Monthly Archives: December 2024

Dec 31 2024

Top Ten Films & TV Shows Of 2024

2024, as with previous years, provided some wonderful and imaginative sci-fi, fantasy and horror films and TV shows, which were quite memorable. Here are the best films and TV shows that came out in 2024, many of which took everyone by surprise. Feel free to comment with your own choices.

Films

10. Sonic the Hedgehog 3

The third film in the Sonic film franchise fully embraces its video game lore with its colorful characters and their engaging backstories. As usual, Jim Carrey stole the film with his performance, as wells as Keanu Reeves who voiced the fan-favorite Shadow.

9. Late Night With the Devil

David Dastmalchian shined in this found footage horror film that took the guise of recordings from a broadcast of a 1970s late-night talk show. The film was genuinely creepy and disturbing as the show’s host, Jack Delroy (Dastmalchian), cameto grips with the realization that the occult-themed episode of his show had unpleasant connections to his own life.

8. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

George Miller directed one of his finest films ever with an intense origin story about the breakout character from Mad Max: Fury Road. Anya Taylor-Joy was simply perfect as the younger version of Furiosa, who navigates her way through a brutal post-apocalyptic world overrun by vicious gangs and extreme car chases throughout barren deserts. It’s a Mad Max world at its best.

7. Alien: Romulus

The Alien franchise rightfully returned to its horror roots with this entry that takes place in a claustrophobic space station swarming with alien xenomorphs hunting down the main characters. Even though a lot of the material was familiar and had callbacks to the other films, Alien: Romulus was fresh and inventive with its back-to-basics approach.

6. Nosferatu

The latest remake of the classic German silent horror film version of Dracula was genuinely creepy and disturbing. Director Robert Eggers has emerged as a true master of film horror with his version of Nosferatu that fully utilized disturbing sounds, eerie shadows, dark cinematography and an overall unsettling atmosphere that will keep you up at night.

5. Civil War

This is one of the most disturbing recent films to be released due to its subject matter of a near-future civil war in the United States and its ramifications. While the choice not to explain what caused the war and its apolitical stance may not satisfy everyone, this approach allowed director Alex Garland to focus on the cruelty and insanity of war and its impact on modern-day society. The film was also a powerful and cringe-inducing war film that ramped up intensely in the final act with a distressing, yet pulse-pounding battle in Washington, D.C.

4. A Quiet Place: Day One

The third film in the A Quiet Place franchise, was a prequel that chronicled the early days of the alien invasion that devastated the Earth and brought it to a silent standstill. The film had the smarts to introduce new characters and a new setting which was a terrifying location for the invasion: a noisy New York City that could not help but attract the deadly alien creatures that murder anyone making sounds. Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn were outstanding as two misfit survivors trying to reach the home of Nyong’o’s character while avoiding the aliens. Their personal stories were the heart of the film and set the template for future installments.

3. Deadpool & Wolverine

The fourth-wall-breaking Merc with a Mouth (Ryan Reynolds) teamed up with everyone’s favorite X-Man (Hugh Jackman) in a violent and humorous road/buddy trip throughout the multiverse. As the sole film release from Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for the year, Deadpool & Wolverine had a lot riding on it given the fact that recent MCU films have struggled. Fortunately, the film delivered a funny and entertaining romp that both serviced the grand MCU plotline about the multiverse and was a love letter to the now-defunct Marvel films from 20th Century Fox.

2. The Wild Robot

Arguably DreamWorks Animation’s greatest film, The Wild Robot is a heartwarming and beautifully animated adaptation of Peter Brown’s novel about a service robot in the future that was stranded on an island populated by animals that distrusted her. Over time, she gained their trust as she adopted and raised a young goose and befriended many of the animals. At the same time, the robot began to develop sentience and emotional attachments to her companions, especially her adopted child, who she must raise and protect.

The Wild Robot was surprisingly engaging with its themes of parenthood, friendship, environmentalism, and empathy. It is too bad that this will be DreamWorks Animation final in-house film since the company has proven it can deliver genuine animated classics as it did with The Wild Robot.

1. Dune, Part Two

Director Denis Villeneuve concluded his grand adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi epic novel about political and religious machinations and war in the distant future. Dune, Part Two actually adapted the second half of the novel and it was a wise decision to split the novel into two films since it allowed Villeneuve the time to fully explore the intricacies of the distinct human cultures across the universe.

While the film was wide-sweeping and bursting with glorious production values and effects, at its core, Dune, Part Two, focused on the burden of its main protagonist, Paul Atreides, who unwillingly became the messianic leader who leads the inhabitants of the desert world called Dune in a holy war. Any viewer could empathize with Paul’s struggle as he faced his destiny despite his doubts about his actions as he sought vengeance for his father’s death and freedom for his adopted people.

Dune, Part Two is a true cinematic epic that demonstrates once and for all, the validity of a solid sci-fi story being successfully adapted into a cinematic masterpiece. The film also establishes that Villeneuve is a true master of sci-fi films who has the bold vision needed to undertake such an adaptation.

Noteworthy Mentions:

Abigail; Beetlejuice Beetlejuice; Elevation; Flow; Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire; Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire; IF; Inside Out 2; Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; The Substance; Transformers One; Venom: The Last Dance

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Dec 21 2024

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Is The Perfect Sendoff To My Childhood!

About four years and two movies ago, as well as a spinoff show later, the Sonic Cinematic Universe looks to be at its absolute peak with the latest film Sonic the Hedgehog 3. I would consider myself as a lifelong Sonic fan, and despite his many failures and flops, I’ll always hold a special space in my heart for this franchise. That being said, when Sonic the Hedgehog was released on Valentine’s Day of 2020, I’ll admit that I was beyond ecstatic that the blue blur had finally made it to the big screen; it was far from a great movie, but it was good enough to call a success, and Paramount Pictures agreed to give the franchise a second movie. About a month before the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Paramount Pictures officially announced that a third Sonic movie would begin production shortly after the second movie, along with a logo reveal which got fans speculating on what the post-credits scene for the second movie could be. The top two contenders came down to Metal Sonic or Shadow, and it ended up being Shadow, which got many fans like me excited for where Paramount would take the Sonic franchise. I’ll admit that upon the premature announcement of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, I was worried that Paramount would jump the shark and go too crazy, losing general audiences and causing the movie universe to end short, but after watching Sonic the Hedgehog 3, I can confidently say that I fully trust Paramount to handle the delicate nature of the Sonic franchise. By the way, Sonic 2 was amazing, so I thought it would be impossible to top that movie as THE Sonic movie.

I was wrong! Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a pure love letter to the video game Sonic Adventure 2 and its many loyal fans. At the time of watching this movie, I had literally just turned 18, so technically the first thing I did as an adult was watch one of the best releases of the Sonic franchise, yes, games included. Rewinding a bit, 2024 has been an amazing year for Sonic the Hedgehog, or rather Shadow instead. 2024 saw SEGA dubbing it “The Fearless Year of Shadow” in which Shadow would get a lot of excellent spotlights, ranging from the incredible mini-animated series Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings and the follow up video game Shadow Generations, which I would call my favorite Sonic game (as I’m writing this, I have this game’s soundtrack on loop, currently playing “What I’m Made Of…”). It is safe to say that this year was easily the best idea SEGA has had for the franchise in years, and how else could you end the year of Shadow than releasing the Shadow movie?  I will split this review into non-spoilers, and then spoilers, but I will indicate when the shift is.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 begins with Shadow (voiced by Keanu Reeves) waking up from a 50-year-long stasis and fleeing from Prison Island, an iconic level from the video game, Sonic Adventure 2. We cut to Team Sonic, made up of Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz), Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and Tails (voiced by Colleen O’ Shaughnessy) doing a friendly race which leads to a surprise party in honor of Sonic’s “B-earth-day”, the day Sonic came to Earth in the first film. This party is cut short as the Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N.) sends a helicopter and requests Team Sonic’s immediate assistance with a rogue alien causing havoc in Tokyo, that alien being Shadow.

That’s enough plot exposure for now, let’s talk about the movie more in depth, starting with how it compares with the previous installments. The first movie was your generic road trip movie that was heightened by Sonic, and of course the brilliant Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. With Tails appearing after the credits, the movie left much to be desired, so the second film stepped in and delivered. As Knuckles being the main antagonist working with Dr. Robotnik, Sonic and Tails go on a treasure hunt to locate the Master Emerald and protect it from Robotnik’s clutches. This movie felt more like what a Sonic movie should feel like compared to the first. Now back to Sonic 3; I feel Paramount has peaked with this one, so much so that I’m kind of skeptical if they could top it in the recently announced Sonic the Hedgehog 4. If you liked the second Sonic movie, you would adore this movie; it is epic, emotional, and unapologetically “Sonic”.

The characters of the Sonic movies are, for the most part, good. Jim Carrey keeps up the zany hilarious energy that he delivered in the previous films, and the introduction of his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik (also played by Carrey), elevates this film’s humor. This is where Carrey’s acting peaks in my opinion, having two of him on screen at once leads to some really funny scenes, some even made me laugh out loud. The humor in general is the best this trilogy has seen, with Sonic’s puns all landing this time around, rather than sometimes coming off as annoying or cringe-worthy. On the topic of Sonic, Ben Schwartz’s performance as Sonic the Hedgehog is the best that he has been portrayed in his own movies so far. In the previous movies, sure he was adorable and childish, but compared to how he acts in the games, this Sonic was a laughingstock that had a long ways to go before matching his original video game counterpart.

I can gladly say that Sonic feels more like his video game counterpart and has become less annoying and more serious and cooler while not completely losing his comical and emotional side. Idris Elba and Colleen O’Shaughnessy as Knuckles and Tails thankfully have more to do in this film and have grown as characters too. The second film wants you to believe that Sonic and Tails are immediate best friends, but the film barely portrays that; Sonic 3 makes it more believable that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are all best buddies this time around. Finally, Keanu Reeves absolutely crushes it as Shadow the Hedgehog. Upon hearing his voice in the first trailer, I was kind of worried about a lackluster portrayal of the delicate character, but after seeing the movie, I would say it matches the original soul of Shadow. Reeves put forth effort to research the character and delivers cool, emotional, and grim scenes that does the beloved hedgehog justice. Alyla Brown’s loving and caring portrayal of young Maria mixed with Shadow’s quiet and softness leads to adorable and heart clenching interactions that will really touch the audience and make them fall in love with the characters. Also, to those worried about the humans’ involvement with this movie, it centers mainly around Tom and Maddie (Tika Sumpter), and they serve more important roles this time.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s story is also significantly better than the other stories. The first film once again was a road trip, the second was basically a treasure hunt, and while those tropes don’t necessarily lead to bad movies, they can get kind of tired. This story is fast paced and emotional while taking itself more seriously. Having to adapt Sonic Adventure 2 was no easy task, but I would say they did an amazing job while keeping the universe grounded to make it as realistic as possible. One of my only complaints about this movie has to do with pacing of the story, however. The first act throws scenes at the audience at whiplash speed and does not really give them time to swallow what they just saw. This problem fixes itself as the movie goes on, or I just got used to the pacing, but when I say the last 30 minutes of this movie is perfect, I mean it. The climax is genuinely perfect, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it; the story is at the best and the action is unmatched in the third act. Speaking of action, this movie’s action sequences were genuinely top tier, rivaling many iconic fight scenes the franchise has seen. Every scene of conflict is handled to perfection and especially with Sonic fans in mind; let me tell you, my fan-event theater had reactions on the level of Avengers: Endgame to every fight scene in this movie. The action in this movie made me feel like I was watching an anime of the likes of Dragon Ball Z or My Hero Academia, which I felt is what the Sonic games needed the most, just more sick action sequences and fights. Every scene that involves high-speed fights is bound to get Sonic fans on the verge of tears.

Overall, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a near-perfect Sonic the Hedgehog movie that adapts Sonic Adventure 2 to the big screen in the right way, and I am positively anticipating what comes next for this expansive universe. My theater being a fan-event filled with diehard Sonic fans honestly elevated my viewing experience and hearing everyone’s reaction as they screamed with joy to this movie was amazing. I would rate this movie as a 10/10, and I believe everyone should give this film a try this holiday season. To those who are Sonic and Shadow lovers, buy yourself a ticket and strap in your seatbelts because this movie is wild! This is the part where I delve into spoilers, so if you haven’t watched this movie yet, why are you still here?

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Dec 14 2024

Yes, Mary Jane, There Is A Santa Claus: Sony Ends Its Spider-Man-Related Cinematic Universe!

Now that Kraven the Hunter is crashing with critics and fans, and at the box office, Sony Pictures had to admit defeat and throw in the towel.

Given the failure of its recent films related to Spider-Man, but not featuring the Marvel Comics hero, Sony decided to discontinue producing these kinds of films. Instead, it will focus on films and TV shows that actually feature Spider-Man himself. Yes, Mary Jane, there is a Santa Claus, since St. Nick and whatever powers-that-be have answered fans prayers. For too long, many of us saw Sony butcher many legitimate Marvel characters with ill-conceived films starring characters that are associated with Spider-Man.

This all started with Venom, which was released in 2018, and turned out to be a huge hit in theaters. Ever since Sony had the film rights to Spider-Man the film studio only released films starring the character, which were successful. But seeing how successful Marvel Studios was with their Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Sony sought to expand beyond Spider-Man and produce films on characters, namely villains, that were associated with Spider-Man. Never mind that many of these characters won’t work without Spider-Man or at least have a defined connection to him. The Venom films worked largely due to actor Tom Hardy and the passion he infused into his role and the character was strong enough to carry his own films. But Madame Web? Why didn’t Sony just do a Spider-Gwen film? That character is very popular in comics and was a breakout in the two animated Spider-Man films.

As we know, the poor reaction to their more recent Spider-Man films led Sony to reach a deal with Marvel Studios and lend the character to Marvel Studios. The caveat was that the superhero could not appear in live-action in projects not associated with Marvel Studios’ MCU, though this has been disputed by a report from Variety.

The Spider-Man films taking place in the MCU were huge successes, but Sony could not be content with that. So, they decided to crank out films that did not feature Spider-Man, which is how we got Venom. Despite its big success, not everyone loved it. But Sony did not care, they saw the box office returns and were convinced they could duplicate that success. Turns out they couldn’t.

Aside from the Venom films and the animated Spider-Man films, Morbius, Madame Web and now Kraven the Hunter were colossal bombs. The films were so embarrassingly bad that they became the subject of many goofy memes and outright tarnished the reputation of Sony’s Spider-Man-related films. It’s no wonder Sony decided to veer away from these Spider-Man-related films. They just had to, it did not make any financial sense to continue to do so.

This does not mean that Sony will not produce anymore Spider-Man films. Production will start next year on the next MCU Spider-Man film, and its TV project Spider-Man Noir is nearly complete, and work is underway for its next animated Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. That is for the best, honestly.

By not wasting time and resources to produce mediocre films that no one asked for, Sony can now focus all its talent and resources on producing high-quality Spider-Man films and TV shows, which were great to begin with. If any characters introduced in those films prove popular enough, then Sony can produce a spinoff film or TV show with the help of Marvel Studios.

Or they can negotiate with Marvel Studios to allow them to feature a non-MCU Spider-Man in their non-MCU films. That was one of the biggest letdowns with the Venom films. We never got to see Venom confront Spider-Man, his arch-nemesis, who only appeared in a brief cameo in Venom: Let There Be Carnage. It would not be too confusing for the regular public and fans to differentiate between two or more versions of Spider-Man to exist at the same time. This has worked well with the animated Spider-Man films and Warner Bros. has shown that different versions of Batman and his related characters could exist simultaneously, as well as their other DC heroes. Besides this would be a great opportunity to let previous Spider-Man actors like Andrew Garfield to reprise their roles without coming up with a convoluted multiverse storyline.

Even though many deride these Sony Spider-Man films and lament that Disney/Marvel Studios does not own the film rights to the character, there is a rationale for Sony to hold on to him. If Spider-Man were to revert to Marvel Studios, he would be joining a crowded slate of characters who would be vying for time and resources. Just look at how long it has taken for there to be a followup to Captain America: Civil War and the last Iron Man solo film was over ten years ago. Most likely Spider-Man would just play a guest star in other films. At least with Sony, Spider-Man and his world will receive the attention he deserves, and now the studio will focus on crafting some top-tier superhero films and TV shows. Maybe in the not-too-distant future Kraven will be properly introduced as an S-tier villain in a Spider-Man film, which could lead to an adaptation of the classic comic book story, “Kraven’s Last Hunt.” That would be great.!