The Legend of Korra - 2/5

This show starts off by making some interesting updates and changes to the established worldbuilding, but quickly loses its way. The characters are almost exclusively terrible and annoying, and the underlying world view the show is promoting is pretty toxic; the men are useless, bumbling idiots, the women are brilliant and effortlessly talented. Apart from a few interesting moments and story beats, it’s not worth watching.

Closest comparison: It’s like Avatar: The Last Airbender rewritten by the makers of Skull Island (2023).

Setting: Fantasy
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Comedy

The Gift (2000) - 1/5

This movie is overwrought and derivative. It uses small town depravity for cheap shock value and draws out its personal drama into melodrama. Despite its appearance, there’s no mystery for the audience to solve, as all relevant information is revealed at the end. No justice is served for any of the crimes in the film, except assumedly for the central case which takes up surprisingly little of the runtime.

Content warning: female nudity, domestic abuse, child sexual abuse

Closest comparison: It’s like Blue Steel by way of Dolores Claiborne.

Setting: Small Town Horror
Plot: Psychic Mystery
Tone: Tragedy

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - 2/5

This movie is directed by a completely different team than the first film and it shows. There’s a noticeable ‘woke’ filter over everything, but even putting that aside the film has some huge flaws. It’s a 1.5 hour movie stretched out into 2.5 hours by sloppy, repetitive dialogue and a bloated script. The villain is pretty good in theory but overstays his welcome by the end, let alone anticipation for the sequel. The art styles in the first film were varied but each one was tight and well-crafted; here, most of the art styles are sloppy to the point of being unappealing and hard to read. The editing here also loses all finesse from the first film, layering audio and visual information on top of itself in a confusing, distracting mess. Some of the fights had a few good moments, though.

Closest comparison: It’s like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gone the way of Legend of Korra.

Setting: Super hero
Plot: Sci-fi
Tone: Comedy

Whiplash (2014) - 5/5

This movie is an intense exploration of the drive for perfectionism, both internal and external. It’s a tour-de-force of passionate acting, with an impeccable soundtrack that’s magnificent in its own right. This is not a long movie, but it packs a lot of dynamite into one neat package.

Content warning: language

Closest comparison: It sits at the intersection between Mr. Holland’s Opus and La La Land, with an intensity more akin to District 9.

Setting: College Drama
Plot: Sports Drama
Tone: Thriller

Spider-Man: No Way Home - 4/5

This movie is attempting to be a love-letter to Spider-Man fans and MCU fans alike, and in many ways it succeeds. There’s much better character development here than in the previous two Spider-Man movies, and the main cast rises to the challenge with superb acting. The fight scenes are much better than Far From Home, both in conception and execution. That being said, the first half hour is pretty painful in its attempts at humor and there are a few throw-away lines that are cringey attempts at being ‘woke’. At this point in the MCU every film is carrying a lot of baggage, and how this one hits any given audience member will only vary more and more, this film very much included.

Closest comparison: It’s like Spider-Man: Far From Home by way of Doctor Strange (2016).

Setting: Super Hero
Plot: Sci-Fi
Tone: Comedy

Invincible (Amazon, 2021) - 3/5

This show takes the Spider-Man high school drama, combines it with a broader Avengers-style narrative, and wraps it all up in the gore that is much more realistic to the physics at work. The story isn’t as clever as it thinks it is, but it keeps the audience sufficiently curious and pays it off decently well in the end. It certainly lags in the middle and a few of the main side characters are insufferable, but they’re not a big enough part to ruin it completely. If you can stomach the extreme gore, it’s a fascinating watch.

Content warning: extreme violence, extreme blood, extreme gore

Closest comparison: It’s like Spider-Man by way of Kick-Ass with a Dexter (2006) plot woven in.

Setting: Marvel-Adjacent Super Heroes
Plot: Super Hero Origin
Tone: Brutal Action

The Tomorrow War - 2/5

This movie’s visuals are as amazing as the plot is baffling. The monsters look great and the action is well choreographed for the most part, but the film undercuts the tension by setting up rules about the monsters and then completely ignoring them. There’s no angle from which you can think about the time travel that makes sense, but if you can turn your brain off completely and manage to not think about how or why anything is happening this could be a pretty fun movie.

Closest comparison: It’s like reverse Terminator with monster vibes from Pitch Black.

Setting: Sci-Fi
Plot: Action
Tone: Action

Palm Springs - 4/5

This is an impressively well-conceived iteration on the Groundhog Day formula by combining it with a twist on the sex comedy genre. There are the predictable sexual scenarios, cranked up to eleven by virtue of the era in which it was created, but it quickly turns philosophical about long-term relationships. Instead of getting long-winded and heady, the film addresses all its points practically in subtext that doesn’t disrupt the flow of the comedy antics.

Closest comparison: It’s like The Hangover by way of Groundhog Day.

Setting: Family Drama
Plot: Time Loop
Tone: Sex Comedy

Klaus (2019, Netflix) - 4/5

This is a solid re-imagining of the origins of Santa Claus. It’s pleasant and funny without being obnoxious (for the most part), though there is an overbearing anti-tradition subnarrative that’s shoehorned in. Apart from that there’s a lot to like: alternate explanations of Santa lore, endearing characters with growth, and gorgeous animation. It’s bound to become a classic in some households, but in any event it’s worth a watch.

Closest comparison: It’s like Frozen by way of The Emperor’s New Groove.

Setting: Adventure
Plot: Rich Jerk Get a Heart
Tone: Family Comedy

Megamind - 3/5

This movie has the difficult task of trying to reverse the hero-villain roles and, although it makes a few large tonal inconsistencies with who the audience is supposed to be rooting fort, for the most part the film makers pull it off very well. The irresistibly funny banter helps to gloss over some of the more confusing story elements that play out on screen. Will Farrell and Tina Fey are great together, not to mention the several times the plot takes a surprising, unexpected, but very much appreciated twists and turns. And the very clever attention to detail that gets layered into the fabric of the story, from eye color to dress color to subtly rehydrating trash doing triple duty in a narrative capacity, really stands out among an otherwise run-of-the-mill animated comedy.

Closest comparison: It’s the studio that made Monsters vs. Aliens taking a shot at the more subtle and complex Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs market.

Setting: Super Hero
Plot: Romantic Drama
Tone: Comedy Action

Spider-Man: Far from Home - 3/5

Sure, there’s fun action and it’s great to see Mysterio on the big screen. Unfortunately, the editing is so choppy that the scenes feel like they’re jumping around. There’s not really anything new in the plot, but instead it’s just another Spider-Man story. I don’t know how they made such interesting content as boring as they did, but somehow they managed it. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just not up to the Marvel standard.

Closest comparison: It’s somewhere between Thor (2011) and The Incredible Hulk (2008).

Setting: Road Trip
Plot: Superhero
Tone: Standard Action

The Accountant - 3/5

This is a perfectly servicable (and forgettable) action movie. With a more gripping script and a method actor in the lead role (think Leonardo DiCaprio), this could have beccome something like the new Jason Bourne franchise. Oh well, still enjoyable and if you're wathing it I'll watch it with you.