupin the Third and just a hint of Indiana Jones. The final plot twist was a bit predictable, but the film still packed a few surprises towards the end.

Everything else about this movie was rather atrocious. Cheap effects, paper-thin plot.

Aside from that, I have a bit of an issue with the premise "What if witches were (a) real and (b) evil." Countless people have been persecuted and murdered in the past over silly superstitions. Imagine if a movie like this were made about any other much-maligned demographic. E.g., "what if blood libel were true and they really deserved to be genocided for sacrificing children". Sounds horrible? So is this. Why do we allow religious hate groups to justify their past crimes against humanity with this tripe?

MUCH better than the first part. Like day and night. I actually cared for the protagonists this time. Here's to hoping the third and final movie can live up to the second installment.

...are pretty much the only '90s slasher feature in this movie that feels authentic. I have no idea what the critics saw in this film. It's watchable, but that's about the highest praise I can muster.

I just started watching the second episode, and I'm already hearing lines being repeated that were rehashed ad nauseam in the awful first episode. "He's not even close to being ready." For the fifth time at least. And it's just one of many sentiments that keep being regurgitated. You'll never live up to his legacy, you'll never be good enough, we live by a code, respect the code, that's not the code, you broke the code, blargh. No wonder the critics thought this one a stinker.

To be fair, the pilot episode picked up a little towards the end. That's why I'm giving it 4 stars even though it felt like a 2/10 for the first 30 minutes. Here's to hoping the show picks up the pace a little more and stops endlessly ruminating on the same shallow thoughts and simplistic moral problems. We've all read and heard them a thousand times before. I mean, this is not exactly unexplored territory. Everyone tries to copy Watchmen or Red Son these days. Even Millar tries to copy his own best work, and fails because he only shines when he gets to work with well-established characters. His own original characters are paper-thin with the personality of an unripe avocado.

Bottom line: In this golden age of TV, superhero shows have to do better. This feels more like 2015's "Powers" than The Boys, also in terms of acting and costume design (seriously, what's with these square angular muscle suits? Who thought the low-polygon look was a good idea?). Above all, you can't make this subject matter too dry and serious. It needs at least a little self-aware humor. Several recent shows have gotten the formula just right, from The Boys over WandaVision to Invincible. Maybe the producers ought to take note, even if it means deviating from the dry source material.