Category Movies

Nov 18 2023

The MCU Woes, Part I: How Did It Get To This?

Given all the downbeat news lately about Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it’s pretty understandable why MCU fans are so alarmed. It was not that long ago when the MCU was an undisputed entertainment behemoth that could not do anything wrong.

Now, there have been noticeable tumbles with their projects, especially this year. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania underperformed in the box office, the Disney+ TV series Secret Invasion was widely derided and what was worse is that the recently released MCU film, The Marvels, is performing worse than the third Ant-Man film.

Then the behind-the-scenes turmoil further added to the impression that the MCU is falling apart. Reports have revealed that productions were rushed and reshot. This explained why many MCU films and TV shows felt so disjointed and undeveloped.

Another dilemma involved the actor Jonathan Majors who plays Kang the Conqueror and is slated to be the major villain in the next few MCU films. He was recently arrested for domestic abuse and Marvel Studios and its parent company, Disney, is struggling over what to do with Majors and the character of Kang because if he is found guilty this would disrupt any upcoming films or TV shows.

Then there is the issue of what direction should the overall MCU should take. In the first three phases of the cinematic universe there seemed to be a goal that the films were reaching towards. Although the Multiverse Saga has been introduced in the Phase Four and Five of the MCU, many films and TV shows have ignored the concept and as a result the overall narrative of the MCU seems aimless and less interconnected than previous films.

Adding to the disjointed and convoluted nature of the current MCU is that a lot of characters and storylines have been introduced but many of them have not been followed up. For example, what happened with the Eternals after the Celestials kidnapped half of them? What is the story behind the Hulk suddenly having a son? Will we ever see Hercules carry out his quest of vengeance against Thor? What happened to the symbiote fragment that was left behind in the main MCU by Venom? What happened with the crusade of the United States against aliens?

What happened behind the scenes was that most of the productions had their scripts drastically altered during filming, which led to a slapdash feel to the finished film or TV show. This in turn strained the special effects department who were forced to work under insane deadlines and resulted in horribly bad special effects that in some cases were tweaked after a film or TV show was released.

What was worse is that the MCU was such a victim of its own success that the higher-ups at Disney demanded more projects from Marvel Studios to pad out the roster of Disney+ inventory. The reason for this as many know was due to the launch of Disney+, which had few original programs, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Both incidents caused Disney to demand more productions to be launched on the streaming app since it was the only way to present the MCU productions during the outbreak of the pandemic. As a result multiple projects were put into production, even though the demand for some of them was questionable. Does anyone actually want to see an Ironheart TV show?

This stretched ability of Marvel Studios to deliver quality films and TV shows and people noticed. Productions were rushed in order to meet deadlines and were heavily reshot during post-production. This in turn not only drastically changed some plots but disrupted the narrative flow of the stories. The results were less than satisfying films and TV shows, though the quality of the MCU productions varied. Still for every WandaVision or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever there was a Secret Invasion or Eternals. Marvel Studios saw diminished returns for their projects, which became very apparent this year given how poorly Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Secret Invasion and The Marvels were recieved.

So is all lost? Is the MCU headed in the same direction as the hapless DC films?

No, to both questions.

Marvel Studios has shown that it’s capable of putting out truly great films and TV shows. Just look at this year’s offerings of Loki and Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3. There is still demand and goodwill for upcoming MCU projects like the third Deadpool film and Avengers: Secret Wars. But more importantly, the film studio and Disney are being proactive and are addressing the situation. The best days for the MCU may still be ahead of us.

In a follow up post, we’ll look at what Marvel Studios can do to right the ship and point out how they are taking concrete steps at this moment.

Nov 1 2023

The Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie Spoiler Talk!

The long-awaited live-action movie version of the classic online game Five Nights at Freddy’s or FNaF has excited fans. Unlike critics who do not understand the FNaF franchise, fans recognized how faithful the movie was to the franchise while developing its own identity. With that, it’s time for SPOILER TALK about the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie! For anyone who has not seen the FNaF film yet, you’ve been warned…

Touching upon an issue brought up earlier with my review of Five Nights at Freddy’s, some things should’ve had a little more explanation than they were given. The main reason I say this is because fans have a general idea of some characters and ideas, but to someone else, it’s a complete mystery that makes them think “Okay? So, what?” The prime culprit of this issue is none other than Golden Freddy. Sure, his spirit is very present in the movie, but the animatronic is only seen for three scenes and is never elaborated upon. That leaves me with many questions: how did he get to Abby’s house? Why is he so withered? Even if I have a general reason as to why, HOW is he still functional? Although he is only seen for two minutes, he still looks very good, and I’m very happy with the practical effects (no surprise there!).

To talk about cameos and Easter eggs, I am happy with the people they brought on! We all knew CoryxKenshin would be in the movie, playing as the taxi driver, but no one expected MatPat as a waiter, as he convinced us that the filmmakers treated him dirty. Both cameos were hilarious and I’m sure they’re both very happy that they were able to be included. The self-proclaimed “King of FNaF”, Markiplier, unfortunately had a planned cameo, but ultimately could not film a scene, as it conflicted with the filming of his own movie that is coincidentally also based on an indie horror game, Iron Lung. Talking about Easter eggs, I was genuinely shocked to see references to Five Nights at Freddy’s history in the movie. Sparky the Dog, the franchise’s first ever, fan-made hoax character had a diner named after him and possibly even an animatronic suit to himself. MatPat’s name tag also had “Ness” on it, which is a golden reference to one of his theories based off two whole different franchises where he argues that Sans from the indie game Undertale, was actually a Nintendo character named Ness from the Earthbound series. Only Scott Cawthon would be able to reference both another indie horror game AND Nintendo at the same time! I also really loved the opening credits for the music and the pixel art. They were both PERFECT for FNaF’s general vibe!

Let’s talk about secrete characters in this movie. Emma Tammi confirmed a couple of weeks ago in an interview that there was a character in the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie who was not seen in any promotional material. That begged the question, who was that character? I genuinely do not know which character it specifically was, as there were multiple featured characters. I have a list of possible characters she could’ve been talking about.

Shadow Freddy, who was seen in a hidden YouTube video made an appearance in the movie as the suit that babysitter Max gets stuffed inside after dying. I must admit I’m a little disappointed that he didn’t get any story relevance, but I probably should’ve expected that, as it probably would’ve been too early for him. Another character was Sparky the Dog (or possibly Fetch, the fan base is still working that part out). Yes, Sparky wasn’t seen in any advertising, but I think Emma would’ve been talking about a character that was important to the story, so this leaves me with two more culprits who I was able to predict in my last essay!

Balloon Boy was only seen on one of the children’s drawings, but we didn’t know if he actually would’ve made a physical appearance in the movie. Luckily, we now know the answer is yes, he appears as a troll character in the form of a mini figurine. Ironically, he was probably the character with the scariest jump scares in this entire movie, which only fuels my hate-fire for him. The last culprit, who still seems to be a mystery, is the Puppet, or sometimes referred to as the Marionette.

We have speculated that she would make an appearance in the movie, as she was the one to give the children the gift of resurrection after they were killed by William Afton, but it seems like she wasn’t included in the movie. That is until people noticed at the end of the amazing end credits that the same cryptic voice that would spell words in the FNaF 2 mini-games was included in the movie and spelled out something. I couldn’t make out what it said myself, but after close examination, (and Peacock’s subtitles), we know that it spelled “C-O-M-E F-I-N-D M-E”. As this was being spelled out, fans noticed the familiar theme of her music box playing in the background, implying the Puppet is directly speaking to Mike, prompting him to find her. This isn’t the end of this manhunt, however. After going through the movie, fans started noticing in certain scenes that you could barely make out shapes in the backgrounds that look very similar to the Puppet. The Puppet may be in the movie, but she is lurking in the background, usually on the ceilings.

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Oct 27 2023

The Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie, Critics Loathe it, Fans LOVE it

It’s no secret that Blumhouse Productions’ Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNaF) went through a rough development over the last eight years. Despite all the waiting, fans are as anxious as ever to see Freddy and the gang on the big screen, so the question becomes: is it a good movie? As a huge FNaF nerd, (I am literally listening to Blumhouse’s official Five Nights at Freddy’s song playlist on Spotify as I’m writing this), I would say absolutely; this is THE near-perfect Five Nights at Freddy’s movie. However, not even I can ignore the fact that it can be very off putting to any potential newcomers to the franchise. This review will begin spoiler-free and will move into the spoiler territory following a brief warning.

Let’s start on the story, shall we? The general story follows Mike (Josh Hutcherson) as he struggles to keep custody of his little sister Abby (Piper Rubio) in a losing custody battle against his aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson). Following an incident at his last job, Mike visits a career counselor, hoping to land a solid job; this job, as you could guess, would be a nighttime security position at the now-abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a family pizza restaurant in the style of Chuck E. Cheese . We follow Mike through the five nights at his job as his life seems to keep going downhill.

The overall story is really good, but is very confusing and difficult to follow at times. I really wish that this movie wasn’t as short as it was because I think it really could’ve benefited from a longer runtime; at least an extra 25 minutes longer. To general audiences, the story, while being a little all over the place, is still enjoyable (and surprisingly heartwarming?). To critics, however, this movie’s story is absolutely unacceptable for their “marvel quality” of expectations when it comes to grand storytelling.

Moving onto what most people were anxious for, the level of scariness. Honestly, Five Nights at Freddy’s as a whole isn’t that scary, (maybe because I’ve been here since the beginning), as it heavily relies on cheap jump-scares as its main scare tactic. The movie, however, is scarier than the newer games, and maybe even more than the original games, in my opinion. It surprisingly lacks many jump-scares, but some of them get you GOOD. There were also some moments that caught me off guard, as I would never expect to see them in a PG-13 Five Nights at Freddy’s movie. I’ve seen critics complain that this movie lacked massive amounts of gore and blood, but newsflash, the games themselves already lack this. The games don’t have to resort to gore, as it nails atmospheric dread and horror. One of the movie’s strengths is that it is able to introduce a threatening aura to the cute and cuddly robot friends.

Speaking of cute and cuddly, the animatronics in this movie were both menacing and adorable. Blumhouse was able to make scary scenes involving Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Cupcake while also adding scenes that emphasized the more child-like nature of the robots. The one thing that I am happy about is that no one is criticizing the animatronics, as they are absolutely spectacular in this movie. I really liked every prop used in this movie, moving past just the animatronics. Honestly, they were all so likable, that its genuinely a struggle to choose a personal favorite, but if I had to, it’d be Bonnie :]

The acting is really good but could’ve been improved upon. Mike, Abby, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), Max (Kate Conner Sterling), the animatronics, and the children were really well acted, and I wouldn’t want any of them replaced. The weakest performance, in my opinion, is sadly Matthew Lillard’s Scott Raglan. I know this is a more controversial opinion, but I just thought they could’ve touched upon some of his scenes; in no way was it bad, but it could’ve been a little better. Blumhouse also nailed down how the animatronics moved, striking a perfect balance between freakishly smooth movements and stiff, robotic movements.

The music is amazing and fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the movie. They also had a great selection of non-original tracks, using 80’s music like “Talking In Your Sleep” and “Celebration”. I admit, I was a little worried when it came to the music selection of this movie, but I think fans won’t be disappointed with the tracks they included. The humor of this movie is also on point, getting many laughs from me, my family, and the entire theater. FNaF creator Scott Cawthon’s humor is funny and I’m glad they allowed him to make jokes of the same caliber with the script he co-wrote.

I think it’s time to move on to the objective flaws this movie has. I felt that the pacing was way too fast in the beginning and ending of the movie. Scenes are practically whizzed past you at lightning speed with little to no time to digest them, as you have to swallow more story in the new scene in front of you. The middle of the movie seems to find its footing on pacing, but for the next movie, assuming we get one, Blumhouse and Scott Cawthon really should focus on getting the pacing right.

Another issue is the storytelling itself. As I said before, the film’s story is fundamentally confusing, and the film only double downs on this trait. This wouldn’t be much of a problem if there were enough scenes explaining seemingly major plot points. I will expand upon certain scenes in a spoiler post later on, but if you are stepping into FNaF for the first time, be prepared to feel like an idiot walking out of the theaters. Hell, as a nine-year fan myself, I’m still trying to process the plot fully in my head.

Overall, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie was made with fans as a number one priority, and that’s a great thing! It does struggle to bring newcomers in however, and completely misses the mark in the critics’ expectations. I am really happy that this movie finally came out and am beyond satisfied with the finished product. The most saddening thing about this movie is that its being bashed on move-rating websites when it does not deserve score that low. I understand why people may not like the movie with the number of flaws it has, but I think people are being way too harsh towards Blumhouse and Scott Cawthon. If you are a fan, you need to watch this in theaters; if you’re a casual fan, its probably best to stream the movie on Peacock, but everyone should give it a shot!

Angelo Soto

Sep 18 2023

Top Ten Star Wars Live-Action Animals

Star Wars is famous and groundbreaking for many reasons including the depiction of unusual and captivating alien animals. The most recent and memorable examples were the magnificent purrgils that appeared in Ahsoka. Whether they’re reliable beasts-of-burdens or savage wildlife, here are the ten best Star Wars animals to appear on live-action films and TV shows. If there are any other Star Wars animals that deserve to be on the list be sure to comment below.

10. Mudhorn (The Mandalorian):

Resembling a giant wooly rhino, the mudhorn earned a lot of sympathy from fans despite its ferocious demeanor. Even though the fierce animal inspired the sigil of Din Djarinn, it was only protecting its egg, which made its death at the hands of Djarinn and Grogu much more disturbing.

9. Rancor (Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi):

Caged and forced to eat its victims, the gigantic rancor was a fearsome beast that tried to make a meal out of Luke Skywalker. The rancor also had a scene-stealing appearance in The Book of Boba Fett as Boba rode the animal and used it to stop his enemies.

8. Kowakian Monkey-Lizard (Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi):

Jabba the Hutt’s cackling pet creature was a hilarious standout during the first act of Return of the Jedi by the way it parroted the sadistic laughter of the sinister gangster. Salacious Crumb, the name of the animal, also displayed a malicious side thanks to its vile owner.

7. Exogorth (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back):

Talk about being in the belly of the whale! This behemoth produced many gasps after it was revealed that Han Solo actually landed his ship inside of the spaceborne slug instead of a cave in an asteroid. Han’s escape from the exogorth’s closing jaws was one of the film’s most thrilling moments.

6. Loth-Cat (Ahsoka):

When the loth-cat made its live-action debut in Ahsoka, its appearance captured viewers’ eye with the accuracy of its appearance and charm from Star Wars: Rebels. Can’t wait to see how the loth-wolf is eventually depicted.

5. Reek and Acklay (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones):

These two giant animals that were dispatched in the Geonosian arena to kill Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Senator Padmé Amidalla were two unique and deadly creatures that harkened back to the giant animals featured in a Ray Harryhausen epic.

4. Purrgil (Ahsoka):

The gentle space-faring whale and squid-like creatures were a truly impressive sight when they made their live-action appearance in Ahsoka. Even more impressive and inspiring was when the peaceful giants demonstrated their ability to travel into hyperspace.

3. Bantha (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope):

As one of the first animals featured in the Star Wars franchise these mammoth-like creatures with huge ram horns helped give the planet Tatooine a naturalistic and live-in look. Their further appearances in other films and TV shows cemented their status as the planet’s unofficial mascot.

2. Varactyl (Boga) (Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith):

There have been many notable beastly mounts in the Star Wars films but Boga, the long iguana-like varactyl ridden by Obi-Wan, rode stood out with its loyal and spirited nature. Even though it and its rider were fired upon, Boga faithfully obeyed Obi-Wan and kept him from harm while emitting truly unique animal sounds.

1. Tauntaun (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back):

This two-legged beast-of-burden was so eye-catching it was even featured prominently in posters for the film. Looking like a hairy theropod with ram horns, the tauntaun was a hardy mount ridden by Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. The way it was brought to life (at the time of the film’s release) through go-motion and puppetry made the animal realistic thanks to small touches like strange animal sounds and a frosty breath.

Noteworthy Mentions:

Blurrg, Colo Claw Fish, Dewback, Corellian Hound, Dianoga, Eopie, Fathier, Frog-Dog, Kaadu, Krayt Dragon, Luggabeast, Mynock, Opee Sea Killer, Orbak, Porg, Rathtar, Ronto (they taste great!), Sando, Sarlacc, Shaak,  Vexis Snake, Vulptex, Wampa

Sep 5 2023

Star Trek’s Many Timelines

By now Star Trek fans acknowledge that the official canon timelines of the Star Trek franchise is daunting. Being that Star Trek is 57 years old there are bound to be continuity problems but what has been more glaring are contradictions with the timeline and the more “modern” look of current-day Star Trek that clashes with older series.

There have been pretzel-twisting explanations in the TV shows and films to explain the contradictions, but they tend to fall apart on closer examination or are just ridiculous. More and more, fans have to accept the fact that either modern Trek is a soft reboot of the franchise or it represents new timelines that branched off the original Trek ages ago.

When Star Trek was relaunched in 2009 with the film Star Trek it was a good vehicle to reboot the franchise but the filmmakers did not want to completely alienate many fans. So an explanation was given that the events of Star Trek took place in an alternate reality that was created when the film’s Romulan bad guys time traveled to a time before the original series and changed the timeline.

However, this was not the first time that an alternate timeline was created in Star Trek. Actually this has happened many times in previous Star Trek TV shows starting with the original.

In the classic episode, “City on the Edge of Forever” a new timeline was created when Dr. McCoy went back in time and changed history so that the United States never entered World War II. This created a timeline where presumably the United Federation of Planets or Starfleet did not exist. Supposedly, the original timeline was restored when Kirk and Spock went back in time themselves and prevented McCoy from altering history. Or did they? The timeline McCoy created would still exist simply because he traveled to that pre-World War II period. Remember the scene where the hobo steals McCoy’s phaser and accidently kills himself? That created a new timeline where that man no longer existed. Even if that man never amounted to anything, his erasure would create a small ripple in time and this was never corrected by the end of the episode.

Here are some more examples: In Star Trek: First Contact, the crew of the Enterprise-E journey back to the mid-21st century to prevent the Borg from assimilating Earth. The Borg’s actions wound up killing many people who were involved with humanity’s first faster-than-light voyage. Even Riker and La Forge joined Zefram Cochrane to pilot the Phoenix, the first human-made warp ship. This created a new timeline even though the Enterprise-E crew stopped the Borg and the people the Borg killed remained dead. The crew interacted with people in the past including Cochrane, who was now aware of his destiny and this certainly had an impact on how he acted.

In Star Trek: Enterprise, a major arc involved the aliens called the Xindii who attacked Earth in the 22nd century, but it was revealed that such an attack never took place in the original timeline. More importantly, this attack was never undone when the story arc ended and was now part of the established canon timeline. It was stated that these incidents were part of a so-called Temporal Cold War that took place centuries in the future.

Another instance of the Star Trek timeline being changed was in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”. In that episode those pesky Romulans are revealed to have changed the original Trek timeline in that they prevented the rise of Khan and the outbreak of World War III from the original time of the 1990s. Now these events are supposed to take place in the middle of the 21st century and evidence of this change was shown in Star Trek: First Contact when it was mentioned that the war took place in the mid-21st century.

There are many other instances of permanently changed timelines throughout Star Trek but in the end it does not matter too much. The real-world reason for these changes are to keep Trek relevant with our times. After all, it would be strange to keep saying that the Eugenics Wars and World War III took place in the 1990s or that the dated look of the original TV show with buttons on consoles is supposed to represent a realistic future for humanity. There have been non-canon efforts such as novels to try to explain this away but the results are nonsensical.

The best advice is to just accept that the Star Trek timelines are very fluicdic. Do not give it too much thought and enjoy the stories.