Reviews

A strong and vibrant start in the first episode led to a confused jumble of middle episodes and an exciting fast-paced finale. The series offers a fun and very young-feeling energy to the MCU Disney+ slate, but several missteps leave this as one of the weaker offerings so far. Besides the controversial changes to Kamala Khan's powers, and the casting of non-Pakistani actors to play her family members, there is simply too much going on in this series. The main antagonist and conflict resolves itself in the fifth episode in a matter of minutes, and the finale struggles to pull all the threads together. The story has a lot of potential, and the cast of characters are likeable and entertaining. But I can't help but feel that the series' scripts needed at least two or three more passes to tighten up its storytelling and pacing.

This is Star Wars at its best. Steph Green brought incredible directing skills to this episode that blew the premiere out of the water (sorry Robert Rodriguez) while Joseph Shirley flexes what he learned while working with maestro Ludwig Göransson. Temuera Morrison elevated himself to iconic levels of star power and charisma, while the underrated actors playing Tusken Raiders--Joanna Bennett, Wesley Kimmel (yes, that Kimmel), and Xavier Jimenez-- deliver excellent performances without a word of English. This episode had it all: tension and underworld intrigue at the beginning, promising complicated developments later on; moving and beautiful thematic explorations of the Tusken Raiders and Indigenous land ownership that made me cry; and of course thrilling action sequences. Well done.

Phenomenal. Based on Theo's perspective, this episode does an incredible job moving the plot forward, maintaining a breakneck pace, giving us answers while creating more suspense, and showing us interesting details of both characters and the social dynamics that lie beneath their actions. And ALL in near silence, save for a few instances of music or diegetic sound! The use of silence not just in Theo's scenes but in every scene was brilliant and a very unique concept that we don't see much on television. Nathan Lane and James Caverly were, of course, stand outs.

An incredible MCU film. It offers nothing too cerebral, but that is not the main focus of the film. The comedy, the action, the themes, the choreography and the vibrant visuals make this film a standout among similar standalone Marvel films, while the layered and truly epic soundtrack is the finishing touch. While some of the effects and the pacing perhaps could have been a little more polished, and the final battle had some weaknesses, this is a colourful, emotional and fun rollercoaster of a film. Tony Leung is by far the standout member of the cast, delivering a captivating and even sympathetic villain. Simu Liu holds his own, but needs more time to really shine as a new Marvel superhero-while Meng'er Zhang, Awkwafina and Fala Chen are integral to this film's effectiveness. Overall, this fun and touching movie is an exemplar of the 'Marvel formula' and its strengths.

Wow-lots of mixed feelings about this film! I went in with mediocre expectations and they were surpassed. This is a silly, fun, comic book movie but it also has a lot of heart. Family and found family is a strong theme throughout, as is the power and value of the downtrodden, the marginalized, and the underdog. It also has a surprisingly strong anti-imperialist bent to it, and while James Gunn isn't afraid to offend or push boundaries, he also delivers a cohesive message that makes it clear who the real "supervillains" are. For a movie with such a grim title and prequel, it is uplifting and has a satisfying ending.

That being said, there is a LOT of gore. Like, gratuitous, cross-section-of-a-person's-head-getting-sliced off-like-a-coconut-in-the-first-ten-minutes gore. Be ready for blood and guts exploding all over the screen. For the most part, it works with the tone of the movie, but I did find that some of the deaths felt wasted-that is, they added neither emotion nor humor. One star off for death and gore that felt shoehorned in for the sake of it, but overall, a fun and vibrant romp with some genuinely funny moments!

One of the strongest episodes since Episode 2, in my opinion. Very well written with some laugh out loud line deliveries from Ryan Hurst and Kristen Schaad. Tony Hale's Mr Benedict felt much more natural and accurate in this episode than it did during his outburst in Episode 3-whether that's due to writing or directing, I'm not sure, but I definitely enjoyed his portrayal of both the sinister and superficial Curtain as well as the humane and caring Mr Benedict. Marta Kessler also stood out in this episode, doing a fantastic job with her mannerisms and facial expressions as the wilful Constance Contraire.

Another solid episode. This show is showing the benefits of making additions to a book adaptation, while holding true to the key plot points. I'm glad Kristen Schaal's Number Two and MaameYaa Boafo's Rhonda are getting more chances to be developed and get more scenes than in the books. Tony Hale does a great job with Curtain, much better than Benedict in my opinion, and I felt that Mystic Inscho's Reynie and Marta Kessler's Constance Contraire were particularly well acted in this episode.

Wow - the first two episodes were excellent. As someone who loved the books and read and re-read them over and over again as a child, this was everything I could have hoped for-a masterclass in capturing the wit and spirit of a book while making subtle improvements. This is probably the best adaptation of a book series I have seen since Season 1 of the Handmaid's Tale!

The four main kids are perfectly cast, with Marta Kessler being an excellent Constance Contraire. Although I was apprehensive about Tony Hale as Mr Benedict, the first two episodes settled most of my concerns and the writing does a lot to help him feel at place in the role. And of course, Kristen Schaal is pitch-perfect casting for Number Two, as is MaameYaa Boafo as Rhonda. And Ryan Hurst makes for a sad but hilarious Milligan.

The scenes feel lifted right from the book, with much needed adjustments like Mr. Curtain no longer using a wheelchair so as to avoid the Evil Cripple trope. The production design is vibrant and captivating, and the sets are as colourful and exciting as the books. Meanwhile, Theodore Shapiro writes an EXCELLENT and catchy theme tune.

I am VERY satisfied!

This is a strong and satisfying end to the Nolan Batman trilogy. While The Dark Knight was more complex, more intellectually impressive, and The Joker was a more intimidating villain, I thought this movie did better with cohesion, evenness of pacing, and overall felt like a return to the neatly packaged story of Batman Begins. In fact, with the number of parallels the story and visuals had to the first film were almost *too* on the nose, but I think it still worked (but did we really need that a whole flock of bats *and* the shot of Bruce Wayne's father coming to rescue him? Also, what was up with Qui-Gon Jinn's force ghost randomly appearing??). The cast was once again a solid positive for this movie. Hardy's Bane, while far less impressive and a little more cartoonish than Heath Ledger's The Joker, served his purpose. Oldman continued to do a great job and Gordon-Levitt was a nice addition to the cast. Morgan Freeman was sidelined once again, though, leaving this cast blindingly white except for a few background characters who die. However, this cast also had a significant improvement over the previous two instalments in the trilogy: While the death of Rachel Dawes may have left Gotham woman-less at the end of The Dark Knight, both Hathaway's Catwoman and Cotillard's Miranda Tate were strong characters who were prominent throughout the movie and important to the plot. Could they have been a little better in their execution? Yes, although they were handicapped from being introduced for the first time in this movie compared to the men, and I thought the two added much needed balance to the cast's diversity as well as its motivations.

There was more heart in this than the previous two films, and it leaned into its emotional beats particularly in the ending. I would have liked more emotion throughout the series, and in contrast to the rest of this series the epilogue felt a little bit cheesy. Still, though, maybe that's okay. This movie did its best to earn the heartstring-pulls at the end, and it was certainly an emotionally satisfying and uplifting end to the trilogy.

This is the weakest live-action remake of the Disney animated films that I have seen, although it does have strengths. First among these is the visuals; this is a beautiful film with stunning landscapes, thrilling action sequences, and vibrant costuming. The cast is good as well; Liu Yifei does a solid job but is not as compelling as I'd hoped. Culturally, this movie does a better job than the animated original to be both genuine and respectful, but at other times it slips back into a cringe-inducing US orientalist gaze.

The pacing also felt off in this film, with strangely dissonant cuts between certain scenes. At times, it felt like the movie was not cohesive. The fantasy, in fact the entire addition of the witch, was half-hearted and not well integrated into the story. The movie seemed to be trying to do too many things at once, and achieve too much at once. While Gong Li's witch character was important thematically, the movie did not devote enough attention to her and as a result her presence lacked the emotional satisfaction or investment to really be worthwhile. Similarly, Mulan and Honghui's connection felt a little unearned.

Overall, the visuals are not enough (in my opinion) to make this a priority watch. Probably leave it near the bottom of your watch-list and prioritise other films first.

As long as you don't go into this expecting some kind of high-quality, serious, canon storytelling on the levels of The Mandalorian, Rebels, or The Clone Wars (...and why would you? It's a LEGO animation!!) then you'll have a great time. Very similar to other Lego Star Wars animated series, with goofy humor and silliness (and lots of fun). This also gives us a peak at Post-Rise of Skywalker Star Wars, which is a great bonus as well.

This was an incredible experience! The sound design and music in my showing was phenomenal so I'm not sure what other people experienced but they must have fixed it. This was action-packed, brilliantly paced from the get-go, and filled with plenty of "A-ha!" moments that felt both surprising and inevitable. I'm docking one star off because at times it felt a little emotionally uneven and I found myself wanting slightly higher emotional stakes besides the thrill of the action. A re-watch would probably be a 10/10 experience (no spoilers but it's one of those films that probably hits different once you know the ending) but as it stands I was left wanting a little more heart. Don't go into this expecting to understand everything at once. Go with the flow! Be mindful of the details and tuck them away for delayed gratification later on.

This actually got me back into the series after finding the season extremely lacklustre. It was unique, different and actually acknowledged that June has been totally losing it this entire season. It's put some direction back into the show and even though it was clumsily handled at points and a bit too abrupt based on previous episodes, the sheer relief at having some direction again makes it stand out in the season...!