Doctor Strange 2 is What Comic Book Movies Are All About

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a non-stop ride of vibes captained by Sam Raimi while Kevin Feige sits in the passenger seat holding a gun. He’s not pointing the gun per se. He’s just holding it… just in case. And despite that pressure that convinced other filmmakers to jump ship, Raimi stood firm and managed to make something unquestionably “him”

First things first, I don’t want to be fake. My experience with Sam Raimi is relegated to his Spider-Man films. I haven’t watched all of the Evil Dead films, Drag Me to Hell, or even Darkman. So in the interest of avoiding being called a fake fan, I’ll say that I’m not an authority on his work.

But it doesn’t take long to get a broad idea of the kind of energy this man brings to a project, or why people like him. The camerawork he delights in, the horrors he can’t help but inject into his very human stories, and the way all of it is so goddamn eye-catching.

Batman: The Long Halloween Review

It’s fascinating watching both parts of Batman: The Long Halloween so shortly after Matt Reeves’ The Batman from this year. Reeves’ film no doubt takes cues from the Long Halloween. Bruce and Selina’s relationship. The focus on Falcone as an antagonist. A mysterious serial killer.

Similar to Reeves’ vision, the animated adaptation of The Long Halloween appears to modernize the tale. However, it seems somewhat indecisive about the time period. There are smartphones, yet all of the cars look retro. It’s one of a few surface-level qualities that jump out. Nothing damning, certainly. But there is history with DC’s cartoons.

DC Animated films used to be what let DC stand tall alongside Marvel. Sure, they had Avengers, but at least DC had some cool Justice League films, no shortage of Batman movies, and plenty of other inventive ideas. Sometime around Son of Batman and Justice League: War, Warner Bros. Animation decided they needed to be like the MCU.

Everything has to be in a connected universe, with a similar art style that ranges from gorgeously animated to woefully inconsistent. With new films failing to match their source material, it’s no surprise John Constantine asked Flash to restart the universe (yes, that really happened).

One would think, then, that this adaptation of Long Halloween would excite me. It’s even split into two parts, just like The Dark Knight Returns adaptation. Unfortunately, this is also part of a new animated continuity. Can I stay excited just because I think this style is more original?

Perhaps, though I’m cautious about DC repeating mistakes. More importantly, how does this new take on a classic fare as a film? Is it a return to form for DC animated’s storytelling? Or do its shortcomings hold it back?

Assassin’s Creed | Why the Assassins Suck At Their Jobs

Credit to my friend Ben for inspiring this rant.

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series is a generational tale of perpetual war on two fronts. The first is a socio-political war of competing philosophies that put the fate of nations in the crossfire at seemingly all major junctures of human history. The second is a science-fiction treasure hunt for artifacts from advanced pre-human civilizations that are long-extinct by the time the series begins.

The two sides of the war are the Assassins, hooded killers who believe in freedom above all else, and the Knights Templar, who wish to control the world through order. The series began portraying this war during the Third Crusade, following the real-world conflict between the Assassins of Shia Islam and the Knights Templar.

Additionally, the story framed all of this historical conflict around modern-day protagonist Desmond Miles being strapped to a machine and forced to relive the memories of his ancestors. When the series starts, it appears that the war between the Assassins and Templars never ended.

Worse yet, the Templars rebranded as the mega-corporation Abstergo, while the Assassins fell behind the times and became hunted down. We follow Desmond as he relives three different ancestors’ lifetimes, all to find out how to stop the end of the world in 2012. And then he did it… and then he died… and then the series kept going.

What I’m proposing is that, with the series continuing to tell story after story of endless war, with the only variation being what kind of period piece will be at the forefront, there’s been more than enough content to have a pretty good idea of what these organizations are capable of. And the biggest conclusion is thus: the Assassins are terrible at their jobs.

The Batman | More Than Vengeance

There is a criticism of modern superhero movies shared among my peers and me. It isn’t a hatred of these films – after all, so many of them were foundational to our love of cinema, to begin with. No, the problem is the way the movies are made, and consequently, how they look.

So when the first trailers for Matt Reeves’ The Batman came out, it was a shock to the system for certain. And one comment I found said a lot with very little.

“This actually looks like a film.”

But duh, right? Like, yeah, they’re movies. But as critics like Alex of HiTop Films have pointed out, too many superhero films end up looking like “SNL sketches.” Perhaps that’s a harsh comparison, but how rare is it that you see cinematography that actually looks impressive?

I’m not talking about digital effects work. Cinematography isn’t having a pretty-looking wide shot of a landscape created in a computer. I’m talking about scenes shot on film that look like they were conceived and created by artists who wanted to elicit emotion, rather than basic, simple shots meant only to convey information. Cinematography isn’t having a pretty-looking wide shot of a landscape created in a computer.

I know that people say that “every shot should have a purpose,” but too often that can be misconstrued as an excuse to not be creative. Cinematography is about creating shots and moments you remember. And I hadn’t grasped the enormity of my hunger for change until I saw this movie.

The Batman is the best-looking comic-book movie I have ever seen.

The Book of Boba Fett | A Redemption & A Betrayal

The best episode of The Book of Boba Fett was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard. In her continued triumphs moving from acting to directing, this episode had it all. The scenery and staging created imagery that lit up the imagination. The camerawork, complete with long tracking shots, grips one’s attention and refuses to let go until the credits roll.

There is a glaring problem, however. This great episode does not belong in this show. Two of the seven episodes of this series, including this one, have little to nothing to do with the plot. Instead, they advance the plot of another Disney+ series. The Mandalorian.

Thus begins a complicated relationship with this series – a series I will readily admit that I enjoy. But as it approached the ending, I began to feel that the premise that sold many on this series was being forgotten fundamentally.

This is a series about Boba Fett. Yet, at a crucial point in its story, it forgets him entirely.

… And They’re Bulletproof: The Simple Secret of Larger Than Life Leads

I was bored at work recently. I had my mind on only one thing. I was, for no particular reason, getting very excited about Matt Reeves’ upcoming 2022 film, The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the titular caped crusader.

Maybe it was because I watched “The Bat and the Cat” trailer for the millionth time. Maybe it was because I was excited to have a Batman film that looked like it had excellent action choreography. Maybe it was because, in a sea of homogenized comic book films, it looked especially like… uh… a film.

There’s also a chance that I was excited because the new film was reminding me of my own fiction writing of which I’m proud to say I have finished a piece of recently. The fiction that I write is heavily based on the stories that I grew up with and the works that pull at my heartstrings in my adulthood.

Within my written works are the DNA of detective stories like Batman, the neo-noir of edgy 2000’s fiction like Darker Than Black, or the theatricality and drama of Bungo Stray Dogs or perhaps the written works of Kinoko Nasu. There’s a lot to dissect, and almost all of it is tied to the over-arching “action” genre.

This new Batman film got me thinking about what exactly made these stories work so well for me. “Exactly” is a dangerous word, because depending on the context, it could be any number of creative decisions. However, one thing stood out to me as I watched the trailers for The Batman.

Batman’s bulletproof armor.

‘Spider-Man’, ‘The Matrix’, The Storyteller, & You

I saw Spider-Man: No Way Home opening night. Then, a week later, I saw The Matrix Resurrections. The former has seen great success and majority praise from viewers, with critics’ biggest complaints coming down to an overabundance of fanservice. I see what they mean.

The latter is Lana Wachowski’s lone return to the series she and her sister started 22 years ago. Before its release, it was met with mixed reception, with a lot of juicy comparisons to other pieces of divisive media from years past. Comparisons to The Last Jedi even. Some might write off the movie right there. It just made me more excited.

Straight white dudes getting upset about sequels? Sign me the fuck up.

But while I was thinking about all the things I wanted to write, for blogs I’ve been neglecting, I decided I’d review both of these films at once. Both are huge releases from franchises I love at a time where we’re all coming back to theaters. Both are labors of love with plenty of secrets kept from the audience before their releases. And both have been met with some divisiveness, big or small.

And I think both of them can only be seen as good for film in general, despite the flaws.

No Time To Die and Daniel Craig’s 007

The first Bond movie I ever saw was Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery, mostly because my family loved singing the main theme. But also, it was a fun spy movie with some of the most iconic moments from the entire franchise. It was a blast to watch as a kid, even with how I felt about older movies back then (“they’re so boooooring”)

The first time I ever saw a Bond film in theaters, however, was in 2006, with the new James Bond, Daniel Craig. My parents knew him from movies like Layer Cake. I knew him as the guy from the first Tomb Raider movie. But from that moment onward, he was just Bond. James Bond.

15 years later, Daniel Craig’s Bond era has more or less followed me for the duration of my journey as a fan of the franchise. I still have Bond movies I have never seen and some that I can hardly remember. But Craig’s movies have always stood out.

Casino Royale is seen as one of the best. Skyfall is similarly revered and one of my favorite movies of all time. While not every Craig Bond film has been loved, I think all of them merit appreciation. And now, after several Covid-related delays, the end is here. Daniel Craig is done and so is one of the most evolutionary and interconnected runs in the franchise.

This is a look at Daniel Craig’s James Bond, from Casino Royale to this year’s No Time To Die.

Dave Chappelle & The Reasons Trans People Are Afraid to Live

This is unlike most things I’ve written. Please bear with me.

I’ve come to notice something in discussions about media that is divisive. Particularly, media that many people like, but that is suspect for its themes or depictions of people of color, women, the queer community, etc. When you love a piece of art (or even just enjoy it passively) and then someone calls that piece’s morality into question, there is a compulsion to be on the defensive.

After all, if you like something, but someone sees that art as harmful and wrong, it feels like they’re saying that by proxy, YOU are wrong for liking it. Is that correct? I would say: no. At least, that’s how I like to see things. The truth is, I’ve enjoyed things that have later been revealed to be questionable, and the same reflex took hold.

Life is all about experiences. Someone may watch something which depicts a completely different kind of person in a light that is unflattering to that community and not realize. You won’t always relate to the things that hurt others. But does that mean that art shouldn’t be policed in some regard?

Policing is a strong word with no shortage of implications, but there are aggregable examples. Ultimately we all understand why Jim Crow is racist and know that to emulate it now would be the grandest of racist gestures. The idea that a frightening number of people would say the opposite just to be edgy persists, however, and that is a conundrum in itself.

We should be able to empathize with other people when they tell us why certain movies and shows seemed harmful and learn to be more sensitive and understanding individuals. It will never be easy and not all objections will be the same, but we aren’t talking about the exceptions or the subjective. We are talking about objectively disagreeable aggressions towards marginalized groups.

On the subject, Dave Chappelle released a new comedy special. The last of his series of specials on Netflix. It’s gotten backlash. The other ones did too, but this one, in particular, got people angry. I should know. I was angry too. And this is coming from the guy who has loved practically every special he has released since he made his grand resurgence in 2017.

If you’re reading this as someone who enjoyed it, I hope that counts for something at least.

Venom 2 Review | Let There Be (Fun)

Venom 2 came out. I watched it. It got me thinking…

A lot of people love the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is a groundbreaking and consistently supported cinematic franchise that caters to all kinds of interests and is progressively becoming more inclusive with its casting and directing. It has contributed to the digital effects landscape and evolved alongside the action genre over the last decade.

There are also a lot of people who don’t like the MCU. For all its groundbreaking elements, the movies have homogenized considerably, rarely experimenting enough to ward off a sense of repetition. Some people don’t just want “a new genre.” They want a completely unique experience by directors that saw their vision through to completion.

So where do I fit in? And what the hell does this have to do with Venom?