3DD!3

Baymax basically walks around town, helping people, animals, whether they want help or not. A pleasant development on the original movie, but the episode with the lesson about LBGT+Q and first period was a little weird. The human characters are rather 1D. The best ones, apart from Baymax, are the cats.

The Duffer bros reveal history, explain and clarify, shock and amaze. Despite the bother of a series of ritual murders, season four makes it to a grand finale, tying up all the loose ends in an unbelievable ending that leaves the door wide open for lots more adventures. I was surprised by the number of dead bodies and horrifying injuries and the mind-pitting duels are done excellently. The perfect accompanying music is enhanced by hits from the eighties, my favorite being Master of Puppets. P.S.: And we get a whole lot of other period details, be it Conan’s Sword, King’s Talisman and the series has at last reached the year of my birth, 1986!

When you think about it, The Boys is the last purely comic book series to maintain its brutality while achieving mainstream success. And despite the extreme violence, it observes LGBT+Q standards, be it the homosexual Ant-Man sneezing on somebody’s dick or the heroic Maeve, fighting against the evil white man. Even so, these excesses don’t come across cheap and are wrapped in an intelligent story that makes sense and holds up a mirror and mainly it’s peppered with quality one-liners. The unexpected ace of the series is Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy. The variation on Captain America turns into an unexpectedly complex character in the end and his scenes are some of the best of the movie. The ending is slightly cheap, but doesn’t spoil the overall good impression the series gives. So far, the best show this year.

Dads and their daughters will love this movie. As will hard-ass homosexuals and superhero lesbians. Taika Waititi takes all contemporary popular trends, then shakes them up and stirs them, making fun of them all. Sometimes good fun and sometimes even better fun. And then they add goats, whose audio is reminiscent of Natalie and Tessa’s Annihilation, a load of big-headed gods who behave like they are in the House of Representatives when TV coverage goes dead. Bale’s Gorr is the powerhouse of this movie; at the beginning he’s moving, in the middle surprising and funny, and in the end every daddy ends up with his head in his hands, wiping away a tear. Both of the first Thors are fine and Love and Thunder brings a good conclusion to the romantic storyline of the first two movies. Hemsworth is now in great form, after working out with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Portman enjoys her role much more than before. Ragnarok was better and more consistent, but this is even more playful and out of control. If it’s going to be anything like this, I’m really looking forward to the sequel... But expectations difficult to live up to.

An energetic romp until the overweight, stoned ending. Baz Luhrmann piles up opulent shots, attractive camera fly-overs and the remixed and reimagined Elvis hits in the background pull you into the story immediately. Hanks’ unreliable narrator, denying any responsibility for the King’s stagnation and eventual decay, is an unlikeable, calculating bastard. His typical economic dodging, the merchandise scene and the corporate over-emphasis on security are the essence of everything that is bad about today’s world and Tom "America’s boy next door" Hanks lays it on us with great verve. Austin Butler is uncompromising and dedicated as Elvis, very faithfully copying his expressive dancing style; Feyd-Rautha is in good hands. The story follows a classic rise and fall pattern, while also going up interesting side roads, whether it is the luck of a white kid who was lucky enough to grow up in a better and all-round righter (black) environment. The timing of the premiere of this movie at the end of a PROUD month is a master stroke straight out of the Colonel’s textbook, the parallels are crystal clear. And Parker’s efforts to keep the King away from politics, family rows, disintegration of marriage, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But it never runs on the spot. A most quality memorial to a legend.

I saw this once as a young boy, so it’s heavily nostalgic for me. Sheen and Douglas give very mediocre performances, but luckily the theme is sufficiently sturdy, so it doesn’t matter. The idea of a modern (modern in those days) aircraft carrier on the eve of the Second World War gives you goose bumps. In comparison to Marvel’s alternative universes, this perhaps doesn’t seem so shocking, but back when it came out, it really was something. I’m surprised that they never made a remake or an upgrade using the 9/11 theme.

At the beginning, Obi is a bit of a jerk, but in the last episode he is the good old Wan Kenobi we all know and love. It’s written pretty poorly and Chow’s directing is a bit lackadaisical, the action is pretty weak, with a couple of exceptions, some scenes don’t make any sense and some are there just for effect. And again we get mentor variations where a surrogate father cares for a child, saves it, loses it again, then saves it again.  Of course, it’s great that we get to know a bit more about Leia, but it’s just fan service, especially since we know that in fact there is no real danger, because we know she survives at least until A New Hope. The existence of a third sister character is interesting to know, but Moses Ingram’s acting is rather bland. Rupert Friend’s makeup is more on the dumb side, rather than being horrifying. Criminal underuse of John Williams’ original score. But when Christensen and McGregor are exchanging views in the last episode, at last it has a shout. I think they should have made this a movie, rather than a half-baked miniseries.

The very relevant topic of human submissiveness and what controls us, but in inconsistent packaging and, unfortunately, with rather a bland ending. The screenplay chose a cheap, escaping ending, instead of trying anything bolder. Which is strange - it was so promising for so long. Hemsworth really enjoys this, for him untraditional, role. Kosinski has made an attractive movie here, with a wonderfully designed jail and surrounding countryside. Beautiful. Rather naively, I had originally thought that he would experiment more in this minor production for Netflix, but no.

I really rate this shorter format, which means that I don’t have enough time to fall asleep and so I watch each episode from start to finish. I’ve always liked Scrat’s antics and my daughter’s reaction to them is also always positive. The Disney mentoring concept has found a way into this too, but at least it works. Scrat Jr. is a cute little bugger who makes no end of problems for Scrat Sr. The last episode in particular is full of mischief. This is maybe the best thing to come out of choking 20th Century Fox with Mickey. Goodbye Blue Sky...

Nothing happens. Everybody managed to overcome the obstacles without any great trouble and it all ended up fine in the end. Rowling can tell a good story, but now she has nothing to tell, or else she’s saving up the entertaining stuff for her next two books. When will the wizards have to zig-zag between tanks on a Second World War battlefield? To make matters worse, Yates has no invention and has been humming the same tune since the fifth Potter. Dumbledore’s great secret is just a confirmation of what we long since suspected and Law has no material to work with. Mikkelsen has almost nothing to act and spends most of the time stroking a Chinese fawn. The rest of the gang traipse from place to place, sorry, relocate themselves according to Dumbledore’s secret plan which is so secret that nobody, including the viewer, understands it. Not even Dan Fogler makes it any better. Part four has to be tanks vs. wizards with a new director. Otherwise there’s no point in filming it.