If there are two genres I love, it’s action and sci-fi. By that logic, if you combine them and do them well, I tend to enjoy myself and have a blast with those films. So when I heard of this movie, I was hopeful going into it because I remember seeing it when it landed on Amazon Prime, but I never clicked on it as I’ve always had “better things” to watch. Well, one day, I finally pulled the trigger and pressed play on this movie, and I will say there are some decent ideas here. But it’s packaged, paced and told in such a way that nothing will ever surprise you.

The idea that humanity semi-masters the time travel and must go back in time for people to help them win a war against aliens is fascinating. There were sequences that were also done well (like the first landing in the future and the 20 minutes that followed). And there are some fun cast members this movie wastes. But unfortunately, everything else failed for me.

Let’s start with the idea – it’s solid. Sure, you need to accept a lot of stuff for it to make sense (like how they only semi-mastered the time travel, so they can’t go back as much as they want etc.), but it was intriguing. However, as the movie progresses and takes shape, I wondered what it would look like in the hands of someone more capable. I like Chris McKay, but I am not sure this was the best material for him to tackle because this story is so ambitious, and the ultimate message is pretty important, but if you don’t know how to sell it to us, it will sound cheesy and cheap. And that’s what ultimately happened with The Tomorrow War. Without going into spoilers, everything that happens and gets revealed in the third act is questionable, and with that, this movie found itself in this weird category where you may agree with its themes and message, but you don’t like how everything gets told. Well, at least I found myself there.

The cast is another thing. I don’t know what happened to Chris Pratt, but his charisma no longer works for me, and it’s been like this since about 2016. I used to love him, mainly as a comedian, and now, he is trying to do this almost Ryan Reynolds thing, and the thing is, he isn’t Ryan. And by having him try it, it proves that Ryan isn’t just being himself, but there is more to his performances, and he gets short-shrift by many fans. I hope Chris can turn this around and maybe take a step back, do a comedy or two and maybe try again…? J.K. Simmons is here and plays this absentee dad to Pratt, but for most of the movie, he isn’t there at all. When the movie needs him, he’s got some moments that should make us care about him, but I didn’t, mainly because of how this movie brought him back in the third half when he was in there for about two minutes before that.

Who I thought did an underrated job and might be one of our most underrated actresses (especially comedy-wise) is Mary Lynn Rajskub. In everything I have seen her in throughout the past several years, I thought she was sneakily one of, if not the best thing about that movie, TV show or scene. In The Tomorrow War, her character doesn’t get to do much, but she makes her scenes memorable; she is funny, and it never feels cringey. For example, we have the brilliant Sam Richardson here also playing this comedic relief for the most part, and his character didn’t work for me at all. I love Sam; I have seen him in many other films and shows, so I know it wasn’t him, but there was something about his character that never made him funny to me and, for the majority of this movie, he was supposed to the main comedic relief of this film.

But even that wasn’t my main issue with this movie. My biggest problem was how convenient everything was when the movie needed to move the story along. Again, without going into major spoilers, I will simply say this – Chris Pratt’s character is a teacher before this future war starts. And we get introduced to this one, a very unique student who is passionate about volcanoes. When I tell you this will be important later, I won’t blame you for not believing me. But it is, and I was kinda mad that it was that important and how they based the entire third act on this random piece of knowledge. Sure, many movies have clutches to move forward, but this clutch felt the “clutchiest” I have seen in ages.

What also doesn’t help anything is the runtime of almost 140 minutes. Yes, a lot of stuff happens in this film, but also, there are definitely sequences that could have been cut down a bit, and ultimately, if you manage to get it to around 110 minutes, I think it would have flown much better. The pacing felt very awkward, again, mainly in the third act.

This movie also wants to have a big reveal in the future (technically two reveals), but… The first one is obvious, and the second is a bit less obvious but almost given, accounting for what we have learned from our exposition dump about the future before they go into it. It always makes me laugh how movies try to do these “shocking” reveals only for most of the audience to react like: “…Okay? Wasn’t that given?”

And ultimately, that’s how I would sum up this movie. It’s not bad by any means; I even contemplated giving it a middle-of-the-road, average rating. But then, I started to think about my rating, how much I have actually enjoyed this movie and whether I will remember much about it a couple of weeks or months down the line. I realised I won’t remember much about it because everything is just… okay-ish. And the more movies I watch, the more I forget these movies that don’t stand out in any way, shape or form, mainly if there isn’t at least one excellent or awesome thing to remember. The Tomorrow War has some cool things about it, but they never managed to make those things pay off.

Overall, The Tomorrow War is a great concept, with decent actors and average execution. Unfortunately, the execution becomes below average when the third act happens as there are way too many “Oh come the fuck on now!” situations for me to swallow or ignore. I would, however, love to see it remade by someone who likes to play with big ideas. For example, if you told me that Christopher Nolan or Alex Garland wanted to remake it, I would be the first to say: “Yes, please!” as I would trust both of these directors to take this concept, not changing a thing thematically, and/or narratively and arrive at the destination much smoother than this movie did. And I write this as someone who again agrees with everything this movie says.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

This movie is one of those rare ones that only received one Oscar nomination. Usually, Oscar nominations are like disasters and come in (at least) two or three, but not in this case. And after watching Rustin, I concur that The Academy got it right in this instance. Colman Domingo shines and leads this film from mediocrity into “it’s pretty good”, and it all stands and falls on his performance. This movie is the typical example of a decently average biography that shines due to its lead performer.

I might have enjoyed Rustin a bit more than others because I had never heard of him until I watched this film. I, of course, knew about the march on Washington and MLK but had no idea about “some Bayard Rustin”, and I think I am not alone, hence this movie. I liked how it shows that actual activism takes many people to get together, organize, plan and organize one more time when things change for everything to go well. And in that instance, this movie won me over easily because it showcases these helpers (not just Rustin) and how much time and effort went into everything. It’s easy to send a tweet with a hashtag; it’s fairly easy to donate money (given you can afford it), but to donate your time and energy for next to nothing… that’s impressive.

I have seen Colman Domingo in Euphoria (2019 – ?), so I knew he was a talented actor. But in Rustin, he gives us something new. I loved his energetic portrait, where you understand his character within minutes, specifically how he can be both correct and still a bit of a dick. Colman portrays him in such a way you recognise people you know in him. I believe we all have met at least one Rustin in our life – this guy is energetic, talks a big game, is obviously charming and clever, and some people adore him. And he makes it harder to adore him because of his erratic behaviour at times. But because of Colman Domingo’s performance, you are hanging on his every word, every scene he is in, you are so in it because of his powerful performance. He transcends the movie, as his character almost belongs in a different, much better film.

Here was my main issue with Rustin, and I am not the first person to mention this – besides Colman, this movie is just an average biopic. When I said: “The Academy got it right this time”, I could have easily written, “This film needs to step up to be on Colman’s level.” It is not like this movie is bad by any means, but for a biopic about someone so important, vivid and energetic, the movie is… well, the opposite of that. You will notice, especially in the scenes with no Colman Domingo, how generic this movie feels and looks. We still have many great performers here (from Chris Rock to Da’Vine Joy Randolph), so the issue isn’t there; it’s more about the execution. The film looks like many other Netflix movies (because it is one), but that shouldn’t matter as they produced some quality material in the past (Roma (2018), anyone?), so there is no excuse for this film to look so… generic.

Another tiny issue is, as I mentioned above, this is as standard of a biopic as they come. We are introduced to our protagonist; he shows why he is so good but has some character flaws. We see him winning at first, then losing, only for him to ultimately win in the end. I understand the mentality of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, but again, for such a unique personality as Bayard Rustin seemed to have been, it is contra productive to produce a generic, run-of-a-mill movie that captures you enough when you watch it but will struggle to recall in one week.

Let me make this clear; my rating you will see soon is inflated by one extra star only for Colman’s performance, as he is the definition of a leading man. From now on, if he leads, I will follow because this guy can command a screen and uplift a film. But this movie is ultimately just ok. The historical importance is as undeniable as Colman’s brilliant performance. It’s just too bad the rest of the film never catches up with him. Rustin is a weird one because I have not seen The Academy get a movie “right” like this in a long time – let’s honour this leading man, but we can forget about literally everything else because it is just fine.

Overall, Rustin is a fairly short movie about one under-sung hero of the Civil Rights Movement and what it took to organise and get it done. It features many talented people, but you will remember one name above them all – Colman Domingo. His performance will never leave you cold, and every time he is on the screen, you forgive the averageness of everything else that’s happening around him. I would cautiously recommend Rustin, specifically for its historical significance and Colman’s superb performance. As for the rest of the film… I can say it is a movie for sure.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

I will be the first to admit that there are some directors I still struggle to appreciate fully, and Alexander Payne would be on that list. Let me be clear; I don’t think his movies are bad, but out of the three I have seen before The Holdovers (Election (1999), The Descendants (2011) and Downsizing (2017)) I almost loved the first one and liked the other two. But I never “got” why is he so admired, although there are some of his well-known movies I haven’t seen yet. Luckily, I am happy to report that after The Holdovers, I will try to fill in the Payne gaps, as I adored this movie.

Everyone and their mum says the same thing about this movie – it feels like a cosy blanket. Even myself, just look at the title of my review, I am no different! However, what I appreciated about this film was how much more there is to ponder, how real some of those moments and scenes felt and how this movie showcases one important thing – you can’t get cosy without being uncomfortable first. Many movies that want to be like this forget that if you don’t show us the uncomfortableness and sad scenes, the cosy ones are not that impactful.

This film realistically stands on three performers – Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa. All three very different performances, actors and pieces of puzzle that ultimately created the bigger picture. The chemistry they formed within this group worked brilliantly, and each performer contributed in their unique way, which was just a joy to watch.

For Dominic Sessa, this is his feature debut. I can’t imagine doing any better job with this role than what he did. His character had to be on the verge of a charismatic prick, where he slides towards the charismatic in some scenes, only to go to the “prick” part later on. However, throughout this movie, we start to understand him and like his character. And if you can hold your own in a scene with Paul and Da’Vine, you know you will make it big, and I can’t wait to see how his career will look in ten years.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph is a multifaceted performer, and the world is finally catching up with her. Her character has one big scene, but where she truly shined for me were those quiet moments of suffering. Mary (her character) is still mourning her son, who, despite being a student at this prestigious school, is the only one from his class to go to fight in the Vietnam War and dies there. That’s not a spoiler; we are introduced to that fact quickly. We then watch Mary struggle with grief and try to move on, and Da’Vine nails this performance. It’s no secret that she is as sure of a lock in her category, so soon, we will get to write “Oscar-winning actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph” and I, for one, can’t wait. As I said, dramatic scenes are always fun to watch, but if you grasp us in those quiet moments/scenes, that is when you know you’ve got something special on your hands.

This statement might be weird to write, but stick with me here – Paul Giamatti is still one of the most underrated mainstream actors alive. For some bizarre reason, we all seem to agree that he is a star, we all seem to love him, and yet, this is his only second Oscar nomination! What’s more bizarre is that this is his first leading actor Oscar nomination! So, if we judge him on these criteria, he is brutally underrated. Luckily, in this movie, he shines so much it’s hard to ignore, as with his other two co-stars, he is a mixed bag. You can see the warts and all with this character, who can be is pretty unlikeable, smelly guy. But, as it happens, when you get to know him and dig deep underneath the surface, you will get the heartbreaking story of his time as a student, his rough family moments and, realistically, his entire life up until this winter break we see in this film. There is a scene involving him at a party, where his character finally feels like he can lower his shields after such a long time, only to be brutally hit the very next moment, and his reaction is… gut-wrenching. Like Da’Vine, he knows how to master these quiet moments and give us so much with so little.

Ultimately, that’s what The Holdovers is all about – three unlikely strangers get stranded with each other over Xmas. Nobody wants to be there; they all have their pains and look for their tribe. They all have scenes where they shine, and despite knowing how this movie will end, I couldn’t help but get in touch with my emotions. Several scenes hit you hard, but when you leave the cinema, you will mostly remember the unlikely friendship these three have formed. Not because the rest of it isn’t any good (it’s all excellent), but you will remember it because that bond feels real.

What I also admired about this film is how it doesn’t give us any definitive answer to any of our characters, respectively, whether they’ve changed because of this winter. Sure, we hope they would, and some seem to be on the right path, but the movie never does the “winning” montage. Without going into spoilers, the film ends one way, and it’s up to us to decide whether they all have learned anything from what they have been through or go back to their old selves. I can see one or two characters not being “fixed” and taking a bit more time with their issues, but I won’t tell you which ones because you might see them completely differently, and that’s the beauty of this film. It gives you a proper ending without tying everything with a bow.

Overall, The Holdovers is one of the best movies of 2023. The rawness, humanity, and social commentary that go hand in hand with this story, everything works here. On top of that, we get three brilliant performances, two of which are Oscar-nominated, and one is a sure winner. But even if this had zero nominations, it’s still a brilliant movie and my first Alexander Payne I can say I am fully on board with. I can’t recommend it enough.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

There are some directors who are so out there that you know they will never be able to make a “normal” film, whatever that word means to you. I always say we should be grateful for them as those are usually the ones who can challenge us the most or introduce us to new ideas told in a compelling way. Yorgos Lanthimos is one of the most, if not THE most, unique voices of his generation that somehow managed to make it big in Hollywood, and my twisted mind couldn’t be more grateful. What he does with Poor Things is on another level and might be his magnum opus.

On the surface, Poor Things doesn’t look like anything new because it’s your stereotypical story of a doctor playing God and creating “a monster”. Hmm… that sounds so familiar; where in the Frankenstein have I seen this before? Yorgos understands that “there are no new stories”, so he borrows the concept/story of Frankenstein. However, what he does with it and how he uses it to talk about much more than “man playing God” is what people want from films. Or at least, I do. But I think many movie-loving people are of a similar mind where we don’t mind if the filmmaker reuses the “same old” story, premise or concept, as long as they add something to it, something that hasn’t been done yet, explore different things and themes using that familiar structure. And it is in this aspect where Poor Things excels.

There are scenes in this movie that might shock you; there is graphic nudity, language (the word ‘cunt’ is shouted many times), and the concept of having a newborn’s brain in the body of an adult woman raises a question or two. But, as always, with people who challenge the norm and try to make you think outside the box, there is a point to everything. If there is one word (besides the obvious one, “shocking”) I would use to label this film, it would be “purposeful”. Every decision, every set, every character serves a larger point, serves a purpose, and it’s only up to you if you are willing to look past your nose.

This movie explores many topics, from class, gender roles, and societal norms to sex and agency over your body, life and choices. When you read the previous sentence, it sounds like the most boring/preachy film ever made, when in reality, it’s the opposite. Poor Things is a vibrant, funny, well-paced film that, despite its runtime of 141 minutes, never bored me. I was fascinated with the sets, in love with the soundtrack, mesmerized by the outfits/costumes and stunned by all the performers on top of those topics this film explores. Long story short, I had a blast.

There are many great performances in this film. I could write: “If you acted in this movie, well done” because you probably have nailed it, as all the actors here do. However, two actors stood out – Mark Ruffalo and Emma Stone. And both in different ways. Ruffalo plays this sex-obsessed greaseball who is sleazy, then funny, and then just sad. His character goes through a lot, and you have fun not hating him per se but definitely disliking him. And Ruffalo allows himself to go balls-to-the-walls crazy, funny and unhinged in the best possible way. I don’t think I have ever seen him better, and we are talking about an actor who’s been around for a while. He took a massive risk and swing with this performance, and it paid off with interest. His character also serves as the personification of hypocrisy, as he has been fine the entire time having crazy sex with Stone’s character. It’s only after she denies him and dumps him he goes against her and suddenly seems to have an issue with her sexuality.

Regarding Emma Stone, it’s insane how talented she is. She’s already an Oscar winner, and yet this performance is so unique, vivid and different that I think she just ascended to Mount Olympus of acting. She starts this movie perfectly capturing the awkwardness of growing up whilst being trapped in a grown woman’s body, and by the end of this film, she goes through such a huge character transformation it is fascinating to watch her, and she is the heart, the soul, the reason this odd and quirky movie works. It seemed that the 2024 Oscar for Leading Actress was going to Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon (2023, my review here), but after watching this and seeing how tight the race is between Lily and Emma, I… I actually don’t know who I am rooting for more. I think it would be awesome to have another historic tie (and we are due for one, link here!) because this is a rare one for me, as no matter who wins, I will be happy for either Emma or Lily, but I will be sad for the other. They both delivered such memorable and unique performances that tie might seem like a cop-out, but I would love it if we could celebrate them both.

And I believe that ultimately is what Poor Things is all about. Through all the pain, suffering, and injustice, this movie isn’t shy to show us it’s a celebration of life and how one comes to terms with all life’s struggles. That all is packaged in such a distinctive “wrapper” that you will remember the visuals, the distinctive sets, for a long time. I am also willing to bet anyone that this movie will get even better on repeat viewings, as everything is so purposeful and every choice is so intentional you will catch many tiny things you haven’t during your first viewing as you were too mesmerized by everything and everyone else to pay full attention. I can’t wait to rewatch this and add it to my movie collection, as that is one of those movies I need to own, preferably in 4K.

Overall, Poor Things is a masterpiece that I predict will become a classic. It uses the Frankenstein story to make a plethora of different points about various topics, but it never forgets to entertain you. You go on a journey with these characters, and that journey is long, vivid, bizarre, quirky, sexual and vulgar. And yet, it never feels too long, and once it’s over, you want to go back to this wild world and on that journey again. At least that’s how I felt. Poor Things is one of the best movies of 2023. It’s a performance highlight for both Ruffalo and Stone and confirmation of just how talented Yorgos is and how we should be grateful to live in a world where weirdos like him can still make it in Hollywood.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

When you see a January movie (the month where movies go to die) called The Beekeeper, starring Jason Statham, you should know what you are getting yourself into. Some people might be buzzing with joy, and some might bee a tad underwhelmed, but don’t worry yourself too much, honey; the movie is as bad as this sentence. And I kind of loved it, despite it being objectively not a great movie.

For the first 20 minutes, I didn’t think I would enjoy it, as everybody was taking themselves way too seriously, especially Jason Statham. It’s almost like he wanted to give this movie some gravitas, so he has a few scenes where you ask yourself questions like: “Is he trying to act like he is in a potential Oscar-nominated drama rather than a movie called The Beekeeper that’s a January action flick?” or “Is this movie real?” You know, the important questions. But I assure you, this movie is real enough, and it’s wild. After the first 20 minutes, I found myself tuning into this film’s frequency, where I understood that this would be “one of those movies”, and I let myself have some fun with it. Luckily, the action came soon, and some bee puns and facts followed, so it definitely stopped taking itself too seriously and started to be what this movie was always destined to be – a dumb, fun, action flick.

Everyone is over-the-top in this film. You expect it from Statham because he isn’t that actor, but Emmy Raver-Lampman‘s character was off (I thought the actress was fine, just some choices for her character were a bit weird), Josh Hutcherson has only one “evil and spoiled” level, and he stays there for the entire film. Minnie Driver is in this movie but only for what could be best described as a glorified cameo, and Jeremy Irons… Damn, he is hamming it up like there’s no tomorrow. Objectively, he was the best actor in this film, but if you only watch this film and nothing else from his long and illustrious career, you would think he is just some old dude who over-enunciates his every line. It was mainly through his character I finally understood that he might be the only actor who understands the movie he is in and, therefore, adjusted his acting to meet it.

Statham’s character in this film plays somebody who can best be described as “what if John Wick and Terminator had a kid.” He is as unstoppable and takes little to no damage from anyone; he makes almost every single action hero of the past decade look like a loser. Even the “final” boss doesn’t pose any real threat to his character, who is on this righteous vendetta to punish these incredibly evil people. Yeah, we need to talk about that.

When I say this film is unhinged, I mean that. The good people are good; the bad people are… pure evil. They not only rob (mostly older) people; they celebrate it each time! Not one person in any of those companies isn’t a straight-up evil cunt who couldn’t be happier to rob yet another pensioner and wipe their savings. And this is what I mean when I say you must get on The Beekeeper‘s frequency to have fun with it. Because this is objectively… not a bad movie; there were some cool shots, and technically, it’s made by someone who understands how to stage a scene. But it’s an incredibly predictable, dumb, over-the-top action piece about this secret government organisation that punishes those that “slip through the system”. And, of course, if you follow the money from those super evil corporations who rob people, it might lead you to the highest places…

There is a reveal around the second third of this film that, if you don’t see coming from a mile away, you are either in a coma or have not seen many movies. But The Beekeeper treats it as if it just landed a knockout punch nobody saw coming. And I think this is the moment that either makes or breaks this movie for you. Because if you are in for this unhinged ride, you will just laugh at this reveal and continue being amused. If you hated this movie until then, you might super hate it afterwards. In my case, I managed to tune into this movie’s wavelength, and somehow, we synched up. It’s one of those “it’s so bad, it’s good” movies. It might also be the fact I expected next to nothing from this, so the fact this movie was so out there was a pleasant surprise.

Overall, The Beekeeper is a dumb, action movie that I managed to have fun with. It is also one of those “I will totally understand if you watch this and hate it” kind of movies. Ok, maybe not hate, because it’s not a bad movie; it’s just terribly average, tonally all-over-the-place kind of film that thinks it’s making a super deep point whilst being shallow as a puddle after a two-minute rain. If you like Statham and want to see him kick ass and be unstoppable, then look no further. Also, for all it’s worth, watching Jeremy Irons ham it up like that was also something you don’t get to see every day.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

This review might be a bit different than the ones I usually write. I saw the movie, and yeah, it’s bad. But then I read the IMDb trivia (some great gems there) and began to understand how this movie was doomed to fail from the beginning and in a much worse way than I would have anticipated. So, part of this will be talking about this movie, but the other will be me talking about the current studio system and, specifically, Sony.

One thing that Madame Web tried to be is an origin story of somebody who is quite popular and powerful in comic books (that was all I knew about her, as someone who has never read any comic book in his life). Unfortunately, every beat of this origin story is not only boring, it’s also shot poorly, edited horribly, and many things don’t align logically. I will give one example for many – Dakota Johnson is a suspect in kidnapping our main heroines (Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O’Connor) and drives off with them in the middle of nowhere. Then, she leaves them, so they wander off to get food at the nearby dinner, and there, a guy spots them and calls the police. And how did he know it was them? We see the guy reading newspapers with no single image. Not only did this “kidnapping” only happen a couple of hours ago (very late newspaper edition, I guess), but also, he just saw three random girls walk in and thought: “Yep, that must be them, better do my duty!” And this one scene is just one example out of many.

Regarding the technical side, this might be the first blockbuster film in ages where you can spot sound being properly off. Especially with Tahar Rahim‘s character, many of his lines are shot with his character either facing sideways or straight-up from the back, so we don’t see his mouth. And it’s very distracting, but knowing now about all the various re-shoots, it makes so much sense why this had to be shown like this.

That brings me to my last point about the actual movie – the performances. Everyone is weird and awkward and seems off in Madame Web. Now, I won’t blame any of the actors, as I know all of them are talented, given I have seen their previous work, so I know Dakota, Sydney, Isabela or Celeste are great actors. But they are misdirected and often seem confused as to what is happening. There was a portion of this film towards the end where we see them in the future with their powers. And for those scenes, I was kinda into it because they seemed like they could kick ass. However, we really get those scenes, maybe for two minutes tops. The rest is just an origin story that puts everything on the right track. Unfortunately, though, that track is dodgy, not well-oiled and also set on fire whilst constantly being changed.

And this is where I must address the IMDb trivia. Specifically, one struck a nerve with me:

According to Dakota Johnson in an interview with The Wrap, the screenplay underwent extensive rewrites to the point that it no longer resembled the film that she signed on for. The original screenplay, which was described as darker and “very ‘Terminator’ inspired,” would have seen Madame Web and the Spider-Women trying to protect a pregnant Mary Parker from Ezekiel Sims, who wants to kill her to prevent the birth of Peter Parker.

Source: IMDb.com

Imagine being an actor, signing on to do a film based on this intriguing screenplay. And as you shoot it, it changes on you to something incoherent, messy and not resembling anything that intrigued you about it in the first place. Especially when that premise sounds awesome, I would totally watch that movie! The studio system has always been like this, and Madame Web is hardly the first movie that had this done. However, when the story and script changes are so obvious that you can’t showcase your villain that much because his words don’t match his lips, and your main star literally changed her agency after the first trailer came out (yep, that’s real), you know you’ve done fucked up. In 2023, we had both writers’ and actors’ guilds striking for better conditions, better pay and all that any sensible movie-loving person supported. I hope part of those terms the actors and writers negotiated was for the screenplay not to change as drastically once everything gets green-lit. I understand changes will always happen, and that’s fine, but if you green-lit a movie, surely you should “leave it” and supervise it from a distance rather than actively mess around with the screenplay and the story… It just doesn’t make sense.

Sony seems to be the unfortunate “king” of these, especially since their comic book movies aren’t… Well, let’s just say they haven’t had the best response (looking your way, Morbius (2022, my review here). I know there must be some weird sense of: “Oh well, we will nail the next time!” and that’s why they haven’t sold everything to the MCU yet, but… Sony, guys, enough is enough. Yes, the MCU has their issues, and its track record isn’t flawless, especially in the last couple of years, but… I would still trust them more. I would still trust the MCU to do reshoots better (they have done them in the past) and to actually get a better grasp of these characters.

That is why I am torn on this movie, as yes, I didn’t enjoy it, but I didn’t hate it as much because, in some scenes, you can see the “what if” potential. Imagine if this movie was good; I feel like the sequel (given they all had their power by then) would have been great. And the more I think about it after reading more about this film and its behind-the-scenes, the more I refuse to talk shit about anyone involved here, especially the actors. Yes, nobody comes across as capable in this film, but I genuinely believe they are giving what they can and what they have been told to do. It’s hard to talk about movies sometimes, especially when you can tell there was so much behind-the-scenes stuff that set this movie on the wrong path from day one.

Overall, Madame Web is not a great movie. However, I didn’t think it was as bad (for me, it’s slightly better than Morbius, but that ain’t saying much), and what’s more, this one seems like it was set to fail the moment they started to move away from that intriguing, Terminator-like premise. Madame Web is like a ship without a captain that is sailing towards the harbour. The anchor still hasn’t dropped, the crash is imminent and on top of that, that ship is on fire, and its crew was powerless to do anything about it. I feel bad for all the actors and creative people involved and hope those who aren’t A-listers will recover from this. It’s rare for studio pictures to fuck that badly, and Sony, you managed again. Here’s your trophy. Now, go fuck yourself.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke