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The Witcher season 1 episode 1: The End’s Beginning
This is an interesting start to the first season of the series, it opens with a fight scene between Geralt and a monster. This sequence I thought was handled very well and the fight partly takes place with Geralt underwater, I thought that this was a nice touch to the fight sequence as it shows us that even the good guys are in danger of dying from possibly being drowned. The good guys are never invulnerable. The special effects I thought were very well made, especially when Geralt looks demonic. The season so far does a great job of making Geralt an outcast, as his kind is called mutants.
One issue that I have with the series is that the creators introduce too much lore into the first episode without fleshing them out and for me at least it was hard to keep track of what is and has happened, I guess what you have to do if you have the same issue as me is to read The Witcher books and play the video games. I’m in the process of purchasing the books, so I can better understand the lore of the TV show. I’m not a fan of playing games as I find them too difficult to complete.
What I found amazing about the first episode so far is the R-Rated action sequences, they don’t shy away from the gore and danger. I just hope the swearing stays on a minimum; as nowhere days what makes R-Rated movies and TV shows are the amount of swearing they can jam into the stories, which isn’t beneficial at all. I think that all the actresses and actors have done a great job, however I find that if Geralt is not on screen being the main focus; I find myself losing slight interest in what is happening. Again I think this happens because I have not read the books or played the games.
On a slight side note after knowing more about Henry Cavill playing the Witcher and knowing more about him in the Behind the Scenes of the DC movies as Superman, he might be my favourite Superman better than the Supermen who have appeared in CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Because of this I have re-watched the Man of Steel and to me it's become a better movie. I am also planning on re-watching and reviewing the Justice League movie that also features Henry Cavill’s Superman and again that movie has gotten better the more times I watch it. One thing that I am hoping for in terms of Henry Cavill and the DCEU is that Zack Snyder’s version of the Justice League movie gets released. I know that it might not be connected to the rest of the new DCEU movies, as for example Wonder Woman 1984 is retconning what happens to Diana Prince in the theatrical release of BvS. So the answer to this is that Zack Snyder and WB release his movie as an Elseworlds property. This has pretty much already happened when DC and WB released the Joker 2019 movie, which is not connected to the DCEU; but I believe has started its own universe of movies called DC’s Black Label. And, it was successful. So I believe it would be the same for the new version of Justice League.
Lastly what I appreciate about the series is that Henry Cavill’s acting as Geralt is different from him playing Superman. It shows his range of his acting and that’s great. Overall, Henry Cavill has been great as Geralt and Superman and I hope for more of those two properties in both movies and TV shows.
The Witcher (2019) season 1 review
The Witcher season 1 Review. Episode: Four Marks, introduces a new main character Yennefer besides Geralt and Ciri and the episode also introduces magic properly to the series. Henry Cavill pushed the creators of the series to ensure magic was apart of the show despite the high cost of CGI. I think that this episode is better than the first, as it focuses on the three main characters that I believe have great appeal to the audience.
The series expands on the universe by introducing another Witcher and more monsters giving a horror feel to the story. I think that this is a nice touch to the series as it becomes more than a fantasy epic. The series also dapples into very dark topics about family, which I think is slightly unusual, but Game of Thrones has done the same. People and fans of Witcher like to compare the series to Game of Thrones. Some say that it is different from that fantasy epic is bad; on the other hand, others say it's good. I think that the series is great being different from GoTs, as the Witcher presents a new feel to a fantasy epic, as this is the first time Witcher has been produced in the media of film.
Ever since Geralt and the Bard were starting to become friends, Geralt’s persona shifted becoming less brooding and more light-hearted. This shows that Witchers do have emotions contradicting otherwise. The Flashbacks gave more backstory to Ciri; where she came from and the origins of her powers. This must be needed to show why Ciri’s Grandmother ordered her to seek out Geralt when Cintra was being invaded by Nilfgaard. There has been other Flashbacks that focused on other characters; but I believe the most important one is Ciri's, to further develop the ground work of her connection with Geralt.
Episode 5 is when Yennefer meets Geralt and in this episode, Yennefer is a fully-fledged Mage. It would have been interesting if season 1 entirely focused on her training being a Mage and by the end she becomes powerful, but I understand why the creators didn’t do this as it's possible they didn’t know they would get a season 2; so they rushed Yennefer’s character development.
The series explores the relationship between Geralt and Yenefer and they have a very special connection created by magic that draws them together even after a long time of separation. After Yennefer finds this out it sends a wedge between herself and Geralt, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if they get back together in season 2. I haven’t played the games and I’m in the process of listening to the audiobooks, so I don’t know if Geralt’s and Yenefer’s magical bond is in the books, If it's only part of the TV show then I say great as it's something new and unique to a relationship on screen.
In conclusion, this series so far has been slightly confusing in terms of timelines, but still great and waiting for season 2.
Charlie's Angels (2019)
Even though this movie flopped at the box office, I thought that it was an okay movie. The creators didn’t over sexualise the Angels in every scene and sequence; unlike the previous Charlie’s Angels movies. I thought that the actresses who played the Angels had great chemistry together and I think without that chemistry I don’t the movie would have performed as well as it did. Also what I thought was interesting was the mystery surrounding the bad guy of the movie, I didn’t see it coming and that was great. I must give praise to one of the actresses: Kristen Stewart, I think that she was great in the movie being the comedic relief and when she had to act serious she did that too. In addition, Kristen did great in the action sequences and so did the rest of the Angels. There were some action sequences that didn’t make sense like a car chase sequences where the bad guy and Angels were exchanging gunfire and most of the bullets didn't hit their mark; in my opinion, I can overlook this choice in the stunt because I know what the sequence was doing, it was building up suspense and rightfully so as there was a character who died at the end of the it. This was sad as this character was a close friend to one of the Angels and gave her character development. The same Angel was given more character development later in the movie that could lead to sequels. The one thing that I didn’t like was that the movie kept hammering away that men were evil and not very nice people, I wish that the movie didn’t do that but still the movie was great fun. In conclusion, even though the movie didn’t do so well in terms of reaching breakeven or making profit, I want to see a sequel with these Angels and hopefully see them in more than 3 future movies.
Aladdin (Live Remake) (2019)
This movie was unexpectedly quite great. The only issue that I had with the film is the singing by Will Smith, it was hard to understand some of the songs he sang. On the topic about songs, the actress who plays Jasmine can sing and that’s great. Fans of the animated Aladdin movie were commenting on the appearance of the Genie from trailers and teasers and said that he didn’t look right and looked ugly; CGI didn't look up to par with most Disney movies; early MCU films. I have a feeling Disney rushed the effects on this movie as they needed the special effects team to work on the MCU films. To be honest Disney/Marvel should have taken there time on producing quality over quantity and if they did so, the CGI in their films would have been better. My opinion, on the look of the Genie is that he didn’t look that bad. I guess to help fans accept the Genie the film-makers released images of Will Smith looking human to win their hearts over. Yes the special effects team could have redesigned the Genie but it looks like they were occupied. To be honest I haven’t really seen the animated Aladdin movie and don’t remember if the Genie had a human form but it made sense for the remake. The other CGI moments and scenes were to accepted standards. In terms of the acting done by the main cast, I think they were great and reflected the feel of the animated characters from the original.
Click the hyperlink in the review to buy related products to Aladdin from Amazon. To end, I think the movie did well, created new stories as good as the original.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) (with spoilers)
This movie was a pretty great, in my opinion, it shows the life of actors and actresses behind the scenes of movies and TV shows in the late 1960s Hollywood. The movie focuses on two main characters Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt respectively. What was pretty great about the movie was the acting of the two main actors and surprisingly the fight scenes of Brad Pitt’s character were pretty cool too. In the movie there were hints of Cliff’s background about killing his wife, we don’t know if that was true or not but without those skills, he would not have survived the climactic event at the end of the movie. There was a dog involved in the climactic event, which was cool and gross at the same time. What was kind of weird about the movie was that the Director and Writer: Quentin Tarantino decided to have shots of women’s feet in the frame and I’m not exactly sure why that happened throughout the movie. The best sequence in the movie was when the camera focused on Leonardo DiCaprio playing Rick Dalton playing a bad guy cowboy, holding a gun to an 8 year old girl’s head; the reason why this happened in the film within film was that the cowboy wanted 50,000 dollars. This was the best sequence in the movie because of Leonardo DiCaprio acting.
There was another sequence of Leonardo DiCaprio when his character was in a trailer talking to himself saying that he needed to stop drinking and act better, he was breaking and kicking things in the trailer and I found this cool seeing how physical Leonardo DiCaprio can get. One thing that I noticed was that everyone in the late 60’s smoked cigarettes in Hollywood, however no one seemed to care and it was never addressed that it is bad for their health. This was interesting because it left me to wonder what could happen to the physical conditions of the characters in the movie and if it would play a part in the main plot. Another great sequence that was controversial was the fight sequence between Bruce Lee and Cliff Booth. The reason why this fight upset people including the real life daughter of Bruce Lee, was because the sequence made fun of Bruce Lee having Cliff Booth throw him into a car. I think this had to happen because without it again I don’t think the audience would have believed that Cliff would have survived the ending of the movie.
To conclude, the film was an interesting ride dealing with actors and actresses in Hollywood, including Hippies with a dark life.
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
This movie was quite good, despite it not performing so well at the box office. Apparently, the reason why this has happened is that the story beats of the movie have happened in previous Terminator movies. The reason why this didn’t bother me is that I don’t remember what has happened in the previous films. The only thing about the movie that was a problem for me is the pacing; there was so much action in the first third of the movie, which I think was too much for its own good, then there was a bit of downtime in the middle of the movie where I got slightly bored. And, finally the last third of the movie was back with the action. The last third I didn’t have an issue with because it was the climax of the film and it’s good for any movie to end with a bang. The best parts of the movie were the actors, they were all great and especially the actress who played Grace: Mackenzie Davis, she conveyed emotion when she had to and when she needed to kick butt she was willing and capable. The actress who plays Dani: Natalia Reyes was great as well, I think that her character development was the best out of all of the characters; she was a average person at the start of the film, then became a capable woman by the end of the film and it looks like the creators are planning a sequel with Dani and Sarah Connor. Lastly, Arnold Schwarzenegger was great, he was the comedic relief of the movie and when he needed to act in a serious manner he delivered. Overall, even with the bad reception, I think the movie was epic.
Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
This movie is an interesting to say the least. If you are looking for a movie with a complex and intriguing plot, then this movie is not for you. I think if you are looking for a movie with gore and R-rated elements this is the movie for you. The premise of this movie is simple: something happens to Rambo’s ward and he must avenge her. I found the first half of the movie to be a bit basic, but I guess this had to happen to introduce characters that are new to the franchise. As giving those characters intricate plots could present the story of the movie as convoluted. Thus it's safe giving new characters simple developments. Downtime with character development could be interesting if done right, but in this case it wasn't done so. What was great about the movie was the action, gore and some of the character interactions especially between Rambo and his ward; you really understand and feel for their relationship. And, something happens halfway through the movie that is really heartbreaking. The action and gore were really vivid, There was one scene involving Rambo and a Human Trafficker in a car and Rambo does something horrific, which literally made me feel sick. Overall movie was mediocre but the action and gore elevates the movie if that’s what you are looking for.
Men In Black International (2019)
This movie I think had a lot of things going for it however, the first thing that stood out to me was that there was no Will Smith humour. This was a slight issue for me until the third act of the movie where a character was introduced to bring a unique sense of humour that wasn’t Will Smith humour and it was great. The downside of the movie in my opinion was Chris Hemsworth. His acting to me was a bit off, maybe the reason why this was an issue for me is that I've been exposed to him as Thor from the MCU movies. Although the chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson was golden. Chris was the reckless character that complimented Tessa’s serious character and vice versa. This creates a good and compelling story. Overall, even with its faults Men in Black International was a great ride.
Captain Marvel (2019)
In my opinion, this movie wasn’t that bad even when fans and casual viewers said that it was pushing the feminist agenda too hard, not as hard as the Batwoman trailer though. I know one guy who said that he enjoyed the movie and I would second that opinion. The only issue that I have with the movie is that we didn’t get to see much of the Kree homeworld. Other than that the movie was a great origin story. The chemistry between Carol Danvers and Nick Fury I thought was the highlight of the movie and the CGI of Nick Fury and Agent Coulson was amazing making them look younger as the movie was set in the 90s. There is a twist in the movie that doesn’t follow the comics and I think it was a good idea, because I think a lot of people at times don’t want to see a comic book panel by panel played out on the big screen; as it might get boring. The comedy was interesting, however in one scene between Carol and the Skrulls it was slightly weird but overall the movie was good enough to say that it might be one of my favourites as I bought it on Blu-Ray.
Spider-man: Far From Home (2019)
Spider-man: Far From Home ends the Infinity Saga of the MCU. And, I think this movie is what the fans and the MCU needed; because Infinity War and Endgame although had some comedic beats were serious movies. Far From Home was very light and comedic even when dealing with the death of Tony Stark. What I really liked about this movie was the villain. He was the most different compared to other villains in the MCU and if you know Mysterio from the comics you’ll understand what I mean when I say he's different for the better. Another great thing about the movie was the relationship between MJ and Peter. In Homecoming MJ was very mean and cold but in this movie she was more relaxed and calm. And seeing that character development was a great side story to the main plot of the movie. In conclusion Far From Home was a great ending to the latest phase of the MCU and can’t wait to see more of Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spiderman.