DCU Blog - January 2025 Edition: Supergirl First Look, Puppy Bowl, Sinestro And More

We're just one month into 2025 and the DCU news has been coming at all corners. The majority being good fortunately. Here goes.

Filming for Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow has begun in the UK and this first look of Milly Alcock was released. David Krumholtz and Emily Beecham have been cast as Kara's parents.

David Leitch has expressed interest in making a solo movie for Lobo. Jason Momoa's role in Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow as Lobo will be a small one.

Josh Brolin has admitted that he's in talks for a big role in the DCU.

James Mangold has admitted his vision for his yet to be greenlit Swamp Thing movie will be more of a standalone event.

Superman (2025) will not have a trailer for the Superbowl in February but the Puppy Bowl will feature something relating to Krypto. The movie will have a presence at CinemaCon in April.

In news that's not too shocking, the second season of Peacemaker will have a new dance sequence.

A logo for DC Elseworlds projects is currently being worked on. This really is a smart idea.

DC animated movies to expect this year include Batman Ninja Vs. Yakuza League and Atzec Batman: Clash Of Empires.

Andy Muschietti recently admitted in an interview why he felt The Flash movie failed while also confirming that The Brave And The Bold won't be happening for a while.

Matt Reeves has also confirmed that filming for The Batman - Part II will take place later in 2025. They're not merging universes.

Joker: Folie A Deux found itself being nominated for the Razzies, including nominations for both Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. Yikes.

James Gunn has admitted that he's currently writing another DCU project at the moment. 

Ulrich Thomsen has been cast as Sinestro for the upcoming Lanterns series for HBO. Cameras have started rolling already.

The final season of Superman And Lois will air Sundays at 11.30pm on BBC1 from February 9th. All the episodes will be available on iPlayer.

Colin Farrell won a Golden Globe for his performance in The Penguin. The show has since been nominated for SAG awards.

Creature Commandos second season is currently being worked on. Other characters that nearly made it on the show included Solomon Grundy, Man-Bat and Vincent Velcoro.

That's it for this month. The DCU officially has begun. Expect bigger news throughout the year.

My Review of Harley Quinn: "Floronic Man"

 

Written by Vidhya Iyer 

Directed by Joonki Park

Floronic Man: "Goodbye my sweet Pamela."

After last week's episode, I had slightly hoped that the creation of Floronic Man would be something of a multi episode problem for both Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Obviously this show had other ideas.

The episode started with Harley finding out about Ivy killing Jason Woodrue and making it a bit too much about herself. It even got to the point where Harley even interrupted one of Ivy's lectures, which was somewhat annoying.

Of course that was the least of Ivy's problems as once she was in the Green, she had to contend with her toxic ex yet again. Jason Woodrue was now Floronic Man and he was very much in the mood to kill Ivy. Had it not been for the intervention of both Harley and Frank, he definitely would've succeeded on that front.

Harley destroying Jason's body in the real world stopped him from killing both Ivy and Frank. Add a nice making up scene between Harley and Ivy and then the two of them ended up in Brainiac's ship because they're a bigger threat to him than a certain Kryptonian.

As for the B-plot, it was fun enough. Clayface took a bad review so badly that he kidnapped Perry White, impersonated him at the Daily Planet and hired Bane to be a theatre reviewer for the paper. He also unwisely ignored Lois's growing concern about Brainiac's ship in the sky. 

- Clayface really did get the struggling actor's apartment in Metropolis, huh? His depiction of Pearl Harbour was problematic.

- Harley walked into two different rooms with students having sex with each other before finding Woodrue.

- Frank eats Ivy's lipstick, even the discontinued one.

- Chronology: A few days after the previous episode.

For the most part, I did enjoy Floronic Man as an episode but I was a bit disappointed with how quickly he was taken out as a villain. On the other hand, it's nice that the Brainiac plot has taken off.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Nosferatu (2024)

 

Written And Directed by Robert Eggers

Ellen: "Come to me. Come to me. A guardian angel. A spirit of comfort. Spirit of any celestial sphere. Anything. Hear my call. Come to me."

Count Orlok: "You. You awakened me from an eternity of darkness. You... You... You are not for the living. You are not for human kind."

I've been anticipating this movie for quite a while. Like many, I'm a fan of Robert Eggers as a director and I was definitely curious to see how he would adapt the 1922 classic for a modern audience. It turns out, spectacularly.

Making it even creepier and darker than the original, Nosferatu (Bill Skarsgard) himself would be the result of a lonely Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) summoning him when she was younger and essentially an outcast within her own family. It's an interesting development already.

Of course finding true love with Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) would remove the need for Nosferatu but the latter only became enraged by her relationship with Thomas and sought to destroy it. Nosferatu had Hutter's boss, Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) bring the latter to him while he invaded Ellen's dreams.

Ellen had a friend in Anna Harding (Emma Corrin) who was mostly sympathetic to her plight but the latter's husband, Friedrich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) wasn't as gracious to Ellen. In fact, he wasted no time abandoning both Ellen and Thomas when they needed help the most and upon Anna's death, it was Ellen he blamed out of everyone.

As for Ellen and Thomas, their love really was tested throughout this adaptation with the former confessing the origins of her connection to Nosferatu and the latter not taking it so well. Of course there are least two allies in their corner to help battle Nosferatu.

The allies being the compassionate Dr. Wilhelm Sievers (Ralph Ineson). Sievers was more modern thinking as a doctor and genuinely wanted to help both Ellen and Thomas as did Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz  (Willem Dafoe). Ultimately to defeat Nosferatu, a sacrifice needed to be made.

The sacrifice being Ellen herself. It made sense for this adaptation and it certainly gave this movie one hell of a poignant ending as Ellen was the one to bring the end of Nosferatu's reign of terror. The last shot in particular was rather evocative.

- Originally this was going to be Robert Eggers second film after the success of his debut, The VVitch.

- The character or Count Orlok aka Nosferatu was inspired by Vlad the Impaler as was Dracula himself. Bill Skarsgard did audition for Thomas Hutter before getting the title character.

- Had things been different, it could've been Anya Taylor-Joy and Harry Styles in this movie.

- Chronology: 1838, Germany and Transylvania.

Nosferatu was an absolute triumph. Robert Eggers struck gold with this adaptation and the performances from the likes of Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgard and Willem Dafoe alone are utterly sublime. It's genuinely horrifying, atmospheric, a little bit sexy and downright creepy in parts. Beautiful.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

Scream 7 - Additional Casting News

Well, the production of Scream 7, now currently filming in Atlanta certainly hasn't been dull and over the last week, we've had more major casting news.

First of all, let's talk Sidney Prescott's (Neve Campbell) husband. In 2022, it was revealed that she was married to Mark and had children with him. It was naturally assumed that it was Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey) from Scream 3. It was also expected that Dempsey's casting was about to be announced as production started up.

However in a twist no-one saw coming, it turns out that Sidney instead married a man named Mark Evans and he's being played by Joel McHale. To say, the reception to this development has been divisive would be an understatement but a week has passed and most seem to have now calmed down on the idea of the former Community actor playing Sidney's husband.

Gettong back to returns though, if it was shocking that Mason Gooding was reprising his role as Chad Meeks-Martin, then it's even more surprising that Yellowjackets star Jasmin Savoy Brown will also be returning as Mindy. That now means that Scream 7 will have Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Roger L. Jackson, Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown reprising their respective roles alongside newcomers Anna Camp, Joel McHale, Isabel May, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O'Connor, Asa Germann and Sam Rechner.

Also added to the cast officially was Mark Consuelos. The Riverdale actor will apparently play a rival TV host named Robbie to Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox). Not much else is known about his character but if he's not a potential Ghostface, I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up having a very public killing by the masked killer/s on air. 

Other rumoured actors include Victor Turpin (Shades Of Blue) and Amy Louise Pemberton (Legends Of Tomorrow). If their casting gets confirmed or more casting is announced within the week, I'll edit this blog. 

Scream 7 will be in theatres from February 27th 2026.

My Review of Harley Quinn: "Back To School"

 

Written by Leslie Schapira

Directed by Christina Manrique

Ivy (to Dr Woodrue): "It's Poison Ivy now!"

Well, it only took five seasons but hey, better late than never. If you were hoping the show would stick the landing with Poison Ivy's backstory, then this episode certainly delivered on that front.

Now that Ivy has decided to work for Lena Luthor, the latter introduced her to Dr Jason Woodrue. Truthfully, it's a reintroduction for Ivy and she's not happy with seeing her former boyfriend/mentor/would be killer. However, Ivy decided that revenge was the order of the day.

In flashbacks, we saw Ivy challenge Woodrue in classes while also being romantically involved with him. When she showed her prototype of combining human and plants via baby Frank, Jason wanted the credit. Ivy didn't want that and he tried to kill her, forcing Ivy to create herself so to speak.

Ivy's thirst for revenge led to her exacting the same fate to Jason that he did to her. By the end of the episode, she helped to create Floronic Man and just as bad, she didn't tell Harley about it either. I don't imagine it'll be too long before both Harley and Ivy realise that Floronic Man will be a problem for them.

As for Harley, she got suckered into babysitting King Shark's rambunctious children with one of them being a particular pest for her. Add in a birthday party for Bane's adopted daughter, Goldilocks, a fake Pippa Middleton and Vincent Edge and this plot wasn't as strong as the Ivy one but still entertaining nonetheless.

- Lena seems to be too accommodating towards Harley and Ivy's wave of destruction that she has to have an ulterior motive.

- In the comics, Vincent Edge was part of Intergang, so I guess we'll be seeing them fairly soon.

- It's a good job that I did watch Kite-Man: Hell Yeah! given the way this season has referenced events from that show.

- Chronology: Not long from where the first episode left off.

Back To School had its moments. The Ivy storyline was easily the best part of this one with some very real present day consequences while Harley's was suitably chaotic and pretty fun.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Blade: Trinity (2004)

 

Written And Directed by David S. Goyer

Dracula: "Blade, ready to die?"

Blade: "I was born ready motherfucker!"

Dracula: "Motherfucker... I like that."

Okay, finishing off this trilogy, I noticed we had a certain co-lead who at the time did not get along with the leading man of the piece. Saying that, twenty years later would be a different situation but here, yup, two of the three main leads weren't on the best of terms with each other.

For the first two movies, Blade (Wesley Snipes) had his mentor, Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) to work but here, the latter's role was somewhat diminished and instead we got his daughter, Abigail (Jessica Biel) and former vampire, Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds) to aid the titular vampire instead.

As an actor, Ryan Reynolds does have a a certain schtick and even in the early 2000s, it's very much apparent. His version of Hannibal King basically felt like a proto Deadpool throughout the entire film and oftentimes he was the weakest of the trio. Physically too, given that his character got captured and beaten up quite a bit.

Then there's Abigail herself. I don't think this trilogy was good with women and Abigail herself did feel like a generic action girl but she's a competent one who worked well with both Blade and Hannibal throughout the movie itself. Other women included scientist Sommerfield (Natasha Lynne) and young girl Zoe (Ginger "Haili" Page), both of whom were decent enough.

There was also Hannibal's vicious ex-girlfriend, Danica Talos (Parker Posey). Along with her brother, Asher (Callum Keith Rennie), Jarko Grimeood (Triple H) and a few others, they had a goal. The goal was to rescue Drake aka Dracula (Dominic Purcell) while also framing Blade for a murder to distract. They were successful with the former but not so much the latter.

As a group of vampires, they were mostly entertaining, even going as far as making vampire dog hybrids but as a villain, Drake was bland as fuck. Dominic Purcell eluded little menace and seemed to be sleepwalking through the entire role. It's such a lifeless performance that did kill a lot of the momentum for the movie.

- Other roles in the movie included James Remar as FBI Agent Ray Cumberland, Christopher Heyerdahl as Caulder, Patton Oswalt as Hedges, John Michael Higgins as Dr. Edgar Vance and Eric Bogosian as Bentley Tittle.

- Sommerfield was reading about the Nome King to Zoe before that particular scene went down.

- Hannibal narrated and the end of the movie, hinting about Blade's fate after being infected. There's an alternative ending to that scene.

- Chronology: A few years since the previous movie with scenes in the Syrian Desert as well as the USA for most of the movie.

Blade: Trinity made for a dull ending to a largely mixed trilogy. There's some decent moments but between an extremely dull incarnation of Dracula and okayish sidekicks, I just didn't care for this one at all. 

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of Blade II (2002)

 

Written by David S. Goyer

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Blade: "There's an old saying: Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer."

A few months ago, I watched the first Blade movie and I had intended to watch the sequels but I got caught up with other stuff. This month I went back to rewatch MCU movies I hadn't reviewed and I realised I needed to catch up with three sequels.

This one in particular had Blade (Wesley Snipes) searching for his former human turned vampire mentor Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) and reuniting with him in Prague. It's a bit of a tense reunion but soon enough both Blade and Whistler have bigger problems to deal with. Oh and there's Scud (Norman Reedus) too.

Anyways the main plot of this sequel involved a pandemic that severely affected both humans and vampires alike. This forced Blade, Whistler and Scud into teaming up with the Bloodpack gang. The Bloodpack included Asad (Danny John-Jules), Nyssa (Leonor Valera), Reinhardt (Ron Perlman), Chupa (Matt Schulze), Snowman (Donnie Yen), Priest (Tony Curran), Verlaine (Marit Velle Kile), and her lover, Lighthammer (Daz Crawford).

They're a motley crew and the team up with them and Blade, Whistler and Scud had its moments. In between bickering, a deeply heated rivalry between Blade and Reinhardt and Bloodpack members getting picked off, one by one, there was also the main threat himself.

Nyssa and her brother, Jared Nomak (Luke Goss), it was their father Eli Damaskinos (Thomas Kretschmann) who was the main villain. He had the great scheme to create a superior race of vampires and he was the one responsible for the Reapers problem. Not to mention that Scud was also revealed to be a traitor, though that didn't end well for him.

The rest of the movie itself dived into the final battle between Blade and Damaskinos and the latter's offspring. It's fine enough with Damaskinos getting his just desserts and Blade getting something of a power boost. There's a nice final moment for Nyssa, who was presented as a sympathetic character.

- Blade managed to get revenge on Rush (Santiago Segura) by the end of the movie.

- Goyer had planned to use Morbius but Marvel kept a hold on the character.

- Standout music: Cypress Hill and Roni Size's Child of the Wild West and Lennox "Buppy" Brown's Mind What You Say.

- Chronology: Two years have passed since the events of the first movie.

Blade II was an okay sequel. I feel like there's not a lot else to really say. The action sequences are fine, Damaskinos was a decent enough baddie, Blade and Whistler got some cool scene and Scud's betrayal didn't jar that much. I didn't love it but it didn't annoy me either as a sequel.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Stream (2024)

 

Written by Michael Leavy And Robert Privitera And Jason Leavy And Steven Della Salla

Directed by Michael Leavy

Mr Lockwood: "This Inn is about spending quality time with the people you love because you never know how limited that time is."

What happened if you took a small hotel, a group of people staying on a particular night and a few killers? A chaotic messy event that also happened to be livestreamed. That's exactly the premise of this film. Oh and if you're a Rob Zombie fan, you'll spot some of his actors in this one.

The movie opened with Linda Spring (Dee Wallace) being taken out of the equation with Mr Lockwood (Jeffrey Combs) stepping into the fray. He's running the hotel and there's no internet connection. At least that's what his guest are being made to believe.

Speaking of guests, the ones with the most focus are the Keenan family. This included parents Roy (Charles Edwin Powell) and Elaine (Danielle Harris) as well as their children, Taylor (Sydney Malakeh) and Kevin (Wesley Holloway). They're the closest to protagonists for the movie as they try to survive the night. Unfortunately, Elaine was one of the first to die.

As for the rest of the family, Roy found himself teaming up with retired police officer, Bernard Davidson (Tim Reid) as the bodies kept dropping and the killers were revealed to be players in a game. This along with a romance subplot involving Taylor and French guy, Theo (Jadon Col), the movie eventually reunited Roy, Taylor and Kevin, albeit with a tragic outcome for one of them.

I'll admit the movie did have some interesting moments and even some of the support characters like Donna (Felissa Rose) and Howard (Daniel Roebuck) are decent enough. However the killers do feel a bit too flat and one dimensional and I found it kind of went on for too long.

- The post credit sequence was a clear sequel set up. I have no idea if this film did well enough to justify one.

- The film also had roles for Tim Curry, Tony Todd and David Howard Thornton. Damien Leon is a credited produced on the movie.

- The film will get a VHS release from Witter Entertainment next month.

- Chronology: It takes place over the course of a night.

Stream has a good concept for a horror movie (though not an original one) and while there are certainly some incentive kills and a nice case of spot the horror actor, it also outstayed it's welcome a bit. This movie definitely would've benefitted from a slightly shorter run time.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

 

Written by John Russo And George A. Romero

Directed by George A. Romero 

Johnny: "They're coming to get you, Barbra. They're coming for you."

Ah, yeah, that particular moment that does seem to be the go to clip any time a TV show or movie would reference this particular horror classic. It was on my pile of movies to review and here's my review for my 4000th post on here.

The movie opened up with brother and sister duo, Johnny (Russell Streiner) and Barbra (Judith O'Dea) visiting the grave of their father. Johnny also thought it would be funny to tease Barbra about the undead, only to come afoul of one of them while Barbra fled to a farmhouse.

Of course, one member of the undead soon became many and it wasn't long into the movie that it was revealed that the undead were eating the flesh of anyone who came into their way. Fortunately for Barbra, she wasn't the only person in that farmhouse.

Nope, there was the rather handsome Ben (Duane Jones), who effectively took control of the situation by doing his level best to keep the undead away from everyone else. Barbra spent too much of the movie in a state of shock to be helpful and also fell into denial about Johnny's fate. At times, she was more of a liability than a help.

Not that Barbra was the only one unhelpful. There was family man, Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman). Not only was he an obstacle towards Ben trying to keep everyone safe but Harry's own wife, Helen (Marilyn Eastman) was exasperated with him at times during the movie. Add in their daughter, Karen (Kyra Schon), receptionist Judy (Judith Ridley) and the hunky Tom (Keith Wayne) and you had seven people desperately trying to stay alive in one house.

Trying being the operative word because one by one, every single one of these people would die and rather gruesomely too if I might add. The tension escalated by the second half as our would be survivors were picked off, one by one. The last death in particular was brutal, considering it was the best character in the whole movie.

- This movie is so readily available that you can even watch the whole thing on Wikipedia for free. I'm not kidding.

- There was some controversy with Duane Jones's casting as Ben at the time but Romero stated he gave the best audition and his performance certainly backed that up.

- They're never referred to as zombies but ghouls. It's funny considering this movie bolstered the subgenre within horror.

- Chiller Theatre host Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille appeared in the movie. 

- One of the original ideas involved adolescent aliens as well as a young man encountering aliens harvesting human corpses for food in cemetery. 

- Chronology: 1960s Pennsylvania, where the movie was also shot in.

Night Of The Living Dead obviously would be a must see for any horror fan (the various remakes, yeah sure, I suppose), even if you're someone not particularly keen on the zombie subgenre. It's a brilliant movie that's more than earned its legendary status and to this day it holds up well.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Emilia Perez (2024)

 

Written by And Directed by Jacques Audiard

Emilia: "Losing a loved one is a tragedy. Losing their remains is a life sentence! A life sentence!"

Every awards season will at least have one movie that will get a lot of nominations and wins at the expense of other movies and to a point where some will actively root against it. Last year it was Maestro and this year, it's this one.

Yup, this Spanish/French speaking musical comedy crime thriller has managed to stoke a lot of ire over the last few months and I can see why it has done that. On the other hand, I kind of liked it a little more than I thought I would do.

Despite being called Emilia Perez (Karla Sofia Gascon), oftentimes it felt like this movie was more about Perez's savvy lawyer, Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldana). Whatever you feel about this movie, there's no denying that Saldana has earned the various nominations she's been amassing this season. I've always liked her as an actor but she's kind of outdone herself here in such a divisive project.

Rita as a lawyer has defended some awful people, including a man whose abuse caused his wife to kill herself. She also got roped into a meeting with infamous cartel kingpin Juan "Manitas" Del Monte (Gascon) who needed her help with faking his death and undergoing gender-affirming surgery. Thus, Emilia Perez.

As Emilia, the former wanted to make amends for their past misdeeds and that meant reuniting with Rita to get things moving along while also posing as Del Monte's sister in order to be in his former wife Jessi's (Selena Gomez) life along with their children. While it would take Jesi until the end of the movie to figure who Emilia really was, their kids seemed to pick up on their father's transition a lot quicker.

Now in terms of trans represention, I can see why this film has caused controversy. Emilia might want to make up for their past misdeeds and while there's a hint of a budding relationship between her and Epifanía Flores (Adriana Paz), ultimately Emilia came afoul of her ex-wife and the latter's lover, Gustavo Brun (Edgar Ramirez). The end of all those characters was rather brutal with Rita being the one to pick up the pieces.

- Mark Ivanir had a good supporting role as Dr Wasserman, the one responsible for Emilia's transition.

- Karla Sofia Gascon had wished to portray the title character both pre and post surgery. 

- Standout music: Nonsensical lyrics to one side, it's got to be El Mal. Zoe Saldana's performance alone in that scene was something else.

- Chronology: The movie goes from Mexico City, Bangkok, Tel Aviv, London and Switzerland with a four year gap.

Look, I absolutely get the derision for Emilia Perez and despite some glaringly problematic elements to it, I actually kind of enjoyed it in a weird way. Or at the very least, I found it fascinating in a chaotic, messy way and was never bored by it. Karla Sofia Gascon and Selena Gomez are good but Zoe Saldana was on another level, performance wise.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Scott Jeffery

Peter Pan: "Don't worry about Michael. I'm going to take him to Neverland."

Who would've thought that in spite of overwhelmingly bad reviews that the success of Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey would've kicked off an entire horror cinematic universe? I'm still shocked to be honest.

We're now into the third installment of The Twisted Childhood Universe and it's not a homicidal bear that's terrorising everyone but it's Peter Pan (Martin Portlock), who's the villain of the piece. Once Upon A Time did this a decade ago but not in the depraved way this movie aimed for.

The movie opened with Pan brutally killing the unfortunate Roxy (Kierston Wareing) before snatching her son, James. Then the movie jumped to the present day where birthday boy, Michael Darling (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) ended up being snatched by Pan in broad daylight.

Michael's disappearance caused a rift between his mother, Mary (Teresa Banham) and older sister, Wendy (Megan Placito) while older brother John (Campbell Wallace) was distraught. It was a family divided but Wendy was the only one who actually took the initiative to try and get Michael back.

Wendy became even more determined when Michael's best friend, Joey (Hardy Yusuf) also got snatched by Pan but what of the villain himself? He's portrayed as a child catcher, obsessed with seeking out Neverland. However his treatment of two characters that aren't Michael and Joey was more horrific. 

The characters being Tinker Bell (Kit Green) and Captain James Hook (Charity Kase). The former was written as a sympathetic character, who was also trans and a heroin addict but did try to help Michael and Wendy. The latter was revealed to be a much older and mutilated James from the start of the movie. Fortunately, Pan did get some form of comeuppance but at the same time, there was a sequel set up.

- I could be reading into it but it did seem like the movie was hinting at Michael and Joey being more than mates. What happened to the latter at the end?

- The next movie in this universe will Bambi: The Reckoning, coming out later this year.

- Tiger Lily (Olumide Olorunfemi) also appeared in this movie. It was implied that Neverland might be real.

- Chronology: Tinker Bell was taken by Pan over thirty years ago, James fifteen years ago before the present day stuff with Michael.

Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare did try to take itself seriously and I guess I could give it points for it's inclusion of LGBT characters and themes. There's some decent enough kills in the mix but I wouldn't say it's great. I am oddly curious to see what a potential sequel would entail.

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of Thor: The Dark World (2013)

 

Written by Christopher L. Yost And Christopher Markus And Stephen McFeely

Directed by Alan Taylor

Thor: "I wish I could trust you."

Loki: "Trust my rage."

There was a time when there was a sequel to Thor that was more divisive than it's fourth entry and funnily, that was this sequel. It's been over a decade. Is it still that divisive? Maybe but I didn't have too big an issue with this one.

Following the events of The Avengers, we saw Thor (Chris Hemsworth) bring younger brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) back to Asgard. Loki immediately faced Odin (Anthony Hopkins) being disappointed him and Frigga (Rene Russo) wanting better for him while being confined to a cell.

Back on Earth, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) was trying to get over Thor by going on a date with Richard (Chris O'Dowd), which Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) interrupted. Oh and this movie also took the adventures to London where portals were popping up all over the place.

On the plus side, it didn't take too long for Thor and Jane to reunite and for the latter to make her feelings about being abandoned known to the titular hero. Of course, there was also Jane being brought to Asgard when the Aether ended up inside and that presented another problem.

The problem being the main threat itself - the Dark Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) and he's probably not the greatest of MCU baddies out there. Still, his presence did force a team up between Thor and Loki, a betrayal of sorts from Heimdall (Idris Elba), more screentime for Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Zachary Levi) and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), nudity for Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard)and the death of Frigga.

If the movie did have a plus point, yet again it was the rapport between Thor and Loki. They almost came close to reuniting but the latter's resentment for the former did rear it's head again. On the other hand, he did sacrifice himself to take down Malekith and save the day. 

- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje appeared as Algrim/Kurse,the second in command for Malekith.

- The credit scenes included Sif and Volstagg giving the Aether to The Collector (Benecio del Toro) and Carina (Ophelia Lovibond) as well as Thor and Jane reuniting on Earth.

- Stan Lee popped up as a patient in a mental ward and Loki briefly disguised himself as Captain America (Chris Evans).

- Other actors would appeared in this movie included Tony Curran, Alice Krige, Clive Russell, Tallulah Riley, Richard Brake and Jonathan Howard. The latter ended being a love interest for Darcy.

- Had things been different, both Benedict Cumberbatch and Mads Mikkelsen could've been in this movie as different characters.

- Chronology: 2013, Greenwich, England as well as Asgard and eons on Svartalfheim for Malekith's origins.

Thor: The Dark World isn't that bad a sequel. I mean it's easily the weakest movie in Phase 2 and I'll admit that despite enjoying Christopher Eccleston as an actor, Malekith might be the least interesting villain we've had. The Thor/Loki dynamic did keep it watchable though.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Thor (2011)

 

Written by J. Michael Straczynski And Mark Protosevich And Ashley Edward Miller And Zack Stentz And Don Payne

Directed by Kenneth Branagh 

Thor: "Why have you done this?"

Loki: "To prove to Father that I am a worthy son! When he wakes, I will have saved his life, I will have destroyed that race of monsters, and I will be true heir to the throne!"

Remember the days when Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was a lot more on the Shakespeare side of things? Well, now I do, seeing as I went back to reviewing this first movie. I mean he still sort of does have that side to him but not as pronounced these days.

Anyways getting back to this movie, we started with our leading lady Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her friend, Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) accidentally running over a banished Thor. Then we cut to what led to his banishment.

Yup, that meant seeing the glory of Asgard and it's gloriously depicted onscreen. You've got it's ruler, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) along with his wife, Frigga (Rebecca Russo) and their two sons, Thor and the rather mischievous Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Thor was desperate to prove himself a worthy successor to his father should the time come for him to rule. Loki had other ideas.

One of those ideas being to cause war with Laufey (Colm Feore) and the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. It was a good idea on Loki's part because Thor's action led to him igniting a war and also to Odin banishing him to Earth and placing his powers into the hammer Mjölnir. This meant Thor had to do a lot of growing up.

Being stuck in New Mexico and bonding with Jane, Darcy and Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) somewhat forced his hand into doing that. While Thor did bond with his Earth friends and Agent Colson (Clark Gregg), his own allies Sif (Jaime Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Josh Dallas) and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) also provided some much needed support. Not to mention Heimdall (Idris Elba) was pretty much team Thor as well.

Anyways the fight scenes with Thor and the Destroyer added some nice visual spectacle but it was the final confrontation between Thor and Loki with Odin caught in the middle that highlighted the family dynamics beautifully. Despite being a scheming little shit, it's hard not to feel a bit bad for Loki. As for that portal, well it had it's own complications.

- A post credit scene saw Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) reaching out to Selvig. The latter being influenced by Loki. Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) was introduced in this movie.

- Loki knew that Laufey was his real father but still had no issue with killing him in order to get Odin's approval. 

- Various actors were considered for the role of Thor, including Hemsworth's own brother, Liam.

- Stuart Townsend was originally cast as Fandral before being recast with Josh Dallas. The latter would also be recast with Zachary Levi in the next movie.

- Standout music: Foo Fighters Walk as well as Patrick Doyle's score music.

- Chronology: 2011 New Mexico as well as 965 AD Asgard.

Thor does hold pretty well as a movie. It's a good debut outing for the larger than life hero and both Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston knock it out of the park with the Thor/Loki dynamic. I do like this one a lot.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Boys From County Hell (2020)

 

Written Chris Baugh And Brendan Mullin

Directed by Chris Baugh 

Claire: "Hang on. When you said he tried to bite you?"

Eugene: "Aye. Like a... Like a... Like a..."

Francie: "Like a cunt."

It's not Halloween and I fancied a vampire flick and while there's a certain one I'll catch up with later in the month, I thought I'd watch this Irish one from a few years.

Set in an unspecified part of the country in a backwater town, this one at least had some notoriety to it. It's not just any backwater town. Nope, this one came with its own legends, notably the fact that Bram Stoker got his inspiration for his most famous work.

It's a story that local drifter Eugene Moffat (Jack Rowan) liked telling the tourists but it's more than just a story. Following the accidental death of his best friend, William Bogue (Fra Free), it turned out that a creepy looking monument had some rather unique abilities to anyone unfortunate enough to get cut by it's stones.

For William, this meant losing his humanity and becoming a vampire, much to the horror of his grief stricken parents George (John Lynch) and Pauline (Andrea Irvine). It's also a lot for Eugene and William's girlfriend, Claire McCann (Louisa Harland) to come to terms with as well.

Of course while William did pose a threat in the movie, it was Abhartach who was the real concern. It was his burial place that was disturbed and his presence meant that the whole town was becoming infected. It also meant that Eugene, Claire, the former's dad, Francie (Nigel O'Neill) and SP McCauley (Michael Hough) had to save the day but not without some casualties.

I'll give the film it's merits for it's use of Abhartach. At no point in the movie was the character shown clearly but he's an effectively menacing figure nonetheless with some added backstory to Eugene's maternal lineage to give a bit more personal context as well. By the end of the movie, both Eugene and Claire's lives are changed forever by the events.

- Fans of a certain Doctor Who spin-off might spot Jordan Renzo as one of the gullible tourists that got easily spooked.

- Abhartach was a real legend and did provide inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Nosferatu was also referenced.

- Standout music: The Saw Doctors Joyce Country Ceili Band.

- Chronology: Present day Ireland, though again the actual setting of this movie was never specified.

Boys From County Hell did show that the Irish can do a suitably strong vampire flick with the right references while also cementing some solid family drama/history and the dynamics of a small town with difficulties in progression. Also again, top marks for how effectively done Abhartach was done too.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Queer (2024)

Written by Justin Kuritzkes 

Directed by Luca Guadagnino 

William (to Eugene): "I want to talk to you without speaking."

It's been a long month for me to finally get to see this movie and thanks to digital release, now I have seen it. I've seen certain clips spread out over social media and I've read the divisive reactions to the movie itself. Now that I've seen it, here's my opinion on the matter. I liked it.

Yes, I said I liked it because while it certainly cemented my interest in Luca Guadagnino as a filmmaker and there's an incredible performance from a certain lead actor, it doesn't quite hit the same heights as either Call Me By Your Name or Challengers. Saying that, there's plenty to mull over.

Our lead in question being an fictionalised version of William S. Burroughs. In this movie he's called William Lee (Daniel Craig) and he's rather restless while being an expat in Mexico City. Not even the few friends he has like Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzmann) can keep him amused and neither can hustlers like Chimu Bar Guy (Omar Apollo).

Someone that did have William's interest though was the rather aloof and not queer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). William spent most of the movie being obsessed with Eugene while the latter blew hot and cold (but mostly cold) with William. For a straight guy, Eugene seemed to be drawn to William in his own way too.

Around the halfway point of the movie, there's an odd arrangement that William made with Eugene in order to get the latter to travel with him to South America. It's also arrangement that William tried to break, even though Eugene went along with him on his journey for telepathy.

The scenes in South America certainly allowed the movie to get a lot more trippy as well. There was the rather kooky Dr Cotter (Lesley Manville) who helped William and Eugene lose their inhibitions but was adamant about protecting her own research. Aside from a woman named Mary (Andra Ursula), Cotter was the only woman in the movie to do anything of note.

The best scenes in the movie were of course the sex scenes between William and Eugene but the actual best scene was that dancing one in the woods with the two of them high as kites. It's a beautifully shot moment and easily the most intimate thing the two actually share with one another. 

As for the ending itself, it's not necessarily a letdown but I wouldn't say it's the best ending either. Thematically it did kind of work in the sense that it did highlight William's own long and loneliness throughout.

- Other noteworthy roles included Henrique Saga as Winston Moore and Drew Douge as John Dume. David Lowery also appeared as Jim Cochan.

- One of William's fantasy sequences in regards to Eugene was something that happened with his common law wife. She's briefly mentioned in the movie. 

- Based on the incomplete novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs himself.

- Justin Kuritzkes who wrote the script also worked with Luca Guadagnino on Challengers.

- Standout music: Trent Razor and Atticus Ross's score but also Sinead O'Connor's version of All Apologies, Nirvana's Come As You Are and New Order's Leave Me Alone.

- Chronology: 1950s Mexico City and South America, specifically Quito in Ecuador. There's a time jump to William as a dying old man.

Queer was certainly worth the wait and while it doesn't completely hit the same heights as two of Guadagnino's other most prolific of works, it's certainly an accomplishment nonetheless. Daniel Craig gave one of his best performance while his role was more passive, I think Drew Starkey held his own pretty well.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Harley Quinn: "The Big Apricot"

 

Written by Jamiesen Borak

Directed by Diana Huh

Harley (to Ivy): "We're going to the Big Apricot."

Well, it's been over a year since the events of the fourth season. In that time we had Kite-Man: Hell Yeah! and that was a show that nobody really watched. So, let's catch up.

Between seasons, it seems that the Batfamily have disbanded, Joker got impeached as Mayor and the Gotham City Sirens took on Enchantress and split as a group. Oh and Harley and Ivy got into a very dull rut with each other.

It looked like the rut could only be solved by taking the pair to Metropolis in order to shake up their relationship. This involved gatecrashing a party that was a museum to Superman and making friends with Lena Luthor. She's Bruce Wayne's new girlfriend and nothing like her now jailed brother.

Yes, despite Harley and Ivy causing disruption to Lena's party, it seemed like she was impressed with the pair. Even blood of Eclipso on her dress didn't deter her from tempting both Harley and Ivy to remain in Metropolis. Yup, they're sticking around and can Lena be trusted? I'm going to assume no.

As for Superman, he was in a bigger rut too. With Lex in prison and those automatons keeping the crime down, he felt redundant. At least he managed to get a nice conversation with Harley. That gave him some perspective on what to do next.

Oh and while Harley and Ivy are settling into Metropolis, there was Brainiac in the sky. Well, if the show was going to relocate to Metropolis this season, might as well have Brainiac as the big bad for the season too. I hope the show doesn't waste him.

- Riddler and Clock King have become one of those obnoxious type of couples. 

- Enchantress's necklace contained Eclipso, which Catwoman stole and Lena acquired.

- Lois got neck work done, we briefly saw Jimmy Olsen and Krypto and did this show skip past Nightwing wanting revenge on Harley?

- Chronology: Over a year since the events of the previous season.

The Big Apricot got this season off to a good start. The move to Metropolis does have potential but I'm kind of disappointed that they shelved the Gotham City Sirens story so quickly. I do hope they deliver with Brainiac, villain wise.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Iron Man 3 (2013)

 

Written by Shane Black And Drew Pearce

Directed by Shane Black 

Tony: "I'm Tony Stark. I build neat stuff, got a great girl, occasionally save the world. So why can't I sleep?"

With this movie, two things happened. Not only did we get our first installment in the second phase for the MCU but a superhero got to complete his trilogy first. This was also the second film in the MCU to also get over a billion at the box office.

Now, was this the best of the Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) movies? I don't know. I think they've all been on the same level. For me, they're good movies but compared to other heroes, they're not as easy to rank them individually. 

Anyways this third movie had a terrorist by the name of the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) popping up on camera, making threats, carrying them out and for a good portion of the movie he had everyone convinced that Tony Stark was dead. Even for 2013, the character was written in a fairly stereotypical way.

Then the twist was that the Mandarin was actually a hammer actor named Trevor Slattery. I will give Ben Kingsley his dues because he did alternate between the Mandarin and Slattery quite well without it feeling too off. Fortunately a later movie in 2021 would do some lifting in making the Mandarin a lot better.

As for the actual Mandarin, it's really an ex-boyfriend of Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Yup, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) was the one pulling the strings and he did have some help from the likes of Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), Ellen Brandt (Stéphanie Szostak) and Eric Savin (James Badge Dale). The latter especially being responsible for putting Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) in the hospital for most of the movie.

As a group of villains, they worked. Saying that, Maya was more on the conflicted side of things and ended up being killed for that. There was also Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle) having his suit taken out of control, some President (William Sadler) kidnapping, Pepper suiting up herself and a much needed comeuppance for the baddies while Tony got a protege with Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) and dealt with his own existential crisis throughout the movie.

- Tony narrates the events of the movie, only for the post credit scene to reveal it being a therapy session of sorts with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). The latter didn't retain anything Tony told him.

- Horror fans can briefly spot Jenna Ortega as the daughter of the Vice President (Miguel Ferrer) in the movie. JARVIS (Paul Bettany) also got some nice scenes here. Yinsen (Shaun Toub) also appeared.

- Cameos ahoy from the likes of Joan Rivers, Bill Maher and George Kotsiopoulos as well as Stan Lee as a beauty pageant judge.

- Despite playing huge roles in the previous movies, there's no Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) or S.H.I.E.L.D. here.

- This movie largely pulled from the Extremis storyline.

- Chronology: Despite being released for the start of the summer, the movie itself took place during Christmas 2013.

Iron Man 3 did make a good third movie. Yes, there's some horrible stereotypes with the Mandarin story but other than that, the action's good, Tony does get some growth as a character and I quite like the Christmas setting.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Iron Man 2 (2010)

 

Written by Justin Theroux

Directed by Jon Favreau 

Tony: "My bond is with the people, and I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. If there's one thing I've proven it's that you can count on me to pleasure myself."

Those early MCU days really were a wild time. To think the first three movies focus on two Iron Man movies and a solo Hulk adventure with the slow build up towards The Avengers. Ah, yes, I'm reviewing the first sequel in the MCU, which also happened to be it's third entry.

Once again, there was the return of Toby Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and he was largely showboating his newfound responsibilities to the consternation of both girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and best friend, Rhodey (Don Cheadle). In fact both were just about done with Tony until they weren't.

For Pepper, she was basically running Stark Industries to the point that Tony made her CEO and with that came a lot of outside scrutiny that she also had to deal. There's a few times in the movie where it did look like she was going to throw in the towel with Tony when she wasn't saving his backside.

Similarly Rhodes has taken enough and when the latter was acting too hedonistic, Rhodes literally became War Machine to try and knock some sense into him. That didn't work. Neither did Rhodes allying with rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell).

Let's talk about Justin Hammer. He wanted to beat Tony at his own game and even stole some of Tony's technology to nearly accomplish that. More importantly was his alliance with the real villain of the piece - Ivan Vanko/Whiplash (Mickey Rourke). 

Villain wise, both Hammer and Whiplash have their moments and did make for decent foils against Iron Man and War Machine. Oh and this was the very movie to debut Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). She's part of S.H.I.E.L.D. working with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and while she would be better served in future MCU movies, it's a reasonably good debut for the character.

- The credit scene of the movie had Agent Colson (Clark Gregg) locating Thor's hammer.

- Jump scare moment with Elon Musk's cameo and that exchange between him and Tony was cringe in its writing and delivery.

- Stan Lee got mistook for Larry King in this one and Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) and JARVIS (Paul Bettany) also appear/are heard.

- Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) had some great scenes with Black Widow throughout the movie.

- Standout music: AC/DC's Guns For Hire.

- Chronology: A year since the events of the first movie.

Though not quite as good as the first movie, I do think Iron Man 2 at least wasn't a really divisive sequel and for it's introduction of Black Widow, it does merit points. Saying that, Tony did push his reckless streak almost too far here.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Iron Man (2008)

 

Written by Mark Fergus And Hawk Ostby And Art Marcum And Matt Holloway

Directed by Jon Favreau 

Tony (to the press): "I am Iron Man."

I've been doing this whole catching up with MCU movies that I didn't review first time around a bit backwards. I do apologise for that but anyways, on my Review pile was the first ever MCU movie and it's been an eternity since I've watched this one.

To think that instead of Spider-Man or the X-Men, the first entry into the biggest cinematic universe was Iron Man aka Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Imagine if this movie hadn't been a hit. How different things could've been for the MCU.

Fortunately, not only was the film a hit, but it's a bloody good first entry into this cinematic universe. Tony Stark might not be the more agreeable of people but he's perfected the lovable bastard trope quite a bit here. He's annoyingly charming and also annoying in near equal measures.

It's not hard to see why the people around him, including his personal assistant/love interest Virginia "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and best friend James "Rhodry" Rhodes (Terrence Howard) are both impressed and frustrated by him at times. It really would be a recurring feeling with Tony as a character.

This film delved into Tony's weapons dealing and for the most part, it did try to be rather critical of it. We had s enes with Tony being captured by terrorists, befriending/working with fellow captive Ho Yinsen (Shaun Toub) and of course, his origins as Iron Man and that electromagnet that Tony really needed.

Then there's the baddie of the piece. Villain wise, I guess the rather envious Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) did make for a good baddie with his own suit and determination to take Tony out by any means required. The fight scenes between the two actually hold up really good.

As for Tony outing himself as Iron Man. I absolutely loved that. It did seem like he was trying to counter ex-girlfriend, Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) but at the same time, he also knew he couldn't deny it either. Of course, outing himself as Iron Man did have consequences.

- The post credit scene did feature Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) reaching out to Tony Stark about the Avengers.

- Agent Colson (Clark Gregg) made his MCU debut here too, with his scenes being with Pepper Potts.

- Director Jon Favreau had a smaller role as Tony's chauffeur, Happy Hogan and we got Paul Bettany as Tony's AI JARVIS.

- At one point in the movie, Tony actually mistook Stan Lee for Hugh Heffner. 

- In one of the original, Mandarin was supposed to be the baddie but it was changed to Obadiah Stane.

- Chronology: The film was primarily set in 2008 in both the US and Afghanistan. 

Iron Man isn't my favourite MCU movie but it's a bloody good one and a bloody start to the MCU. Everything you love (and maybe don't) can be traced back to this movie .

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad (1949)

 

Written by Erdman Penner And Winston Hibler And Joe Rinaldi And Ted Sears And Homer Brightman And Harry Reeves

Directed by Ben Sharpsteen And Jack Kinney And Clyde Geronimi And James Algar

Narrator: "Don't try to figure out a plan. You can't reason with a headless man."

Delving into much earlier Disney era with a movie that up until yesterday, I had never actually seen before. Yes, there are some classic Disney films even I need to watch for the first time. This one was interesting enough.

I'm not sure why but for some reason, this movie decided to take two very different stories and decided to splice them together in a way. One half covers a children's classic and the other half, something more appropriate for Halloween. As you do.

Tackling the first half of the movie, you've got The Wind In The Willows. Yup, J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq (Eric Blore) has his head turned with many a thing and his determination to drive a car became a source of contention for his friends, Angus MacBadger (Campbell Grant) and Water Rat (Claus Alister).

Of course, Toad stole a car to drive, having grown tired of his horse, Cyril Proudbottom (J. Pat O'Malley) and ended up in court where he then ended up in the Tower of London instead. However, even that wasn't enough to keep Toad down as he managed to get away by the end of this story. It's an okay adaptation of that story.

Much better handled for me was the adaptation of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow. Yes, we've got Ichabod Crane (actor) coming to the titular town and immediately becoming a target for the bully Brom Bones (actor). There's also a love triangle involving farmer's daughter, Katrina (actor) that did seem to go in Ichabod's favour.

As for the Headless Horseman (Billy Fletcher) segment. The story was told in a nice creepy fashion with Brom using it to scare the bejesus out of Crane. The latter then actually encountering the Horseman was rather satisfying. However by the end of it, it seemed that both Brom and Crane won in different ways, given the outcome of this one.

- We got narrations in this movie with Basil Rathbone for The Wind In The Willows and Bing Crosby for The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow.

- Both of these were intended to be separated movies before they were eventually merged.

- Standout music: The Merrily Song, Auld Lang Syne, Ichabod Crane, Katrina and The Headless Horseman.

- Chronology: 1905 London during Christmas Eve for the first part and 1790, Sleepy Hollow, New York during Halloween for the second part.

While a bit of mixed bag, I did find The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad to be mostly enjoyable. I did like the second part more than the first one.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Conclave (2024)

 

Written by Peter Straughan

Directed by Edward Berger 

Benitez: "The church is not the past. It is what we do next."

I'm doing my best to get to nearly all of the potential Oscar nominated movies before the event itself and on that list included this political thriller. Yes, let's look into the Vatican, shall we?

Notably, let's look into the election of the next Pope through a papal conclave following the death of the pope at the start of the movie. You've got the College of Cardinals, under the leadership of British Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes). They've gathered to elect his successor. A task that would make up this film with different candidates to succeed the late Pope.

The first candidate being Lawrence himself who spent a great portion of the movie denying that he even wanted to the job, due to his faith wavering. Lawrence was more or less the main protagonist of the movie itself and he's predominantly a good man wanting to do the right thing throughout.

The other candidates included a similarly morally upstanding Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci). He's somewhat more progressive than the other candidates, being very pro women and LGBT community but also came across as more pragmatic compared to Lawrence. He had no problem in also confronting the latter's wavering stance towards his faith.

Then there was Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), whose candidacy came into potential following the reveal of a past indiscretion with a nun, thanks to the more tactical and moderate Joseph Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow). Tremblay certainly wasn't above playing dirty, even though the late Pope had demanded his resignation prior to his death. That also left the more traditionalist Goffredo Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) as another would be successor.

Among the vying to be the next Pope and the somewhat expected outcome (if you've read the book), there were two other characters who got to shine in this movie. Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini) worked well as a bit of a foil to Lawrence while Vincent Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz) own backstory was nicely explored and gave some great context following the newly elected Pope.

- The candidates represented different places - Bellini with Italy, Adeyemi with Nigeria, Tremblay with Canada and Benitez with Mexico/Afghanistan. Lawrence was British.

- The movie is based on the 2005 book of the same name by Robert Harris. 

- Standout music: Capella Musicale Pontificia Sistina, Massimo Palombella's version of Allegri: Miserere.

- Chronology: The movie was set over the course of three days, resulting in the newly elected pope.

Conclave certainly managed to be an intriguing and nicely nuanced look into the next Pope. The performances from everyone are particularly great but I have to give a special mention to Carlos Diehz in particular.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)

 

Written And Directed by Joss Whedon 

Ultron: "How do you hope to stop me?"

Tony: "Like the old man said, Together."

After hitting the heights of The Avengers and before the chaos that would be those Justice League reshoots, Joss Whedon was kind of on his A-Game as a writer/director. He was in the big leagues as both and then this sequel came along and sort of became the beginning of the end for him, kind of.

Financially you wouldn't think so because this was another monster hit for both the MCU and for Whedon himself and while it's arguably the "weakest" of the Avengers in terms of movie, there's still plenty to recommend with it. Notably for it's villain choice, character introductions and the set up for other things.

Let's talk villains first. Ultron (James Spader), the dangerous AI that effectively had JARVIS (Paul Bettany) replaced with FRIDAY (Kerry Condon), though not intentionally. He wanted to pacify the Earth by eradicating humanity and thanks to both Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) not keeping a better check on him, he nearly did.

Ultron's design doesn't look too dissimilar from a Terminator to be perfectly honest but he's a great foil for the Avengers, both as a physical and an intellectual menace. He got the best of them multiple times and had it not been for the creation of Vision (Paul Bettany) he might have actually bested the lot of them.

Then there was the twins. Yup, Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his sister, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) certainly were a threat for the team, until halfway through they switched alliances. I think it was the promise of becoming Avengers. It was also the fact that they were two traumatised people who lost their parents in horrific circumstances at a young age and have been exploited by the bad guys ever since.

Of course joining the team didn't initially mean they were trusted but they certainly did their bit to stop Ultron's overall scheme, even if one of them died. Yeah, it's a shame we lost Pietro before really getting to know him but on the other hand, it did make sense to keep Wanda around and the MCU has largely benefitted from that creative decision. 

As for the rest of the team, Captain America (Chris Evans) remained the wholesome guy who got teased for his stance on swearing, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) took delight in the fact that no one could wield his hammer and there was Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). He was genuinely surprised that there was a bubbling romance between Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hulk. Am I the only one who didn't mind that potential pairing? It's a shame that it ultimately went nowhere after this movie.

- The other villain of the piece being Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), who was obsessed with finding Vibranium.

- Other characters to appear in this movie included Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Helen Cho (Claudia Kim) and Heimdall (Idris Elba).

- Stan Lee cameo as a military veteran during a party scene with the Avengers.

- The credit scenes included Thanos (Josh Brolin) determined to do it himself while War-Machine (Don Cheadle) joined the Avengers with Wanda and Vision.

- We were introduced to Clint's wife, Laura (Linda Cardellini) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) also factored in the movie.

- Chronology: Not long after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Took place in Sokovia, Seoul, Johannesburg to name a few places.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron might be the Avengers movie that some fans like the least but it's still a good movie. I actually enjoyed a lot of this, especially with the villain choice and the various character moments.

Rating: 8 out of 10