Inclined to Opine

    I remember really enjoying this film when it first came out and it was one of my favourite MCU films to date. Which is why I was surprised upon rewatching it to find my mind wondering at times and even getting somewhat bored...     As usual in the MCU, the casting is spot-on. Chris Evans cleans up nicely after "nastier" roles in, say, Scott Pilgrim, and truly embodies the boy next door who happens to be a hero that the Captain needs. Hayley Atwell is good though I found her character lacking in depth; that's on you, writers. Stanley Tucci is a delight as always, Tommy Lee Jones was born to play the old curmudgeon, and Hugo Weaving never fails to deliver, particularly as a villain. However, while there is nothing wrong with his performance, I confess I'm not a fan of Bucky, though that may have more to do with the character than Sebastian Stan.     Again a staple of MCU, the special effects are top-notch, the "shrinking" of Rodgers in the first act being...

    Nothing like lockdown to finally rewatch all the MCU films. Of course, I'm still new to this review blogging reality, so I promptly forgot to write down any thoughts for Iron Man and Iron Man 2! In a nutshell, the first is awesome, the second is meh and one of the weakest MCU movies to date.     But today we're here to talk about the god of thunder himself, Thor. I was, of course, already biased going into it in the cinema way back in 2011 as it was directed by Kenneth Branagh. Having said that, while I love his acting, I think his directing competent but generally not amazing, though there are some fundamentals in his style which I very much appreciate.     Let's start with casting. I am not going to assert that the choices were solely up to Branagh, but it is very like him to make unexpected castings, giving actors the opportunity to sink their teeth into a different kind of role than what they are used to (Keanu Reeves doing Shakespeare and cast as D...

    How does one review an international phenomenon? Having only watched it now, 5 years after the musical first opened (thank you, Disney +!), it's difficult to form an opinion that isn't tainted by the weight of its success but I'll do my best. Going into it, I knew relatively little about the show (a conscious choice as I prefer to go in blind), but suspected it wouldn't be my cup of tea given my dislike of Lin-Manuel Miranda's other musical works.     First, a disclaimer of sorts. I am not particularly knowledgable about rap (though proud to be able to do all of Gangsta's Paradise by heart!), however I do enjoy particular songs and artists on occasion. But even with my limited insight into the genre, I feel I can confidently say that the majority of Hamilton isn't rap, not really. With the exception of Lafayette's solo in "Guns and Ships" (which is freaking awesome and one of the musical highlights of the show for me), most of what we are s...

    Dante's Peak was a favourite for both me and my family. I watched it countless times in my teens to the point that even today I can roughly do a play-by-play of the whole thing. So rewatching it now after so long was an interesting exercise of almost cognitive dissonance: on the one hand, I can see all it's many, many flaws; but on the other, it still warms my inner 14 year-old's heart.     Through 2020 eyes [there's a joke in there somewhere...], it's oh so very 90s: the overly dramatic acting, the painful dialogue, the sudden face zooms. And no one will accuse it of suffering from too much originality; if anything, it follows the recipe for 90s disaster movies almost perfectly, morality deaths and all. But somehow what it does, it does well, and still manages to pack a hell of an adrenaline punch.     The special effects (probably mostly practical effects) have withstood the test of time with a respectable amount of grace, and the film doesn't waste t...

    So here we are, a few months after the Oscars and I finally managed to watch one of the year's big nominees. Better late than never, hmm?!     I have to start by addressing the unavoidable, indisputable, undeniable fact that Taika Waititi is completely insane. I mean stark raving mad. Just plain bonkers. And I, for one, love him for it! The concept of the film is already proof of this: a 10 year-old German boy has an imaginary friend that is none other than Adolf Hitler. And when you have a premise like that, then why not play the Führer yourself?! Campy, hilarious, both nurturing and terrifying, Waititi's performance both ridicules the man and manages to convey the charisma that captured the imagination of so many. Just watch the scene in which he works himself up into a frenzied speech: the body language, speech cadence, it's all on point and clearly studied; raise the voice another octave and you'd be convinced Hitler had given an impassioned address in Englis...