Tinseltown Reviews

Aquaman  is a superhero film and the sixth in DC Extended Universe, directed by James Wan and starring Jason Moma, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, and Temuera Morrison. Taking place sometime after the events of Justice League , the movie follows Aquaman as he gets caught up in a battle for the throne of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis in order to stop his half-brother Orm from uniting the seven underwater kingdoms as Ocean Master and waging war against the surface world. So I don't get it. I just don't. That's how I felt after watching Aquaman  last Saturday (early screening, baby!) and reading all the reviews and  #Aquaman   tweets that followed. Because I'll just skip straight to the point and say I didn't like this movie. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie--unlike like many of DC's   previous   flicks , it's not actively inept. It's actually quite ept. It's c

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse  is an animated superhero film directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, starring Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Nicolas Cage, Kimiko Glenn, John Mulaney, and Liev Schreiber. The movie follows Miles Morales, a black-latino middle schooler who struggles to adjust to his new school and live up to his parents' expectations. After getting bitten by a genetically modified spider, he develops spider-like abilities and comes in contact with a variety of Spider-Men from different alternate universes, including an aged and disheveled Peter Parker who reluctantly teaches Miles how to become the next Spider-Man. I think it's no secret that I'm a big fan of Spider-Man. I kinda wrote a really long essay on why he's the best superhero don't @ me . And I'd probably be lying if I said my feelings on the character don't affect how I view his portrayals in media.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald  is a historical fantasy film directed by David Yates, written by J. K. Rowling, and starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller,  William Nadylam, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp. The film is the sequel to 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , the second in the Fantastic Beasts  series, and the tenth in the Wizarding World franchise. Taking place three months after the events of the previous film, The Crimes of Grindelwald  follows Newt Scamander and Tina Goldstein as they search for Credence Barebone in Paris, who himself is searching for his identity and lost family. In the meantime, Gellert Grindelwald is amassing a strong following for his upcoming war against Muggles. Hollywood has a prequel problem. Walk with me: Remember in 1999 when The Phantom Menace  was released and immediately was met with uproarious applause before everyone sat

Bohemian Rhapsody  is a 2018 musical biopic directed by Bryan Singer (and in part by Dexter Fletcher), starring Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, and Allen Leech. The film follows Freddie Mercury's life from the formation of the British rock band Queen in 1970 to their famous Live Aid performance in 1985. The film is not a completely faithful retelling of Mercury's life, with several changes made to better fit a film narrative. I think this is a good movie for anyone who is interested in Freddie Mercury's life being told (and edited) to fit a nice two-hour runtime. And sure that sounds obvious, so let me explain what I mean by that. If you're looking for a great, enjoyable movie centering on the struggles of the life of a musical genius, there are probably better movies out there. If you're looking for a really accurate documentary about Freddie Mercury's life that isn't afraid to go deep into his psychology, drug use, s

Daredevil  is a Marvel-Netflix miniseries created by Drew Goddard, starring Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Wilson Bethel, Jay Ali, and Joanne Whalley. The third season follows the titular vigilante at his lowest, recovering from the events of The Defenders . Upon hearing of Wilson Fisk's release from prison by the FBI, Matt Murdock decides to completely abandon his civilian life and embrace his identity as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, committing to kill the Fisk--the Kingpin of Crime--himself. The Context I've been fairly vocal on this movie blog of how disappointing the Marvel Netflix Universe has been lately. The first two seasons of Daredevil  and the first seasons of Jessica Jones  and Luke Cage  all came out at a time when many people were questioning the longevity of the superhero genre as a whole. After all, we were getting titles like Thor: The Dark World , Avengers: Age of Ultron ,  Ant Man , and Batman v. Superman: D

A Star is Born  is a romantic musical drama directed by Bradley Cooper and starring himself, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliot, Andrew Dice Clay, and Rafi Gavron. The movie, the fourth iteration of this story on the big screen, centers on the relationship between a rock-country musician who is nearing the end of his career due to his recklessness and deep alcoholism. He happens to meet a young waitress with a beautiful voice who aspires to become a singer, and the two begin a relationship where he tries to push her to "tell the world what she has to say" while also trying to overcome his personal struggles. This movie absolutely took me by surprise. Judging from the trailer, I expected this movie to be a fairly generic romance movie/chick flick about an established and jaded musician who pushes the young and naive girl to chase after her dreams, and in doing so remembers his own love for music. I expected a cheesy love story with twists and turns, ups and downs, ending with eith