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Reviews
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Betrayal of Marvel Universe
If their intention was to produce the worst film of the whole Marvel Universe, then they succeeded. Truly appalling predominance of attempted humour that always failed to raise the corner of a mouth. It's been a betrayal of all who invested in the previous offerings. Only a few truly demonic scenes worked but 90% was made up of hackneyed dad jokes. Perhaps all involved didn't want to make another so chose to make such dross. Great fantasy is supposed to enthral and suspend disbelief. This latest offering just makes us cringe and have a sense of annoyance that we can't get the lost 2 hours back. From the first Thor which was magnificent, each subsequent film has offered increasing attempts at lame humour, until Love & Thunder which is achingly bad. Why oh why. The premise of the story had such great potential, with the agonised menace of Bale's character, to the tragedy of Portman's character. Instead someone thought let's make a comedy, where none should have been. 2/10 reflected the effects, which as usual where superb.
Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils (2022)
Legend of the Sea Devil episode
Haven't enjoyed Dr Who since Matt Smith departed, periodically I have given each new iteration a go, but found the suspension of disbelief painfully bad, with the writing in each case, woeful in the extreme. But this latest episode, "Legend of the Sea Devil" is by far the worst I've seen. Little or no exposition to establish the rationale of the protagonist's motivations, excruciatingly poor dialogue that doesn't serve what little story there is. Effects are poorly executed, editing is weak, direction is laboured and confused. With such a large budget, that the Dr Who franchise is afforded, this is truly appalling. Did a group from some infant school write and produce it? Seriously, this was so bad perhaps the real motivation by those upon high was to finally end DR WHO, for the concept to return in ten years time, when someone with real talent can take the reigns and conjure the lost magic, that true Whovians deserve. Didn't even deserve 1 out of 10.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Confused Storyline awful acting
Horribly adapted from the worst of the series of books, nonsensical fury between friends, dreadful mumbling acting, exception being Emma Watson who was the best of the young stars, while how Dan Radcliffe kept his role I'll never know, as he has the acting style equivalent to an artist who can only paint by numbers.
David Tennant overacts like some demented amateur. Michael (shouty) Gambon didn't adopt the right tone that Harris began so well as Dumbledore.
The narrative arch is disjointed and inexplicably long winded.
Direction was dull and unimaginative.
Production values are the only thing that save the film from being an unmitigated disaster. How the series continued after this episode is more down to momentum built up by Prisoner of Azkaban.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013)
Great addition to Marvel Universe
This series works so well as a stand alone engaging enthralling series,but also as a companion to the greater Marvel Universe. So many strong characters, with a cleverly evolving story line, that often surprises and delights in equal measure. All actors manage to suspend disbelief in the extraordinary and yet maintain a quixotic charm in their performances. 9/10 Brilliant.
The City and the City (2018)
Awful lazy mess
I think the writer and producer and director are largely at fault here. Script development and appreciation of source material is so poor and shows that it takes great skill to convert a novel to the screen. Too many assumptions are made, that the viewer will know the world into which we descend. Far too much inappropriate swearing by actors who look lost and vague, with those who are chain smoking clearly I'll at ease with the poisonous habit and as such fail to convince us that they are real smokers so it creates scenes that look incongruous nay ridiculous. The plotting is clumsy and laborious. The photography/ lighting is reasonably well done, but spoiled by the rest of the ingredients. It doesn't look like much money was spent on the production, which is probably a blessing for the tax payers, but really the whole thing shouldn't have been given the go ahead.
Justice League (2017)
Opportunity missed
Had the story been fleshed out, with greater character development, with Bruce Wayne having to work harder at first finding each new character and struggling to persuade them to join his League, then we would have had more invested in the story. Instead Mr Affleck looks too nonchalant nay complacent, uncommitted to his role and as such ruins the authenticity required to suspend our disbelief. Such a shame really because the choreography of the fight scenes were particularly well done. Equally Cavill and Adams look a little lost in reprising their roles and seem to have been struggling to capture how they had performed in the first two iterations, while the continuity of the cinematography/lighting and texture of the film doesn't reflect the first two. Such a shame as it loses the sense that this was supposed to be a continuum of the same universe in which these characters exist.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
What a disappointment
Having really enjoyed the Marvel Universe, I began to feel a little disappointed by Guardians 2, the third iteration of Thor has really dented the illusion. This time round the script is weak, with far too heavy an emphasis bent toward humour, but achingly lazy childish humour, that is repeated far too often. Hemsworth's physique too seems to fluctuate betweeen being heavily bulked up to being significantly not, (obviously not filmed in sequence) Equally there was no character development,with the few new characters having been poorly imagined to the extent that there was no story to carry them. It seems as though they have thinned the cream too much. No intrigue, no tension, no compelling narrative. Perhaps this is the being of the end, perhaps Hemsworth told them he wanted out and is contracted to this and Infinity War. So will we see the demise of Thor in Infinity War. As with all things everything runs it's course. Nolan knew this with the Dark Knight Triolgy leaving us wanting more.