Jonathan Ytreberg

What an end to the season! This had really strong "I am Locutus of Borg" vibes at the end and can't wait for another dose whenever we get it.

Part of my really hates that we know the fate of certain characters. I mean, I never truly thought Chapel and Spock were in any peril. However, I was distracted enough by the action in the second half of the episode that I didn't think about the fact that M'Benga, La'an, and Ortegas were missing until the very end. I absolutely love those characters and don't want them to go anywhere, but it opens up spots for McCoy and Sulu. Especially since they chose this moment to introduce Scotty and we've already seen Kirk in this season, I feel like it's only a matter of time before we put the rest of the originals together

That said, this episode had me on the edge of my seat, and left plenty of things open ended going into the next season. My hope is that the Hollywood studios figure their stuff out yesterday with the writers and actors and get back to production on content like this. This is what we need and the fact that we might have to wait two years before we find out what happens to these great characters pains me to no end.

Thor is back and I wish I could say better than ever, but unfortunately Love and Thunder leaves a bit to be desired.

Much was made of the return of Natalie Portman to the Thor franchise, and it was great to see her back on screen, and even better to see her don the Thor armor and wield Thor’s legendary hammer Mjolnir. But the truth of this film is that it feels like an awkward follow-up to what was an excellent previous installment in Thor: Ragnarok.

The film picks up with Thor as he tries to figure out what to do with his life after Avengers: Endgame where he left with the remaining Guardians of the Galaxy and while they figured prominently in the trailers promoting the film, I’ll disappoint any Guardians fans by letting you know they disappear about 15 minutes into the film. Don’t worry, they will be back with their holiday special on Disney+ and another theatrical film in the works, but Chris Pratt has been busy with Amazon lately, so the Guardians scenes in this film are pretty limited.

The other high point of the film is Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher. The film actually opens with his backstory and I wish we’d gotten more about his character. We quickly understand his motivations from the opening scenes of the film, but there was so much more they could have done with the character. His lines are sparse and Bale delivers them with his typical dedication to the material, but I couldn’t help hearing Bruce Wayne/Batman in some of his scenes.

The last elephant in the room has to be the Thor/Jane Foster relationship. In some ways, it’s perfectly awkward that they are working together after spending years apart. The film drops in a short flashback sequence that shows how they grew apart as each was more dedicated to their work, saving the world with science and saving the universe with a hammer. I love both Portman and Hemsworth as actors and think they are both better than some of the material they were given here, but it feels like the awkward relationship factor was turned up to 11 and quite overdone.

Thor: Love and Thunder is still a fun film. There are plenty of new characters introduced and we may look back in five years’ time with a different lens after seeing what else has transpired in the MCU, but for now this film didn’t quite reach its full potential.

Last week I posted my review of the first Venom film from 2018 and made it a point to follow it with the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, this week, hoping the series would improve. Sadly, I was disappointed, despite the best efforts of cast and crew.

The sequel was set up very obviously at the end of the first film with a credits scene, something Marvel is so well known for. However, in this instance, it didn’t connect to some other character or series, but rather simply foreshadowed the obligatory sequel for films like this, regardless of the quality of the original.

Did we need another Venom movie? Probably not. Are we going to get even more after this one? Probably.

When it comes to the character, I echo what I said for the first film that I prefer Hardy’s version of Eddie Brock/Venom to Topher Grace’s. I also appreciated the fact that Venom and Eddie became a bit more distinct in this film, with a few characters in the know addressing Venom directly, regardless of whose body he was in at the time. Michelle Williams ups her game in this film from the first despite her limited screen time.

As far as the villains, I believed less in Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady/Carnage and Naomie Harris’s Shriek than I did in the first film’s version of Riot. Don’t get me wrong, I love both Harrelson and Harris as actors, but this material didn’t quite suit them, and it never seemed like they really inhabited the roles.

And of course, I have to mention director Andy Serkis. Gollum himself has moved into the realm of directing, initially helping Peter Jackson with some second unit work on the Hobbit films, before directing full features. I love his work as an actor, but I think Serkis is still trying to find himself as a director and I would love to see him take on some smaller projects to hone that craft. Not everyone can jump right into the deep end on projects like this, and it shows.

I’m sure we’ll keep getting more offshoot films like this from Marvel. There is a credits scene here which connects this directly to SpiderMan: No Way Home but I think this part of the franchise would do well to come fully under the Kevin Feige Marvel umbrella and officially jump into the MCU.

This is a fascinating documentary look at the crazy media obsessed culture we live in today and the immediate effects our reliance on social media has on our ability to digest and be critical of information.

Wait, this isn't a documentary? That just makes it even more depressing.

Don't Look Up is a fantastic political/social satire that gets right at the heart of the problems facing the world today. The horrible part about this film is that nearly every beat is fully believable. The pop-star going on a trendy talk show to spend 20 minutes discussing her recent public breakup followed by a short segment of the same show on a pending cataclysmic event that no one even pays attention to. Yet even as horrible as this is, it's also the genius of the film, getting us to look at this by presenting it in a way that is utterly ridiculous, but completely plausible at the same time.

This film is unique in that nearly every character has their likeable moments and their moments when you hate their guts (yes, I said nearly for a reason). The cast is stellar from top to bottom including the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Timothée Chalamet, and Jonah Hill. It's also nice to see several of these actors playing somewhat against their standard roles. Streep plays the ruthless president, more interested in her party winning the midterm elections than the end of the world. Even Chalamet sheds the meek young man and shows up in the final act as a grungy kid from the street stealing booze from the liquor store.

My only qualm with the acting actually comes from DiCaprio's character, but it's more the script or the direction than Leo's fault. His portrayal of Dr. Randall Mindy at the beginning and end of the film is spot on, but he spends the middle third of the film in what seems like a different character that was cut from the script and blended into Dr. Mindy.

That small qualm aside, the film made me laugh out loud, ponder my own technology usage, and wonder to myself how much of what we see on the screen actually goes on behind closed doors, or possibly even right out in the open, without most people even noticing. The film is a wake up call of sorts for me and one that will stick with me for some time to come.

9 out of 10

Kingsman: The Golden Circle falls into some of the same traps as 2014's Kingsman: The Secret Service, but manages to salvage the story in much the same way as the original.

Picking up the story of british secret agent Galahad, aka Eggsy (Taron Egerton), Golden Circle introduces a number of new characters starting with the new villain/drug lord Poppy (Julianne Moore). After the Kingsman organization is attacked, Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong) seek help from a related organization called Statesmen, based in Kentucky. Here they meet American agents Tequila (Channing Tatum), Whiskey (Pedro Pascal), Champagne "Champ" (Jeff Bridges), and Ginger Ale (Halle Berry).

The two agencies combine forces to find and fight against Poppy's evil plan to hold a enormous swath of the human population hostage through the drugs she distributes around the world. As with any good spy flick, there are plenty of misdirections and some double crosses before finally figuring out where all the allegiances lie.

Two things work against this film. First, the lengthy cast list. I already mentioned a number of them above and it feels like some of these roles were put in just for the sake of developing a part for the actors that inhabit them. Don't get me wrong, they are all great in these roles, just not all entirely necessary.

Secondly, it's a bit long for a popcorn flick like this. There are moments when it feels like it's trying to take itself seriously like a Bond film, but then other moments when it knows full well that it's a campy romp. If it was serious throughout, it may have justified the longer run time, but as something fun, it would have worked better by losing 25-30 minutes.

That said, the campiness ends up working in the end. Most of the action scenes are so over the top that you just have to sit back and enjoy the insanity of what's happening on screen. Realizing that these stories are based on comics makes it a little easier to swallow. The action is very reminiscent of comic books and that makes it feel OK in the end.

While Golden Circle is not a great film, it is a fun adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

6 out of 10

Angelina Jolie's return to the action/thriller genre leaves quite a bit to be desired and neither the visual effects of blazing forest fires nor the Oscar-winning actress can save a script that begs for some cohesive elements to hold it together.

Jolie stars as Hannah Faber, a hard drinking, "one of the guys" smokejumper in the American west who has nightmares of a group of boys she was unable to save in a recent forest fire. She is relegated to a fire tower in the wilderness, responsible for spotting potential fires and approaching storms while dealing with her dreams in isolation.

On the other side of the country, Owen Casserly (Jake Weber) and his son Conner (Finn Little) set off on a cross-country trek when Owen learns of the death of his boss because of accounting information Owen himself uncovered. He fears (correctly) that he will be the next target and hits the road in an attempt to save himself and Conner from the pair of assassins (Nicholas Hoult and Aidan Gillen) following them.

Conner ends up by himself and finds Hannah who he must decide to trust with his life, or continue running on his own. Add some supplemental characters in the mix including the local Sherriff who is Hannah's ex-boyfriend/Connor's uncle and his pregnant wife who runs a survival school in the backwoods and a random appearance by Tyler Perry (who also produced the film) and it feels like a mishmash of stock characters that have little chemistry together and who change their character make-up too much for the audience to get truly invested in who they are.

I had high hopes for this film, but it fails to deliver. Director Taylor Sheridan set the bar high with earlier films including his writing efforts on two Sicario films and Hell of High Water, for which he received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Even his previous directorial outing Wind River had more intensity to it and a strong story. I can't truly recommend this film, but do elevate it from a 4 to a 5 based on the acting of young Finn Little. While I think the directing lacked a bit, his portrayal of Connor feels real and he pulls it off very well, especially opposite an actor such as Jolie.

There are just too many things where I stopped and said "that could never happen" in this film, and it took me out of the story. There is potential here, but unfortunately it is not realized with this outing.

5 out of 10​​​​

While it's not entirely necessary to make a feature film about everyone's favorite feuding cat and mouse, Tom & Jerry brings just enough substance to the big screen to make it worth the ride.

It's a little surprising that it took this long for us to get a feature length version of the classic Hanna Barbara Tom & Jerry cartoons. On the other hand, they work so well in short sequences, it is difficult to sustain their level of antics over a 90-minute run time. That is the main downfall of this film, it just can't sustain the typical Tom & Jerry energy throughout the course of the film. That said, I'm not sure it should even try to do that, because then it just becomes a string of gags with little to no plot.

Not that there is much plot here to begin with. The film keeps things simple with Kayla Forrester (Chloë Grace Moretz) faking her way into a job at a prestigious New York hotel on the eve of the wedding of the century between Preeta (Pallavi Sharda) and Ben (Colin Jost). She is assigned to work under the event manager Terence (Michael Peña) who doesn't quite trust her from the beginning. When Jerry shows up in the hotel, Kayla convinces Terence and the hotel manager to "hire" Tom to help find the mouse and get rid of him. Tom & Jerry regular Spike also appears (as Ben's pet dog) along with Preeta's pet cat Toodles Galore just to add to the chaos.

The wedding story line serves to propel the action forward a bit and sets up some of the more hilarious physical comedy of the film. All the animals in the film are animated, while the human characters and settings remain live action. This mix feels right and most of the actors do a passable job of acting against the animated characters, with the best one being Moretz. Kayla even gets a side romance with the hotel bartender while at the same time finding her groove as Preeta's confidante leading up to the wedding.

In the end, this is a fun film, if not terribly engaging cinema. If you have kids and are looking for something new to watch with them, chances are they will love Tom & Jerry. Just don't go in expecting anything more than a longer version of their short cartoons.

6 out of 10​​​​

Just like the title suggests, this film is a great show piece, and while it attempts at finding a deeper meaning and message about acceptance and being oneself, the film ultimately falls a bit flat in telling the story of P. T. Barnum (P. T. Barnum) and his rise to circus fame.

Don't get me wrong, there are sequences in this film that look fantastic and the way things transition from one phase to the next is seamless. It's clear that the filmmakers took great pains to show the way Barnum's showmanship intersected with his personal life and vice versa. All of the typical circus sideshow oddities are there from the "bearded lady" to the "dog man" and everything in between. It was even a bit surprising that in the 21st century, these characters were treated as callously as they were at the beginning of the film, set up as being true oddities even though we have a much better understanding of the conditions that make people unique today.

The film shows a young Barnum working as a tailor's apprentice before meeting the girl of his dreams, the rich Charity Hallett (Michelle Williams). They marry and have two children before Barnum loses everything and opens his museum of wax figures in New York to dismal sales before eventually bringing in the "freak" performers. His willingness to employee these individuals is ridiculed by critics, but enjoyed by (most of) the public which eventually leads to bigger and bigger successes.

But despite all the spectacle, the film is terribly predictable. There are attempts at being profound and inspiring, but they are covered over with the music throughout, which often takes over scenes that feel like they should have a little more space to be quiet and breathe. The frenetic pace of the various performances and dance numbers make the 105 minute run-time feel stuffed full and forced.

That said, there are a few scenes where some brilliant acting shines through, specifically one very touching scene between Zendaya's trapeze artist Anne Wheeler and Zac Efron's Phillip Carlyle. Unfortunately, this only further exposes the problem plaguing the rest of the film by showing there can be quiet moments of reflection. Jackman's performance, while nothing extraordinary, is entertaining and fills the screen, proving who the true showman in this piece is.

6 out of 10​​​​