raccoons are my favorite animal now
less glib more serious: very heartfelt movie that still has Gunn's mean streak, but makes room for earnest sentiment. An MCU movie that isn't constantly reminding you that it's an MCU movie, that feels like an actual movie rather than an exercise in IP maintenance. That sounds like damning with faint praise, but I genuinely loved it. It's Rocket's movie, but even Star Lord's character arc worked for me despite my very strong dislike…
Cate Blanchett once again proving her status as honorary lesbian. Incredible performance. Tar threads an incredibly fine needle. A little to the left and it's a Rian Johnson-esque movie that is too online. A little to the right and it's a cynical "satire" of "cancel culture". Tar deftly avoids these pitfalls by sticking to its protagonist. A few elements seem off, but they only highlight how well the rest of the film works. I'm not sure, for example, what the…
did you know how Han Solo got his name? it's in this movie but it's so boring I already forgot.
Sharp dialogue and it really moves along at a cracking pace, but I found myself emotionally uninvolved, and the ending felt like a fairy tale version of how it really would have ended. I half-expected it to be a dream sequence. A strange ending for a movie otherwise clear-eyed about what its characters are doing and what the material effects of that are.
I rewatch this series every few years, usually in the winter, and it's a tradition I'll happily keep up. The series is a bit uneven - hence the four stars. At its best, it's an easy 5 stars, but there are enough meandering bits and visually barely legible shaky cam action scenes to bring the overall package down a bit.
It's hard to be overly critical of the show given the involvement of the real-life veterans who served not only…
Nothing about this is exceptionally clever or subtle but I sure was entertained regardless! Just a good bit of fun, solid bits, great cast, and I have to say it's really cool to see a movie where the protagonist is a sex worker and the movie isn't weird about it in any way. It's just the job that she does. What a pleasant surprise. If I were in a fouler mood I'd probably think this is an unnecessarily cynical and…
I had to show this to my partner and it's still mostly really fun. It's messy and you can tell a ton of stuff was cut from the final edit. It probably would have worked better as a TV show, but what's there still mostly works. The dialogue is fun, the characters are broad but mostly well-drawn and the movie takes almost all of them as seriously as it needs to. It's very Twin Peaks-y in that sense. The plot…
This is a pretty big blow for those who thought filmmakers with a vision could somehow rise above the MCU formula. This is the formula through and through, setting up a Disney+ streaming series in between beautiful and heartfelt scenes laced with genuine grief and pain. If Coogler can't or isn't allowed to do it, there is little hope for anyone else.
It's an unenviable task Coogler and co. were saddled with, and while it does lead to the most…