#callaham art

[pokefarms]

@raccoontho hiii!! Here's your gift for the @mcytblrholidayexchange thing! Hope ya like it :D

Click for higher quality :3

[bdzonthareel]

Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse

Spider-Man is pretty ubiquitous in the cultural zeitgeist, multiple animated series, a couple of really good video games, and myriad of successful films. And the one that really blew people (myself included) away was Into The Spiderverse, which was nothing short of a masterpiece! Animation that blew the audience away, a dope soundtrack and a fantastic story that was easy to follow. So Sony Animation really had a lot to live up to with their follow up Across The Spiderverse.

Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse takes place a year after the events of Into The Spiderverse. Miles Morales has been living his best Spider-Life, in spite of juggling his other responsibilities. When he is reunited with Spider-Gwen and Peter B. Parker, who introduce him the enigmatic leader of a secret society of Spideys, Miguel O’Hara aka Spider-Man 2099; who tell Miles of a threat that might destroy the entire multiverse.

The first thing entering my head was how much fun that I had watching this film, truly a work of art. But narratively this was a disjointed mess.

I can’t sing the praises of these visuals enough, Directors Joaquin Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justice K. Thompson built off and very strong foundation, showcasing a use of colors, and art styles that I haven’t seen since the original run of Samurai Jack.

Vocal performances were amazing, Shamiek Moore does miss a beat returning to the role Miles Morales, same goes for Hailey Steinfeld, and Jake Johnson as returning Spider-people.

Newcomers Oscar Isaac (2099), and Issa Rae (Spider-Woman) deliver a level of maturity as mentors to the Spider Society.

But Daniel Kaluya as Hobie Brown was everything I dreamed he be in this role, his Punk Rock/Chav energy was on full display and I am so here for it! Jason Schwartzman was beautifully awkward as originally c-tier villain The Spot. And I am almost certain that I heard him make a Wes Anderson reference.

A fast paced score, the matched the film’s kinetic visually. The soundtrack was a certified bop, with a few of my favorites by the likes of Rap legend Rakim.

But pacing is part of this movie’s problem, there moments that hit me with information overload and the amount of characters that will be important in the next film popping in an out made certain bits easy to forget if your neurodivergent like myself.

The writing team of Lord and Miller, as well as David Callaham, clearly had some big shoes to film with story and what they did was very ambitious, but I feel like they forgot that less is more.

So there is term in media known as sequelitis, and it this movie suffers from it, does that make it bad film? Absolutely not! But the problem is that movie does what John Wick 3 did, sequel baiting for 2024’s Beyond The Spiderverse. There was so much set up, that I was worried that this movie was trying to give Avengers Endgame a run for its money and at 2.5 hours it almost did!

I’m so glad I got to see this world again and I will be having second helping. But I would be remised to not point out the film’s very tiny list of flaws.

See you beyond the spiderverse, true believers!

I give Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse a 4 out of 5.

[sweetsmellosuccess]

I think this is about the highest compliment one could give an animated film such as this: If you watched it without sound, the exquisite art alone would hold you perfectly in awe; but if you had no images, and instead were forced to listen to it as a sort of radio adventure drama, it would captivate you just the same.

This is where we've arrived with the highly-anticipated sequel to the marvelous (pun vaguely intended) "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," released some five years ago, a fantastically fun and frenetic film that captured massive audience acclaim, and swooning critical accolades.

As a follow-up, the largely new creative team, including directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, working from a scintillating screenplay by Phil Lord (who co-wrote "Into"), along with newcomers Christopher Miller, and Dave Callaham, have managed to capture much of the first film's tremendously entertaining verve and heart, while expanding the story, and enriching the characters we met the first time around.

[dweemeister]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

When Columbia and Sony Pictures Animation released Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in late 2018, the film’s daring visual style brought the art of a comic book to life. For a major American studio that had arguably the thinnest track record in terms of animated features and shorts (yes, I am counting Columbia’s association with UPA), it was a stunning achievement. And it appears its visual influence is only beginning to ripple across cinema, if The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) are any indication. Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse cannot hope to match the first impressions of five years ago, but what a hell of an impression it leaves. Visually, it exceeds its predecessor, but, due to the necessity of its heavily expository multiverse-based screenplay (this film is first part of two), it is the weaker of the extant Miles Morales Spider-Verse movies. When considering the bar set by the previous film, ATSV remains one of the finest superhero films ever made.

Sixteen months after the events of ITSV, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) must contend with the situation that she must keep secret her Spider-Woman identity while her policeman father (Shea Whigham) hunts Spider-Woman down. An incident concerning a villain from a different universe introduces her to the Spider-Society – a group of Spider-People from thousands of universes who assist each other, as well as maintaining the space-time order of their respective universes. Earth-1610 is Miles Morales’ (Shameik Moore) world. There, Miles is still pining for Gwen, as the college admissions process draws near and his parents, concerned about his grades, ask for a conference with the counselor. But the mysterious appearance of The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) seems to be Miles’ more immediate concern. Gwen arrives on Earth-1610 not necessarily to see Miles, but to monitor the Spot’s movements. Miles, not invited to the Spider-Society, falls into the group and learns more about “canon events” and the manner in which he became Spider-Man.

Brian Tyree Henry and Luna Lauren Vélez reprise their roles of Miles’ parents, as does Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker. Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya, and Oscar Isaac play other prominent Spider-People in this film. The cameos from across Spider-Man media are too numerous to list here.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (2009’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 2014’s The Lego Movie) and Dave Callaham’s (2010’s The Expendables, 2020’s Wonder Woman 1984) screenplay is hamstrung by the very fact that this film has no resolution. Because this is by design, I will hold most of my fire. However, the pile-up of subplots – Gwen’s relationship with her father, Miles’ relationship with his parents and him missing his late uncle, his developing relationships with the other Spider-People, a reveal that throws into question Miles’ self-belief he is a worthy Spider-Person, Peter B. Parker’s newfound fatherhood and relationship with Mary Jane Watson, tensions between the leader of the Spider-Society and Gwen, etc. – is overflowing, uncontainable, and impossible to treat each one with the developmental (because I understand that not all of these can be resolved yet) respect they deserve. The appeal of Spider-Man is rooted deeply in the ordinariness and day-to-day struggles of whoever dons the suit. Not the spider powers, not the villains, not the multiverse shenanigans, not the humor (of which there is plenty, don’t worry). Those multiverse shenanigans overshadow most of the movie. Only during Gwen’s scenes with her father (ATSV’s strongest moments) and Miles at the very beginning and in the closing chapters of this film does the viewer ever feel the pull of those central Spider-Man themes.

Miles, this series’ primary star, must reckon with the realization that his becoming Spider-Man was a multiverse-related accident, rather than what constitutes as the “normal” way to become Spider-Man – you know, being bit by a spider that came from your universe instead. Through Miles, Lord, Miller, and Callaham are clearly attempting to establish a message that one should reject determinism and wrest control of one’s future for themselves. For me, the execution of that messaging relies too heavily on the metatextual elements related to Spider-Man lore to be as resonant in the first movie, when Miles was addressing more grounded personal problems. But Shameik Moore mostly sells Miles’ doubts in another solid voice acting turn, especially when confronted with the most disapproving of the Spider-People.

Far more effective are Gwen’s troubles with her police captain father. In their universe, her father is undertaking a zealous campaign to find and bring Spider-Woman to justice in the belief that Spider-Woman murdered Gwen’s friend, Peter Parker. Meanwhile, Gwen – living a sort of second life she hides from her father, is beginning to become more emotionally distant from him, and (like Miles) is having difficulty finding a place in her world. The tension-filled scenes between daughter and father, recalling the first issues of the Spider-Gwen series, raise the questions of morality and responsibility that Spider-Man lore is known for. As such, they are the emotional highlights of ATSV – lifting Gwen almost to a co-lead in this movie, and enlivening her storyline beyond her infamous and still-controversial deaths in the mainline Spider-Man comic series and The Amazing Spider-Man film series (2012-2014).

The cutting-edge animation of 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse was breathtaking. For Across the Spider-Verse, the variety of styles somehow make the preceding film look safe by comparison. The multiplicity of styles in ATSV truly allows the viewer to inhabit the idea of a multiverse – better than any multiverse-centric offering Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has to offer, and perhaps more convincingly than The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022; although that movie worked wonders on a fraction of ATSV’s budget). The company logos for Sony, Columbia, and Marvel – flickering in stylized fashion and, in Columbia’s case, brief glimpses of older renditions – provide only the first hint of the animated radicalism to come. Like ITSV, ATSV is also a CGI movie that exemplifies a remarkable fidelity to certain aspects of traditional hand-drawn animation – see character designs and movements. Including blink-and-you’ll-miss-it footnotes during bits of unfamiliar dialogue are a cheeky touch. The fluidity and clarity in which characters move through space during action sequences far surpasses the choreographic incoherence that is endemic in recent MCU films. ATSV takes the very best of comic book and graphic novel artistry and translates that beautifully on the big screen.

Let us take the best-case example in the film. As Gwen’s universe contains the most appealing subplot of the film, so too is it the most aesthetically interesting. ATSV may be a computer-animated film, but Gwen’s Earth-65 appears as impressionist brushstrokes. Gwen, her father, and all those who inhabit that Earth, are animated similarly to those in Miles’ universe. The major difference is the backgrounds. With shades, gradients, brushstrokes, dots, and splashes of off-whites, pinks, and blues, the backgrounds change with each cut – reflecting the direction and moods of a conversation or an action scene. As the dramatic intensity of a conversation increases, the more abstract the backgrounds look. These background changes are but a suggestion; Gwen and her father do not see the dazzling colors flying around and behind them. It is thrillingly experimental stuff for a major Hollywood studio animated work.

Some viewers of ATSV have interpreted Gwen’s story as a transgender allegory (at the very least). The presence, above her room’s door head, of a transgender flag reading “protect trans kids” has fueled further speculation – and bans from cinemas in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – that Gwen herself might be transgender. Her universe is emblazoned with the trans flag colors (the whites/off-whites, pinks, and blues mentioned earlier), and the language she employs in her final conversation with her father in this film almost sounds like a coming out. No matter how one interprets this aspect (and there is nothing in the film to prevent one from interpreting her scenes allegorically or literally), it is the finest reinforcement of one of the film’s central theses: that anyone, regardless of gender identity, race, religion, or sexual orientation can be a Spider-Person.

Like ITSV, much of ATSV’s soundtrack comprises of numerous hip hop songs that are used not so much to complement what is occurring on-screen, but to instead serve as background vibe noise, lyrics barely discernible. This musical direction goes against my beliefs that original and non-original film music have an expressive power. To mute such music so consistently is to deny an opportunity to enhance the expressivity of both the motion picture and music. It just becomes sonic wallpaper, there only to sell soundtracks and pump up music streaming numbers. Either cut the songs or be more selective of the placement of these non-original songs.

Elsewhere, composer Daniel Pemberton’s (2015’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E., 2020’s Enola Holmes) score for ITSV was riddled with heavy-handed electronic manipulation and record scratching, with nary any acoustic elements. Pemberton’s background is in avant-garde electronic music. Appropriate, perhaps, for Miles’ Brooklyn soundscape, but it is deeply unpleasant to listen to outside of the film’s context. With the universe-jumping of ATSV, one musical mode cannot serve the entire film. Gwen’s universe opens with understated, ethereal synth in “Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy)”. Unfortunately, the musical ideas of Gwen’s universe are never quoted as wonderfully again. Reintroducing Miles and opening his storyline in ATSV is “My Name Is… Miles Morales”, which utilizes Latin American rhythmic complexities in its unmanipulated percussion – already a notable departure from ITSV – alongside Miles’ three-note motif (“SPI-der-MAN!”) from the first film. The traditional orchestra has a larger presence in ATSV, perhaps due to Pemberton’s success in his predominantly orchestral score to Enola Holmes. ��Nueva York Train Chase” is one of the major beneficiaries of that orchestral integration. The cue’s thrilling string runs accompany the action magnificently and, combined with enormous hits in the bass brass in the climactic moments, is one of the best action cues in superhero film scoring in some time. Pemberton still resorts to many of his worst habits in his excessive manipulation, but this is a far better score than ITSV’s.

As this write-up heads towards publication, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is on strike with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) perhaps soon to follow. Labor practices in Hollywood are under scrutiny as streaming and artificial intelligence (AI) pose to change how studios make movies. Though Sony Pictures Animation is covered under The Animation Guild (TAG), there are reports that artistic input from co-screenwriters and co-producer Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have engendered an unsustainable and unhealthy working environment. Lord and Miller, in their capacity as producers, have a reputation in the animation industry for coming onboard as producers late in production and forcing animators to partake in wide-ranging changes on complete or near-complete work. Their laborious revisionism, say some of ATSV’s animators, comes without a set artistic vision – it is trial-and-error for the sake of it.

In American animation, considerable artistic changes during production are commonplace, but they often take place early on, most typically during storyboarding. Any changes coming later than the storyboarding stage can be a financial boondoggle for a studio and can result in a chaotic animating process. If these anecdotes are true, Lord and Miller are responsible for the film’s high turnover rates and widespread burnout. This behavior should prove incentive for the artists at Sony Pictures Imageworks – despite sharing a corporate parent with Sony Pictures Animation, Vancouver-based SPI is non-unionized and worked on all the physical animation on ITSV and ATSV – to unionize. Scheduled for a March 2024 release, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, due to the alleged aforementioned issues surrounding Lord and Miller, may not be ready in time for its slated debut.

A thunderbolt of animated innovation, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s true value will be unknown until Beyond the Spider-Verse’s release. Fast-paced and overstuffed to a fault, ATSV might not have the freshness that ITSV brought. But for a major American animated studio in the early 2020s, this is bewilderingly wonderful work. One just wonders what the animators possibly could have left up their sleeves.

My rating: 9/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog. Half-points are always rounded down.

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[snazzy-specter]

i really don't think y'all need to be as worried as you think

vld is . . . a hot mess that i never finished because the pacing was driving me up the wall, but I really feel like you guys need to remember; everybody has black spots in their careers, especially in entertainment.

that aside, i did research on whose doing what and what they have done and, shock of shocks, one of the showrunners from vld is credited as director, Joaquim Dos Santos. He also worked as a director on Justice League: Unlimited, storyboard artist and director on Avatar: the Last Airbender, and has some other directing credits.

the other two credited directors are Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson. Powers doesn't have a huge fimography, he seems to only have film credits in 2012, but those credits include One Night in Miami, which he wrote the original play and the adapatation, and it kinda got him a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination. And if you're worried he has not animation experience, he also happened to be a writer and co-director on Pixar's Soul. and he has experience in franchise material, and is credited as writing 5 episodes of Star Trek: Discovery. I've heard kinda mixed things about Discovery, but again, no one has a perfect track record.

Thompson has more credits that include a fair amount of work in the Art Department of various shows and movies. and he also worked on the last Spiderverse film as a production designer.

also, the director of a film is not indicative of a projects final results. Santos was mainly a producer for vld. he has two directing credits, one art department credit for storyboarding, and two writing credits, one of which is one of IMDb's highest rated episode.

it's worth noting the guy with the most writing credits (not staff writer credits), Joshua Hamilton, has a, frankly, kind of middling career, and i don't feel like dwelling. check his IMDb if you feel like it

meanwhile, Phil Lord is back from the first movie and is joined by his frequent collaborator and guy he has to share a wikipedia page with, Christopher Miller, who was just a producer on the last film. for some reason, i get the feeling they don't need an introduction, but just in case, they also wrote and directed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie together. do with that information what you will.

personally, i'm more concerned about the other credited writer, David Callaham, as his credits include the screenplay for Doom (2005), Wonder Woman 1984, and Mortal Kombat (2021), which was beaten at the box office by Demon Slayer: Mugen Train in the second and third weekend of its release. that said, he is also credited as a co-writer for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, so again, make of that what you will.

and for anyone who thinks i'm being too optimistic, let me pull out my oldest fandom card and bring up Danny Phantom, which Butch Hartman desperately wants you to think he was responsible for. yes, Hartman created the concept, but he's only credited for writing seven episodes, one of which being the series finale that fans have rather infamously hated for literal years (it's cooled down, but i saw that shit as recently as 2012). he also has one additional story credit for the episode Splitting Images, which, yeah i can see that.

meanwhile, the guy credited as the series developer in thirty-one episodes, Steve Marmel, has fourteen story credits and nine writing credits by my count, and one of those is the highest rated episode that also got a video game tie-in, The Ultimate Enemy.

even with that praise i've given Marmel, i'd still argue he's had a solidly OK career, which i would also say of Marty Isenberg, who has fourteen writing credits and Sib Ventress, who has nineteen writing credits.

the point i'm trying to make is that media like film and television is a collaborative medium. every participant has some black spots on their resume. looking at everyone's track records, i'd said Across the Spiderverse is in mostly good hands. and the one guy i'm worried about isn't the one who worked on vld, which frankly, i think is just kinda a show that started strong and fumbled that execution towards the end into mediocrity.

just remembered the v*ltron showrunners are directing the into the spiderverse sequels

[flicksnfilms]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters the Spider Society, a team of Spider-People charged with protecting the Multiverse’s very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must set out on his own to save those he loves most. Anyone can wear the mask – it’s how you wear it that makes you a hero.

TL;DR: Do I recommend it? > Hells yes.

The long of it:

Studio: Sony PIctures Director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson Writer: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callaham Music: Daniel Pemberton Cast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, Oscar Isaac Runtime: 140 minutes IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Official Site

Watched: at the cinema on June 4th

Reaction: ± I am absolutely blown away. All the art styles and the appropriate use thereof. Gwen's Earth-65 especially. The story. The music. Everything was Fan-fucking-tastic. MORE. AGAIN. And MORE.

Memorable aspect of the movie: + Art! Story! Music! <3

[sonyclasica]

DANIEL PEMBERTON

SPIDER-MAN™: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

Sony Music Masterworks anuncia las ediciones física y digital especiales de SPIDER-MAN™: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (ORIGINAL SCORE) con música del compositor DANIEL PEMBERTON. 

Escucha la versión ampliada AQUÍ

Reserva la versión vinilo AQUÍ

Ya disponible para reserva la edición vinilo de la música original, que llega en formato 2LP con los mejores temas de la banda sonora personalmente seleccionados por Pemberton y en una impresión en vinilo jaspeado de color blanco y morado oscuro. El pack incluye una impresionante carátula con brillo (spot gloss), un póster coleccionable de doble cara y dos fundas impresas con arte personalizado, además de un libreto artístico de 8 páginas con notas de Daniel Pemberton y gráficos de la película.

Con más de 80 millones de reproducciones del álbum, una tendencia masiva en TikTok que arrasó en Internet y una película que batió récords de taquilla, la aclamada música de Daniel Pemberton para la película de Sony Pictures Animation Spider-Man™: Across the Spider-Verse ya está disponible en formato digital con tres bonus tracks inéditos. La edición ampliada del álbum también se publica en Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio.

SPIDER-MAN™: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (ORIGINAL SCORE)

RESERVA EL VINILO

ESCUCHA LA VERSIÓN EXTENDIDA

El compositor Daniel Pemberton regresa a la franquicia tras componer la banda sonora de Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse de 2018, un gran éxito entre los fans y la crítica, que elogiaron la música orquestal y electrónica del compositor por su amplitud y expansividad, así como por su innovador uso del scratching en una banda sonora. Para la secuela, Pemberton ha ampliado su paisaje sonoro original para abarcar nuevas historias en el entorno del multiverso, incorporando desde voces de tenor operístico y una orquesta de 100 músicos hasta percusión india, punk rock, batería tecno, electrónica de múltiples capas, violonchelos desafinados, ritmos dilatados en el tiempo y mucho más.

Sobre la banda sonora, el compositor DANIEL PEMBERTON dice: "El Spider-Verso es el único lugar donde puedo combinar electrónica, scratching de discos, una orquesta, una oca, una banda de punk rock, ritmos de hip-hop, silbidos y ópera, y que no resulte raro. Además de adaptar y ampliar los temas y sonidos musicales de la primera película, hay una avalancha de nuevos sonidos y motivos para todos los personajes y mundos, ampliando enormemente la forma en que suena y se conecta este universo tan singular. Como todos los demás implicados en esta increíble obra cinematográfica, he intentado traspasar los límites de lo que puede ser la música de una película de superhéroes para crear una que no se parezca a nada que hayas oído antes".

SOBRE SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse estará disponible en formato digital desde el 8 de agosto y en formatos 4K UHD & Blu-Ray™ el 5 de septiembre.

Miles Morales vuelve con Spider-Man™: Across the Spider-Verse, una nueva entrega de la saga ganadora del Oscar®.  Tras reunirse con Gwen Stacy, el amable Spiderman de Brooklyn es catapultado a través del Multiverso, donde se encuentra con la Spider Society, un equipo de Spiderpersonas encargadas de proteger la existencia misma del Multiverso.  Pero cuando los héroes se enzarzan sobre cómo hacer frente a una nueva amenaza, Miles se encuentra en conflicto con las otras Arañas y debe partir por su cuenta para salvar a los que más quiere. Cualquiera puede llevar la máscara, lo que te convierte en héroe es cómo la llevas.

Dirigida por Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers y Justin K. Thompson. Escrita por Phil Lord & Christopher Miller & David Callaham. Basada en los CÓMICS DE MARVEL. Producida por Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller y Christina Steinberg. Producción ejecutiva de Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Aditya Sood y Brian Michael Bendis. Las estrellas cinematográficas Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, con Daniel Kaluuya y Oscar Isaac.

SOBRE DANIEL PEMBERTON

Daniel Pemberton es un compositor y autor de canciones nominado a los premios de la Academia y ganador de un Emmy, que habitualmente es considerado una de las nuevas voces más interesantes y originales de la música cinematográfica actual.  Ha compuesto bandas sonoras para algunas de las figuras más legendarias de la industria, como Ridley Scott  (All the Money in the World, The Counselor), Danny Boyle (Yesterday, Steve Jobs), Michael Mann, (Ferrari) Aaron Sorkin (Being The Ricardos, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Molly’s Game), David O Russell (Amsterdam), Phil Lord y Chris Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Edward Norton (Motherless Brooklyn) y Guy Ritchie (The Man From U.N.C.L.E., King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) y ha escrito canciones con artistas de la talla de Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Drake, Celeste y muchos más.

Ha sido nominado cuatro veces como Compositor Cinematográfico del Año por su amplísimo abanico de obras por los World Soundtrack Awards (WSA), además de obtener el prestigioso galardón en 2021 tanto de los WSA como de la asociación internacional de críticos de música de cine IFMCA.  Pemberton recibió en 2021 una nominación al Oscar a la Mejor Canción Original por "Hear My Voice" (interpretada y coescrita por Celeste) de la película de Aaron Sorkin El Juicio de los 7 de Chicago. Pemberton también ha recibido varias nominaciones a los Globos de Oro por proyectos como su banda sonora neo-noir para Motherless Brooklyn, su mezcla de ópera y electrónica para Steve Jobs, de Danny Boyle, y por las canciones "Hear My Voice y "Gold" (interpretada y coescrita por Iggy Pop).  Su banda sonora para Being The Ricardos fue preseleccionada para los Oscar® y nominada para los BAFTA.  

Pemberton se siente cómodo componiendo para todo tipo de música, desde bandas de rock a orquestas sinfónicas, pasando por quintetos de jazz, y sus innovadoras composiciones han sido repetidamente aclamadas por la crítica. Sus otros créditos incluyen películas de estudio como Enola Holmes, The Bad Guys, Birds of Preyy Ocean's Eight, así como pequeños largometrajes independientes como el ganador de Sundance Brian And Charles, el aclamado documental sobre las cuevas tailandesas The Rescue (por el que ganó el premio Critics' Choice Original Score), la competidora por la Palma de Oro de Cannes Mal de Pierres o el impactante documental sobre los Juegos Paralímpicos Rising Phoenix, por el que Pemberton ganó un premio Emmy de los Deportes a la Mejor Dirección Musical. Recientemente, también ha compuesto la banda sonora de la comedia de misterio y asesinato de Lord Miller The Afterparty, y de la serie de espionaje Slow Horses, que incluye la coautoría de su tema principal nominado al BAFTA "Strange Game" con Mick Jagger.

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (MÚSICA ORIGINAL) – EDICIÓN VINILO

TRACKLISTING –

DISCO 1 – CARA A:

Across The Spider-Verse (Intro)

Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy)

Vulture Meets Culture

Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara)

Guggenheim Assemble

The Right To Remain Silent

Across The Titles

My Name Is... Miles Morales

DISCO 1 – CARA B:

Back Where It All Started

Miles Sketchbook

Under the Clocktower

Spider-Man India (Pavitr Prabhakar)

Mumbattan Madness

Spider-Punk (Hobie Brown)

Spot Holes 2

Indian Teamwork

DISCO 2 – CARA C:

Welcome to Nueva York (Earth-928)

Spider Society

Canon Event

All Stations - Stop Spider-Man

Nueva York Train Chase

DISCO 2 – CARA D:

The Go Home Machine

Falling Apart

The Anomaly

Five Months

Across the Spider-Verse (Start a Band)

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (MÚSICA ORIGINAL) – EDICIÓN DIGITAL AMPLIADA

TRACKLISTING –

Across The Spider-Verse (Intro)

Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy)

Vulture Meets Culture

Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara)

Guggenheim Assemble

The Right To Remain Silent

Across The Titles

My Name Is... Miles Morales

Back Where It All Started

Spot Holes 1

To My Son

Miles Sketchbook

Under The Clocktower

Rio and Miles

Creation Of The Spot

Spider-Man India (Pavitr Prabhakar)

Mumbattan Madness

Spider-Punk (Hobie Brown)

Spot Holes 2

Indian Teamwork

Welcome to Nueva York (Earth-928)

Spider Society

2099 Lab

Peter and Mayday Parker

Canon Event

All Stations - Stop Spider-Man

Hold The Baby

Nueva York Train Chase

The Go Home Machine

Falling Apart

I Beat Them All

The Anomaly

Five Months

Across The Spider-Verse (Start A Band)

Chelsea, NY, Earth-65**

Father and Son**

Triumph**

**Indica bonus tracks

CONECTA CON SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

PÁGINA WEB | TRÁILER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | TIKTOK

[ptbf2002]

Full Title: I'd Rather Watch Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Than Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie Anyday!

To Be Honest For Superhero Movies And Shows, I Prefer MARVEL And DC Comics More Better Than This Crap.

Original Template: https://www.deviantart.com/mastuhoscg8845iscool/art/I-d-rather-watch-826100781

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Belongs To Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callaham, Pascal Pictures, Lord Miller Productions, Arad Productions Inc. MARVEL Entertainment, LLC, Sony Pictures Animation Inc. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. Sony Pictures Releasing, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Sony Entertainment, Inc. Sony Corporation of America, And Sony Group Corporation

Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie Belongs To Jeremy Zag, Bettina Lopez, Mendoza, ZAG Inc. Method Animation, ON Animation Studios, ON Kids & Family, Mediawan Animation, Mediawan, The Awakening Production, Cross Creek Pictures, LLC, Société Nouvelle de Distribution, M6, W9, 6ter, Groupe M6, Metropole Télévision S.A. StudioCanal S.A.S. And Netflix, Inc.

Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug & Cat Noir Belongs To Thomas Astruc, Jeremy ZAG, ZAG Heroez, ZAGtoon, Method Animation, ON Animation Studios, ON Kids & Family, Mediawan Animation, Toei Animation Co., Ltd. SAMG Entertainment Co., Ltd. AB International Distribution, PGS Entertainment, Mediawan, DeAgostini Editore S.P.A. DeAgostini S.P.A. DQ Entertainment, DQ Entertainment International Films Limited, Assemblage Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. SK Broadband, Inc. The Walt Disney Company France, TF1, ABC ME, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, EBS 1TV, Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), Disney Channel, Disney Branded Television, Disney General Entertainment Content, The Walt Disney Company, Family Channel (Canadian TV channel), WildBrain Ltd. Gloob, Canais Globo, Globosat, And Organizações Globo Participações S.A.

[thecinephileperson]

Spider-man: across the sipder-verse review

Spoiler Free

So Spider-man:across the spider-verse came out and most people like I get it was a pretty good film, I give it a 7.4/10. The directing felt personal along the ride with Miles and Gwen. The writing was hilarious, the recurring character felt like they grew from the last film. Beautiful artistic story telling every world different and Gwen’s in particular was beautiful. It is a sequel, but it stands somewhat on its own. Now to some things that weren't the greatest, some parts felt draw out did this have to be two and a half hours, I don’t know. Newer spider-men felt superficial. The characters talk about canon and plot points, which I personally do not like. The beautiful animation used in Gwen’s world is not used anywhere else. The end was not an end, just a one-liner and “to be continued”. 

If you are wondering why 7.4 that is a really random number or more in depth review 

keep reading 

Still Spoiler Free after the break 

First Spider-man: across the sider-verse was directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Dave Callaham and voice by a bunch of amazing voice actors this piece would not be it what it is without all of these people. 

I break my ratings into 5 or 6, animation or live-action, categories these are equally weighted and are in my opinion equally important now on to the ratings.

Directing 8/10

this story was definitely a wild ride, but you could understand the whole thing. It felt like you and Miles and Gwen were on the adventurer together. The viewer was never put in the back seat, always front row action. There were so many small details that made the world feel real and interesting but slightly different from our own, like the PDNY instead of the NYPD, these details are what make things feel real. However, The beginning was a little draw out but included a lot of world building. The ending had little to no closure now the way it ends did make it hard, but it is possible. The middle was great. 

 Writing 6.5/10

This film was undoubtedly hilarious with amazing one-liners. The recurring characters were new and fresh but still familiar, their flaws still their flaws but challenged in new and different ways. However, the new characters were flat. Spider-Punk or Hobart Brown felt like a caricature of punk rock. Our antagonist there is two, one of them was point out by the characters that he look like a bad guy. I hate when the 4th wall is broken in that way I look at things that way already characters shouldn’t be saying “oh they’re the bad guy right”. Some of the plot is based around canon and noncanon and my did not like is on the same thread as the above. I do like my 4th wall breaks, just not when they are doing my analyzing for me. 

Artistic story telling 8.5/10

this is animation and character design

so first off, Gwen’s world was amazingly designed, it looks like super artistic concept art, and I am living for it. When she was dealing with this isolating loneliness, she is in darkness. The moments in Gwen’s world have beautiful symbolic backgrounds. The rest of the worlds they in ploy symbolism that is less blatant and less beautiful. One of the big chase scenes features a world’s underbelly. There is a lot of comic doting and other classic comic elements, these were present in the first move and were not used any differently. Miles's world was not that artistic, and nothing new was added to expand his world.  Which is a shame because that would have been really going above and bond. All the characters designs were different but were cohesive. Where spider-punk’s writing flapped, his character design was amazing. Overall consistency would have helped this shine even more. 

Adaptivity 9/10

this is about catering to the audience. If it is part of a franchise or series, do you have to watch every film. Can a large group of people see themselves in the characters. How does the film adapt to different audience. If it has a rating like R or it not the most family friendly, then it will lose points because it is not adaptable.

This was a sequel, but most things were understandably without greater context. It is also part of a franchise, the MCU kind of at least has referred to the MCU. You do not need to watch to get this one, you just might lose a referents or two. The same goes for the Marvel Comics. This film definitely caterers to teens the most, but the characters are relatable to a lot of different groups. This film is rated PG but has “fantasy violence” which is just regular violence, just not in the real world. You can’t bring little kids, but for a family with a teen it is great. 

“The secret sauce” 5/10

for me, the distinction between awful to bad to mid to great to amazing to “the best” small details that really matter to me and are purely personal preference.

So Gwen’s world was amazing, but there was no continuity to what the world looks like and where the light source is. this takes me out of the story because I am trying to understand what's going instead of taking in the story. The ending was awful, the no climax just a one-liner and “to be continued” the ending really matters to me, so this really hurts.

[ljones41]

“SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (2021) Review

"SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS" (2021) Review

I might as well put my cards on the table. I have not fully admired the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) since the beginning of its third phase. Nor do I believe that its Phase Four had improved matters. With the exception of a handful of movies and television series. One of those exceptions proved to be the franchise's 25th film, "SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS".

The 2021 movie is not an exact adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero, who had debuted in the comic books back in 1973. However, director-screenwriter Destin Daniel Cretton and his fellow screenwriters, Dave Callaham and Andrew Lanham, used elements from the comic books to create not only an interesting backstory for the leading character, but also a solid narrative for the film. "SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS" began with a warrior named Xu Wenwu, who discovers a set of ten mystical rings that gave him power and immortality. Utilizing the rings and his army, Wenwu (who acquired the name of "the Mandarin") created the Ten Rings criminal organization that conquered or toppled many governments throughout the centuries. In 1996, Wenwu engaged in a search for Ta Lo, a village said to harbor mythical beasts. While traveling through a magical forest to the village entrance, he was stopped by one of the village's guardians, Ying Li. The two fell in love, and when the Ta Lo villagers rejected Wenwu, Li chose to leave with him. They married and conceived two children, Shang-Chi and Xialing. Wenwu abandoned his organization and locked away the ten rings. The Xu family's happiness did not last very long. Wenwu's old enemies, the Iron Gang, murdered Li in an act of revenge when Shang-Chi was seven years old. Wenwu used the ten rings to massacre the Iron Gang members and resumed leadership of his old organization. Then he forced Shang-Chi to undergo a brutal training in martial arts but prevented Xialing from being trained. When Shang-Chi was fourteen, Wenwu sent him to assassinate the Iron Gang's leader. After completing his mission, a traumatized Shang-Chi ran away to San Francisco, California and adopted the name "Shaun". During his time in the United States, "Shaun" learned English, and eventually became a valet at an exclusive San Francisco hotel along with his best friend, Katy aka Chen Ruiwen. While riding a local bus, Shaun and Katy found themselves under attack by members of the Ten Rings organization. Wenwu had ordered them to steal Shaun's pendant, given to him by his late mother. Despite a brutal fight that left most of the assailants unconscious and the bus seriously damaged; one Ten Rings warrior, Razor Fist, managed to steal Shaun's pendant. Suspecting that his father might also want the pendant given to Xialing; Shang-Chi and Katy travel to Macau to warn his sister. And the trio eventually found themselves swept into a situation in which a threat larger than Wenwu, loomed ahead. Many fans have declared either 2022's "SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME", "BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER" or "SHANG-CHIAND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS" as the best movie of the MCU's Phase Four. My choice? None of them. But I will admit that I enjoyed all three films. Especially "SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS". The latter film struck me as a poignant family drama at the heart of a movie filled with humor, pathos, action and magic. In fact, it occurred to me that the movie reminded me of the STAR WARS saga's Skywalker Family Saga - at least the six films produced and directed by George Lucas. Seriously. The Xu Shang-Chi character is basically Luke Skywalker, his sister Xialing could be Princess Leia Organa (only not adopted) and his parents Wenwu and Li - Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. Only the Xu family's family narrative differed . . . somewhat. Wenwu's inability to recover from his wife's death led to the family's breakup, and an even more dangerous Big Bad to exploit his grief. Sounds family? However, the poignant flashbacks of Wenwu and Li's courtship, those happy years before Li's death, along with the drama that surrounded Shang-Chi and Xialing's resentment and fear toward their father really cemented "SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS" as a family drama. However, the movie did have its share of action sequences. I had nothing against Shang-Chi's reunion with Xialing, which resulted in a funny fight scene inside her Macau fight club; or the siblings' attempt to prevent the Ten Rings from taking her pendant on the construction site outside of her club (a scene that produced memories of another from the 2001 movie, "RUSH HOUR 2"). Also, Shang-Chi's fight against Wenwu in the movie's final action sequence struck me as pretty solid. But I had to choose two sequences that really impressed me, they had to be the one in which Wenwu and Li first met, when she prevented him from entering Ta Lo; and Shang-Chi's fight against the Ten Ring operatives aboard a San Francisco bus. What I really enjoyed about Wenwu and Li's fight is that it started out as a serious confrontation and slowly developed into a sly, yet romantic dance between two people who had become attracted to one another. I believe Tony Leung and Fala Chen's performances made this transformation both believable and very entertaining. For me, the movie's most thrilling fight scene - hell, action scene - was Shang-Chi's fight against some of the Ten Rings operatives aboard a moving San Francisco bus. I would say it was one of the best action sequences I have ever seen in a MCU film. Not only did leading man Simu Liu and the fight choreography team led by Andy Cheung and the late Brad Allan created an exciting fight, but leading lady Awkwafina and cast of supporting performers, cinematographer William Pope and especially director Destin Daniel Cretton all contributed to the sequence's action, thrills and some very sharp humor. I certainly do not have any complaints about the performances in "SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS". The latter featured solid performances from Randolph Fields, Charlotte Leonie, Jodie Long, Jayden Zhang, Arnold Sun, Wah Yuen, Kunal Dudheker, a very imposing Florian Munteanu and Stephanie Hsu. The movie also featured cameos from the likes of Benedict Wong (as Wong), Tsai Chin (whom I have not seen since the Marvel series, "AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D."), Tim Roth (or perhaps I should say a CGI image of Abomination aka Emil Blonsky), and a surprising and funny Ronny Chieng. It was nice seeing Michelle Yeoh, who portrayed Shang-Chi and Xialing's aunt Ying Nan. But if I must be honest, I found her performance solid and serviceable - and nothing else. The performances that stood out for me came from the likes of Meng'er Zhang, who portrayed Xu Xialing, Wenwu and Li's only daughter. I thought Zhang did a first-rate job of conveying Xialing's anger and resentment toward both her father and older brother. She also did an excellent job of revealing how the Xu family's break-up had affected her family. Not many people approved of Ben Kingsley's return as Trevor Slattery, the actor who had been hired to impersonate the Mandarin in 2013's "IRON MAN 3". I had no problems seeing Kingsley in the role again. He was funny as ever and it felt nice to see Slattery express remorse for his false portrayal of Wenwu and come out of his situation as a better man. Fala Chen gave an elegant, yet slightly sly performance as Ying Li, whose warmth and strong will kept the Xu family together, while she lived. Awkwafina proved to be as hilarious as ever with her portrayal of "Katy" Chen, Shang-Chi's somewhat witty best friend. Not only was Awkwafina funny, I thought she did an excellent job of conveying Katy's difficulty in finding a solid direction in her life and reactions to her friend's past and the world of the Ten Rings and Ta Lo. If I had to give the award for the film's best performance, I would hand it to Tony Leung's portrayal of Xu Wenwu, Shang-Chi's father and leader of the Ten Rings. Leung did a masterful job of portraying a complex man, whose decisions led him toward a path of a loving family man, feared parent, villainy and convenient tool for a bigger villain. More importantly, I found Leung's performance skillful, subtle and worthy of a major acting award. You know, looking back at Leung's portrayal of the "Mandarin", I found myself wondering why Marvel Films/Disney had originally thought that casting an European actress was the only way to avoid any Asian clichés of the Ancient One character in 2016's "DOCTOR STRANGE". Some film critic had expressed disappointment that actor Simu Liu's portrayal of Xu Shang-Chi was not as charismatic as his true self. I found this criticism rather ridiculous, if I must be honest. Since when was Shang-Chi supposed to be a "charismatic" or extroverted personality in the first place? I certainly did not get that impression of the character as a young boy. Following my viewing of "SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS", I came away with the impression that Xu Shang-Li was a reserved child forced to tap into his aggression by a grief-stricken father, obsessed with revenge. I also came away with the impression that Shang-Chi's time in the U.S. and his friendship with Katy gave him an outlet to forget his past and just enjoy life. But the return of Wenwu and the Ten Rings in his life forced him to realize he had to face his past. THIS is what I came away with Simu Liu's portrayal of Shang-Chi. And I thought he did an excellent job in conveying every emotional beat of the character's adult life through most of the film. I wish I could end this review with a declaration that "SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS" was a perfect movie. Or even one of the best in the MCU franchise. But I believe the movie possessed enough flaws for me to not come to that conclusion. My first complaint centered around the Wong-Abomination fight at Xialing's fight club. What on earth were they doing there? Why did Wong break Abomination/Blonsky out of prison for a match in the first place? The Disney-Plus series, "SHE-HULK: ATTONEY-AT-LAW" actually provided an answer and it proved to be pretty lame in my eyes. However, I believe most of the film's problems had materialized in the film's second half - when Shang-Chi, Katy, Xialing and Slattery arrived at the mystical realm of Ta Lo. At this point, the film into the typical MCU film finale. The major protagonists prepare for a fight against a deadly foe. A battle ensues - first against the Ten Rings and later, against the film's real Big Bad. And yes, the battle had its moments of the usual MCU humor - especially from Ben Kingsley and Awkwafina. I am only thankful that audiences were spared the usual Marvel wit. There is the issue of Katy's participation in this battle. The movie had hinted her talent as a skillful driver. But can someone please explain how she had become a talented archer within a space of a few hours (or days)? You know, a part of me wishes Wenwu had turned out to be the film's main villain. Unfortunately, the "the Dweller-in-Darkness" (which had originated in Marvel Comics) was no Emperor Palpatine. Instead of a demon, the Dweller-in-Darkness turned out to be a mystical soul-consuming dragon that used Wenwu's grief and ten rings to break free and enter Ta Lo. And the battle between Dweller-in-Darkness, the main protagonists and another dragon called the Great Protector. Needless to say, I was not impressed by this final action sequence. I found it clumsy, overwrought and at times confusing. You know . . . the typical MCU grand finale. I would never regard "SHANG-CHI AND THE TEN RINGS" as one of my favorite comic book movies or MCU films. But I still believe it was definitely better than average, thanks to director Destin Daniel Cretton. After all, the film did feature some top-notch action sequences, a decent narrative and first-rate performances from a cast led by Simu Liu.

[healed1337]

MCU Movies 25 - Shang-Chi

MCU Movies 25 – Shang-Chi

It’s remarkable whenever a film franchise reaches its 25th movie. Very few ever have. But in 2021, both the MCU and the James Bond franchise released their 25th official movie. Regardless of how well either movie performed at the box office, and regardless of their quality level, they’re both noteworthy for that alone. Plans for a Shang-Chi movie go as far back as the 1980’s, with Stan Lee…

[smellycinnamonthundahfudge]

Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right.

This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world -- "No, YOU move."

J. Michael Straczynski writing for Captain America, The Amazing Spider-Man: Civil War

you understood what shang-chi was truly about.

and it doesn't matter if the whole world didn't.

we know when something's right.

this post is right.

it is an unflinchingly honest genuine real & hopeful interpretation of a person reconciling with their culture and their past with their future and themselves.

thank you for making this.

you're the hope we need in the world.

thank you.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | dir. Destin Daniel Cretton

[mwplanet]

Shang-Chi and The Legend of Asian Representation (Film Review)

**SPOILER ALERT**

Simu Liu as Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Photo via People

By Ysmael Mendoza

“OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi” tweeted Simu Liu on December 3rd, 2018. Almost three years later, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released in theatres on September 3rd, 2021 with Canada’s own Simu Liu starring as the main character. This new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Andrew Lanham. The cast includes Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, Tony Leung, Fala Chen, Ben Kingsley, and more. The film tells the origin story of the newest Marvel superhero, Shang-Chi, and serves as his introduction to the MCU. From the surface, the film may seem like your typical comic book movie, but it also deals with heavier themes of family, grief, and the relationship between father and son.

Asian representation in Hollywood is something that has become increasingly present in recent years with films like Crazy Rich Asians in 2018, which was the first movie since Joy Luck Club in 1993 with a mostly Asian cast. Albeit the majority of the cast of Crazy Rich Asians is of Chinese descent, it’s still an amazing accomplishment. Since then, more movies have been released with Asian casts and Asian stories, whether it be a foreign film or American-made. These films have been garnering increasing attention from the public with films such as Parasite (2019), The Farewell (2019), Minari (2020), and much more. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings stars a predominantly Asian cast, which is impressive since Hollywood action films typically feature white male leads. This is especially prevalent in the MCU where the majority of their movies center around white men as heroes. The Asian characters that we do see are usually side or supporting characters like Wong in Doctor Strange or Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Luckily, Marvel has begun to feature stories from visible minorities such as Black Panther (2018), Eternals (2021), and even in their upcoming projects like Ms. Marvel (2022). This piece of Asian representation is crucial to showing kids who are big consumers of Marvel movies that they can be superheroes too. Watching people who look like you, speak like you, and have the same traditions as you in films can help people feel seen and feel like they belong.

Another thing that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings feature heavily is the use of Mandarin in their dialogue between characters. Hearing Mandarin in a Hollywood movie is revolutionary since they are typically in English. Different languages are beautiful and there is so much artistry beyond the English language. Subtitles are something that no one should be afraid of. Hopefully, hearing a foreign language in a Hollywood movie will inspire people to watch some movies that are not in the English language because there are so many of them out there that deserve appreciation. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings marks the start of Asian representation in the MCU, which may lead to movies starring Southeast Asians, South Asians, and Central Asians as lead heroes as well.

Overall, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is purely an amazing movie. It is visually stunning with some beautiful moments like the romantic tension-filled “waltz” between the mother Ying Li (Fala Chen) and Wenwu (Tony Leung). The movie has amazing fight scenes; some of the best in the whole MCU with obvious martial arts inspiration which is something that is not seen in most Marvel movies. The performances are outstanding especially from Tony Leung, who brought so much depth and complexity to his character. He made Wenwu feel less like a villain and more of a grief-stricken man who wants to do anything to get his wife back. The acting in the film really showcases the casts’ versatility with their ability to act out the dramatic scenes with so much heart and perform the comedic scenes with perfect timing. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is an enjoyable cinematic experience in general and is a movie that you should definitely watch.

[neodemon591]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Review

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton who co-wrote the screenplay with Dave Callaham and Andrew Lanham. The film stars Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Meng’er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, and Tony Leung. The latest MCU film introduces the character of Shang-Chi (Liu) a master of martial arts whose heroic journey begins by confronting and learning more about his past. In his journey of becoming a hero he learns more about the mystical Ten Rings and how that is also connected to his family history. I’ll say this off the bat, this was damn refreshing and a great new take in the comic book genre. This is another hit for the MCU that boasts wonderful performances, great action, and a story with characters that many of us fans will adore and love for years to come. 

There’s no better way to get your career launched than being a lead in a comic book film and Simu Liu delivers. This is his film and he carries it from beginning to end and backs it up with both the stunts and acting, Shang-Chi is a character that we’re all going to want to see more of in this film. I hope that this is only the beginning for Simu Liu and that his career goes well beyond the MCU as he gets more prominent roles in feature films. Among the many great supporting roles in this film, Tony Leung gives this nuanced and complex performance as the leader of the Ten Rings and Shang-Chi’s father. There’s so much going on with his character that makes him one of the most compelling villains in the MCU to date. Plus as someone who’s had a strained relationship with my father, I can relate well to that relationship the two of them have in this film. 

I don’t know how many will think this after watching the film, but this has some of the best action in an MCU film that rivals the two Captain America sequels. This is a martial arts film and it’s done beautifully and takes elements from past martial arts cinema and incorporates it into this MCU comic book world. The action and choreography of the fight scenes that go on in this film are great and the stunt team behind this film should be applauded tremendously. There’s also this wonderful exploration of Asian culture and mysticism that is integral to the story of this film. The mysticism and how that plays into the visual storytelling is I’ll just say amazing, don’t want to spoil much about that. I also want to give a shout out to Joel P West who composed this film and created a score that felt like a classic Asian centered film. 

After the credits rolled I sat in the theater and just smiled at what this film was and what it added to the MCU. I didn’t really have any flaws with the film and I think most who watch this would concur with that. Sure there may be some small nitpicks here and there, but I believe this will be one of the top tier MCU films. Shang-Chi is something that I believe the MCU needed to kick off their new phase of films going forward into the future. It’s an origin story yes, but it is so much more than that and what meets the eye. Anyone who watches this film can relate to the characters and story, that’s what makes these films appealing to the general movie going audience. Shang-Chi is not just a comic book film, but a celebration of Asian culture that takes pride in the story that it’s telling. 

[brokehorrorfan]

Mortal Kombat will be released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 13 via Warner Bros. Best Buy will carry an exclusive 4K UHD Steelbook. The 2021 martial arts fantasy film is based on the game of the same name.

Simon McQuoid makes his directorial debut from a script by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham (The Expendables, Wonder Woman 1984). Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada star.

Special features are listed below, where you can also see the Steelbook packaging.

Special features:

From Game to Screen: The Making of Moral Kombat featurette

11 Mortal Kombat: Fan Favorite Characters featurettes

Fight Koreography featurette

Intro the Krypt: Easter Eggs of Mortal Kombat featurette

7 Anatomy of a Scene featurettes

Deleted scenes

MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage—or why Outworld's Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family's safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to stand with Earth's greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana—the immense power from within his soul—in time to save not only his family, but to stop Outworld once and for all?

Pre-order Mortal Kombat from Amazon.

[grigori77]

2020 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10.  WOLFWALKERS – eleven years ago, Irish director Tomm Moore exploded onto the animated cinema scene with The Secret of Kells, a spellbinding feature debut which captivated audiences the world over and even garnered an Oscar nomination.  Admittedly I didn’t actually even know about it until I discovered his work through his astonishing follow-up, Song of the Sea (another Academy Award nominee), in 2015, so when I finally caught it I was already a fan of Moore’s work.  It’s been a similarly long wait for his third feature, but he’s genuinely pulled off a hat-trick, delivering a third flawless film in a row which OF COURSE means that his latest feature is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my top animated feature of 2020.  I could even be tempted to say it’s his best work to date … this is an ASTONISHING film, a work of such breath-taking, spell-binding beauty that I spent its entire hour and three-quarters glued to the screen, simple mesmerised by the wonder and majesty of this latest iteration of the characteristically stylised “Cartoon Saloon” look.  It’s also liberally steeped in Moore’s trademark Celtic vibe and atmosphere, once again delving deep into his homeland’s rich and evocative cultural history and mythology while also bringing us something far more original and personal – this time the titular supernatural beings are magical near-human beings whose own subconscious can assume the form of very real wolves.  Set in a particularly dark time in Irish history – namely 1650, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector – the story follows Robyn (Honor Kneafsey, probably best known for the Christmas Prince films), the impetuous and spirited young daughter of English hunter Bill Goodfellowe (Sean Bean), brought in by the Protectorate to rid the city of Kilkenny of the wolves plaguing the area.  One day fate intervenes and Robyn meets Mebh Og MacTire (The Girl at the End of the Garden‘s Eve Whittaker), a wild girl living in the woods, whose accidental bite gives her strange dreams in which she becomes a wolf – turns out Mebh is a wolfwalker, and now so is Robyn … every aspect of this film is an utter triumph for Moore and co, who have crafted a work of living, breathing cinematic art that’s easily the equal to (if not even better than) the best that Disney, Dreamworks or any of the other animation studios could create.  Then there’s the excellent voice cast – Bean brings fatherly warmth and compassion to the role that belies his character’s intimidating size, while Kneafsey and Whittaker make for a sweet and sassy pair as they bond in spite of powerful cultural differences, and the masterful Simon McBurney (Harry Potter, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) brings cool, understated menace to the role of Cromwell himself.  This is a film with plenty of emotional heft to go with its marvels, and once again displays the welcome dark side which added particular spice to Moore’s previous films, but ultimately this is still a gentle and heartfelt work of wonder that makes for equally suitable viewing for children as for those who are still kids at heart – ultimately, then, this is another triumph for one of the most singularly original filmmakers working in animation today, and if Wolfwalkers doesn’t make it third time lucky come Oscars-time then there’s no justice in the world …

9.  WONDER WOMAN 1984 – probably the biggest change for 2020 compared to pretty much all of the past decade is how different the fortunes of superhero cinema turned out to be.  A year earlier the Marvel Cinematic Universe had dominated all, but the DC Extended Universe still got a good hit in with big surprise hit Shazam!  Fast-forward to now and things are VERY different – DC suddenly came out in the lead, but only because Marvel’s intended heavy-hitters (two MCU movies, the first Venom sequel and potential hot-shit new franchise starter Morbius: the Living Vampire) found themselves continuously pushed back thanks to (back then) unforeseen circumstances which continue to shit all over our theatre-going slate for the immediate future.  In the end DC’s only SERIOUS competition turned out to be NETFLIX … never mind, at least we got ONE big established superhero blockbuster into the cinemas before the end of the year that the whole family could enjoy, and who better to headline it than DC’s “newest” big screen megastar, Diana Prince? Back in 2017 Monster’s Ball director Patty Jenkins’ monumental DCEU standalone spectacularly realigned the trajectory of a cinematic franchise that was visibly flagging, redesigning the template for the series’ future which has since led to some (mostly) consistently impressive subsequent offerings.  Needless to say it was a damn tough act to follow, but Jenkins and co-writers Geoff Johns (Arrow and The Flash) and David Callaham (The Expendables, Zombieland: Double Tap, future MCU entry Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings) have risen to the challenge in fine style, delivering something which pretty much equals that spectacular franchise debut … as has Gal Gadot, who’s now OFFICIALLY made the role her own thanks to yet another showstopping and definitive performance as the unstoppable Amazonian goddess living amongst us.  She’s older and wiser than in the first film, but still hasn’t lost that forthright honesty and wonderfully pure heart we’ve come to love ever since her introduction in Zack Snyder’s troublesome but ultimately underrated Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (yes, that’s right, I said it!), and Gadot’s clear, overwhelming commitment to the role continues to pay off magnificently as she once again proves that Diana is THE VERY BEST superhero in the DCEU cinematic pantheon.  Although it takes place several decades after its predecessor, WW84 is, obviously, still very much a period piece, Jenkins and co this time perfectly capturing the sheer opulent and over-the-top tastelessness of the 1980s in all its big-haired, bad-suited, oversized shoulder-padded glory while telling a story that encapsulates the greedy excessiveness of the Reagan era, perfectly embodied in the film’s nominal villain, Max Lord (The Mandalorian himself, Pedro Pascal), a wishy-washy wannabe oil tycoon conman who chances upon a supercharged wish-rock and unleashes a devastating supernatural “monkey’s paw” upon the world. To say any more would give away a whole raft of spectacular twists and turns that deserve to be enjoyed good and cold, although they did spoil one major surprise in the trailer when they teased the return of Diana’s first love, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) … needless to say this is another big blockbuster bursting with big characters, big action and BIG IDEAS, just what we’ve come to expect after Wonder Woman’s first triumphant big screen adventure.  Interestingly, the film starts out feeling like it’s going to be a bubbly, light, frothy affair – after a particularly stunning all-action opening flashback to Diana’s childhood on Themyscira, the film proper kicks off with a bright and breezy atmosphere that feels a bit like the kind of Saturday morning cartoon action the consistently impressive set-pieces take such unfettered joy in parodying, but as the stakes are raised the tone grows darker and more emotionally potent, the storm clouds gathering for a spectacularly epic climax that, for once, doesn’t feel too overblown or weighed down by its visual effects, while the intelligent script has unfathomable hidden depths to it, making us think far more than these kinds of blockbusters usually do.  It’s really great to see Chris Pine return since he was one of the best things about the first movie, and his lovably childlike wide-eyed wonder at this brave new world perfectly echoes Diana’s own last time round; Kristen Wiig, meanwhile, is pretty phenomenal throughout as Dr Barbara Minerva, the initially geeky and timid nerd who discovers an impressive inner strength but ultimately turns into a superpowered apex predator as she becomes one of Wonder Woman’s most infamous foes, the Cheetah; Pascal, of course, is clearly having the time of his life hamming it up to the hilt as Lord, playing gloriously against his effortlessly cool, charismatic action hero image to deliver a compellingly troubling examination of the monstrous corrupting influence of absolute power.  Once again, though, the film truly belongs to Gadot – she looks amazing, acts her socks off magnificently, and totally rules the movie.  After this, a second sequel is a no-brainer, because Wonder Woman remains the one DC superhero who’s truly capable of bearing the weight of this particular cinematic franchise on her powerful shoulders – needless to say, it’s already been greenlit, and with both Jenkins and Gadot onboard, I’m happy to sign up for more too …

8.  LOVE & MONSTERS – with the cinemas continuing their frustrating habit of opening for a little while and then closing while the pandemic ebbed and flowed in the months after the summer season, it was starting to look like there might not have been ANY big budget blockbusters to enjoy before year’s end as heavyweights like Black Widow, No Time To Die and Dune pulled back to potentially more certain release slots into 2021 (with only WW84 remaining stubbornly in place for Christmas).  Then Paramount decided to throw us a bone, opting to release this post-apocalyptic horror comedy on-demand in October instead, thus giving me the perfect little present to tie me over during the darkening days of autumn. The end result was a stone-cold gem that came out of nowhere to completely blow critics away, a spectacular sleeper hit that ultimately proved one of the year’s biggest and most brilliant surprises.  Director Michael Matthews may only have had South African indie thriller Five Fingers for Marseilles under his belt prior to this, but he proves he’s definitely a solid talent to watch in the future, crafting a fun and effective thrill-ride that, like all the best horror comedies, is consistently as funny as it is scary, sharing much of the same DNA as this particular mash-up genre’s classics like Tremors and Zombieland and standing up impressively well to such comparisons.  The story, penned by rising star Brian Duffield (who has TWO other entries on this list, Underwater and Spontaneous) and Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying, Dora & the Lost City of Gold), is also pretty ingenious and surprisingly original – a meteorite strike has unleashed weird mutagenic pathogens that warp various creepy crawly critters into gigantic monstrosities that have slaughter most of the world’s human population, leaving only a beleaguered, dwindling few to eke out a precarious living in underground colonies. Living in one such makeshift community is Joel Dawson (The Maze Runner’s Dylan O’Brien), a smart and likeable geek who really isn’t very adventurous, is extremely awkward and uncoordinated, and has a problem with freezing if threatened … which makes it all the more inexplicable when he decides, entirely against the advice of everyone he knows, to venture onto the surface so he can make the incredibly dangerous week-long trek to the neighbouring colony where his girlfriend Aimee (Iron Fist’s Jessica Henwick) has ended up.  Joel is, without a doubt, the best role that O’Brien has EVER had, a total dork who’s completely unsuited to this kind of adventure and, in the real world, sure to be eaten alive in the first five minutes, but he’s also such a fantastically believable, fallible everyman that every one of us desperate, pathetic omega-males and females can instantly put ourselves in his place, making it elementarily easy to root for him.  He’s also hilariously funny, his winningly self-deprecating sass and pitch perfect talent for physical comedy making it all the more rewarding watching each gloriously anarchic life-and-death encounter mould him into the year’s most unlikely action hero.  Henwick, meanwhile, once again impresses in a well-written role where she’s able to make a big impression despite her decidedly short screen time, as do the legendary Michael Rooker and brilliant newcomer Ariana Greenblatt as Clyde and Minnow, the adorably jaded, seen-it-all-before pair of “professional survivors” Joel meets en-route, who teach him to survive on the surface.  The action is fast, frenetic and potently visceral, the impressively realistic digital creature effects bringing a motley crew of bloodthirsty beasties to suitably blood-curdling life for the film’s consistently terrifying set-pieces, while the world-building is intricately thought-out and skilfully executed.  Altogether, this was an absolute joy from start to finish, and a film I enthusiastically endorsed to everyone I knew was looking for something fun to enjoy during the frustrating lockdown nights-in.  One of the cinematic year’s best kept secrets then, and a compelling sign of things to come for its up-and-coming director.

7.  PARASITE – I’ve been a fan of master Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho ever since I stumbled across his deeply weird but also thoroughly brilliant breakthrough feature The Host, and it’s a love that’s deepened since thanks to truly magnificent sci-fi actioner Snowpiercer, so I was looking forward to his latest feature as much as any movie geek, but even I wasn’t prepared for just what a runaway juggernaut of a hit this one turned out to be, from the insane box office to all that award-season glory (especially that undeniable clean-sweep at the Oscars). I’ll just come out and say it, this film deserves it all.  It’s EASILY Bong’s best film to date (which is really saying something), a masterful social satire and jet black comedy that raises some genuinely intriguing questions before delivering deeply troubling answers.  Straddling the ever-widening gulf between a disaffected idle rich upper class and impoverished, struggling lower class in modern-day Seoul, it tells the story of the Kim family – father Ki-taek (Bong’s good luck charm, Song Kang-ho), mother Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), son Ki-woo (Train to Busan’s Choi Woo-shik) and daughter Ki-jung (The Silenced’s Park So-dam) – a poor family living in a run-down basement apartment who live hand-to-mouth in minimum wage jobs and can barely rub two pennies together, until they’re presented with an intriguing opportunity.  Through happy chance, Ki-woon is hired as an English tutor for Park Da-hye (Jung Ji-so), the daughter of a wealthy family, which offers him the chance to recommend Ki-jung as an art tutor to the Parks’ troubled young son, Da-song (Jung Hyeon-jun). Soon the rest of the Kims are getting in on the act, the kids contriving opportunities for their father to replace Mr Park’s chauffeur and their mother to oust the family’s long-serving housekeeper, Gook Moon-gwang (Lee Jung-eun), and before long their situation has improved dramatically.  But as they two families become more deeply entwined, cracks begin to show in their supposed blissful harmony as the natural prejudices of their respective classes start to take hold, and as events spiral out of control a terrible confrontation looms on the horizon.  This is social commentary at its most scathing, Bong drawing on personal experiences from his youth to inform the razor-sharp script (co-written by his production assistant Han Jin-won), while he weaves a palpable atmosphere of knife-edged tension throughout to add spice to the perfectly observed dark humour of the situation, all the while throwing intriguing twists and turns at us before suddenly dropping such a massive jaw-dropper of a gear-change that the film completely turns on its head to stunning effect.  The cast are all thoroughly astounding, Song once again dominating the film with a turn at once sloppy and dishevelled but also poignant and heartfelt, while there are particularly noteworthy turns from Lee Sun-kyun as the Parks’ self-absorbed patriarch Dong-ik and Choi Yeo-jeong (The Concubine) as his flighty, easily-led wife Choi Yeon-gyo, as well as a fantastically weird appearance in the latter half from Park Myung-hoon.  This is heady stuff, dangerously seductive even as it becomes increasingly uncomfortable viewing, so that even as the screws tighten and everything goes to hell it’s simply impossible to look away.  Bong Joon-ho really has surpassed himself this time, delivering an existential mind-scrambler that lingers long after the credits have rolled and might even have you questioning your place in society once you’ve thought about it some. It deserves every single award and every ounce of praise it’s been lavished with, and looks set to go down as one of the true cinematic greats of this new decade.  Trust me, if this was a purely critical best-of list it’d be RIGHT AT THE TOP …

6.  THE OLD GUARD – Netflix’ undisputable TOP OFFERING of the summer came damn close to bagging the whole season, and I can’t help thinking that even if some of the stiffer competition had still been present it may well have still finished this high. Gina Prince-Blythewood (Love & Basketball, the Secret Life of Bees) directs comics legend Greg Rucka’s adaptation of his own popular series with uncanny skill and laser-focused visual flair considering there’s nothing on her previous CV to suggest she’d be THIS good at mounting a stomping great ultraviolent action thriller, ushering in a thoroughly engrossing tale of four ancient, invulnerable immortal warriors – Andy AKA Andromache of Scythia (Charlize Theron), Booker AKA Sebastian de Livre (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe AKA Yusuf Al-Kaysani (Wolf’s Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky AKA Niccolo di Ginova (Trust’s Luca Marinelli) – who’ve been around forever, hiring out their services as mercenaries for righteous causes while jealously guarding their identities for fear of horrific experimentation and exploitation should their true natures ever be discovered.  Their anonymity is threatened, however, when they’re uncovered by former CIA operative James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who’s working for the decidedly dodgy pharmaceutical conglomerate run by sociopathic billionaire Steven Merrick (Harry Melling, formerly Dudley in the Harry Potter movies), who want to capture these immortals so they can patent whatever it is that makes them keep on ticking … just as a fifth immortal, US Marine Nile Freeman (If Beale Street Could Talk’s KiKi Layne), awakens after being “killed” on deployment in Afghanistan.  The supporting players are excellent, particularly Ejiofor, smart and driven but ultimately principled and deeply conflicted about what he’s doing, even if he does have the best of intentions, and Melling, the kind of loathsome, reptilian scumbag you just love to hate, but the film REALLY DOES belong to the Old Guard themselves – Schoenaerts is a master brooder, spot-on casting as the group’s relative newcomer, only immortal since the Napoleonic Wars but clearly one seriously old soul who’s already VERY tired of the lifestyle, while Joe and Nicky (who met on opposing sides of the Crusades) are simply ADORABLE, an unapologetically matter-of-fact gay couple who are sweet, sassy and incredibly kind, the absolute emotional heart of the film; it’s the ladies, however, that are most memorable here.  Layne is exceptional, investing Nile with a steely intensity that puts her in good stead as her new existence threatens to overwhelm her and MORE THAN qualified to bust heads alongside her elders … but it’s ancient Greek warrior Andy who steals the film, Theron building on the astounding work she did in Atomic Blonde to prove, once and for all, that there’s no woman on Earth who looks better kicking arse than her (as Booker puts it, “that woman has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn”); in her hands, Andy truly is a goddess of death, tough as tungsten alloy and unflappable even in the face of hell itself, but underneath it all she hides a heart as big as any of her friends’.  They’re an impossibly lovable bunch and you feel you could follow them on another TEN adventures like this one, which is just as well, because Prince-Blythewood and Rucka certainly put them through their paces here – the drama is high (but frequently laced with a gentle, knowing sense of humour, particularly whenever Joe and Nicky are onscreen), as are the stakes, and the frequent action sequences are top-notch, executed with rare skill and bone-crunching zest, but also ALWAYS in service to the story.  Altogether this is an astounding film, a genuine victory for its makers and, it seems, for Netflix themselves – it’s become one of the platform’s biggest hits to date, earning well-deserved critical acclaim and great respect and genuine geek love from the fanbase at large.  After this, a sequel is not only inevitable, it’s ESSENTIAL …

5.  MANK – it’s always nice when David Fincher, one of my TOP FIVE ALL TIME FAVOURITE DIRECTORS, drops a new movie, because it can be GUARANTEED to place good and high in my rundown for that year.  The man is a frickin’ GENIUS, a true master of the craft, genuinely one of the auteur’s auteurs.  I’ve NEVER seen him deliver a bad film – even a misfiring Fincher (see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Alien 3) is still capable of creating GREAT CINEMA.  How? Why?  It’s because he genuinely LOVES the art form, it’s been his obsession all his life, and he’s spent every day of it becoming the best possible filmmaker he can be.  Who better to tell the story of the creation of one of the ULTIMATE cinematic masterpieces, then?  Benjamin Ross’ acclaimed biopic RKO 281 covered similar ground, presenting a compelling look into the making Citizen Kane, the timeless masterpiece of Hollywood’s ULTIMATE auteur, Orson Welles, but Fincher’s film is more interested in the original inspiration for the story, how it was written and, most importantly, the man who wrote it – Herman J. Mankiewicz, known to his friends as Mank. One of my favourite actors of all time, Gary Oldman, delivers yet another of his career best performances in the lead role, once a man of vision and incredible storytelling skill whose talents have largely been squandered through professional difficulties and personal vices, a burned out one-time great fallen on hard times whom Welles picks up out of the trash, dusts off and offers a chance to create something truly great again.  The only catch?  The subject of their film (albeit dressed up in the guise of fictional newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane) is to be real-life publisher, politico and tycoon William Randolph Hurst (Charles Dance), once Mank’s friend and patron before they had a very public and messy falling out which partly led to his current circumstances.  As he toils away in seclusion on what is destined to become his true masterwork, flashbacks reveal to us the fascinating, moving and ultimately tragic tale of his rise and fall from grace in the movie business, set against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.  Shooting a script that his own journalist and screenwriter father, Jack, crafted and then failed to bring to the screen himself before his death in 2003, Fincher has been working for almost a quarter century to make this film, and all that passion and drive is writ large on the screen – this is a glorious film ABOUT film, the art of it, the creation of it, and all the dirty little secrets of what the industry itself has always really been like, especially in that most glamorous and illusory of times.  The fact that Fincher shot in black and white and intentionally made it look like it was made in the early 1940s (the “golden age of the Silver Screen”, if you will) may seem like a gimmick, but instead it’s a very shrewd choice that expertly captures the gloss and moodiness of the age, almost looking like a contemporary companion piece to Kane itself, and it’s the perfect way to frame all the sharp-witted observation, subtly subversive character development and murky behind-the-scenes machinations that tell the story.  Oldman is in every way the star here, holding the screen with all the consummate skill and flair we’ve come to expect from him, but there’s no denying the uniformly excellent supporting cast are equal to the task here – Dance is at his regal, charismatic best as Hearst, while Amanda Seyfried is icily classy on the surface but mischievous and lovably grounded underneath as Hearst’s mistress, Marion Davies, who formed the basis for Kane’s most controversial character, Arliss Howard (Full Metal Jacket, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Moneyball) brings nuance and complexity to the role of MGM founder Louis B. Mayer, Tom Pelphrey (Banshee, Ozark) is understated but compelling as Mank’s younger screenwriter brother Joseph, and Lily Collins and Tuppence Middleton exude class and long-suffering stubbornness as the two main women in Mank’s life (his secretary and platonic muse, Rita Alexander, and his wife, Sara), while The Musketeers’ Tom Burke’s periodic but potent appearances as Orson Welles help to drive the story in the “present”.  Another Netflix release which I was (thankfully) able to catch on the big screen during one of the brief lulls between British lockdowns, this was a decidedly meta cinematic experience that perfectly encapsulated not only what is truly required for the creation of a screen epic, but also the latest pinnacle in the career of one of the greatest filmmakers working in the business today, powerful, stirring, intriguing and surprising in equal measure. Certainly it’s one of the most important films ABOUT so far film this century, but is it as good as Citizen Kane?  Boy, that’s a tough one …

4.  ENOLA HOLMES – ultimately, my top film for the autumn/winter movie season was also the film which finally topped my Netflix Original features list, as well as beating all other streaming offerings for the entire year (which is saying something, as you should know by now).  Had things been different, this would have been one of Warner Bros’ BIGGEST releases for the year in the cinema, of that I have no doubt, a surprise sleeper hit which would have taken the world by storm – as it is it’s STILL become a sensation, albeit in a much more mid-pandemic, lockdown home-viewing kind of way.  Before you start crying oh God no, not another Sherlock Holmes adaptation, this is a very different beast from either the Guy Ritchie take or the modernized BBC show, instead side-lining the great literary sleuth in favour of a delicious new AU version, based on The Case of the Missing Marquess, the first novel in the Enola Holmes Mysteries literary series from American YA author Nancy Springer.  Positing that Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) and his elder brother Mycroft (Sam Claflin) had an equally ingenious and precocious baby sister, the film introduces us to Enola (Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown), who’s been raised at home by their strong-willed mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) to be just as intelligent, well-read and intellectually skilled as her far more advantageously masculine elder siblings.  Then, on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Enola awakens to find her mother has vanished, putting her in a pretty pickle since this leaves her a ward of Mycroft, a self-absorbed social peacock who finds her to be wilfully free-spirited and completely ill equipped to face the world, concluding that the only solution is sending her to boarding school where she’ll learn to become a proper lady.  Needless to say she’s horrified by the prospect, deciding to run away and search for her mother instead … this is about as perfect a family adventure film as you could wish for, following a vital, capable and compelling teen detective-in-the-making as she embarks on her very first investigation, as well as winding up tangled in a second to boot involving a young runaway noble, Viscount Tewkesbury, the Marquess of Basilwether (Medici’s Louis Partridge), and the film is a breezy, swift-paced and rewardingly entertaining romp that feels like a welcome breath of fresh air for a literary property which, beloved as it may be, has been adapted to death over the years.  Enola Holmes a brilliant young hero who’s perfectly crafted to carry the franchise forward in fresh new directions, and Brown brings her to life with effervescent charm, boisterous energy and mischievous irreverence that are entirely irresistible; Cavill and Claflin, meanwhile, are perfectly cast as the two very different brothers – this Sherlock is much less louche and world-weary than most previous versions, still razor sharp and intellectually restless but with a comfortable ease and a youthful spring in his step that perfectly suits the actor, while Mycroft is as superior and arrogant as ever, a preening arse we derive huge enjoyment watching Enola consistently get the best of; Bonham Carter doesn’t get a lot of screen-time but as we’d expect she does a lot with what she has to make the practical, eccentric and unapologetically modern Eudoria thoroughly memorable, while Partridge is carefree and likeable as the naïve but irresistible Tewkesbury, and there are strong supporting turns from Frances de la Tour as his stately grandmother, the Dowager, Susie Wokoma (Crazyhead, Truth Seekers) as Emily, a feisty suffragette who runs a jujitsu studio, Burn Gorman as dastardly thug-for-hire Linthorn, and Four Lions’ Adeel Akhtar as a particularly scuzzy Inspector Lestrade.  Seasoned TV director Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag, Killing Eve) makes his feature debut with an impressive splash, unfolding the action at a brisk pace while keeping the narrative firmly focused on an intricate mystery plot that throws in plenty of ingenious twists and turns before a suitably atmospheric climax and pleasing denouement which nonetheless artfully sets up more to come in the future, while screenwriter Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials, The Scouting Book for Boys, Wonder) delivers strong character work and liberally peppers the dialogue with a veritable cavalcade of witty zingers.  Boisterous, compelling, amusing, affecting and exciting in equal measure, this is a spirited and appealing slice of cinematic escapism that flatters its viewers and never talks down to them, a perfect little period adventure for a cosy Sunday afternoon.  Obviously there’s plenty of potential for more, and with further books to adapt there’s more than enough material for a pile of sequels – Neflix would be barmy indeed to turn their nose up at this opportunity …

3.  1917 – it’s a rare thing for a film to leave me truly shell-shocked by its sheer awesomeness, for me to walk out of a cinema in a genuine daze, unable to talk or even really think about much of anything for a few hours because I’m simply marvelling at what I’ve just witnessed.  Needless to say, when I do find a film like that (Fight Club, Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road) it usually earns a place very close to my heart indeed.  The latest tour-de-force from Sam Mendes is one of those films – an epic World War I thriller that plays out ENTIRELY in one shot, which doesn’t simply feel like a glorified gimmick or stunt but instead is a genuine MASTERPIECE of film, a mesmerising journey of emotion and imagination in a shockingly real environment that’s impossible to tear your eyes away from.  Sure, Mendes has impressed us before – his first film, American Beauty, is a GREAT movie, one of the most impressive feature debuts of the 2000s, while Skyfall is, in my opinion, quite simply THE BEST BOND FILM EVER MADE – but this is in a whole other league.  It’s an astounding achievement, made all the more impressive when you realise that there’s very little trickery at play here, no clever digital magic (just some augmentation here and there), it’s all real locations and sets, filmed in long, elaborately choreographed takes blended together with clever edits to make it as seamless as possible – it’s not the first film to try to do this (remember Birdman? Bushwick?), but I’ve never seen it done better, or with greater skill. But it’s not just a clever cinematic exercise, there’s a genuine story here, told with guts and urgency, and populated by real flesh and blood characters – the heart of the film is True History of the Kelly Gang’s George MacKay and Dean Chapman (probably best known as Tommen Baratheon in Game of Thrones) as Lance Corporals Will Schofield and Tom Blake, the two young tommies sent out across enemy territory on a desperate mission to stop a British regiment from rushing headlong into a German trap (Tom himself has a personal stake in this because his brother is an officer in the attack).  They’re a likeable pair, very human and relatable throughout, brave and true but never so overtly heroic that they stretch credibility, so when tragedy strikes along the way it’s particularly devastating; both deliver exceptional performances that effortlessly carry us through the film, and they’re given sterling support from a selection of top-drawer British talent, from Sherlock stars Andrew Scott and Benedict Cumberbatch to Mark Strong and Colin Firth, each delivering magnificently in small but potent cameos.  That said, the cinematography and art department are the BIGGEST stars here, masterful veteran DOP Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Blade Runner 2049 and pretty much the Coen Brothers’ entire back catalogue among MANY others) making every frame sing with beauty, horror, tension or tragedy as the need arises, and the environments are SO REAL it feels less like production design than that someone simply sent the cast and crew back in time to film in the real Northern France circa 1917 – from a nightmarish trek across No Man’s Land to a desperate chase through a ruined French village lit only by dancing flare-light in the darkness before dawn, every scene is utterly immersive and simply STUNNING.  I don’t think it’s possible for Mendes to make a film better than this, but I sure hope he gives it a go all the same.  Either way, this was the most incredible, exhausting, truly AWESOME experience I had at the cinema all year – it’s a film that DESERVES to be seen on the big screen, and I feel truly sorry for those who missed the chance …

2.  BIRDS OF PREY & THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN – the only reason 1917 isn’t at number two is because Warner Bros.’ cinematic DC Extended Universe project FINALLY got round to bringing my favourite DC Comics title to the big screen.  It was been the biggest pleasure of my cinematic year getting to see my top DC superheroines brought to life on the big screen, and it was done in high style, in my opinion THE BEST of the DCEU films to date (yup, I loved it EVEN MORE than the Wonder Woman movies).  It was also great seeing Harley Quinn return after her show-stealing turn in David Ayer’s clunky but ultimately still hugely enjoyable Suicide Squad, better still that they got her SPOT ON this time – this is the Harley I’ve always loved in the comics, unpredictable, irreverent and entirely without regard for what anyone else thinks of her, as well as one talented psychiatrist.  Margot Robbie once more excels in the role she was basically BORN to play, clearly relishing the chance to finally do Harley TRUE justice, and she’s a total riot from start to finish, infectiously lovable no matter what crazy, sometimes downright REPRIHENSIBLE antics she gets up to.  Needless to say she’s the nominal star here, her latest ill-advised adventure driving the story – finally done with the Joker and itching to make her emancipation official, Harley publicly announces their breakup by blowing up Ace Chemicals (their love spot, basically), inadvertently painting a target on her back in the process since she’s no longer under the assumed protection of Gotham’s feared Clown Prince of Crime – but that doesn’t mean she eclipses the other main players the movie’s REALLY supposed to be about.  Each member of the Birds of Prey is beautifully written and brought to vivid, arse-kicking life by what had to be 2020’s most exciting cast – Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress, is the perfect character for Mary Elizabeth Winstead to finally pay off on that action hero potential she showed in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, but this is a MUCH more enjoyable role outside of the fight choreography because while Helena may be a world-class dark avenger, socially she’s a total dork, which just makes her thoroughly adorable; Rosie Perez is similarly perfect casting as Renee Montoya, the uncompromising pint-sized Gotham PD detective who kicks against the corrupt system no matter what kind of trouble it gets her into, and just gets angrier all the time, paradoxically making us like her even more; and then there’s the film’s major controversy, at least as far as the fans are concerned, namely one Cassandra Cain.  Sure, this take is VERY different from the comics’ version (a nearly mute master assassin who went on to become the second woman to wear the mask of Batgirl before assuming her own crime-fighting mantle as Black Bat and now Orphan), but personally I like to think this is simply Cass at THE VERY START of her origin story, leaving plenty of time for her to discover her warrior origins when the DCEU finally gets around to introducing her mum, Lady Shiva (personally I want Michelle Yeoh to play her, but that’s just me) – anyways, here she’s a skilled child pickpocket whose latest theft inadvertently sets off the larger central plot, and newcomer Ella Jay Basco brings a fantastic pre-teen irreverence and spiky charm to the role, beautifully playing against Robbie’s mercurial energy.  My favourite here BY FAR, however, is Dinah Lance, aka the Black Canary (not only my favourite Bird of Prey but my very favourite DC superheroine PERIOD), the choice of up-and-comer Jurnee Smollet-Bell (Friday Night Lights, Underground) proving to be the film’s most inspired casting – a club singer with the metahuman ability to emit piercing supersonic screams, she’s also a ferocious martial artist (in the comics she’s one of the very best fighters IN THE WORLD), as well as a wonderfully pure soul you just can’t help loving, and it made me SO UNBELIEVABLY HAPPY that they got my Canary EXACTLY RIGHT.  Altogether they’re a fantastic bunch of badass ladies, basically my perfect superhero team, and the way they’re all brought together (along with Harley, of course) is beautifully thought out and perfectly executed … they’ve also got one hell of a threat to overcome, namely Gotham crime boss Roman Sionis, the Black Mask, one of the Joker’s chief rivals – Ewan McGregor brings his A-game in a frustratingly rare villainous turn (my number one bad guy for the movie year), a monstrously narcissistic, woman-hating control freak with a penchant for peeling off the faces of those who displease him, sharing some exquisitely creepy chemistry with Chris Messina (The Mindy Project) as Sionis’ nihilistic lieutenant Victor Zsasz.  This is about as good as superhero cinema gets, a perfect example of the sheer brilliance you get when you switch up the formula to create something new, an ultra-violent, unapologetically R-rated middle finger to the classic tropes, a fantastic black comedy thrill ride that’s got to be the most full-on feminist blockbuster ever made – it’s helmed by a woman (Dead Pigs director Cathy Yan), written by a woman (Bumblebee’s Christina Hodson), produced by more women and ABOUT a bunch of badass women magnificently triumphing over toxic masculinity in all its forms.  It’s also simply BRILLIANT – the cast are all clearly having a blast, the action sequences are first rate (the spectacular GCPD evidence room fight in which Harley gets to REALLY cut loose is the undisputable highlight), it has a gleefully anarchic sense of humour and is simply BURSTING with phenomenal homages, references and in-jokes for the fans (Bruce the hyena! Stuffed beaver! Roller derby!).  It’s also got a killer soundtrack, populated almost exclusively by numbers from female artists.  Altogether, then, this is the VERY BEST the DCEU has to offer to date, and VERY NEARLY my absolute FAVOURITE film of 2020.  Give it all the love you can, it sure as hell deserves it.

1.  TENET – granted, the streaming platforms (particularly Netflix and Amazon) certainly saved our cinematic summer, but I’m still IMMEASURABLY glad that my ultimate top-spot winner FOR THE WHOLE YEAR was one I got to experience on THE BIG SCREEN. You gotta hand it to Christopher Nolan, he sure hung in there, stubbornly determined that his latest cinematic masterpiece WOULD be released in cinemas in the summer (albeit ultimately landing JUST inside the line in the final week of August and ultimately taking the bite at the box office because of the still shaky atmosphere), and it was worth all the fuss because, for me, this was THE PERFECT MOVIE for me to get return to cinemas with.  I mean, okay, in the end it WASN’T the FIRST new movie I saw after the first reopening, that honour went to Unhinged, but THIS was my first real Saturday night-out big screen EXPERIENCE since March.  Needless to say, Nolan didn’t disappoint this time any more than he has on any of his consistently spectacular previous releases, delivering another twisted, mind-boggling headfuck of a full-blooded experiential sensory overload that comes perilously close to toppling his long-standing auteur-peak, Inception (itself second only by fractions to The Dark Knight as far as I’m concerned). To say much at all about the plot would give away major spoilers – personally I’d recommend just going in as cold as possible, indeed you really should just stop reading this right now and just GO SEE IT.  Still with us?  Okay … the VERY abridged version is that it’s about a secret war being waged between the present and the future by people capable of “inverting” time in substances, objects, people, whatever, into which the Protagonist (BlacKkKlansman’s John David Washington), an unnamed CIA agent, has been dispatched in order to prevent a potential coming apocalypse. Washington is once again on top form, crafting a robust and compelling morally complex heroic lead who’s just as comfortable negotiating the minefields of black market intrigue as he is breaking into places or dispatching heavies, Kenneth Branagh delivers one of his most interesting and memorable performances in years as brutal Russian oligarch Andrei Sator, a genuinely nasty piece of work who was ALMOST the year’s very best screen villain, Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Widows) brings strength, poise and wounded integrity to the role of Sator’s estranged wife, Kat, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson gets to use his own accent for once as tough-as-nails British Intelligence officer Ives, while there are brief but consistently notable supporting turns and cameos from Martin Donovan, Yesterday’s Himesh Patel, Dirk Gently’s Fiona Dourif and, of course, Nolan’s good luck charm, Michael Caine.  The cast’s biggest surprise, however, is Robert Pattinson, truly a revelation in what has to be, HANDS DOWN, his best role to date, Neil, the Protagonist’s mysterious handler – he’s by turns cheeky, slick, duplicitous and thoroughly badass, delivering an enjoyably multi-layered, chameleonic performance which proves what I’ve long maintained, that the former Twilight star is actually a fucking amazing actor, and on the basis of this, even if that amazing new teaser trailer wasn’t making the rounds, I think the debate about whether or not he’s the right choice for the new Batman is now academic.  As we’ve come to expect from Nolan, this is a TRUE tour-de-force experience, a visual triumph and an endlessly engrossing head-scratcher, Nolan’s screenplay bringing in seriously big ideas and throwing us some major narrative knots and loopholes, constantly wrong-footing the viewer while also setting up truly revelatory payoffs from seemingly low-key, unimportant beginnings – this is a film you need to be awake and attentive for or you could miss something pretty vital. The action sequences are, as ever, second to none, some of the year’s very best set-pieces coming thick and fast and executed with some of the most accomplished skill in the business, while Nolan-regular cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar and Dunkirk, as well as the heady likes of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, SPECTRE and Ad Astra) once again shows he’s one of the best camera-wizards in the business today by delivering some absolutely mesmerising visuals.  Notably, Nolan’s other regular collaborator, composer Hans Zimmer, is absent here (although he had good reason, since he was working on his dream project at the time, the fast-approaching screen adaptation of Dune), but Ludwig Göransson (best known for his collaborations with Ryan Coogler Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther, as well as career-best work on The Mandalorian) is a fine replacement, crafting an intriguingly internalised, post-modern musical landscape that thrums and pulses in time with the story and emotions of the characters rather than the action itself. Interestingly it’s on the subject of sound that some of the film’s rare detractions have been levelled, and I can see some of the points – the soundtrack mix is an all-encompassing thing, and there are times when the dialogue can be overwhelmed, but in Nolan’s defence this film is a heady, immersive experience, something you really need to concentrate on, so these potential flaws are easily forgiven.  As a work of filmmaking art, this is another flawless wonder from one of the true masters of the craft working in cinema today, but it’s art with palpable substance, a rewarding whole that proved truly unbeatable in 2020 …