I thought this was a lovely Miyazaki film. Bold and colorful characters and set pieces, set in an entirely new world filled with mysterious magic and rambunctious creatures galore. It's a good watch for sure and I recommend it.
I'm having a hard time deciding where to put this in my hierarchy of Ghibli films, and that's for several reasons, but the main one I'll write about here is the world-building. On one hand, I thought the world-building was done exceptionally well, there's so many interesting things they present for you to think about. But on the other hand, not much of what makes the world interesting is explored or explained. It's nice to have such a dense world, and maybe I've been spoiled by movies lately in knowing exactly what's going on, but it did make me feel a bit conflicted in that regard.
I would love to do a second watch of the movie to try and catch more of its subtleties as well and try to break down a little more of Miyazaki's rhetoric, which is also something I found to be a little difficult to extract while viewing, but I'm not hating the idea of watching again! Everyone who worked on this movie have poured their heart and soul into it, and it really shines through. Definitely one of my top movies from this year.
The second time Disney Lucasfilm took a hero from my childhood and practically destroyed them right in front of me. So it might be odd for me to remark that It's not completely bad. But if you've seen literally any other Indiana Jones, yeah. Don't watch this one. It's 100% milquetoast. Every creative decision was the safe one. The CGI they've implemented seems more to show off "the latest and greatest" the tech has to offer, but it's still not even great and when I noticed it, it took me out of it. We'll see more of the seams in probably a year or so, and it will probably be laughably bad.
There's a chase scene that takes too long, the god-daughter is terribly annoying, scene to scene it's pretty dry, and the villains are always right behind the heroes because movie. Lots of dumb "coincidences" where things line up because the characters need a reason to continue to follow the plot. When our heroes solve puzzles and riddles they just instantly know the answer. And the Nazis instantly take the solution, which in a cat and mouse way is reminiscent of the old films but the silliness of the chase in Dial of Destiny is so implausible at points it just makes you roll your eyes. This not to mention that the writers expect you to thread together some important plot points and developments by your own assumptions and it's just lazy.
I think the biggest highlight is the climax, I'm glad the writers actually did something with the McGuffin. But if course, out of every interesting scenario that could have happened, they picked the milquetoast one. There's maybe 2 jokes that landed for me across the whole movie. I dunno. More than anything I appreciated the score, which of course John Williams does his thing and slams it out of the park. I suppose I also appreciated some fight scenes and the sound work surrounding those.
I have a lot of negative things to say but I didn't walk out of the theater before it was over, and my family overall said they thought it was better than expected, so in an act to be objective I'm just gonna leave it at a 5. Maybe I have rose tinted glasses, but I think Crystal Skull was better? Also there's no Shia La Bouf. Don't even bother getting excited to see him. He's written off. Would have honestly rather had him star in a reboot, but he doesn't even make an appearance. But he could have! The plot could have taken so many more interesting turns with the elements in this story, it's practically a shame that this is the one that got weaved together.
In short, I think Hideo Kojima said it best when he tweeted: "Went to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny."
Saw the trailers and thought it looked like a horrible dumpster fire that I would not watch, but then I heard that "Paramount did NOT understand how to market this movie", and that "actually it's REALLY good." So I gave it a shot.
It's fair. Maybe even good. My expectations going in were out of wack for sure but overall I definitely expected more action and more humor, but it was all pretty surface level stuff. The humor was very dry and there was maybe once it escaped the dryness and I did chuckle out loud. The few action scenes I did appreciate for being pretty easy to follow but I definitely thought there would be more of them.
The plot and characters were serviceable enough I am just coming out of it with an empty headspace. It just didn't have much substance. And maybe that is on purpose to mirror the vibe of an actual DnD one-shot or something? Not sure why it isn't landing for me. Maybe my movie expectations are too high. Really don't know.
Maybe a sequel could iron it out and make it land better. It's at least good enough to warrant another go in those regards.
I have to go against the grain and with my gut on this one. It's just not as good as the first film. Right when it starts gearing up to give some satisfying narrative conclusions it drops you off at arguably the hardest cliffhanger I've ever experienced at the movies, and without the blatant "part 1" label, I felt absolutely robbed leaving the theater, with the entire experience cheapened, and I even questioned if it was a good idea to see it in theaters in the first place! This unresolved mass of narrative webbing is largely the reason for my disappointment. But truthfully, and by my own logic, I don't even think I have the grounds to even give an opinion, that's how glaring the ending cliffhanger is. So take all of this, rating included with a grain of salt. They leave so many narrative beats for the next movie, it is mind boggling.
So, for the first half of this story that is the entirety of Across the Spider-Verse, I enjoyed it for the most part. It had some good quips, the characters were fun, and their development was interesting. I was entertained for the entirety of the film's run time for sure. I did enjoy the fan service of seeing some of my favorite spider-men iterations, and there's a particular scene in the first half with Miles swinging around New York that I thought embodied some of my favorite feelings of Spider Man as a character. It's all pretty well done.
I did think that some of the scenes were breathtakingly beautiful in their art direction, though often I found when the action was amped up and a lot of things got moving on screen, that same art direction made those scenes so hard to follow and keep up with. For example, Spider Punk is a really cool character and his art style is absolutely on brand for him, but the moment he's involved in scenes that require him to quickly move around, my eyes and brain could not process what was going on with that guy. Maybe that's intentional! But even scenes that had cohesive style sometimes still were difficult to follow, and that's not what I'm looking for in superhero movies with tons of action. But when it comes together just right, it is a really beautiful movie.
There's something weird with how they did the multi-verse stuff in this movie that I did not like as compared to the first one. I can't put my finger on it, but it just doesn't hit quite the same as the first. Maybe the vast abundance of Spider Men make the other inclusions feel watered down or something. I don't know.
My view I'm certain will change after I've seen the conclusion (or sequel) to all of the threads that started their weave here, but as of right now I'm left as satisfied as I can be until we get to that point with the next movie. Until then, Across the Spider-Verse and its lack of narrative conclusions will simply haunt me.
More of a 7, but my wife loved it so I'm meeting in the middle. Ultimately I'm not a mystery aficionado like her, but even with my limited background it's easy to see this is the best between it, "Death on the Nile" and "Murder on the Orient Express".
Why is this the best one? Well I think "Death on the Nile" is flawed somewhere in execution that makes it boring and the conclusion falls flat so it's out for me by default. Murder on the Orient Express has a finale that doesn't really feel earned. So Haunting in Venice comes out on top almost by default.
This movie IS very mysterious and intriguing, and you never really know what curious character to point your finger at. The acting is great from everyone and it's got great pacing to match.
I think it does suffer with a finale that doesn't feel "earned". Maybe I'm too stupid but when they finally go through all the evidence it's a very lowercase "oh". Rather than an "OH" that might come as I remember the details that lead into the grand reveal. But the details here are all... So minor? You'd really have to scrutinize absolutely everything to figure it out. I'm not a world class detective... but I would have liked to think I was even if I was wrong. I dunno.
But again, it's good, and certainly the best of the 3 in the running series. Excellent set dressing, really great characters, and a wonderful ride (up till the end).
I've seen the Eddie Murphey version and the Muppet version, and now I've seen this version. So, which is the best version? Honestly, it's going to come down to your personal preference. I think they're all pretty on par with each other. This one, more than the others pays more respects to the ride and I think that's been engineered to be that way... Why else would they release this in July, if not for Disney's executives to get rabid at the thought of the misplaced summer audiences of this movie, somehow enjoying it enough to subliminally be moved to the point of booking a trip to youknowwhere land/world in time for Halloween - one of their parks highest earning holidays of the year.
But I digress. The acting is better than you might expect from a wacky cast of actors both recognizable and unrecognizable alike that are actually enjoyable as their characters and all work well with each other. The movie is surprisingly able to pull on your emotional heartstrings as you empathize with those grieving (a large plot point) even if you have nothing you have ever grieved about before. I thought that part was very well done. In that way, this version makes it the most emotionally powerful of the 3 Haunted Mansions and perhaps will be the reason why it'll stick out.
I am getting so tired of mega-corps name-dumping apps, products, services, and other mega-corps as hidden advertisements during a movie's run-time, and Haunted Mansion has its fair share of that. I miss the days when we could have normal characters not talk about Amazon or Google and still have a compelling story. It's frustrating, and it could be more egregious than it's done here but it's something I gotta point out.
It'll certainly be interesting to see how the masses enjoy this movie on Disney Plus come October, when the vast majority of human beings choose to watch spooky Halloween-themed movies, and if you're one of those people reading this in the future come that time, I'm letting you know that this is inoffensive enough to deserve a watch, especially if you're a fan of the ride or the other movies.
I read through CSM earlier this year, and I have to say, I'm really impressed with this adaptation. You can tell that the MAPPA team really cares about the source material, so much so that the small expansions that they do have here and their with their own flair fit the characters and the world at large beautifully. This is the bar that I wish all manga adaptations could hit.
That being said, I don't think it's perfect, MAPPA's continued use of CGI is frankly just as gross as CGI from anime 10+ years ago when I first saw that technique. It's not used much but it does take me right out of the show. I think the other drawback comes from the limitation of the length of the season. While a truly impressive adaptation, it really is a double edged sword in that we don't get to see a lot of character or even plot progression. Maybe it feels different if you're just coming into it with no knowledge of the manga, but as someone who KNOWS where the series is going and how we're going to hit some important character moments in future seasons... it's hard to enjoy some of this earlier stuff that just serves to introduce the audience to everything.
Those thoughts aside, overall Chainsaw Man is a greatly unique premise with a lot of passion, violence, and intrigue that I think would make many Shonen fans happy, especially with how it turns many of those common tropes on their head and uses the subversion of expectations for some fun payoffs and light humor. The characters are likable (in their own unique ways), and MAPPA does an excellent job adapting from the source material. The soundtrack is also filled with bangers. If you've read the Manga it's an easy recommend, and if you're new to the series, try the first few episodes and maybe go in with tempered expectations.
It's incredible that for a third outing Gunn is able to maintain a high bar that competes for top spot with the other two guardian volumes.
While it doesn't necessarily take the top spot for me, the standout moments are fantastic, between the fight sequences and its signature wit, it's a really fun outing topped with some emotional beats that land pretty good.
I haven't stepped into the theater to watch a Marvel movie since End Game (haven't streamed any releases since either lol), and I think it's safe to say if you're in the same boat, this is a good watch worth seeing on the big screen. There are some plot threads about characters or otherwise that I totally forgot about (or haven't witnessed) and it was annoying that those were there with absolutely no explanation, so maybe search "everything you need to know before GotGV3" on YouTube before you go to refresh to avoid that.
Also I'd advise that there is a lot of Nightmare fuel in this, between the grotesque animal war machines, an entire space station made of flesh, and more, it's a bit of a heavy one.
But again, all in all I think it's a great movie, and I'm glad that I saw it, and think many will feel the same.
