Hellboy (2019) - 3/5

This movie’s main draw is its visual aesthetic, which is so Metal that it looks like it was taken directly from an Iron Maiden album cover. It overemphasizes the goriness wherever it can, but if that’s your thing you’ll probably like this movie more than I did. There are lots of fun locations and characters, with a few sequences that were exceptionally well done. Unfortunately, there are too many plotting problems, with unclear character motivations and stakes. Unless you’re really into the visual style, just rewatch Guillermo Del Toro’s 2004 classic again instead.

Content warning: language, gore, dead children, brief female nudity

Closest comparison: It’s like someone read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and thought, “This needs more demons, intestines, and severed limbs.”

Setting: Hidden World
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Horror/Splatter

Do the Right Thing - 4/5

This movie carefully and thoroughly paints a scene of the dangers of racial tribalism and the destruction it causes in otherwise peaceful communities. It sets up the opposing ideologies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, then dismantles the latter in a tense demonstration of the chaos that that ideology brings to the table. Every character is vibrant and, though now very dated, still clearly motivated and relatable (to an extent). Some of the acting comes off as stilted and there are a lot of pop culture references that didn’t age well, but that doesn’t interfere with the point the film is trying to make.

Closest Comparison: It’s like a ‘90s rendition of Crash (2004)

Setting: Day in the Life
Plot: Thriller
Tone: Drama