btzarevski

It baffles me to see people rating this documentary low because they didn't buy into the 'devil made me do it' story, or they found David's 'possessed' episodes funny and unconvincing...yeah that's not the fault of the documentary? You do know they used tape recording audio of everything David said and did? If you have a problem with the 'devil' saying "you're a douchebag" the documentary didn't make that up, David did.

The events are around a religious family (no surprise) in the 80s (no surprise) who claim their youngest is possessed by the devil after he likely makes up a scary story for some attention. Unfortunately his little white lie snowballs into tragedy. Ed and Lorraine Warren (notorious nonsense-spreaders and swindlers) get called in to fuel the hysteria and essentially coach David into what to do next. All this so far remained largely harmless, but it turned into tragedy when during a drunken fight over a love triangle at a friend's house one of the brothers stabbed and killed a friend. Then decided to claim David's devil hopped into him and made him do it, having of course displayed no other signs of 'possession' before, during or after the fight. Very convincing yes. Happily the courts didn't fall for this nonsense and he was duly convicted of manslaughter. The Warrens swindle the family out of the rights to their story, write a book and ride off into the sunsets looking for their next gullible victims.

The documentary uses tapes and photos in the first half to put forward the story the family and David were claiming. You can find it all nonsense and think it's laughable, but those were the genuine claims being made. The second half of the documentary then picks apart the charade to show the Warrens for the frauds they are. The eldest brother also calls it all out as a farce he never believed even as it played out in front of him. He even goes as far as suggesting their mother was putting sleeping meds in their meals that might explain the hallucinations David saw, if he indeed saw any. It's not an entirely unlikely theory - three young boys would certainly be easy to manage if they all went to bed soon after dinner. The best part is David's father, on tape, slapping David and telling him to stop his nonsense and possessed David obeys and suddenly sits quietly - the devil apparently didn't have choice words for dad.

It's a solid documentary and doesn't fall into the trap of needlessly drawing out multiple episodes so overall worth a watch instead of scrolling until your food gets cold.

Bodies follows the story of four detectives at different points in time (1890, 1941, 2023, 2053) all finding the same mysterious body and investigating its murder as a conspiracy unravels linking all 4 periods of time in a sinister plot.

The series tackles the unenviable task of trying to make sense of time travel paradoxes and up until episode 7 it was actually doing a pretty decent job of keeping the story fairly coherent. The only major paradox you had to deal with was the Bootstrap Paradox - in that Elias travels back in time to help his past generations set in motion events that will lead to him travelling back in time, but how could he initially travel back in time without having himself help him...it's a self-fulfilling loop without a clear origin. It's you finding a book on how to build a time machine only to build it and find out you went back in time and left the book for yourself. It's a paradox most time travel movies fall into and honestly it's best to ignore it, some suspension of disbelief if you will. Unless you want to open the can of worms that is multiverses, and just ask Marvel how well that goes...

Anyway, up to the end of episode 7 the series had done well to weave the chain of events from 1890, sowing the seeds that all subsequently grow and lead to Elias assuming power in the future. There are some questions sure; it's not clear why Defoe gets sent to 4 different time points in the past and future, whereas the others who go through The Mouth only come out at one. The significance of the symbol that gets formed on the wrist isn't expanded on, perhaps it's just a mark of going through the time portal. Elias forms an incredibly loyal following to keep the chain of events ticking along as they should even after his death in 1941 relying solely on some records he leaves behind that he hopes future followers will believe, but you can argue cult leaders wield a similar power over their followers so it's not entirely inconceivable Elias' followers would continue as he wishes. Everyone conveniently has a compatible record player for these records over decades later but again, some liberties for the plot to function can be allowed. It didn't detract enough for me from the enjoyment of watching how the time periods are all linked.

Everyone does a solid enough job in their roles and the set pieces for each period are very well done indeed! 2053 is perhaps the least impressive but it also gets the least screen time so it's fine. I most enjoyed the 1941 period. Charles Whiteman had great screen presence and the overall design of the period was most satisfying to watch.

It's episode 8 that for me let the series down. Up until then it had done well to show how the loop was inevitable. It raised fascinating discussions about how there's no free will, how even seemingly insignificant random acts all contribute to a preordained future. How even Hasan knowing what would happen could do nothing to stop it; how you're not sure whether action or inaction in a situation is actually what leads to the future happening. It's Neo breaking the vase in The Matrix and The Oracle asking him if he'd have still broken it if she hadn't said anything. Can you change the future knowing what it is, or does that future happen *because* you found out. The series should have finished at the end of episode 7 - the loop completes no matter what, or because of, whatever Hasan/Defoe try to do. But alas, the writers wanted a happy ending for everyone and so they have Maplewood go back to 1890 and talk to Hillinghead in prison, where she manages to not only convince him of her story but also make him understand Elias enough for him to be able to say just the right thing to Elias to shake him at his core and have that seed of doubt permeate for his whole life for him to leave a last ditch recording to convince his future younger self not to detonate the bomb. It's a lot to get done and feels very rushed and hastily put together. It of course then brings up the Grandfather paradox in that we see 15yr old Elias cease to exist in 2024, however if that were the case and he doesn't grow old and so he doesn't go back to 1890 as Julian Harker and nor does Defoe die which means there is no body found in 1890 and so Maplewood can't meet Hillinghead in prison. You could argue this would simply remove Elias from the timelines, Hillinghead/Whiteman/Hasan all lead completely different lives without Sir Julian Harker's influence. But we can clearly see clippings in the 2024 coppers bar of Whiteman from newspapers of him getting gunned down in the bar - a direct consequence of him murdering Julian Harker, who's now not supposed to exist. And 2024 Hasan being relieved to see her still-alive son, emotions from memories she now shouldn't have. It all really opens up way too many inconsistencies and makes things far more convoluted than they should be.

Time travel stories are notoriously difficult to tackle and always turn into a bit of a mindfu- mindbender. Bodies didn't need episode 8 to give it a happy ending, but there was still plenty to enjoy in the rest of the series to make it worthwhile.

I find it surprising so many people had an issue with the runtime; when did we get to a point where two hours for a drama/thriller character story is considered egregiously long? I'm sorry they couldn't fit it into a YouTube short I guess.

Someone also complained the movie had too many stereotypes like "moped gangs" and "people smoking"...have you been to France? It's notorious for both. But sure if someone smoking in the movie ruined it for you then go off. Just because you see Matt Damon doesn't mean he's playing Jason Bourne so, again, baffled at everyone moaning about how it's a slower paced movie and he doesn't kick ass.

He portrays a father (Bill) who's lost pretty much everything in his life - a wife who committed suicide, a daughter (Allison) imprisoned in Marseille who he flies over periodically for visitation, and he's now also looking for steady work again after the oil rig he worked on shut down. We find out early on that Allison is in jail for the murder of a college friend/lover, she's halfway through a 9-year-sentence and wants her lawyer to look into a lead on a guy who might have been the actual killer. Her lawyer however refuses, citing it sounds like a wild goose chase that is not enough to get the case reopened and Matt Damon is left to try track him down himself.

The movie follows his journey to investigate the lead, as well as try and mend the strained relationship with his daughter while also growing to care deeply for a local woman and daughter who help him (Virginie and Maya).

The acting is all very commendable. Matt Damon naturally portrays the character with the required amount of reserve and desperation you'd expect for someone in his circumstances. Lilou Siavaud who plays 9 year old Maya is a standout in the cast though. The performances will all keep you engaged, and ensure you get invested in the characters.

People seem to dislike the ending for some reason, perhaps that it is not a happy enough resolution but I felt it appropriate for the nature of the story. It's a bittersweet ending and I appreciate when movies take this route, it feels more realistic that not everything will necessarily work out idyllically. There is a small 'twist' but in truth you should be expecting it from some of the dialogue prior.

Damon had an interview where he lamented that with the obsolescence of DVDs, Hollywood has been taken over by big budget CG-fests that are a (perceived) sure-hit, and that studios no longer take a chance on small scale movies with $10-20million budgets that would previously have done well on DVD after the theatre run. This is that exact kind of movie that the 80/90s were littered with but get made far too infrequently today. It's not a blockbuster and won't draw lots of crowds to a theatre, but is still a very enjoyable watch at home with a solid story and solid acting.

I'm surprised to see Chapter 4 is the highest rated in the series so I must be in the minority who feels this was the weakest entry (so far, if rumors are to be believed about a 5th in development). Don't get me wrong, it ticks all the boxes to be a John Wick movie - there's slick fight sequences, gun-fu, and a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief to make it all work. My qualms aren't with any of that. No my issue is it felt a little bit too much like a Greatest Hits. I mean the core of John Wick (killing an improbable number of enemies while taking unrealistically little damage) is obviously there across the series, but the previous 3 each felt like they added an extra new element: the 2nd with everyone after him, the 3rd had Halle Berry and her assassin dogs + the Far East expansion pack...but the 4th? Well it just repeated those. The Osaka sequence feels like we saw a (more impressive) version of it in Parabellum. The Tracker and his assassin dog? Yep, saw all that in Parabellum (and again, done better mind you). Everyone after John the moment he pokes his nose out in the open? Yep, same as in Parabellum. The overhead shot of John fighting off 'bad guys' in a church en route to the duel was a cool sequence. That's it though, that few minute shot is probably all I'll remember of Chapter 4. As a result of all that, you really feel the runtime that approaches three (3!!) hours! Not once in any of the previous installments did I glance at the time, but oof Chapter 4 goes on for too long especially without doing anything new.

And that might yet have still been worth it if the ending didn't feel so...unfulfilling. So he finally has exacted all his revenge and he's finally free of the High Table again so he....dies? That's it? After all that he still died, he could've died in chapter one or two and nothing changes! And don't give me that 'oh he faked his death' because to what end? Why would he fake his death now that everyone has stopped coming after him? The whole point of the last two movies (5 hours of John Wick!) was that he wanted to be free from the contract on his head and the High Table so he can keep living to remember Helen and when he finally achieves that...dies. It makes the last two movies feel like a complete waste of time. And you can say the point of John Wick isn't really the plot, that's just an excuse to go from one fight sequence to the next, that would be fine if Chapter 4 had been as fresh with ideas as its predecessors.

If this was where it was gonna go, it should've got there and wrapped up in Parabellum. The duel was a 20min sequence that could have easily happened at the end of Parabellum after a second meeting with The Elder.

I've throughly enjoyed John Wick, and if nothing else Chapter 4 reinforced what a colossal missed opportunity Matrix 4 was as Keanu Reeves definitely still has it in him, but they'll have to get quite clever with the plot and bring some fresh ideas to any future installments if they're to change my mind that the John Wick series has run its course.

There have been plenty of apocalypse movies done covering an almost exhaustive range of scenarios, Leave The World Behind is about the collapse of modern society as we know it (or as Americans know it) and what the reaction to that would be. It's a commentary on whether it would further divide an already fragmented nation. Would people turn on each other? Would paranoia run rife? Or would they help each other? Band together despite their differences? Look for a way through and out of the disaster? The movie doesn't offer a definitive answer; after all, no one can know for sure, even though it hints at a potential scenario where society at large turns on itself but detached small groups of people would eventually show humans are empathetic at heart and will help each other. There is a barrage of hypotheticals in this and it could be an interesting discussion around a table, however it doesn't translate well when the movie simply dangles all the hypotheticals out and just leaves them there. Inherently it's not a bad thing for a movie to leave details out and some things open to interpretation; it can put you in the characters' POV of having little clarity about what's going on, or an open-ended ending with multiple interpretations open to discussion by picking at potential clues during the movie. However it falls apart when nothing in the movie has a resolution. Leave The World Behind feels like it starts a hundred different ideas and doesn't see any of them through which is what is leaving so many people feeling like nothing happened. It's full of concepts but it desperately needed to offer a resolution to at least some of them by the end. It uses music and slow-reveals to tease a build up towards a payoff that never comes, and that leaves the whole movie feeling hollow despite the themes it attempts to explore.

None of the characters seem to have an appreciable arc which also hampers some of the themes the movie tries to explore. Ruth seems to only be there to say how much she doesn't trust white people, we are given no background on her to make this preconceived notion justified. Amanda hates people in general but also distrusts black people in particular for some reason despite having a successful career in marketing that would require her to put herself in the shoes of clients and target markets of all different backgrounds. Rose spends the whole movie lamenting the fact she can't finish the last episode of Friends - a commentary on escapism? Our modern obsession with celebrities? Could be, at the end she chooses to watch her episode instead of responding to her mother calling her. She also has an epiphany about how you should help yourself instead of just waiting, somewhat contradicted by Clay and GH spending pretty much the whole movie with a 'let's wait and see' attitude. A commentary on the supposed modern man? Hmm, iffy. Archie...well I'm not sure to be honest. He spends much of the movie not paying attention to details, then he gets bitten by a bug and his teeth fall out. Not sure what his theme is. Overall none of the themes have any appreciable arc or advancement, which is ironically the only theme the movie is consistent with.

The acting is commendable. Everyone puts in a solid shift and Mahershala Ali's scenes I enjoyed most. Kevin Bacon is criminally underutilized in a 10min cameo of exposition dump right at the end. The soundtrack is too grating and obtrusive at times and the pacing is off; the movie has a build-up of tension for 1hr50min with very little story progression and then abruptly ends in ten minutes.

Overall an unsatisfactory execution at a potentially interesting premise. May have had a chance as a limited series instead.

By now we're used to the super slick, invincible killing machine assassins of Jason Bourne, John Wick, The Equalizer etc, which constitute plenty of movies that are all kinda doing similar things with their assassin. They are, of course, really enjoyable and really well made so this is in no way a criticism on them. But it is refreshing to have a movie about an assassin that doesn't follow that formula. Michael Fassbender is an assassin (a very good one we're told) who we find in the middle of a contract that doesn't go according to plan and his target gets away. His employer then decides to tie up loose ends by having Fassbender himself killed which leads to our assassin retaliating against those that went after him. We don't go through the typical motions of setting up Fassbender's character (he isn't even named throughout the movie) or giving him an in-depth background. It feels like a personal, intimate glimpse into a moment of time in his life. It's a clinical look into the world, and what is imagined is the type of person that could do such work. Fassbender does brilliantly to portray his character as cold and calculating, emotionless about his job and yet allowing moments of misjudgment to creep in - we're perhaps seeing him at a point in his life where his facade has been shaken and some humanity is showing. This doesn't necessarily make him much less effective mind you, he just ends making it a bit more difficult for himself at times.

It's a thoroughly entertaining movie so long as you don't go in expecting John Wick. There's John Wick for that. Fassbender's assassin is focused, ruthless and efficient but not showy or elaborate. It's an almost 'realistic' depiction, as much as one can make on such a character. The movie kept me invested throughout, it's well acted throughout and well paced for the story it's telling.

I should start by saying I'm a big Martin Scorsese and Leo DiCaprio fan. Robert DeNiro I feel isn't on the level of his Goodfellas/Casino prime nowadays but in many aspects a Scorsese/dicaprio/deniro project is a dream team and so I had been justly looking forward to Killers of the Flower Moon for some time.

The cinematography is really well done and the movie is beautifully shot. Scorsese also lets characters breathe a bit and react in a scene instead of constantly cutting which is something more movies should let themselves do these days.

The acting is top drawer. I mean it should be given the cast and they don't disappoint . Lily Gladstone is especially stellar as is Leo DiCaprio. It's also a welcome return to form and a more serious role for De Niro given his run of cash-grabs in his retirement age.

Everything is competently done and well executed it just...goes on for a bit too long. And I'm not one to be put off by a long runtime - Scorsese's last epic The Irishman is of similar length, the aforementioned Casino, Oppenheimer this year all are 3/3+ hours and I have thoroughly enjoyed them. Killers of the Flower Moon though goes on for maybe 45min or so too long. It does strain to keep you engaged in the middle at times, and then as well somehow ends up feeling a bit rushed in wrapping the story up at the end.

Overall I left a bit underwhelmed, perhaps my expectations were too high but that was almost inevitable given the talent involved. There's nothing egregious to point out, but a slightly trimmed runtime would have left a tighter feeling screenplay that engages throughout.

I'm not too aware of Mike Flanagan's other work but this was superb. Truth be told, I'm not too clued up on Edgar Allen Poe's work either I'm not afraid to admit, so I'm sure most of the references and homage the series makes were largely lost on me. So fans of either I'm sure would find even more to enjoy in The Fall of the House of Usher. But from someone who went blindly into the series without any expectations and without even seeing a teaser, I loved everything about it.

The main cast does a superb job. Sure, some of the fringe cast and Prospero don't get too much to do or leave a mark, but there's plenty for the core characters to sink their teeth into and they do a fine job.

Production quality, set design are both top notch. The pacing of the series is spot on as well; each episode is north of an hour and even though they follow a similar basic structure, it never felt like it was dragging on. The multiple timelines we get to see each have a distinct look and feel to them such that even jumping back and forth you don't get lost or have difficulty keeping track. Each episode also manages to keep the suspense spilling over onto the next, while at the same time moving the plot along significantly enough to not feel like the story is just being padded out. It feels like a tight, well put-together series that was always intended to be an 8 episode season and was pointedly structured to tell a complete story in that time. A refreshing change from most new shows that tend to meander and insist on dragging multiple seasons out of a premise.

The horror element is self-indulging enough without feeling over-done. For my personal taste, I generally don't care much for jump scares and they were used a bit too liberally but that didn't detract much from the overall quality so I'm still happy to give it a 9/10.

Briefly, the film centers around Tom (Benicio del Toro) a seasoned detective investigating the murder of a real estate agent and subsequently uncovers a plot involving drugs, cover-ups and corruption. It's certainly one of Netflix's better offerings of feature films; it has some excellent performances most notably from Benicio and Alicia Silverstone (who plays his wife) and the supporting cast also turn in a solid shift. The cinematography is also generally very well done and is well used to build tension at times subverting the expected direction a scene might go. The soundtrack gets used unconventionally at times to also keep tension throughout the movie and though it results in a few too many red herrings I do appreciate the creativity.

While I enjoyed the slow and subdued build up as Tom uncovers more and more of the conspiracy, and the actors keep you engaged throughout the movie, the runtime does eventually out-run the actual plot which turns out to be a fairly run-of-the-mill trope that's been done and Reptile doesn't do much different to help it stand out. As a result, that slow build-up of the mystery during the first 3/4 or so of the movie then sadly underwhelms a bit in the last 1/4 when it becomes apparent that the plot will play out fairly conventionally as one by one the red herrings turn out to be just that. If anything, it tries a little too hard at the end by having the chief in on the conspiracy as well which is about as predictable a trope as you get in these kind of plots. All that isn't to say it's not an enjoyable movie still, it's just pegged back from being particularly memorable.

This kind of movie is always going to require a healthy amount of suspension of disbelief, and that's ok. It's ok to be just an easy, low-effort watch for a Friday night to unwind; see some cool action scenes, a likable cast that looks like they had fun, and in the end a movie that doesn't burden you. Watch it, enjoy it, move on. Infinites was doing ok for the first half. It didn't have a particularly cerebral concept, had flavours of The Old Guard and Edge of Tomorrow - movies of vastly better quality, but for the first 45 minutes or so Infinites manages to be passable. Mark Wahlberg is nothing special, but he's likable enough on screen, the rest of the cast chipped in ok even if there's some lack of chemistry between them all even though they'd supposedly 'known' each other for centuries. But it was achieving to be entertaining enough that you don't feel like you're wasting your time. Unfortunately the script then just becomes so, so, so poor.

The mcguffin is 'The Egg' - a bomb of sorts that destroys living organisms on a molecular level which would mean the end of all life on Earth. Our villain is after it because he is tired of continually being reincarnated and having to deal with humanity - somewhat understandable as immortality I imagine would become a bit of a drag after a while. Except then we get told there's a weapon called The Dethroner, that when used on you would trap your consciousness on a chip and stop it from moving on to another life. ....so why doesn't our villain just use it on himself? Why doesn't the movie offer even a basic explanation as to why this wouldn't work/would be a bad idea? Don't know!

Beyond that, the good guys take Treadway (Wahlberg) to The Artisan (played by Rosa's crazy guy from Brooklyn 99) to get his memories back. We get a sequence where we're supposedly meant to think Wahlberg died? Anyway it's obvious he won't and that he'll get his memories back, but somehow the villain was able to chase them down in time (despite them having a healthy head start) and is able to get a very HD camera and audio feed into their secret room and can conveniently listen in for Treadway to disclose that he hid the Egg in his previous body before he died. Yet left a bizarrely cryptic clue to his friend of where to find look for it, even though it's not obvious that anyone was listening in to them at the time. But whatever, we then find out that the villain has conveniently already taken Treadway's previous body when he raided their HQ prior, yet he wouldn't have known his body held any significance so why would he take it? Don't know!

Generic fight ensues, good guys stop the Egg going off in the knick of time blah-blah-blah, roll credits. Annoyingly lazy writing for what could have been a half decent flick. Visual effects are poor, soundtrack a non-event, decent fight choreography non-existent, dialogue is bland, the plot (when it isn't being brain-dead stupid) is generic AF...honestly I don't really know why I'm even giving it 3/10.

Christopher Nolan really has given us some masterpieces and this is right up there with his best. It's refreshing to be reminded every now and again that cinema can, and should be, an art form. To come out of a movie experience and feel appreciation for the actors and actresses, the cinematography, the sound engineers, and everyone involved who brought forward their craft to create something that will pull you in from start to finish. I did not feel the 3 hour runtime at all which is testament to how well made and acted this movie is.

The entire cast absolutely delivers but my two standout performers have to be Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt. Commanding performances from both and a joy to watch. Also, the makeup department that turned Tom Conti into Albert Einstein did phenomenal work he absolutely disappears as his doppelgänger!

My wholehearted advice is that you go see it. In IMAX if you can, even if it's not the holy grail 70mm print Nolan so loves, go see it on the biggest screen you can. And then go back and see it two or three times as I intend to do, even if you'll overpay for your soda. Because in a sea of low-quality cash grabs and bland straight-to-streaming white noise, quality filmmaking should be supported, encouraged and justly appreciated. A large chunk of my theatre applauded at the end, and where I'm from such an outward reaction from movie-goers is very rare, but Oppenheimer fully deserved it and I hope it gets it over and over again.

Season 3 ended on such a whimper. I stuck with it to see out Henry Cavill, but he was barely present in the last two episodes. The show stopped being a Witcher story long ago unfortunately. Expertly portrayed by Henry Cavill, he embodied everything about Geralt exactly how you'd expect a fan of the lore to do so, yet he continuously found himself in someone else's story and not his own. Too few Witcher quests from the get-go, but Season 1 at least still had more Witcher adventures and nods to the source material, but you can clearly see it being stripped away more and more in the subsequent seasons and why Cavill left. Season 3 culminating in a chore to get to the end with increasingly poor writing as the show runners strayed more into their 'creativity'; Vilgefortz being bad all along was baseless and cheap, Tissaia's powerful "last-resort" spell accomplishing nothing and being blocked by a simple shield spell, Tissaia - established as a strong leader- killing herself at the exact moment a strong leader is needed utterly out of character and devoid of reason, badass girl power characters that didn't exist before suddenly shoe-horned in and springing up everywhere with no introduction or buildup, the fake Ciri conveniently captured instead of the real one (where was she picked up? How did she find herself there? Don't know!)...goodness you could go on.

It's rare to be able to cast a lead in a fantasy series that's as invested and knowledgeable in your source material as Cavill was, to be able to lend you authenticity and passion. To have a wealth of untapped source material laying it all out for you, a blueprint there for the taking, and to fumble it so impressively is staggering. Shame on them.

I rather enjoyed Yen as well though. Her and Geralt's dynamic felt accurate, especially early on but her role was obviously artificially ballooned more and more as the show went on. Joey Batey also enjoyable as Jaskier for comic relief but he also should've been used more sparingly in later seasons. At it's core this should've stayed a Witcher story.

It feels a shame to give the show a 6 for how good Cavill was in his role but I'm afraid it's a holistic reflection (and probably a generous one) I'll average from the 3 seasons: Season 1: 8/10 Season 2: 7/10 Season 3: 3/10.

I'm finding it hard to put together my thoughts on this movie because they, much like it, are a bit all over the place. Even the good the movie does often has a flaw attached to it which pegs it back. It's certainly better than anything Phase 4 served up (except Spider-Man: No Way Home) which admittedly isn't saying much but at this stage I'll take it.

The CGI is mostly well done, a relief after some other releases of late (Ant-Man 3 I'm side-eyeing you). The soundtrack also is a fun mix and still feels quintessentially Guardians but it isn't as well used as in the previous two installments and feels a bit overdone at times. The story isn't overly complicated either, helped by being isolated from the rest of the multiverse shenanigans the MCU currently finds itself in.

Chukwudi Iwuji is probably my standout performance. He's great to watch but the script doesn't flesh his character out with enough backstory to justify his mission and he kind of ends up feeling like a poor man's less intimidating and effective Thanos.

Tonally however the movie is all over the place. There's way too many jokes and slapstick humour especially in the first half. I don't know what it is with Marvel since Endgame/No Way Home that they can't seem to let a serious moment have some breathing room. Which is a shame because I feel they're at their best when they're tackling emotional aspects and tragedy. Rocket's backstory is the standout of the movie and has one or two sequences that are heart-wrenching despite involving a raccoon, an otter, a rabbit and a walrus. It shouldn't work or be impactful and yet they knock it out the park and had me fighting back tears.

Luckily the second half of the movie leaves behind much of the try-hard levity and is stronger for it, unfortunately by then you're kind of starting to feel the bloated runtime thanks to unnecessarily long sequences in acts 1 and 2. The 30min Orgocorp sequence immediately springs to mind as something that should've been significantly trimmed.

James Gunn probably had a little bit too much creative freedom as writer and director without anybody reeling him in a bit. It's a bit bloated and tonally erratic, it teases to go deeper with themes of utopia vs control and freedom but it doesn't really commit.

Still, a darker undertone and largely competent execution is a welcome change and Guardians 3, while flawed, is certainly more of a return to form for the MCU of late.

There's a reason Heat keeps coming up in people's reviews and comparisons; it became a classic and a blueprint that spawned countless copycats and 'inspired' even more movies or scenes in movies after it. Den of Thieves isn't so much 'inspired' by Heat, as it is a rip off of pretty much everything Heat did, only it does it worse. The decent (though not stellar) acting performances and the decent (though not special) action sequences would maybe warrant a 6/10. But the fairly substantial plot holes, and the fact the characters aren't fleshed out enough for us to care too much about them despite its liberal runtime, peg this down to a generous 4. I'll leave a couple that particularly stood out, and you can get the idea:

• Firstly, there is no Federal Reserve in LA. Granted, a forgivable suspension of disbelief but already we're off to a rough start, notwithstanding the opening text about one bank robbery every 48 minutes which has never been true.

Less forgivable however is how the basic premise of the heist is flawed from conception:

• $30 million dollars in 100s would be around 300kg and not a couple small bags sent down a trash shoot
• The EMP used (if at all possible) would surely knock out all electronics (including the communicators and radios used) not just selectively the motion sensors and camera in the room
• Donnie posing as a delivery guy would not simply be allowed to roam around such a high security facility; he'd either leave his delivery in the lobby for the employee to come up, someone else to take down, or he'd be escorted the whole way down and back
• Donnie couldn't simply shrug away not being signed in on the day of the heist. He literally says "I don't know what to tell you man, I signed in with the guy on the last shift" and the guard lets him off, yet there's a half a dozen other guards in the lobby who wouldn't have seen him enter just a few minutes prior as he'd be claiming unless what? They all changed shift? Unlikely in the middle of the day. Also the delivery wouldn't take more than 5-10min to drop off, so they'd have to choreograph his exit so well as to be only a few minutes after a shift change, and even then, the new shift could simply call the previous guard and ask if he let in a delivery guy. Especially since Donnie seems to use an old access tag that a) he didn't hand back on exit a couple days ago? And b) would've surely been flagged as missing in such a high security complex.

• A slick robbery crew like that wouldn't go through with their plan with that much heat on; the cops know the day *and* location they're robbing. Especially after they know one of their members was picked up by police and might've been under surveillance since the start compromising their whole plan. Even less so, to add on a decoy robbery that introduces more risks in an attempt to buy themselves more time.

• Nick enters the decoy bank fairly soon after the 'vault' explosion and discovers they're gone and sets off for the 'Federal Reserve' after them (presumably remembering Donnie was scoping it out?). So there's not enough time for the robbers to escape, change outfits/gear/cars, get to the Fed themselves and complete the whole robbery before Nick catches up. Also, why wouldn't Nick simply radio through to the Fed informing them they are being robbed and send pictures of who to look for and the whole place would go on lockdown.

• I also can't quite remember how Nick finds out about the decoy robbery? He doesn't find out from Donnie who himself finds out on the day that there was a "change of plan".

Anyway, just from the above it's very clear the robbery would never get off the ground let alone see completion, and when the 'clever' part of the movie is glaringly flawed it takes away from the whole movie. There's a couple other classic movie conveniences - Nick happening upon Donnie a few blocks/streets away after leaving the bank, how lucky they had the same route! Nick somehow intercepting the crew leaving the salvage yard despite them having a significant head start on him...you could go on.

The final thing I will mention is the unnecessary end twist that Donnie was actually a genius mastermind and planned to switch the money with the help of his own crew that's dues ex machina'd in. It's cheap and there's simply not enough groundwork laid down to make it work. He also lets himself get into far too many compromising situations, any one of which could've seen him dead or kicked off the crew. His plan would also entirely depend on Nick actually catching and killing everyone in the crew he's about to betray otherwise they would undoubtedly go/send someone after him for revenge.

You could go on. But really, the bottom line is the plot simply falls way far below what this movie wants to be. If you want to see that, just invest a similar amount of time and rewatch the movie Den of Thieves tries to be.

This tries way too hard to sensationalize and make a mystery out of a case that's really not that complicated - a 21 year old girl with a history of mental illness is found dead in a water tank on the roof of her hotel, the last footage is of her very obviously having auditory/visual hallucinations which, with no evidence of foul play, are what likely led to her tragic death. That's it. That's the story of Elisa Lam. I stopped watching when the show entertained the idea from 'internet sleuths' that a test used to screen for a TB outbreak around the time of her discovery, a LAM- ELISA (used and known for many years) was somehow evidence of a government coverup because she was an agent. I kid you not that is actually in episode 3.

This does not need to be anywhere remotely close to four hours long, nor does it need to give so much air time to asinine conspiracy theories from 'internet sleuths' who look for and sensationalize tenuous links about subjects they know little about. Netflix has some good crime documentaries, this is very much not one of them.

Packed chock full of A-listers and they somehow made this movie a chore to get through. The movie starts with Luther (Clint Eastwood) a master thief that has broken into a mansion and is busy helping himself to some merchandise when he's surprised by a couple that comes home. He hides in a secret vault behind a two-way mirror and witnesses the US President (Gene Hackman) and a mistress having...a rendezvous. The president gradually becomes violent and culminates with the secret service having to kill the woman and subsequently covering it up. The President's chief of staff is also there for some reason helping but ok, classic 90s thriller set up achieved. Luther, for some strange reason, then decides to leave his hiding place mere seconds after the secret service have finished staging the scene to look like a burglary-gone-bad. Conveniently, only once they're in the driveway do they bother to check that they've taken the most incriminating piece of evidence (a bloodied letter-opener with both the President and the woman's fingerprints on it), they realise it's still in the house, see Luther by the upstairs window (don't know why he'd be near it when he knows they haven't left yet) who then takes it and escapes while the Secret Service is busy ascending the apparently roughly 18 flights of stairs in a 3-story house. It really sets the tone for some awful writing that will follow but I'll jump to the truly disparaging final third.

Luther has twice sent anonymous taunting threats to the chief of staff about the crime he witnessed, his motives for doing so or what he aims to gain are never clear. But after the second one, and with Luther evading detection, the President 'suggests' to the secret service that they go after Luther's daughter (Laura Linney) to scare him off. So they run her car off the cliff she usually jogs at. She obediently stays in the car for the solid 20 seconds it takes for this to happen but ok, panic and all that maybe she didn't think to just jump out. But then as they're driving away they see Luther, what luck! The very man that's causing all their trouble right there for the taking in a secluded area. Nope! They just drive off and instead later go to the hospital to try finish her off....why? Don't know! Luther then gently kidnaps mistress' husband and tells him the truth of what happened that night and gives him the bloodied letter-opener to expose the President with. Which is.....exactly what he should've done like 45min ago and spared us?! There's a scene where Luther is lamenting that since he's a burglar no one would believe him over the president. But, you've got an incredibly incriminating piece of evidence - you've got a letter-opener covered with the bloody fingerprints of the woman and the president! That's objective forensic evidence, that's Luther's get out of jail free card and sends the president there instead! They've already shown the woman's husband is a reasonable, level-headed man and Luther tells him he's returned everything he stole from the house...essentially all you're left with is a breaking & entering charge which given the testimony and evidence Luther can provide I'm pretty sure everyone would be quite ok to let slide. The movie just tries to make this big dilemma out of something that really isn't and drags it out for damn near 2 hours.

Oh and in a final cherry-on-top, the husband goes to see the president for a private meeting (they're old friends) and kills him with the same letter opener making it look like suicide. With all the evidence on it, and no one will question how the president commits suicide out of the blue and the only person in the room at the time is the husband of the woman the president is going to be soon revealed as having an affair with and being involved in her murder? The culmination of a plot that would illicit anyone's trypophobia.

The cast honestly phone in most of their performances. They still have the screen presence sure, but really it's all very low-energy and bland. I'm a big fan of these classic 80/90s thrillers and most of them do require a degree of suspension of disbelief to allow the plot to progress, but this was on another level as I've neglected to mention so much more inconsistencies. A shame to waste such a good ensemble cast.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Enola Holmes; the story had the right amount of mystery about it and the script allowed Enola to be tenacious and resourceful, not quite as polished in her tactics as her more experienced brother would be but pushed on by determination. Henry Cavill was also used well - sporadically which made his short screen time a bit more special. But at the end of the day it was Enola's show and she managed to find her own way. The sequel perhaps follows the formula of the first a little bit too closely; good as it retains much of its charm, but to the extent that it feels a bit stale like we've already watched this movie. I think a part of it is that Millie Bobby Brown plays Enola the exact same way as in the first which isn't entirely wrong, it is after all the same character. But it's also good to use a sequel to show some new dimensions to the character as well and this is where the movie feels a bit same-y and stale, there's nothing new or fresh brought in. The script tries to give Enola an arc where she realizes it's useful to ask for help, an arc I distinctly remember being an element of the first film as well. Same-y. She also spends much of this film, like the first, trying to deny she loves Teweksbury up until quite near the end. Same-y. Henry Cavill gets some more to do in the sequel, partly I suspect because the filmmakers realized audiences enjoyed him in the first, but also to facilitate and help with Enola's arc about asking for help. But in so doing, his extra involvement detracts from this being Enola's adventure. He is after all the greatest literary detective and while I'm glad the writers did not diminish his deductive skills to prop up Enola's, it seems he would've solved the case himself thus making Enola a bit redundant in her own sequel. His extra screen time is very welcome but perhaps it should've been in a more general advisory role, as opposed to being directly involved in her case.

The movie is also a little bit too long and much of the bad guys are I'm afraid a bit bland and neither they nor their motivations are memorable. Also not memorable is the score; Daniel Pemberton returns for the sequel but I found his work on the first movie far more engaging.

My last and biggest gripe however comes right at the end. Nail the third act of a movie and any shortcomings in the first two can be somewhat forgotten, the inverse is unfortunately also true. In perhaps an attempt at one too many reveals or a needless intertwining of Enola's world with Sherlock's, the main villain is revealed to be Moriarty. Except here he is...she, alias Mira Troy. Yes, James Moriarty has been gender (and race) swapped. Why? Couldn't tell you, and like almost all such liberties being taken lately with classic IPs it feels jarring and unnecessary. But that's not even the part I found disappointing, its that this scheme he (sorry, she) has supposedly masterminded feels...beneath him. James Moriarty is Sherlock's greatest adversary, his intellectual equal (more so in some cases!) with a vast criminal empire. Yet here the Moriarty mastermind is attached to an opportunistic blackmail with no grander ambitions. Mira Troy/Moriarty (because anagrams. Yes, Sherlock's great criminal equal leaves his identity in an anagram) is shown to be the PA to the minister of treasury and she witnesses him make a dodgy deal with a wealthy businessman. She then steals the signed contract and uses it to anonymously blackmail the minister out of money. That's it. That's the con. It simply escalates because the person she hires to steal the contract gets a bit carried away and kills someone thus bringing in unnecessary attention. It's the doings of a small-time criminal, and is simply not worthy of a grand Moriarty plot where multiple strings are pulled and puppets played while cleverly masking his involvement. The worst is this twist is so unnecessary. The movie is better without it you don't even have to change the plot any way; you can still have Mira Troy behind it all except she's just that - a secretary who no one would have suspected but found a way to blackmail her corrupt boss and get rich. It works perfectly well without needing to be Moriarty, and avoids all the pitfalls of needlessly making her Moriarty.

And that for me nudged it down from a 6/7 to a 5 out of ten. In summary: while a bit drawn out, Enola Holmes 2 is an enjoyable enough adventure with a likable lead, but that struggles to differentiate itself from its predecessor or bring anything new to the (now) franchise.

I'm not an especially fervent fan of the Addams Family so won't hold it against this spinoff that it doesn't follow its predecessor material 100% faithfully. However, it does seem to make some fundamental errors that go against the core of the Addams appeal. Firstly, a lot of the charm of the Addams' is them being unaware of how bizarre and frightening their macabre interests and lifestyle are to the people they encounter. To that end, Wednesday has too few such moments of juxtaposition and almost none of the Addams quirkiness is met with anything more than a quizzical look. That is partly down to the Addams feeling a bit watered down in this spinoff, but is mostly due to a bigger problem the series has: it's choice of world. Choosing to have the show take place in a school full of supernatural characters much of who are weirder & arguably more interesting than the Addams robs Wednesday of a lot of her uniquity. Where the Addams could previously shine against human foes, being a bit goth around actual vampires, werewolves and sirens seems a bit underwhelming.

The series then also weirdly seems to forget that the show should be about Wednesday, and instead becomes a run-of-the-mill supernatural detective story that wouldn't seem out of place in half a dozen other series. You can replace Wednesday with any other character and the storyline wouldn't change much. Wednesday feels like a supporting character in someone else's mystery. Laurel Gates (not an established villain of the Addams) has come back to Jericho to exact revenge on the people she feels took everything from her family. She uses a Hyde to carry out her murderous plan which involves killing a coroner and mayor involved in a coverup, and destroying the school of outcasts that her family spent their lives fighting against. None of this really involves the Addams. There's a loose connection that's tried to be established - Laurel's brother was in love with Morticia and when tasked by his father to poison the school of outcasts, he instead goes after Gomez in a jealous rage and dies in the ensuing fight. It's quite a weak attempt to shoehorn the Addams into this mystery and the series itself seems to know this as Gates vs Addams isn't really the focus of the conflict, it's more Gates vs Nevermore. This becomes even more apparent when you consider that Laurel started her plan of revenge about a year before Wednesday was unexpectedly sent to Nevermore and so her plan wouldn't have involved the Addams at all.

Lastly, the series throws in some tiresome modern social politics that all shows nowadays can't seem to help themselves doing. It's a bit too on the nose most times. When Xavier offers some advice to Wednesday about her visions, she says he's "mansplaining" them to her - visions she admits she only started having a couple months prior and doesn't know when they happen or how to control them, and Xavier's advice was coming from his dad who had been living with visions for decades. But sure, let's just tell him he's mansplaining. Enid's struggle with not having become a werewolf takes on a not-so-subtle parallel to gender identity when her mother suggests she goes for "lycanthropy conversion therapy camps". I don't know what it is about modern writers but they can't seem to get across admirable messages of acceptance, overcoming adversity, defying expectations etc without it coming across as preachy, jarring or having to put another group down in the process.

The rest of the Addams, though they have little screen time, leave a bit to be desired. Pugsley is for some reason weak and defenseless when he should be just as intimidating and frightening to 'normies' as Wednesday is. Catherine Zeta Jones and Luis Guzman also just don't have the chemistry to match up to the iconic duo of Angelica Huston and Raul Julia.

Jenna Ortega however does a sterling job as Wednesday; her delivery and timing is spot on but the script still somehow makes her feel tragically underutilized in a series that should be about her. Thing is excellently done and is probably the best portrayal of the character yet. The soundtrack is also commendable, in particular instrumental versions of Nothing Else Matters and Paint it, Black are superb. Gwendolyn Christie is also very enjoyable as an antagonist to Wednesday though succumbs to a cliched end.

I overall still enjoyed the season, my few gripes don't detract too much from the positives and I'd be happy if a season 2 was announced.

All 5 of my stars are for James Spader single-handedly dragging this show along, he is a joy to watch and listen to but even he couldn't save this series. The first season was really really good. I also thoroughly enjoyed seasons 2-4; Spader continued to be charmingly enigmatic as Reddington, the mystery around him and his past kept up suspense and it was fun finding out about the different Blacklisters and what they do. Then it just started dragging out way too much.

Season 5, 6 & 7 felt tired. It felt like the show had milked all the creativity it could out of its premise and mystery and then didn't know where to go. The constant tease of the truth about Reddington was suddenly more frustrating than suspenseful and Elizabeth constantly whining about Reddington and flip-flopping about trusting him grew tiresome. The show's structure of the episodes was now also exhausting; most of the episode being dedicated to a Blacklister with the last few minutes serving to reveal a morsel towards Red's mystery. That can work fine for a while, and it did in the first few seasons while the Blacklisters were interesting and Red's mysterious past was intriguing. But as the creativity seemed to dry up the Blacklisters became more uninteresting and not memorable, just a sea of white noise which is a problem given most of the episode centered around them. The episodes were suddenly a chore to get through with the hope that the end of them would shed some meaningful light onto the mystery of the connection between Liz and Red. And dangling that carrot without an answer for 7 seasons was simply too long. Season 8 rinsed and repeated that same tired strategy and I couldn't sit through all 22 episodes. After seeing the formula continue in the first 2, I jumped to the last episode and was disappointed to see nothing had progressed; all the episodes I had skipped made no difference, they were all filler. The exact same questions were still being asked, questions and dilemmas we had been dragging on since the early seasons had gone nowhere.

By the end of season 8 (that I skipped most of..) they had built up this huge reveal, they had upped the stakes over the truth for so many seasons, so many people killed, whole governments on the line! And then.....nothing. The reveal never comes. Elizabeth is killed off in a moment that should probably feel emotional but honestly, I was so frustrated with the series by this point that any impact it could've carried was lost a few seasons ago. And with her death the show seemingly forgets about uncovering this massive secret Reddington has. I read for season 9 they completely abandoned that story arc and just have Red helping Cooper find Blacklisters. Can you imagine that? 170-odd episodes of build up and there's no payoff.

So don't bother investing your time in the series as you'll get little to no reward for it. James Spader's performance is worthy of all the praise it has garnered, however even he is sadly not enough to make the uninspired journey worth it.

As above really. The true story is bizarre and creepy, but doesn't have nearly enough substance to make a 7/8 episode series out of it. There's no dead animals or break-ins, no wildly creepy neighbours, no past murder in the house, no shooting across the street, no secret tunnels, no past owners that went crazy, no suspicion of satanic cults, no community coverup or private detectives unearthing scandals...I could go on but honestly I resorted to fast-forwarding through much of the filler after like episode 4. The show even found the time somewhere to throw-in an interracial conflict that came out of nowhere and had no relevance. The show just tries to do too much, and in that same vein tries to keep suspense up by throwing in a new potential suspect basically every episode but in so doing actually dilutes the intrigue because NOT EVERYONE IN THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD CAN BE A LIKELY CULPRIT like what even is this town!?

If you're going to use the cheap intrigue of "Based on a true story!" then at least have the respect to tell the story you're pretending it's about. A 90min movie free of all the copious pointless filler could have been a succinct and creepy retelling of the true events.

For what it's worth, Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale are solid in their roles.

I've tapped out in the beginning of season 3 I just can't bring myself to finish the show. Season 1 was pretty good; it was an interesting concept and carried some suspense through it. Season 2 started to suffer from poor writing, especially towards the end the characters started making inexplicably stupid decisions. Season 3 carried that right on. Too many cliched tropes (bad guys blend in and no one knows they're bad, bad guy takes over body the main characters don't know about and now we have to drag the reveal out, young sibling won't let mom move on and date someone, main characters hiding things from each other...the list goes on and on). I gave up in episode 3 when they once again brought Dodge back. Yes, the same Dodge we took far too long getting rid of in season 2 and who spent most of it disguising herself as people that the main characters took too long figuring out weren't themselves. Well, guess what? She comes back in Bode's body and no one will know it's her and they'll take too long to figure out he isn't himself and- you see where this is going. The writing is poor, the characters have no appreciable arc to them and the episodes (especially S3) have too much romance and teen angst filler that doesn't feel interesting or genuine for the time dedicated to it. It's a shame, I'd love to see the concept of the keys and their abilities in the hands of more competent writers.

I was already annoyed at all the stupid actions and decisions of the main characters at the end of season 2 so was feeling lukewarm about season 3. Thought I'd still give it a go but was afraid it would succumb to the samey bad-guy-takes-over-other-form-and-now-noone-knows-is-the-bad-guy that season 2 was exhaustingly filled with. Sadly I was proven right. Episode 1 was ok. Episode 2 I started to skip ahead some parts especially the filler romance, teen angst bits that never come across interesting or genuine. Also Duncan is gay?? Am I just not remembering this about his character from the last season or did the writers decide to shoe-horn in a needless social narrative? But anyway, worryingly the dreaded trope is indeed back - the bad guys are now gonna blend in so no one will know they're bad. Episode 3 though is too much. The agonizingly stupid decisions are back (I'm looking at you Bode) and Dodge, yes the same Dodge we took far too long to finally get rid of last season is now back again but she takes over Bode's body so, you guessed it, no one will know it's her and we'll have to endure the whole reveal being dragged out for god-knows how many episodes. I'm sorry but I just can't. It's the same plot lines with the characters continuously being dumb and too much filler dragging episodes out.

Sure it's not gonna redefine the genre; not every rogue spy movie can be The Bourne Identity. And yes the plot isn't gonna stack up to an in-depth dissection, but it goes along at a competent pace and doesn't feel like it's 2 hour runtime. The fighting choreography is no John Wick but it's alright. And the CGI is at times too obvious for it's fairly hefty budget. The characters mostly have formulaic backstories with good-guys and bad-guys we've seen before so no one is getting an Oscar nod here (whatever that's worth anyway). But everyone does a solid, if not over-extending, job in their scenes; everyone puts in some effort and looks like they cared and enjoyed it. Chris Evans especially looks like he had fun and he steals every scene he's in. The scenes he and Gosling shared are also sharp and fun. Overall it's an enjoyable ride, with decent action scenes and some fun dialogue. It's not groundbreaking but there's far worse ways to spend 2 hours.

I was hoping it'll be good and I'm not surprised it was. Tom Cruise yet again doesn't disappoint and brings his signature commitment and professionalism to his craft. The fact they did so much of the stunts with practical effects and not cgi is so refreshing and it pays off. The nostalgia and homage to the original was perfect, story wasn't complex but it didn't need to be, doesn't have a modern commentary or message, just pure escapism for two hours and getting to see Maverick being badass. He's picked up this character again 30 years later and it's seamless. Johnny Depp didn't have this continuity with captain Jack in back-to-back movies (I'm looking at you 4 and 5) but Cruise plays older Maverick exactly right; he's still got the undertone of cockiness and swagger but now it's without the hotheadedness of youth, he carries a responsibility to look out for others that comes with age. But he's still cheeky Maverick. Throw in the quality of the last act's action sequences and it's just a feel-good time!

Get yourself to an IMAX, pay for some overpriced popcorn and let one of the last remaining classic action stars do what he does best: entertain.

The original sequels I'll grant you are not without their problems. The first Matrix was a phenomenon. It holds up decades later not just with its VFX, but it's pacing, story-telling and actors all shining. I have a bit more love for Reloaded than most it seems; maybe not matching the first in terms of story but definitely has some of the most eye-catching and memorable visuals/action sequences. Revolutions was a bit all over the place and the weakest of the three imo, but it still had our favourite characters coming together for one final almighty battle and it tries to tie things off...with varying success.

Resurrections badly, badly needed Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving. They were easily as integral to the success of the first three as Neo and Trinity were and they are sorely missed here. The character of 'Morpheus' here just looks like a poor man's version of the original and for some reason was written with an almost mocking tone towards some of the most iconic Morpheus scenes. Strange decision for sure and one that I don't think works.

The new 'Smith' as well is an even paler and more pathetic imitation and cannot hold a candle to the character Hugo Weaving expertly brought to life. I'm actually still not entirely sure what Smith's role was in this movie other than to be a callback which brings me to the next problem: SO. Many. Callbacks. Nostalgia is a powerful tool, and one or two moments can work well. Neo's "I still know kung-fu" is one such moment of well-applied nostalgia. One of, sadly, very few well-applied moments. Honestly the first two thirds of the movie is full of callback after callback after flashback. Too many carbon copy scenes it almost feels like we're re-watching the first movie with just subtle tweaks and new faces. Now you could argue it was intentional to play on the theme of deja-vu, but it went overboard.

If the first two thirds are just a re-hashing of the first movie, the last third is a mess of flimsy plot and action sequences which don't really wow and actually look less impressive than the 20yr old ones. Neo has got one new trick, but he never reaches the level of bad-assery of being The One. And as one other reviewer noted, the ending suddenly foregoes 'The One' for 'The Pair' with Trinity seemingly able to do everything Neo can which goes completely against the Matrix concept. It could've worked though; Neo and Trinity so linked in destiny and important to each other that she's become just as big an anomaly as he especially in the latest version of the Matrix as explained in the movie that relies on both of them to maintain balance. But it was worked into the final few minutes with a weird sequence that just felt out of place.

You could pick apart more that's wrong but really it'd be just kicking a man while he's down. I liked the first 20min or so; showing how the Matrix has reset and has worked the events of the trilogy into Neo's new simulation in a hiding-in-plain-sight cover was cool. And the callbacks were nice until they became overwhelming, also good were the few moments where the soundtrack hit the iconic original score. I was hoping for the last third we'd get Neo realizing as The One; give us the original look and wardrobe with Trinity, the two of them side by side fighting. Minimize the callbacks in the rest of the movie and have the climax and fighting at the end burst with nostalgia - a release of anticipation that would've built up during the movie. Instead we got them for 3min right at the end in that weird sequence with Neil Patrick Harris and Keanu spends most of the time in John Wick-guise. It could've been worse yes, but in the end all it did was make me long to go back and watch the originals.