My Review of Kraven The Hunter (2024)

 

Written by Richard Wenk And Art Marcum And Matt Holloway

Directed by J.C. Chandor

Sergei: "I stared Death in the face, and for the first time... I saw my true self."

Oh, Sony, you just never learn. For all the success of the Spiderverse animated movies and inadvertent success of a Venom trilogy, these Spider-Man adjacent movies have been more trouble than they're worse. The all too predictable failure of this movie really should put paid to any further films like this but I feel it likely won't.

Now, what exactly went wrong here? In some respects, there's a serviceable enough story but it feels like an executive at Sony saw the subversive of Cruella and thought they could replicate that with this character. There was potential for it to work but the idea didn't quite land as well as it should've done.

Our titular antihero, almost known as Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson/Levi Miller) found out that his mother died and his father, Nikolai (Russell Crowe) was less upset about that than he would've liked. Nikolai also liked pitting Sergei and his younger brother, Dmitri (Fred Hechinger/Billy Barratt) against one another and an incident with a lion saw Sergei putting some distance with his family for a good sixteen years.

In the present day, Sergei became Kraven the Hunter while Dmitri's penchant for imitation had him as a lounge singer. It also got Dmitri kidnapped by both Aleksei Sytsevich aka Rhino (Alessandro Nivola) and the Foreigner (Christopher Abbott). It also had Sergei reunite with Calypso Ezili (Ariana DeBose/Diaana Babnicova) as she too found herself up in events.

In terms of the villains of the piece, there's four of them. Both Rhino and Foreigner provider solid and physical threats for our antihero but it's the misdeeds of Nikolai that set off the whole chain of events. It's also Nikolai's actions that saw about a villainous turn for Dmitri in a reveal that we're not likely going to see play out in the future.

As for Calypso, she did get some decent moments in the movie but it's a more subdued version of the character. Even the comic book romance between her and Sergei was mostly played down, though she did save his life at crucial points, so I have to give points for that alone. As for Sergei he certainly embraced a certain look by the very last scene of the movie.

- There's no mid or post credit scene and considering how this movie has bombed, that was a wise decision. I'm surprised Dmitri revealing his chameleon powers to Sergei wasn't used as one.

- Both Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Russell Crowe have previous been in the MCU as Quicksilver and Zeus respectively.

- Standout music: Dmitri does perform a rather nice version of Harry Styles Sign Of The Times in his piano bar.

- Chronology: Present day and sixteen years in the past. Scenes in Africa, Russia and London.

Kraven The Hunter ain't a great movie by any stretch of the imagination but it's not an entire car crash. It just feels a tad pointless but the action sequences are decent enough, though it's surprisingly longer than expected. Keep your expectations to a minimum and you won't be too disappointed.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Creature Commandos: "Priyatel Skelet"

 

Written by James Gunn 

Directed by Sam Liu

Dr Phospherus (to girl): "It looks like I'm smiling but I'm not."

With this penultimate episode, a long standing (and somewhat tiresome) theory got debunked. For the billionth time, Matt Reeves will not be merging Robert Pattinson's Batman into the DCU. Mostly because from the vague silhouette we saw, James Gunn will cast his own actor for the role.

A few episodes ago, we did see the Dark Knight slaughtered in a nightmare future seen by Circe and here, Batman appeared in flashbacks just as Dr Phospherus was embracing his newly acquired criminal lifestyle. Before that though we saw a much different version of the man.

In early flashbacks, Alexander Sartorius was a scientist looking to cure cancer. He was also being financially backed by mobster Rupert Thorne (Benjamin Byron Davis), who murdered Alexander's wife and son before causing Alex's transformation into Dr Phospherus. Suffice to say, Rupert didn't live much longer than that.

As the flashbacks saw Phospherus climbing up the criminal ranks, the present day version had him bond with a little girl before heading to the castle to kill Princess Ilana Rostavic. What about everyone else? What did they get up to?

Well, you had The Bride and Nina hanging out in a brothel, killing metahuman punters and verbally sparring with Madame Gyurov (Shohreh Aghdashloo). Mostly that was The Bride but both her and Nina caught up with Phospherus as did Weasel. Now will they kill the Princess?

As for the rest of the episode, Eric Frankenstein got a plane to himself to get back to Pokolistan while Ricky Flag Sr was in a coma after being fucked up by Clayface. At least he had Amanda Waller by his bedside to encourage him back to the land of the living. Selfless to a fault Amanda was.

- Batman being relegated to a silhouette must mean they're still trying to decide what his actual look will be when he appears in live action.

- Shohreh Aghdashloo appeared in The Penguin as Nadia Maroni. Is it too much to hope she'll get a live action role in the DCU?

- That little girl that Weasel saved in flashbacks was a younger version of Ilana. I did laugh at him playing fetch with a bunch of wolves who were going to kill him.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off. 

Priyatel Skelet was a doozy. Even without the Batman cameo, this episode delivered a hell of a backstory for Phospherus and great subplots with everyone else. Can't wait for next week's finale.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Better Man (2024)

 

Written by Simon Gleeson And Oliver Cole And Michael Gracey

Directed by Michael Tracey

Robbie Williams: "Fame is a powerful aphrodisiac. It means even ugly people can get laid."

2024 was something of an odd year for musical biopics and while a certain one that came out around the same time as this might be getting award love, what about this one?

Robbie Williams has always been a popstar that's had an audience. He was the lovable cheeky chap from Take That who had that extra It factor his band mates didn't necessarily have and he seemed to appeal to every demographic without even trying. That's something that a lot of male popstars, especially today cannot boast about.

He's also had something of a tumultuous personal life and those tend to be the things these music biopics really thrive on, for better or worse. What set this apart from the usual biopics though was the fact that he was being played by a CGI chimpanzee, voiced by both Williams and actor Jonno Davies.

It's a wild choice and one I'm not entirely sure worked but it certainly kept my attention during the two hour plus movie. We go through Robbie's childhood with a father, Pete Conway (Steve Pemberton) who flounced in and out of Robbie to a more supportive family unit with his mother, Janet (Kate Mulvany) and grandmother, Betty (Alison Steadman). The latter in particular was excellent here.

Of course we also get to see Robbie audition for the boyband tha would change his life and meet fellow bandmates Gary Barlow (Jake Simmance), Mark Owen (Jesse Hyde), Howard Donald (Liam Head) and Jason Orange (Chase Vollenweider) along with their manager, Nigel Martin-Smith (Damon Herriman).

Being in a boyband only worked for so long and then there was the solo career. The movie was clever in how it used some of Robbie's biggest hits during key moments and there's some exploration into his working relationship with songwriter Guy Chambers (Tom Budge), rivalry with Oasis as well as his relationship with All Saints singer, Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno).

Yeah, the movie did examine the highs and lows of Williams life and career with the final few minutes ending the movie on a rather poignant note as Robbie did a duet of My Way with his father. It's a nice way to actually end this particular movie.

- The movie was mostly shot in Australia along with some Albert Hall filming for the recreation of the last scene. 

- US audiences can see this movie from January 10th.

- Standout music: The way songs like Angels, Rock DJ, She's The One and Let Me Entertain You are done well. Forbidden Road was also exclusive for this movie.

- Chronology: It started in the 1980s in Stoke On Trent, covering the 1990s and 2000 with the defining moments of Robbie's career.

Better Man definitely got points for it's oddball approach to the musical biopic. I'm not sure I would've had a CGI chimpanzee but it kind of works for the most part I guess. Overall I liked it. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Scream 7 - Full Cast And Release Date Announced

Despite being marred with controversy, the seventh instalment in the Scream franchise will be happening. Because once again, online discourse doesn't impact creative decisions from a studio.

First of all, the returning cast will comprise of Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and Mason Gooding. I'll be honest, I'm a little surprised with the return of Gooding but at least it's proof that the Radio Silence era movies aren't being ignored or potentially retconned.

I've included Patrick Dempsey as well for now in this line up. He's not officially been cast but I suspect he'll be announced closer to or during filming, which will start this month in Atlanta. Anna Camp has also joined as a neighbour of Sidney's. Horror fans will of course know her from HBO series, True Blood.

However along with returning faces, what about the newcomers who'll have to face off Ghostface (Roger L. Jackson)? Our new cast include Isabel May (1883) Asa Germann (Gen V),  Mckenna Grace (The Haunting Of Hill House), Sam Rechner (The Fablemans) and Celeste O'Connor (Madame Web).

The character descriptions for this new set of teen characters range from Sidney's oldest daughter (Isabel's character) as well as the boyfriend, the creepy neighbour guy, the heartbreaker of the group and the queen bee. The movie will be directed by creator Kevin Williamson from a script written by Guy Busick, who co-wrote the previous two movies with James Vanderbilt. 

Scream 7 will hit theatres from February 27th 2026.