Recap: This Week in Movie News 2/22-2/28

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle. This is our weekly news recap for entertainment stories that I feel didn’t have enough to discuss in its own article. This was a slower news week, but I still have three stories I want to discuss. As always, these are in no specific order.

1. Spider-Man 3 gets an official title. So after a full day of the cast trolling us with fake titles, we got the official title for Spider-Man: No Way Home. As expected were continuing the trend of every movie having home in the title. There’s nothing super exciting about this, but it makes perfect sense after the events of Far From Home. What I want to discuss more are the three fake titles the cast said. So it has been long speculated and confirmed by some insiders that this movie will feature Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men. I feel like three fake titles and three Spider-Men is not a coincidence, especially since you can connect each title to each Spider-man. Phone Home is Tom Holland’s version, as he would most likely be a fugitive after the events of the previous film. Homewrecker refers to Garfield’s who has ruined Gwen’s family and home twice, being somewhat responsible for the death of her father and eventually Gwen herself. Home Slice is Maguire’s version as it’s referencing the iconic “Pizza Time” meme that everyone knows from those films. This is obviously just all a theory, but I think there’s enough evidence to support it. Either way, this is my most anticipated film of the year and no title would’ve changed that. 

2. Superman reboot in the works at Warner Bros. with JJ Abrams producing. Ok, I am going to try to be neutral here. Abrams is good at rebooting franchises even if he is terrible at finishing them and Man of Steel being divisive is putting it nicely. Now my non-neutral perspective. SCREW YOU WARNER BROS. I’m so sick of how you’re handling the DC brand. You are far too reactionary and now you’re gonna reboot Superman, although Cavil is now more popular than ever and has a loyal following. You have again and again screwed over this franchise, and I’m sick of it. Rant over this can work as its own thing just like the new Pattinson Batman film which looks incredible. This really depends to me on who you cast as Superman. I will reserve my final judgment till then. Prove me wrong, Warner Bros.

3. Avatar Studios has been created to expand the universe. I have mixed emotions about this. The Last Airbender is one of the greatest animated shows ever. However, the live-action film is an infamous cinematic disaster. I am glad the theatrical film they’re working on is animated and as long as the original creators are involved, there is potential. This is an incredibly rich universe with plenty of stories to pull from. But you mess up with this fanbase again after the first film it’ll be an even bigger disaster.

    So guys, that’s it for this weekly news Recap! As always, if you enjoyed it, give it a share and I’ll see you next time. 

Tom & Jerry (2021) Review

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! We’ve got a new release this weekend with the latest live-action-animation hybrid with Tom & Jerry. While the film was met with a dismal critical response with a terrible 25% on Rotten Tomatoes, it got an A- from paying theater audiences that were polled. These live-action animation hybrids are the worst that a kid’s movie might be, but this had an okay trailer. So after all this, am I on the critic side or the audience side? This is Tom and Jerry (2021).

    So honestly, I’m somewhere in the middle I don’t side with critics or audiences. I did not love this movie and their parts of it that are rough to watch. That being said, there is also a fair share of this movie that while nothing special was charming and enjoyable as someone who grew up on the old cartoons. First, let’s talk about the title characters Tom & Jerry. Thankfully, they kept accurate to the old cartoons and they don’t talk ever. While they’re obviously CG, I appreciate the effort to make them look hand-drawn and when the movie focuses on them it’s a lot of fun. Chloe Grace Moretz does well as our human lead. These actors must act off of nothing, and I thought she did the best of the cast. Michael Pena is good at playing a jerk and has some fun moments, but honestly, his character was so much of a jerk I couldn’t enjoy him. Rob Delaney has a lot of fun moments in his supporting role. Colin Jost and Pallavi Sharda are both fine in their supporting roles, though Jost definitely gets more standout moments. Ken Jeong is okay in his role, but he’s just there to add star power without using his comedic talents.

    Tim Story directs, and I think does better than people are giving him credit for. There is nothing special about the directing but the way the animated characters interact with real-life people was dynamic. Kevin Costello writes the script to mixed results. So it’s obvious to keep the budget down they wanted to use the human characters as much as possible. There are parts of this movie where Tom and Jerry just disappear. This would be okay if I cared about any of these humans other than Moretz, but I didn’t. Still, this movie had several moments that made me laugh, and all the stuff involving Tom and Jerry made me laugh pretty hard. One side note: the hip hop soundtrack was hilariously out of place and didn’t work at all.

    Overall, Tom and Jerry was an average kids’ movie. There are enjoyable moments, but the human characters don’t work outside of Moretz. This movie tore me on what score to give this movie as it really straddles that bad/good line for me. After seeing the film twice I have settled on a...

    6/10

    So, guys, that’s it for this review I’ll have tons this coming weekend but until then if you liked the article give it a share and I’ll see you next time.

WandaVision Episode 8: Thoughts and Theories

     Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! It’s WandaVison time as we take a deep dive into this week’s episode. As always, this will be a spoiler-filled article.

    Ya’ll I’m literally in awe. This episode was everything to me and easily one of my favorite pieces of MCU content. It shocked me; I bawled tears many times and squealed in joy. I can’t overstate how much this worked for me. We start the episode with the expected Salem flashback, seeing Agatha’s origins. Some things I immediately noticed besides the obvious display of how powerful Agatha is was the fact that all the magic was a different color. I have a theory that it might correspond to a different infinity stone, but I’m not sure how yet. I also think the yo magic shark commercial was about Agatha now. What she did to her fellow witches looked a lot like what happened to the kid in that commercial. The flashback ends and we pick up exactly where the last episode ended with Wanda in Agatha’s basement with the kids missing. So while the MCU has mentioned witches before specifically in the Thor films, it’s nice to see more about how it all works. Agatha says Pietro who she calls Fietro was what’s called a crystalline possession, where it’s her eyes and ears but he is an actual person. Since he does still have Quicksilver’s powers, I’m becoming convinced that this actually is the Fox Quicksilver. While I definitely think in retrospect, I have overanalyzed parts of this show, I’m still not convinced Agatha’s rabbit is just a rabbit. 

    We now get to the meat of the episode as Agatha takes Wanda through events of her past, trying to figure out how Wanda did this. This whole idea felt very Christmas Carol esque to me. So the first flashback we get to see is with a young Wanda and her family in Sokovia. The moment this scene started I knew it was going to be the bomb we heard about in Age of Ultron. I was bracing for it the entire scene, but they brilliantly lured me into a sense of happiness and the second I let my guard down the explosion happened. I jumped so high despite expecting it. This scene also confirms the popular theory that Wanda chose sitcoms for her world because they’ve always been her escape from reality. I like the change that Wanda has always had her powers because of being a witch, but the infinity stone amplified them. This makes much more sense to me than the bomb just being a straight-up dud.

    We now go to where Wanda volunteered for Strucker’s experiments to destroy the Avengers. They instruct Wanda to touch Loki’s scepter as we hear everyone who touches it dies. Before she can, the stone comes to her with the shell cracking, revealing the Mind Stone as its exploding light. As Wanda looks into the light, she sees what I assume is a vision of the future with her in the classic comic book costume. As she passes out and gets put in quarantine, we see her watching The Brady Bunch on a tv. The episode shown includes the baby doll that Vision was testing changing diapers on in episode three. 

    Next, we get to see Avengers HQ shortly after the events of Age of Ultron, and this is where I got emotional. Wanda and Vision interacting now have a completely fresh feeling than it did before this show. I felt so bad for Wanda when she said the only thing that would bring her comfort is seeing her brother again. This explains why she would so easily buy the different-looking Pietro. I know the line has already become a meme, but I’m sorry the “What is grief if not love persevering” hit me hard. I loved seeing Wanda and Vision get to be happy together and it just hurt more knowing what was coming.

    Finally, we get to the final flashback of the episode where Wanda goes to SWORD HQ after the events of Avengers: Endgame to retrieve Vision’s body. Now we were “shown” and told earlier by Director Hayward that Wanda broke in and stole the body. We now learn that was a blatant lie. Hayward lets Wanda in as he’s trying to trick her into reviving Vision because he wants to use him as a weapon. I already hated Hayward and didn’t think I could dislike him anymore. But showing Wanda Vision’s mangled cut-up corpse without warning her is despicable. Wanda eventually breaks the glass and flies down, giving Hayward the evidence he needs. This is where the crying started as she uses her magic, where the mind stone used to lie and cries saying I can’t feel you. After rewatching Infinity War recently this especially broke me. Wanda leaves peacefully and as we see an envelope in her car, she drives to Westview. She walks into an empty lot and opens the envelope. This is where I totally broke as we see that Vision had bought land for him and Wanda to build a house and grow old together in. Wanda breaks down crying and in her grief, her power explodes creating a house, a new Vision, and taking the town captive. As they sit on the couch together and we see the current Wanda standing behind them, it broke me. 

    Agatha now has her answers and lets Wanda go of her control. As Wanda hears her children screaming for help, she runs outside and sees Agatha flying in full evil witch mode, strangling the children. She tells Wanda that she was supposed to be a myth as she is capable of spontaneous creation. Agatha ends by telling Wanda that she is using Chaos Magic and that this makes her the Scarlet Witch. Now you can debate the cheesiness of the name drop, but it made me squeal in joy to hear her get called that. Also, it seems the Scarlet Witch is more than just a name it’s some sort of secret witch prophecy. We now get the post-credits scene where Hayward brings what’s known as White Vision online using the power from the missile he shot at Wanda in Episode 5. Now I know about who this character is in the comics but I’m hoping because of the frequent mentions of Ultron throughout this series that this Vision will have Ultron’s voice. 

    With only one episode to go, they have a lot to wrap up in next week’s finale. I hope the episode is long enough to give the show a satisfying ending, even though I know this is only part one of this overarching story. I haven’t been scoring the individual episodes, but I’m just going to say this was a 10/10 for me. I adored every single second of this episode. So guys that’s it for this week’s WandaVison if you enjoyed give it a share and I’ll see you next time. 

Pixar's Luca: Teaser Trailer: Thoughts

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! The second trailer thoughts of the day are here with the new Disney Pixar film Luca. This was in my most anticipated films of 2021 list as Pixar really hit me hard last year with two fantastic films. So here are my thoughts on the first look at our latest Pixar film. 

    This looks absolutely delightful! The animation is stunning but I'm glad they didn't try to go photorealistic with the characters it feels more like old-school Aardman which I am a huge fan of. The characters look charming and I did not see the sea monster twist coming that got a good laugh out of me. I really hope this movie can do the balance of heartwarming and heartbreaking which the best Pixar can do. The final bit of this trailer cracked me up. I'm so excited to see the full scene. Just one of them getting water on the other revealing themselves was already funny. However, I lost it when the dad's cat had a mustache exactly like is. I rewatched that one-bit several times. Pixar's Luca will hopefully be releasing in theaters this summer. I'm hoping this can meet my expectations and be one of the best films of 2021. You can see the trailer for Luca below. (trailers don't always show on mobile)

Army of the Dead Teaser Trailer Thoughts

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! We've got two trailer thoughts today but first, we're starting with the Teaser for Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead. The film will release on Netflix this May. As I have said I'm a big fan of a lot of Snyder's work and this looks fun from the very brief look we got. It reminds me a lot of Suicide Squad trailers with the way the text is and the cast. Hopefully, this movie actually can live up to its marketing. However, I also got vibes from the Dead Rising video game series. Honestly, there's not a ton to say about such a short teaser. I'm happy that this looks like it has a huge budget and in a summer with a lacking theatrical callender hopefully, this can help make up for it. I love the casting decisions and the story seems fun. As always I hope for the best. The trailer for Army of the Dead is below. (may not show on mobile)

Flashback: MCU Edition: Doctor Strange

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! Today we are continuing our MCU Flashback with 2016’s Doctor Strange. The film was highly anticipated with a trailer that featured visuals that evoked Inception and coming after the beloved Captain America: Civil War. The film eventually earned 677.7 Million dollars worldwide and got good critic and audience response. However, while well-liked, the character certainly wasn’t anyone’s favorite until Avengers: Infinity War. With Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness set to be the biggest Marvel movie of Phase 4, let’s look back on the introduction for this character.

    This movie is where I would start my mid-level rankings of Marvel films. I love a lot of things in this movie and it’s super rewatchable but there’s one key issue that holds it back for me that we’ll get to. Benedict Cumberbatch is another pitch-perfect MCU casting choice. Cumberbatch is a phenomenal actor and can do dramatic scenes and comedic moments. Chiwetel Ejiofor is an actor I love, and he does a good job with what he’s given. His role while not without standout moments is basically a sequel setup. Tilda Swinton gives an outstanding performance as The Ancient One, her role is fairly straightforward but I love how she delivers her dialogue. Rachel McAdams gives a fine performance, she’s been playing this basic girlfriend character in Hollywood forever and brings nothing new to it. My favorite performance in the movie is from Benedict Wong, his side character is hilarious and one of my favorite supporting characters in the MCU.

    As for the villain, a rogue sorcerer played by Mads Mikkelsen, I have mixed feelings. He has next to no motivation and isn’t written very well. At the same time, he has some great comedic moments and an intimidating physical presence, and his screen time that doesn’t involve our heroes is only one brief scene. He is basically a plot device, but an effective one. Dormamu is also nothing but an evil entity, but his one scene is easily my favorite in the film.

    Scott Derrickson did a superb job with his first mega-blockbuster. All the action sequences are exciting, inventive, and easy to follow. The script holds this movie back for me. Now it’s a good script with a fun story, likable leads, and plenty of strong action and comedic beats. So what’s the problem then? It’s painfully generic in its overall story. The way they tell Strange’s origin feels more like Phase One Marvel than Phase Three. As for some of the film’s other aspects, the musical score is memorable and the visual effects are outstanding. 

    As for the credits scenes, we have two still. The first one is literally just a scene from 2017’s Thor Ragnarok, but it was cool at the time. The second one sets up Ejiofor’s character to be at least one of the main villains in Doctor Strange 2. 

    So overall I do still really like this movie and I’ve watched it tons of times. The overarching generic story holds this back from being top-tier Marvel for me. So guys, that’s it for this MCU: Flashback. I hope you all enjoyed it and I’ll see you tomorrow. 

Superman & Lois: Episode One Review

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle. We’ve got something different tonight as the new show Superman & Lois had its season premiere tonight. I have seen some other CW Arrowverse shows, but I don’t follow them super close, but this seems to stand on its own so far. I was not at all excited going into this episode, the idea of this show seemed terrible to me and I was not impressed at all by the trailer. Now that I’ve seen the first episode, here are my spoiler-free thoughts.

    I am very... conflicted. There are things about this I really enjoyed, however, there was a lot I kind of hate. Ok, so I am okay with different interpretations of these characters, as a massive BVS defender I don’t want every portrayal of Superman to be a Christopher Reeve clone. First, I want to discuss the acting. Tyler Hoechlin impressed me. His Clark Kent was really engaging, and he’s a decent Superman from what I’ve seen so far. Elizabeth Tulloch did not impress me as Lois Lane. This might be my least favorite version of the character I’ve ever seen, but I’m willing to see if she improves. Alex Garfin and Jordan Elsass did fine work as Superman’s kids. Garfin seemed the more impressive of the two, but they seem to have a believable brotherly dynamic. Inde Navarrette did great in her minor role in this episode, and I’m excited to see where they take her character. The episode was well directed, the action sequences look pretty good for a TV series and the music really impressed me. Small note, but I hate Superman’s suit, I actually burst out laughing when I saw it. 

    In terms of the script and overall story, this is where I’m torn. As an Elseworlds story, I’m totally okay with this type of story. I also love the idea of jumping in with a Superman who has been at this for years and now got married to Lois. However, while I’m hoping the show addresses things in the future, I wanted to scream at how characters were complaining about Superman not being around for family things when he was off stopping a nuclear meltdown. If he doesn’t stop these meltdowns, he might not have a family to go back to. Also, DC has always been about gods among men, and I felt like they completely missed the point of that. The setup for Lois to have an investigative arc felt comically forced. Now I need to talk about the ending of the episode. This is a very minor spoiler, if you don’t want to see it skip the rest of this paragraph. Ok, so we find out the villain is a race bent version of a famous Superman villain. Now I’m okay with race-bending characters, again many interpretations. What I cannot ignore is the only black character with any screen type of note is a villain. I don’t even usually notice things like this, and it stuck out like a sore thumb. 

    So after watching the 90 minute pilot for Superman & Lois, I’m more impressed than I was by the trailer but still very torn on the project. I’ll see how the next few episodes go before I make a final judgment. So, guys, that’s it for this review, if you enjoyed it give it a share and I’ll see you guys tomorrow. 

5/10

Flashback: MCU Edition: Captain America: Civil War

      Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! Today we’re continuing our MCU Flashback with the start of Phase Three. Captain America: Civil War or as everyone likes to joke, Avengers 2.5 got released in 2016 with an insane amount of hype behind it. Introducing a new Spider-Man and Black Panther along with being an iconic comic story led to an insane amount of hype. There was a big thing among comic book fans going into that year, as it also was the year of Batman v Superman. It led to an intense Marvel vs DC debate. If you want my thoughts on BVS, I have an article on it but it disappointed the vast majority of people which led to even more pressure on Civil War to deliver a crowd-pleasing film. It did not disappoint with acclaim from critics and audiences immediately, eventually grossing a massive $1.153 billion worldwide. At the time this was the biggest Marvel film yet, now that we’ve had bigger things let’s look back at the last installment in the Captain America trilogy. 

    I adore this movie from start to finish. Every single second of this movie is firing on all cylinders for me. Every single cast member turns in their best performance to date in the MCU. The standout returning characters are Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. Sebastian Stan, Elizabeth Olsen, and Paul Rudd. Evans and Downey Jr. are the heart of this film. As riveting as I find their performances, you do truly hate to see characters you have grown to see as friends fight. Sebastian Stan finally gets to show his chops while being a good guy for most of the film. After being skeptical of Olsen initially in Ultron, she fully won me over here. The scenes with her and Paul Bettany are among the film’s best slower moments. Rudd has a minor role, but his comedic timing is so strong it is instantly memorable. Chadwick Boseman was pitch-perfect casting for Black Panther. While I love him in other films, the intensity of his performance here is so memorable for me. Tom Holland is easily the best Spider-Man, yet he is the only one to feel like the age he is supposed to be. The most underrated part of this movie though is Daniel Bruhl’s performance as the villain Zemo. Especially on rewatch, it hit how good of a villain he really is and Bruhl plays the quiet villain so well.

    The Russo Brothers return to direct after bringing Captain America into the modern day with The Winter Soldier. Up to this point in the MCU, this film has my favorite action sequences. Every single scene feels like it has weight and intensity to it that even Winter Soldier couldn’t consistently keep up. The airport fight feels like the right balance of fun and tension as not every character is trying to kill each other. The tension goes to 110 percent in the finale with the three-way fight between Tony, Steve, and Bucky. I still hold my breath during this fight all these years later. Despite no one getting fatally harmed in this scene, I fully believed that these characters were willing to kill each other if it came to that point. The script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is basically perfect to me. Despite the insane amount of characters in this movie, it still is 100 percent Captain America’s story. The conflict adds a lot of weight to Ultron and felt like the perfect balance of seriousness and humor for me. Every single character gets a moment to shine, and we finally have another great MCU villain. Zemo is a phenomenal villain and other than Thanos, the only one to win. We do not discuss his addition to the overall MCU enough, without his character in this movie they would’ve beat Thanos in Infinity War. All the visual effects are still great today and the cinematography is less shaky camera than The Winter Soldier, thankfully. 

    As for credits scenes, the first one was a great setup for Black Panther showing us Bucky going to Wakanda to get Hydra out of his head. This sets up some things that became crucial for Infinity War as well. The second one is just a fun scene and joke with Spider-Man, but I can always use more of Holland’s take on this character.

    So overall Captain America: Civil War is my favorite MCU film up to this point. While not quite a masterpiece for me, it’s one of my all-time favorite films and is one I return to regularly. So, guys, that’s it for this Flashback: MCU Edition, as always if you enjoyed it give it a share and I’ll see you all next time.

Recap: This Week in Movie News 2-15-2-21

    Hey everyone and welcome back to Flashback! This is the weekly series where I talk about all the entertainment news stories of the week that I didn’t have enough to discuss covering a full article. Today I have four stories I want to cover. So in no specific order, let’s get into it.

    1. Danny Elfman confirms he is doing the musical score for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. So I have very mixed feelings about this choice. Elfman has made some incredible music in his life however he hasn’t been the same recently. That being said, he’s worked with Rami before to incredible results. His theme for the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies is still one of the greatest superhero themes ever. While Elfman certainly wouldn’t have been one of my top choices, I hope Rami can get the best out of him. 

2. Paddington 3 is officially in the works. We could all use more of this adorable bear in today’s world. So I was not a big fan of the original Paddington film. It had its moments but overall didn’t work for me. It shocked me that Paddington 2 was nothing but pure joy and one of the best films of 2017. I am concerned since Paul King is not returning to direct as he’s busy with the pointless Wonka movie. However, as long as they still involve him in some capacity, I hope this can recapture the magic of the second film. 

3. Edgar Wright is set to direct a remake of The Running Man. This is a phenomenal choice if this ever gets made. I cannot count the times in recent years I’ve heard of Wright signing onto a project and then nothing else. The original film with Arnold Schwarzenegger is fun even today and has relevant commentary, but overall is pretty dated. I have not gotten around to reading Stephen King’s original novel as I’ve only recently read his work. Wright has made many films I adore and even the ones he’s made I’m more mixed on the directing is not the problem so I’m optimistic if this happens. 

4. Rian Johnson says his Star Wars trilogy is still happening, though not currently in development. Hahahahahahahahahaha! I’m sorry, but I will get shocked if this ever actually happens. Now I want to clarify I am a fan of Rian Johnson, Knives Out, and Looper were some of the best movies of their respective years. Also, I am not a Last Jedi hater, while I don’t love every decision that movie made, it’s a phenomenally directed film and there are parts of it I adore. All that being said, Lucasfilm are complete idiots if they let this trilogy happen. The Last Jedi destroyed the hype behind the new era of Star Wars and divided the fanbase to a damaging level. I’d love to see a trilogy where he had total creative control from the start, I think it would be a fascinating trilogy but it does not make business sense for this to happen. 

    So, guys, that’s it for this Recap in this week’s movie news. As always, if you enjoyed the article, give it a share and I’ll see you guys tomorrow with the next chapter of our Flashback: MCU Edition. 

Flora and Ulysses Review (Disney+ Original Movie)

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! We’ve got another new movie review today for Flora & Ulysses. This film is based on the award-winning book of the same name from 2013. The plot follows the adventures of a young girl named Flora and a super-powered squirrel. Released on Disney+ on February 19th of 2021, the film was met with an overall positive response. With that said, let’s get to the review...

    I am pleasantly surprised with this movie. I haven’t been the biggest fan of most of Disney+’s original films, but this had me smiling throughout. Matilda Lawler was a great find for Disney. She has great comedic timing and handles the dramatic scenes fairly well. She’s not perfect but for a child, actress it’s an excellent job. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth does a fine job with what he’s given, but his role doesn’t demand much. Despite that, he is pretty good at physical comedy. Alyson Hannigan and Ben Schwartz were a believable couple, and I bought their romance more than I expected too. Out of the two, Schwartz just has more to do, so his moments hit better. I was not a fan of Danny Pudi’s animal control villain. This character just felt so out of place with everything else. However, he had one hilarious scene involving a CGI cat. 

    Lena Khan is a pretty talented director, especially for her first Hollywood movie, and I hope she continues to improve. While nothing stood out about the direction, it’s definitely solid and above serviceable. The script by Brad Copeland based on Kate DiCamillo’s novel is pretty good. I haven’t read the novel, so I cannot speak to the accuracy of the film. I can say that while there are jokes that missed and moments that made me cringe, they were not the majority. There were plenty of moments here that had me laughing really hard, especially a Titanic joke that killed me. The main cast was all written likable, and this is easily my favorite message I’ve seen in a kid’s film in a long time. The CGI on the squirrel looked great and fairly convincing throughout. Despite getting some laughs out of me, the cat looked atrocious, though it didn’t really distract me much honestly. The movie moves at a good pace, though lost me when we weren’t following our leads. Still, at a brief 95 minutes, the movie flies by.

    So overall Flora & Ulysses was a pleasant surprise for me. While certainly not a movie I adored, they won me over with its charming innocence. If you’re looking for an easy-to-watch time killer give this a look it’s worth your time. So guys, that’s it for this review as always if you enjoyed it give it a share and I’ll see you next time. 

6.5/10

WandaVision Episode 7 Thoughts and Theories

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! Today we’re continuing our weekly series as we near the end of WandaVision. While this was not my favorite episode overall, I still thought this was really great. While most people seem to have still enjoyed it, this is the first episode since early in the season that people seem disappointed in. Despite my flaws, I think there is more to this episode than people realized, so let’s look into this week’s WandaVison. 

    So I think one of the first things that threw people off is this episode didn’t commit to a specific sitcom while also not giving us enough big answers immediately after last week. First thing I want to say Elizabeth Olsen better get nominated for an Emmy next year. She is phenomenal in this show, but especially this episode. So in the first scene, Billy says his head hurts but later says Agnes is quiet on the inside. My guess is Billy can hear everyone’s suppressed personality, but because Agnes doesn’t have one, that’s why she’s quiet. I’m glad we wasted little time with Vision finding Darcy and freeing her mind, though I wish they could’ve gotten a little more dialogue together. Wanda is clearly going crazy as she’s losing control of her reality. The house glitching constantly was a nice visual touch to illustrate things. 

    So I’m more sure than ever I think Hayward has something to do with Ultron with the revelation of Hayward’s sole goal was to bring back Vision. I was initially disappointed in who Monica’s engineer is, but I don’t think the people that dropped it off is the friend she’s been referring to. So the commercial for a depression pill called Nexus has several meanings. While we can take it at face value, there is so much more to it. In Age of Ultron, Nexus was the world internet hub where Jarvis scattered himself to fight Ultron. It also has a connection to the multiverse that I don’t want to spoil the connection. I figured Monica’s vehicle to get into the hex would fail, but I didn’t expect her to go charging in. I loved that scene so much, though. That Monica got her powers through sheer force of will from resisting Wanda’s mind control as she hears the voices of her mom and Captain Marvel gave me chills. Vison and Darcy interacting were funny, but it’s nice that Vision is now finally putting the pieces together. So I think Agnes was trying to stop Vision from returning home, not Wanda. 

    Now we come to the last eight minutes of this episode, which were by far my favorite. Monica rushing in to help Wanda only for Wanda to immediately lose it and attack Monica was amazing. Also, Wanda just tried to kill Monica she doesn’t know that her powers would save her. I really hope these two have a relationship after this show as I love their brief interactions. So, as expected, Agnes shows up at just the right moment to save Wanda as we set up the biggest scene of the episode. I’m glad Wanda quickly realizes wait where are the kids as the music and tone goes full horror. As she walks down in the basement on Agnes’ words, I felt chills from the stress. 

    Now we get the biggest moment of the episode that I had long speculated Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness from the comics. She is a witch who usually has been a mentor to Wadna, but clearly they're making her evil here. As she uses her powers to take over Wanda, we get a new opening sequence for the Agatha All Along show showing us she has been manipulating things from the beginning from bringing in Pietro and killing Sparky. My guess is this is to make the twins’ age up to where their powers will have fully matured. We finally got an end credits sequence where Monica opens the way to Agatha’s basement only to get ambushed by “Pietro”. 

    While not my favorite episode, this might be my favorite ending to any of the episodes yet. So, guys, that’s it for this week’s look into the latest WandaVision. We’ve got two episodes to go and my guess is next week will be a flashback episode. I cannot wait to see how this show ends and I hope it lives up to the hype the show has been building. As always, if you liked the article, give it a share and I’ll see you guy’s next time. 

Mortal Kombat (2021) Trailer Thoughts

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle. We’ve got another big trailer today, this time for the new Mortal Kombat film. While I am familiar with the video games and have played a few of them, I’m certainly not super well versed in them. I’ve also never seen the old films. With the lack of promotional material from the film and that video game movies usually suck, I did not have high expectations from this trailer. 

    This looks a million times better than I expected. The dialogue seems a little rough, though it could just be the way they edit the trailer. However, as this is a movie based on a fighting game, my number one priority is the fight scenes and they look phenomenal. I’m thrilled beyond anything that the studio is letting this be Rated R as it should be. The brief glimpses of the action have already made me geek out at the brutality of it. This movie is very similar to Godzilla vs Kong in that if the action is amazing, I’ll be more forgiving of other flaws. As for the new character Cole, while I understand the idea of an audience surrogate, I hope he is actually a good character. The visual effects and cinematography also look good from what we’ve seen. The acting is hard to judge at this point because we haven’t seen our main guy do anything. In normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be a movie I cared much about at all, but with how few movies are coming out these days this looks good enough to get me excited. You can see the trailer for Mortal Kombat below. Trailers don’t always show up on mobile.

Wait! How Did I Miss This? The Silence of the Lambs: 30th Anniversary

     Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle for my third article of the day. It’s been a busy day. After missing last week we’re back with another Wait! How Did I Miss This? In honor of the film’s 30th anniversary, I finally watched The Silence of the Lambs. I put this film off for years for the same reason I put off Seven until recently, while I have a strong stomach I got concerned these films would be really hard for me to watch. While certainly earning its R-Rating, this film is much tamer from an on-screen violence perspective than I expected. So let’s look into my thoughts on my first viewing of the best picture-winning classic.

    While not without some flaws, this is a fantastic film. This film made Jodie Foster a household name, and it’s easy to see why. Her performance is phenomenal, the way she sells the strength but also naivety of her character is incredible. Scott Glenn does great in his minor supporting role. Ted Levine doesn’t do much vocal acting through most of the film but he is a menacing physical presence and does fine when he does finally have to vocal act. Though I’m sure as many of you already know, the actual star of this film is Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. This is one of the best performances I have ever seen. He is absolutely terrifying despite how calm he acts. Any scene involving him is easily among the film’s best. 

    Jonathan Demme does a phenomenal job directing. He builds tension masterfully throughout the film. The script written by Thomas Harris and Ted Tally is overall great, though I found the first half of this movie more interesting than the second half. Also, there are some character decisions that feel too stupid for such smart characters. This is a beautifully shot and edited film. The film knows how to make you feel claustrophobic even in more open areas. At 119 minutes while I enjoyed the first half overall more, the film still flies by. Thankfully the film comes back to what I loved about the first half for its third act with an ending scene that I absolutely loved. 

    So with the anniversary of this film has sparked a conversation about it again in the film world and some controversy has begun that I would like to address quickly. So first is the way the world of this film reacts to a female FBI agent with almost every male character sexualizing her at some point. The film actually addresses this at one point when she confronts her boss about things he said to a police chief. Second is while it is not acceptable this movie is trying to portray the real world in 1990, at this time women in law enforcement still got not taken seriously. Now the other controversy that has come up is the discussion about the film’s possible depiction of Trans people. Obviously today the word transvestite is not socially acceptable, but it is accurate to the time. The second thing is, despite what some scenes show, the film explicitly says the Buffalo Bill is not transgender. Now could you argue about the way it’s written sure, but for the time this movie came out I don’t think there is anything controversial about it.

    So guys that’s it for this Wait! How Did I Miss This? As always, if you enjoyed it, give it a share. I’m glad I finally watched this brilliant film. That’s it for me today, and I’ll see you all tomorrow. 

Cruella Trailer (2021) My Thoughts

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle. We got a trailer today for one of the big films of 2021 Disney’s Cruella, which is currently set for a theatrical release at the end of May. I have not been excited about this movie at all. While I don’t hate all of Disney’s live-action remakes, I figured this would be most like Maleficent. That movie was one of my least favorite films of 2014, and while the sequel was better, it still wasn’t very good. My biggest problem with those films was their refusal to let one of Disney’s most iconic villains actually be evil instead of just misunderstood. I’m pleasantly surprised to say this seems from this trailer, at least that they’re letting her just be a full-on villain. 

    Emma Stone is a great casting choice for a younger Cruella, and she looks incredible. The accent isn’t perfect though I’m sure I’ll get used to it though her evil cackle is spot on. I’m excited to see more of the supporting cast. Joel Fry and Paul Walter Houser seem like excellent choices for these versions of Horace and Jasper. Emma Thompson and Mark Strong are both fantastic actors and I’m excited to see their role I just hope they’re not secret villains. In terms of costume and set design from what I can tell from this trailer, they absolutely nail that aspect. The idea of Cruella being a gang leader is something I never thought about, but I’m strangely intrigued by it. Now I’m already seeing a discussion about Cruella saying I am woman hear me roar. First, I think it’s a reference to Catwoman in Batman Returns, and also it feels very tongue in cheek. Though I agree with everyone, I couldn’t help but think of the Joker “we live in a society” meme during this trailer.

    Speaking of Joker, I have also seen people saying this is ripping off Joker and Harley Quinn from DC. I don’t see Harley Quinn at all in this other than an evil female character being the lead. Joker, however, I easily see. This reminds me so much of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker film. The trailer felt very similar in tone and music choice. Now, while I can see how it is a bit of a ripoff, I would like to offer an alternate perspective. Joker is a hard R-rated film meant only for adults. This is Disney and at worst is going to be a PG-13. While I didn’t love Joker, it was a massive hit, and makes sense to emulate that film’s success. Second, this film was already in production when Joker got released, so while the trailer may copy it if the films are similar, it’s mostly a coincidence.

    So overall I went from not at all being excited about this film to being cautiously optimistic. I still have some concerns, but the trailer was intriguing enough to get me on board for now. So, guys, that’s it for my thoughts on the Cruella trailer. As always, if you enjoyed give it a share and I’ll see you guy’s next time. You can see the trailer for Cruella below. (Videos don’t always show up on mobile)

Flashback: MCU Edition: Ant-Man (2015)

     Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle, today we’re wrapping up Phase Two of our MCU Flashback with the 2015 Ant-Man. There was a similar feeling around this film, as there was the first Guardians film. Everyone thought Ant-Man was just far too ridiculous for general audiences. Well, Marvel shut everyone up yet again, delivering another critical and commercial hit. While one of the lower-grossing new Marvel films, I’ve never met someone who didn’t like this movie or this character. Ant-Man became a much more crucial character, later on, so let’s look back at his introduction into the MCU.

    This movie is just an insane amount of fun throughout. Paul Rudd was perfect casting and a significant addition to the MCU. His comedic timing and chemistry with his supporting cast is amazing. Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lily are outstanding as Hank and Hope. Douglas brings the acting power for the crucial emotional moments while Lily nails the balance between humor and anger. Bobby Cannavale and Judy Greer are a welcome surprise as Rudd’s ex-wife and her new fiance. While it seems like they do at first, it’s extremely pleasant to see a divorced family not hate each other. Abby Ryder Fortson as Cassie Lang is one of the best child actor performances I’ve seen in a long time. She is so adorable and acts shockingly well off the adult cast. Anthony Mackie has a hilarious cameo in probably my favorite action scene in the film. The standouts though are easily Michael Pena, T.I., and David Dastmalchian. While the latter two get plenty of great comedic moments, Pena was the breakout here. Luis became so many people’s favorite character immediately, and every single one of his jokes lands for me. Corey Stoll gives an okay performance as the villain, but I’ll discuss his character more in the script.

    While I sometimes wish I could’ve seen what Edgar Wright would’ve done with this film before he left the project, Peyton Reed is no slouch. The action sequences are inventive and just tons of fun, taking full advantage of the shrinking and growing back and forth. While the script is great except for one aspect, the family drama and humor works incredibly well with the main heist plotline. All our heroes get robust character and humor moments to shine. Sadly, we’re back to yet another bad Marvel villain. Now Stoll does the best he can with the material, but this is such a boring, poorly written villain. Any scene where he’s not interacting with our leads is a massive bore. I want to give a special shout-out to the score by Christophe Beck and the cinematography by Russell Carpenter. The score really helps build the mood, especially in the action sequences it really stands out. This is one of my favorite looking Marvel films. The cinematography is stunning and I cannot take my eyes off of it.

    In terms of post-credits scenes, the first one is an excellent introduction for Evangeline Lily to become the Wasp in the sequel. The second sequence isn’t important now that Civil War is out, but it was huge when this film released. Civil War was extremely anticipated for me having read the comics, and the scene we got from the film with Bucky captured got me even more excited.

    So overall, I just have so much fun with this movie throughout, even with the terrible villain. I’m excited to start Phase Three with Captain America: Civil War. So, guys, that’s it for this MCU Flashback if you enjoyed it give it a share and I’ll see you next time.

Flashback: MCU Edition: Avengers: Age of Ultron

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! Today we’re continuing our MCU Flashback with Avengers: Age of Ultron. The film was a massive hit, but the critical response even from audiences was more varied. While most people enjoyed the film, it was almost universally agreed that it felt pointless and a step down from the first film. Well, looking back this film was setting an insane amount of things up so how has it aged now that the Infinity Saga is over.

    This is a rare MCU movie that just keeps getting better with age for me. Back in 2015, this was easily one of my most anticipated films of the year, but it took me three viewings before I was sure if I even liked it or not. Nowadays I see how important this film was to the overall story. So I want to start with my issues in what I still think is the weakest Avengers film. I felt they struggled to recapture that magic the first film had in its action scenes, they're still tons of fun but nothing chill-inducing for me. The Black Widow and Banner/Hulk romance is not a bad idea, but they never made it work in any of these films. Finally, as funny as I find this movie, the humor is occasionally a bit overkill with how non-stop it becomes. 

    Now let’s talk about what I love, which has only grown larger. I love this movie knows you are here to see the Avengers and just throws you right into the action. Introducing Wanda and Pietro with his eventual death gets handled much more strongly than I remember. However, Elizabeth Olsen’s accent is still a bit distracting. I think with WandaVison expanding on things I’ve grown more attached to their stories in retrospect. The party scene where they’re all just hanging out trying to lift Thor’s hammer is easily my favorite sequence. These characters are so interesting that I could just watch them talk for 2.5 hours. The farm sequence with Hawkeye is my second favorite sequence, and I feel like they really learned from the strengths of this part for Endgame. The ending battle is tons of fun with plenty of huge laughs, especially involving Hawkeye. This movie really is just nonstop fun scene after fun scene.

    Paul Bettany does excellent finally getting to physically act with the introduction of Vision. I still remember the theater’s reaction to the scene where he lifts the hammer. James Spader’s Ultron is a more menacing villain than I remembered. He is still occasionally a little too jokey, but that doesn’t take away from his many exceptional moments. This was the last time Joss Whedon worked with Marvel, and it’s easy to see why. There was clearly a struggle in some scenes of what Whedon wanted to do creatively and what Marvel required. In terms of credits scenes, there is only one this time, and it’s easily one of the most pointless ones as it got retconned down the line. It shows Thanos getting an infinity gauntlet, saying he would do things himself finally. The problem is they changed this in Avengers: Infinity War, which changed the origin of the glove.

    So overall, Avengers: Age of Ultron has grown on me considerably over the years. It’s still got its fair share of problems but now that I can see what Marvel was setting up this movie ties in nicely. So guys, that’s it for this MCU Flashback next time we’re wrapping up Phase 2 with Ant-Man. Hope you all enjoyed it and I’ll see you next time.

Recap: This Week in Movie News

    Hey everyone welcome to Recap: This Week in Movie News. This is going to be a very casual article where I just discuss my thoughts on various media stories from this past week. If I feel there is something big enough for its own article I will do so but if not you'll find it here. So let's talk about three particular news stories from this past week.

    1. Zack Snyder's Justice League Trailer Review

    So anyone who saw my most anticipated movies of 2021 or my article on why I think BVS is a masterpiece knows I'm insanely hyped for this movie. While I never hated Justice League 2017 as a whole as much as some people I was immensely disappointed and that movie has only gotten worse over time. The first time I saw this trailer I was on my phone and I was a little underwhelmed and couldn't see why everyone was loving it. Then I pulled it up on my PC with the audio cranked and had a completely different experience. This is a phenomenally put together trailer especially to hook in general audiences. The score and cinematography are pure Snyder glory. I had been craving a black suit, Superman since I left the cinema watching BVS in 2016, and it's even more beautiful than I expected. While I would've loved the Joker reveal to be saved until the film I am thoroughly impressed by the new look and voice. I'm generally not a fan of Letto and hated him in Suicide Squad but he seems okay here. March 18th cannot come soon enough for me to stream all four glorious hours of this movie. You can watch the trailer for the film below. 

    2. Borderlands Movie Casting 

    Well, this is shaping up to be an interesting cinematic disaster. For the record, I am a fan of the Borderlands video game series. I have played every entry and thoroughly enjoy them however I am not a super fan. This casting is atrocious. Eli Roth is a strange choice for the director but Borderlands is a strange franchise so I thought this could work. Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Kevin Hart are all talented actors in my eyes but they don't match their characters from the games at all. The only casting I can sort of see is the addition of Jack Black as Claptrap. While certainly an unconventional choice Black has plenty of experience in voice acting and could pull this off with the right script. I'll withhold total judgment till I see a trailer but so far I'm not impressed.

    3. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Offical Announcement 

    So early in the week Paramount officially confirmed they are working on Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The release date was much earlier than I would've anticipated with an April 8th, 2022 release date. Given how much the release schedule has shifted we'll see if they stick to that date. The short announcement was enough to get me excited though with the remixed music of Emerald Hill Zone and knowing this will be a Sonic & Tails movie. Hopefully, this does well so we can add Knuckles as well for number three. While the 2020 original was nothing incredible, it was a surprisingly charming film and they got Sonic and Eggman correct which is the most important thing. You can see the announcement video below. 

    So guys that's it for my first ever weekly Recap! Hope you enjoyed it, if you did give it a share and I'll see you guys next time. 

Judas and the Black Messiah Review

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle. We got another new review with Judas and the Black Messiah. This film follows the true story of Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and his eventual betrayal by an FBI informant. You can find the film in theaters or streaming on HBO Max for 30 days.

     Daniel Kaluuya gives an outstanding performance. While there were a few times I struggled to understand what he was saying with the accent, it’s accurate to the actual life, man. Also, might’ve just been sound in cinema was a bit off as I got used to it. Whenever his character was giving a speech, it captivated me. LaKeith Stanfield also gives a fantastic performance. He was great at selling the vulnerability and fear of his character. Jesse Plemons does splendid work, but he’s not doing anything I haven’t seen him do in tons of other films. Ashton Sanders, Algee Smith, Daniel Britt-Gibson, and Dominique Thorn all do incredible work in their supporting roles. Dominique Fishback I thought was fine, to be honest. I heard a lot of praise for her work and she’s not at all bad, but her and Kaluuya’s romance didn’t feel natural to me. 

    Shaka King is the director here, and the co-writer with Will Berson. The directing is phenomenal, it reminded me a lot of Scorsese but still his own style. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a film with shootouts that had this much punch. The script is magnificent but has a few issues. There are two main plotlines, one following Stanfield and Kaluuya, and then the romance I mentioned earlier between Fishback and Kaluuya. There is also a subplot showing scenes from the FBI’s perspective. While I was never bored, it riveted me when we were following Stanfield and Kaluuya’s dominant story. The romance just never felt natural to me, though it is important to the overall story. While the FBI scenes were well done, they threw off the pacing, especially at the film’s midway point. I also wish the film had gone on a little longer so the credits didn’t have to summarize so much. The musical score struck me off guard at first, but I fell in love with it quickly as it helped build the increasingly tense atmosphere. At 126 minutes, despite my issues, the film flew by.

    So, overall, I found Judas and the Black Messiah to be a brilliant film with some powerful moments to make up for my flaws. This is my favorite movie of the year so far, and my favorite of the awards films from this season I’ve seen. So, guys, that’s it for this review, if you liked it, give it a share and let me know yall’s thoughts on the film in the comments. See you guys next time.

8.5/10

Saint Maud Review (New Movie)

    Saint Maud is the latest horror film from famous indie studio A24. This movie is about an extremely religious nurse with a mysterious past who becomes dangerously obsessed with converting her dying patient. You can find the film in select theaters or streaming only on EPIX. 

    Morfydd Clark gives a fantastic performance. This movie only works because of her terrifying work here. For such a simplistic character, she made her seem very layered. Jennifer Ehle gives a good performance. Though she didn’t really impress me until the finale. Lily Knight and Lily Frazer are both fine in their supporting roles, but this is really a two-woman show. Rose Glass directs and writes this movie. For the first time making a movie, it’s an admirable job. The direction is simple but effective. When the movie wants to, it’s very effective at building a tense atmosphere. As for the script, the overarching story is powerful, though the characters are fairly simplistic. Strangely though, the simplicity is a strength more than a weakness as it helped build the fear. Fair warning for a sizeable chunk of this film, it’s a dark drama with some creepy moments. The horror doesn’t ramp up until the finale, though it’s worth the wait. The 3rd act had me holding my breath and is easily my favorite part of the film. As for the runtime, it’s an incredibly brief 84 minutes. Mostly, the film flows quickly outside of a small part that dragged. 

    This is a shorter review, but it’s a very simple film so I don’t have as much to say. I would however like to impart some warnings. This is absolutely an art-house horror film. If you go into it, expecting a jump scare-fest, it will bore you out of your mind. Second, if you are sensitive to poor representations of mental health or controversial portrayals of Christianity, specifically Catholicism, stay far, far away from this movie. 

    Overall, though, I enjoyed Saint Maud enough to recommend it to fans of this type of film. The strong lead performance combined with an ending that will haunt me for a while made this work for me. So, guys, that’s it for this review, if you enjoyed it give it a share and let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Be sure to check back later for my review of Judas and the Black Messiah, and I’ll see you guy’s next time.

7/10

WandaVision Episode 6 Thoughts & Theories

  Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! Today we’re continuing our weekly series discussing my thoughts and theories on the latest episode of WandaVision. This article contains spoilers for all episodes up to this point and possibly future episodes if my theories are correct. 

    I’m continually impressed by this show’s ability to surprise me. So I guess last week was a mix of the 80s and 90s because this was clearly Malcolm in the Middle which started airing in the early 2000s. They shocked me by actually showing Aaron Taylor Johnson’s Quicksilver from Age of Ultron in the recap after editing him out of shots in the last episode. I loved the opening credits, though the lyrics were strangely ominous. The mentions of things like it’s all an illusion or we’ll keep going through each distorted day caught my attention. Just like the show, this episode got inspired by, the kids can break the 4th wall as they narrate the opening. The addition of cutaway gags while losing the laugh track feels spot-on for the era. The first one with Tommy and Billy playing a Dance Dance Dance Esque game made me laugh but also feel nostalgic. I grew up in the years they’re parodying here, so I really appreciated a lot of the smaller details. Evan Peters fits in perfectly with this cast and it’s delightful to watch them interact, which makes it even more heartbreaking that I’m not so sure that’s actually Pietro anymore. All the character’s Halloween costumes are their old-school comic book costumes, which was a really cool idea for hardcore fans. Speaking of costumes in the flashback to Wanda and Pietro’s childhood, they are dressed as Nick Fury and Black Widow. Vision is 100% sure there is something wrong here at this point and he thinks it’s Wanda, but he’s looking for proof. My guess is he doesn’t make a big deal out of things to not worry the kids. Wanda clearly isn’t happy about this though as she almost says that’s not what Vision was supposed to do because he’s going off-script. 

    As we cut back to SWORD, they introduce an idea and propose a very interesting question. Hayward reveals his hatred of super-powered individuals but is that just because of the snap or does he have much more sinister motivations. I loved getting to see Jimmy Woo finally kick some butt. Please Disney give us a Jimmy, Darcy, and Monica SWORD show. Wanda is obviously suspicious of why her brother looks different but has his memories. Now for most of this episode, I assumed he actually was Pietro except for one crucial detail. He knows Vision is dead, if he only has Ultron Quicksilver memories he should have no clue that Vision is dead. The “Kick-Ass” reference was a clever joke as Aaron Taylor Johnson and Evan Peters were both in the “Kick-Ass” films. We finally saw Herb again who I love, though he knows more than we thought too, apparently. He asks Wanda if she wants anything changed after seeing her unhappy that Vision lied to her. My favorite joke of the episode was easily Quicksilver with the kids wreaking havoc as Herb said what he heard over his earpiece. In terms of Vision exploring town looking for clues and what he sees with the outer residents of the town, I assume it’s like a video game. They do nothing unless Wanda needs them for her episode, as she doesn’t have enough power to control everyone at once. 

    Now it’s time to discuss the strangest commercial yet, as we see an ad for feasting on a yogurt called yo magic. The kid isn’t able to open it and dies in such a shockingly disturbing way for this show. My theory is that someone is feasting on Wanda’s magic to live. I’m honestly not sure who, though. The twins finally have their comic powers mirroring Wanda and Pietro, though Billy’s energy is blue, not red. So we now learn Hayward is tracking Vison, not Wanda. Now I have a totally bizarre theory. What if Hayward wants to use Vision to create the MCU’s version of Sentinels to eliminate all super-powered people? Vision supposedly unearths Agnes’s actual personality, but I still suspect something is up with her character she acted too staged compared to Norm’s sheer panic. They still won’t reveal who Monica’s contact is, which makes me think it’s a big name. I’m still hoping for a Reed Richards’ surprise now that we know Fantastic Four is coming. Darcy tells Monica about how going in and out of the hex is rewriting her DNA. In the comics, Monica has superpowers, so I assume this is how she gets them by her DNA getting rewritten over and over. Darcy uncovers a secret file of Hayward’s called operation Cataract and emails it to Jimmy Woo before noticing that Vision is trying to exit the barrier. Speaking of that scene, talk about a gut punch but why Vision was always worthy of Thor’s hammer. He is literally falling to pieces as he leaves the barrier, but his most important thing is getting help to the people inside. Darcy tried to help him, but Sword handcuffed her to a car. Billy aka Wiccan finally gets his powers and he hears Vision screaming for help. Wanda reveals just how much power she has over this world as she freezes everything and expands her barrier saving Vision. In the process though, she took in Darcy and all of Sword except Hayward, Monica, and Jimmy. I’m so curious to see what Darcy’s role in Wanda’s world will be. If Vision can find her, he can free her mind and she’ll be a tremendous help. 

    Ok so this happened earlier in the episode but I wanted to save this for last. I am almost certain it heads the story in a certain direction after this episode based on comic knowledge and some line of dialogue in this episode. If you don’t want to know potentially huge spoilers for the ending of this show, if I’m right, skip this paragraph. So in the comics Tommy and Billy are real, but their souls were created from a fragmented demon soul and they die as the demon reabsorbs those parts of his soul. They came back as teenagers later, though. This drives Wanda crazy, and she utters the iconic line “No More Mutants”. This killed every single mutant in the comics. Now in the MCU obviously mutants do not exist yet since Disney only recently gained the rights. Now early in the season, there were quite a few subtle devil references which made me suspect a villain known as Mephisto, which is the MCU’s version of the devil was behind all this. The show then dropped this and went hard on everything being Wanda, so I dropped my theory. Well now, I’m bringing it back I think Quicksilver is a minion of either Mephisto or Nightmare. He tells the twins when they go trick or treating to “unleash hell, demon spawns”. Considering that’s literally what the children are, I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Pietro also tells Wanda that “Westview is as charming as Hell.” While I may be totally off my suspicion is the kids will die when Mephisto or Nightmare reabsorbs their souls and instead of No More Mutants, Wanda will say something of the lines of No More Avengers. 

    So guys, that’s it for this week’s in-depth look into the latest episode of WandaVison. If you enjoyed the article, give it a share and I’ll be back with this series next week. See you guys tomorrow.

The Mauritanian Review (New Movie)

The Mauritanian is a 2021 dramatic thriller and based on the best-selling memoir Guantanamo Diary. The plot concerns Mohamedou Ould Slahi and the court case fighting for his freedom after being detained by the US Government without charge for years. I am going to do my best to keep individual political opinions out of this review. My goal is to focus on the film only. The Mauritanian is available only in theaters starting February 12th. Let’s get to the review.

    So I knew basically nothing about this film going into it. I had seen a poster and a one-sentence synopsis. I’m pleasantly surprised to say this is a brilliant film. Tahar Rahim gives a phenomenal performance. He nails every single emotional moment and makes your heart break regularly. None of the other elements in this movie would matter if it didn’t have such a powerful performance at its crucial center. Jodie Foster is no slack either though, while she’s not doing anything she hasn’t done before it’s still an outstanding performance. She has great chemistry with the entire cast. It’s nice to see Shailene Woodley again in a role actually worthy of her acting talents. She and Foster are basically always on screen together, and they have phenomenal chemistry. Shailene has a warmth to her performance, which is much needed in a film this dark. Benedict Cumberbatch gives a great performance, though his accent took a little getting used to. He seemed fairly one-dimensional at first but as his character gets stronger so does the performance. I adored Zachary Levi in a minor supporting role. The performance was something I have never seen him do before. 

    Kevin Macdonald’s directing is a strange mix most of the time it’s perfectly fine but there was one sequence toward the end where I got extremely impressed by him pulling off a unique style choice. The script by Michael Bronner, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani is fantastic and elevated even higher by the performances. This movie made me physically angry and sick to my stomach at several points. That I was watching a true story was shocking, but in a way that works. Even when I got disturbed, they got me so enthralled that I couldn’t look away. The cinematography like the directing is fairly standard except for some flashback sequences that got uniquely shot. In terms of pacing, it surprised me how fast the movie went. Despite the 129 minute runtime of pure hard-hitting drama, it flew by.

    So overall, while I highly recommend The Mauritanian, it comes with a warning. I’m aware these are hard times for everyone, so if you’re not in a place to handle something so dark and depressing it's best to save it for a later date. So, guys, that’s it for this review. Thanks for checking out Silver Screen Spectacle, and check back here Friday morning for my thoughts on the latest episode of WandaVision. Till next time, everyone. 

8.5/10

Flashback: MCU Edition: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle. Sorry, I didn’t post yesterday, but life got busy. So today we’re continuing our MCU Flashback with 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. They released the film to immediate success, but I wasn’t sure leading up to release. While Winter Soldier made people realize Marvel could still be great, there was some concern that a talking tree and raccoon would be too out there for general audiences. Years later, the Guardians are some of the MCU’s most popular characters. So let’s look back on their introduction...

    This was not as good as I remember it being. Now I still like this movie but I used to consider this top-level MCU. Let’s start with the performances. Chris Pratt was strange but perfect casting. He nails the mix of comedy and action. Dave Bautista is still great as Drax, with his dry humor and physical presence. Bradley Cooper is an inspired choice for Rocket. He makes him his own character where I don’t see a digital creation. Zoe Saldana did great things later on with Gamora, but she’s pretty wooden here. She has moments where she’s interacting with the rest of the cast, but otherwise; she doesn’t work. Karen Gillan also is just fine here as Nebula. While a great character down the line, she has nothing to work within this film. Lee Pace is yet another terrible Marvel villain. His performance is okay and has an intimidating voice, but his dialogue is nothing but generic villain garble. 

    James Gunn was the right choice for these characters, but you can tell he isn’t used to directing a film of this scale yet. While plenty of the action is fun thanks to the character dynamic, the fights in themselves aren’t very exciting. The script is a pretty basic story, but the Guardians are extremely likable characters and that’s thanks to the writing. Many laugh-out-loud moments are throughout the film, especially in the latter half. The first act of this movie was tough to get through in parts. I don’t hate it and there are definitely moments, but the film doesn’t work until we get to the prison sequence and all the Guardians are together. The visual effects have mostly aged well outside of a few shots. In terms of music, the score and soundtrack are both phenomenal. 

    Despite my issues with this movie, there are still moments I love. The prison escape is such a fun and well-designed sequence. Moments such as the dance-off will always be engrained in my mind. So overall, while it definitely not as good as I remembered, Guardians of the Galaxy still has plenty of enjoyment to be had. So, guys, that’s it for this MCU Flashback. Next time we’ll be covering Avengers: Age of Ultron. See you guys next time.

Flashback: MCU Edition: Captain America: The Winter Solider

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle. Today we’re continuing our MCU Flashback with 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. While the film was a critical and commercial hit, I remember the atmosphere was mixed before release. There was a feeling that Marvel had peaked with the first Avengers and it would be downhill from here. Thankfully, we got proved wrong and a new golden age for the MCU began. So now that Captain America’s story got finished, it’s time to look back at part two of his trilogy.

    This movie was fantastic in 2014, and it’s still just as good now. When this came out it was easily the best non-Avengers film yet. Chris Evans is better than ever here. Dropping this character in a modern-day political thriller was a genius idea, and Evans doesn’t miss a step. Scarlett Johansson finally gets some strong material to work with. Black Widow is finally a fully developed character, and she plays the mysterious super spy flawlessly. Anthony Mackie was an impressive addition to this cast. He can keep up with everyone in the action scenes, but also has great chemistry with Evans and Johannson. Sam Jackson is still good at playing Fury, but it’s a much smaller role here. Robert Redford and Frank Grillo play still some of the better villains in the MCU. Redford is believable as the twisted corporate head while Grillo is a menacing physical threat. Sebastian Stan returns as Bucky, aka The Winter Soldier. He’s mainly just a physical threat for Evans, but still nails the few dramatic moments he gets. 

Longtime Marvel directors Joe and Anthony Russo started their journey with the company here, and it’s easy to see why they got kept around. While the action occasionally has a few too many cuts for my taste, it’s overall fantastic. Every set-piece gets wonderfully constructed and is incredibly thrilling especially the mid-film highway fight. The script is fantastic, but not without a few issues. The way this film updates its title character to a modern-day setting got done flawlessly. The humor is still there without taking away from the dramatic moments. As for the big twist here aka SHIELD is HYDRA, I think it was a brilliant choice that suitably is still impacting the MCU. However, as much as I may love the twist, the scene where Zola is explaining everything to Cap and Widow is nothing but a ten-minute exposition dump. The mid-credits scene was a good way to set up Ultron with introducing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. The ending scene is just a good tease showing Bucky trying to learn about himself.

So overall I really love this movie despite my couple of flaws. Captain America: The Winter Soldier restored my hope that the best of Marvel was still yet to come. So guys, that’s it for this Flashback: MCU Edition. Next time we’ll be covering what I assumed a risk the first Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Flashback: MCU Edition: Thor: The Dark World

     Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle and the latest edition of Flashback: MCU Edition. We’re continuing Phase Two today with 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. The film releasing about six months after Iron Man 3 and people worried about Marvel. The film was still a hit earning $644.8 Million total, but that was an enormous step down from Iron Man 3’s box office. While the reviews were overall positive, it’s still to this day the worst received movie critically in all the MCU. So does it deserve this reputation lets look back and see?

    Sadly, this movie earns its reputation as the worst received MCU movie. It’s still not the worst one for me, but this is bottom three easily. That’s not to say this movie is irredeemable by any means I like this movie overall but there is a massive abundance of flaws. Chris Hemsworth is still a fantastic Thor, he is one of the few reasons this movie works at all. But he is not the savior of the film that belongs to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. This character is beyond brilliant and boosts every single scene he is in. Anthony Hopkins is still good in the role, but the way his character got written feels off. Rene Russo got a few moments to shine as Thor’s mom before getting killed off. Idris Elba, who is sadly still getting underutilized, is awesome every time he’s on screen. In terms of our human characters, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, and Stellan Skarsgard all return to mixed results. Natalie Portman still gets enough moments since she spends most of the film with Thor. Skarsgard and Dennings along with the addition of Jonathan Howard are very hit and miss. Sometimes their comedy is as good as the first film, the other half of the time it falls totally flat. Now we get to arguably the biggest issue of the film, which is the villains. They are atrocious and easily the worst villains of the entire MCU. Considering how many terrible villains this universe has, that’s honestly impressive. Christopher Eccleston and Adewale-Akinnuoye-Agbaje are both talented actors, but they have zero motivation and their dialogue comes down to generic evil dudes. 

So Alan Taylor takes over directing duties this time and overall does a good job. I missed Bragana’s Shakespearean style, but this tone made much more sense for your general audience. The action sequences are plenty of fun, and he gets to shine in one part. Frigga’s funeral is beautiful and one of the best scenes of the MCU. The script is a mixed bag, the overall story works fine and in retrospect after Endgame fits in nicely. The humor is so hit and miss here, everything with Thor and Loki lands and is legitimately hilarious. Their escape from Asguard is my favorite sequence in the film, with one classic moment where Loki becomes Captain America. The humor with the human characters though not so much. The story arc they try with Anthony Hopkins feels out of place with his character from the first film. As I mentioned earlier, the villains got terribly written and any scene they’re in without a hero threatens to kill any goodwill the film builds up. Still, I do like where the overall story lands and the film ends on an enjoyable note with a twist that made me excited for the future. The musical score is actually really strong here. The music played over Loki’s fake death is emotional at the moment and made an iconic joke in later films. 

So overall Thor: The Dark World is still a fun film, especially in the second act. Still, its reputation of being one of the worst MCU movies gets sadly well earned. The reception to this movie led to them doing a full 180-degree turn with Thor’s character in his next film. So, guys, that’s it for this edition of Flashback: MCU Edition. We made it through the dark age year of this universe! Let me know your thoughts on the film in the comments below and if you liked the article, maybe share it. Next time we’ll be covering Captain America: The Winter Soldier. See you all next time!

WandaVision Episode 5 Thoughts and Theories

    Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle and the latest edition of my weekly series covering WandaVision. This article will contain a mix of my thoughts and theories on the episode. As always, massive spoiler warning. Please watch the episode first. So let’s get into it...

    Holy Crap! I’m literally shaking from this episode, I cannot believe what I just watched. Marvel you crazy sons of guns, you’re actually going to do a proper House of M arc. So the recaps are actually important. Wanda told Vision Geraldine didn’t belong here instead of she had to rush home. I love that after last week this is a mix of the sitcom and the actual world. Vision is fully aware of what’s going on by this point, and it changes the entire dynamic of the show for the better. It involves Agnes one hundred percent. After her not reacting to magic and asking Wanda if she wanted to take the scene from the top, though, I’m still unsure whose side she is on. Billy and Tommy control their aging, which I didn’t expect. I figured the show would age them up, but that Wanda would do it subconsciously. The opening credits were hilarious with the baby Vision photos. So it’s a smaller detail. But when Sword was scanning Monica, everything came up blank. I don’t know the significance of this yet, but this feels very important. Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy are Wanda’s only allies at Sword. Still, the way they edited it to have it sound like the director is a terrorist makes me wonder if there is more going on there. We got confirmation that Wanda stole Vision’s body. Which just makes things even creepier that she’s playing house with his corpse. Sparky was adorable with the boys aging up to be old enough, though I wonder if anyone else caught this. Sparky tried to kill himself possibly he went straight for an electrical outlet then poisonous bushes. I could be over-reading this, but it could easily be important.

    What was up with Monica getting angry at the mention of Captain Marvel? My only guess is maybe she wasn’t on Earth to comfort her mom and she’s angry with her for that. It was nice to get confirmation of what we all expected that Wanda could’ve beat Thanos in Endgame if he hadn’t rained down missiles. Wanda is rewriting reality, nothing is an illusion that means her kids should be able to exist outside of Westview. The scene with Vision and Norm was possibly the scariest scene in the show yet. Wanda has truly taken a town hostage against their will, and it’s terrifying. With Vision getting a Sword email, is there any way he could communicate to them? The decision to use an 80s technology drone was genius, though the director immediately resorting to taking the shot again makes me question him. That last shot of Wanda on the drone screen screams pure villain. My favorite scene of the episode though is Wanda coming out of Westview to confront Sword. She threw that drone down in front of them with her full Sokovian accent back, just full-on threatening them. Her taking control of all the agents and having them turn their guns on the director was beyond awesome.

    As for the commercial, this one connects back to Captain America: Civil War. Lagos is from the opening sequence of that film where Wanda accidentally blows up part of a building trying to save Captain America from Crossbones suicide bomb. Hence the slogan being, for when you make a mess that you didn’t mean to. Steve is the only one who really understood what that did to her, and he’s gone. Billy and Tommy begging Wanda to bring back Sparky was really sad but ironic. She’s talking about accepting death when all this happened because she couldn’t. Vision went all the way this week, just straight up accusing Wanda of being responsible for everything. That Wanda tried to roll the credits to get out of things was a huge 4th wall moment that worked really well. As Vision and Wanda got more heated, I thought they were about to fight right there, but he still wants to help Wanda at this point. The show does intriguingly bring back up the idea of outside influences if she really didn’t trigger the doorbell. 

    Speaking of the doorbell, what the freaking heck Marvel? So she opens the door and we see Quicksilver’s iconic silver hair, but then we see his face, and it’s not Aaron Taylor Johnson. Instead, it’s Evan Peters who played the character in the Fox X-Men universe. Darcy says she recast Pietro but if that’s the case I don’t think Wanda would’ve gotten so surprised to see him. Now could this just be Marvel doing a fun gag, having the same actor play a fake version here? Normally I’d say yes, but we know this is part one in Marvel’s multiverse saga. I think this is actually Quicksilver from that universe that has somehow made his way into their reality.

    So, wow, what an episode! This is definitely my favorite one so far, and I look forward to re-watching this episode, trying to find things I missed. This show keeps knocking it out of the park and I’m dying to see the 90s episode next week. So, guys, that’s it for this week’s WandaVision Thoughts and Theories. If you liked it, give it a share and I’ll see you next time.

Flashback: MCU Edition: Iron Man 3

     Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle and our newest edition of Flashback: MCU Edition. We’re starting Phase Two today with 2013’s Iron Man 3. This movie was a massive hit earning $1.215 billion dollars the second Marvel film after The Avengers to do so. Reviews were overall positive with it being considered an improvement over Iron Man 2. Audiences were a little more mixed, especially from comic fans The film made some choices that divided fans and for years this was the most love it or hate it MCU film. I’ve had quite the journey with this film when I first saw it I was the only person I knew who liked it. Over time, my opinion has been all over the place but now that Tony Stark’s character journey has ended let’s look back at his final solo film.

    This is a hard movie for me, as I love so much of what it’s about and have far more conflicting opinions on the execution of those ideas. Robert Downey Jr. is still incredible in the role and I thought did an outstanding job showing a different side to his character. Don Cheadle really comes into his own as Rhodes after Iron Man 2. Cheadle and Downey Jr. have a fantastic back and forth, and the film really works when they’re interacting. Gwyneth Paltrow does the best job out of the Iron Man films, even if I don’t love all the plot decisions with her character. Jon Favreau is still a lot of fun in these movies but spends a lot of the film in a coma sadly. Ty Simpkins was an impressive addition in a minor role. As for our villains, this is where things get complicated. Ben Kingsley is phenomenal throughout the film but when he was playing the real Mandarin, the performance was so menacing and made me think we were going to get one of the best Marvel villains yet. He still plays the role after the twist, but I’ll get to that when I discuss the story. Guy Pearce is good here, but he’s such a generic villain and feels incredibly rushed. Rebecca Hall is a much better villain with actually understandable motivations. She was supposed to be the main villain but a toy company vetoed it saying toys of her wouldn’t sell. Thankfully, the person who made that decision no longer impacts the films. 

    Shane Black directs and co-wrote the script with Drew Pearce. The direction is magnificent; it looks great and the action sequences are thrilling to watch. The script is where most of my issues with this movie lie. So first I want to discuss the Mandarin twist, I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I was incredibly disappointed because I adored his buildup. However, I can’t deny it’s an incredibly clever reveal that got a reaction out of me and I would probably like it more if the revelation wasn’t that Guy Pearce was the true enemy. In terms of Tony having PTSD from the Battle of New York, I adore that idea and it makes perfect sense. The execution of that idea though gets mixed results from me while I love showing the hero humanized, I don’t love the choice to play off some scenes as comedic. Also, while speaking from experience, I understand everyone processes anxiety and trauma differently the way it’s done felt too Hollywood for my personal tastes. Also, I hate Tony getting healed from the shrapnel at the end. Just one film ago he had a very touching scene with Bruce Banner, where he called it a terrible privilege. It feels incredibly out of character and has never worked for me. Just so many decisions here baffle me, Tony giving out his address to a terrorist, the rareness of him being in the suit during action scenes, Pepper randomly getting powers, I appreciate being different but this just felt like a totally different series. 

So all this being said I would like to clarify I still think Iron Man 3 is a good film, but it’s my personal least favorite of this trilogy and easily one of the weakest overall MCU films for me. The great acting from our heroes, some fun action beats, and good humor makes it worth watching. I usually only return to this movie when I’m watching the entire MCU. So, everyone, that’s it for this Flashback, next time we’ll be covering Thor: The Dark World. If you liked the article, maybe share it, and be sure to check back here tomorrow for my thoughts and theories on the latest episode of WandaVision. 

Wait! How Did I Miss This? Fargo (1996)

    Hey everyone and welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle. We’re back with another edition of Wait! How Did I Miss This? with the 1996 dark comedy classic Fargo. As always, this article will contain spoilers. So my knowledge of this movie was fairly minimal going into it. I knew it involved a wood chipper since it’s the most iconic part of this film that’s about it. The Coen brothers direct this movie and while I know their reputation, I’m not too familiar with most of their work. So what did I think of Fargo?

    This was so much different from what I was expecting, but not necessarily in a bad way. Let’s start with the acting. Everyone does a phenomenal job here. William H. Macy plays despicable really well. Ten minutes into the film I hated his character, but I realized quickly that I got the movie’s intended reaction. Frances McDormand does a magnificent job. She really nailed the mix of dramatic and comedic timing. Steve Buscemi is a lot of fun as one of the film’s villains. My favorite actor though was Peter Stormare. He does not speak much but some of his facial acting, especially at the end was the highlight of the entire film for me.

    The Coen brothers wrote, directed, and edited this movie. From a direction standpoint, the film is fantastic, it has an incredibly unique feel immediately. The script as good as it is threw me off a bit. There are a couple parts like McDormand going to lunch with an old friend that felt completely random and left me wondering if I missed something. Also, I know it’s part of the humor, but the constant repetitive use of people saying a variation of oh yeah was incredibly grating. Those issues aside, I thought the story was intriguing, the humor mostly worked, and I felt how the film wanted me to about its characters. The editing also threw me for a loop, I liked it overall but there felt like things were missing. Everything else gets done so well, though this may be intentional and I’m just missing something. 

    Roger Deakins cinematography is beautiful. Especially in nighttime sequences, I adored how this movie got shot. The musical score by Carter Burwell was also strong. It felt like it helped build a lot of the atmosphere of the film. At a shockingly brief 98 minutes, the pacing of the film is insanely fast. However, when it ended, I thought we still had another half hour to go. There felt like there were major things unresolved. If I missed something obvious or you have an explanation for these things, I’d love to hear them in the comments below.

    So overall I thought Fargo was a brilliant film, especially from an acting perspective. However, some other aspects had issues for me that prevented me from straight-up loving this film. So that’s it for this episode of Wait! How Did I Miss This?. I hope you all enjoyed it if you liked the article, maybe give it a share. This series will return next Wednesday, but I’ll be back tomorrow with another edition of Flashback: MCU Edition. We’re gonna be starting Phase Two with Iron Man 3. See you all tomorrow.