In Retrospect: Venom Let There Be Carnage

Time again to look back.

I think I get it more now. Originally in my review I said they knew what they were going for and succeeded, and on second viewing I enjoyed it more than the first time. I respect it a lot too, it is this sort of batshit comic book movie that is fairly loose on logic and rightfully so when you have a story with shifting alien blobs and super sonic screams that would make Rob Halford jealous, it's there to entertain and I applaud it for that. I think we need more comic book movies like this, it has the same attitude as a 90s comic book movie it doesn't take itself seriously and is there to give you a good time. I'm happy we get this cast back, I'm happy we get to see a continuation of Eddie and Venom's life/romance/crimefighting, and God I'm gonna get so much shit for this. I'm gonna say it anyway. Tom Hardy is cast better as Eddie Brock than Bane, and I very much liked Bane in The Dark Knight Rises it was a very good performance, but he can have a wild time with this script and it's infectious how humorous he plays it. I gave some good grief over how they handled Anne and her standing with Eddie, but it didn't bug me much this time around and should make for an interesting dynamic if God willing there be a 3rd movie. Do it, I want you to do it. If you seriously think that I would not attend the day one premiere of a movie where Eddie and Venom beach bum about, watching spanish soap operas, and trying to keep a low profile as their odd couple antics increase, then you must be new. Hi, welcome, we love the odd stuff here, hope you stick around. I can see a ton of people really bash this movie when it comes to Woody Harrelson and Naomi Harris, not so much because of the actors but the characters themselves. Oh they completely gave no respect to Carnage and his story, and I have no comment on that because I can't name two symbiotes beyond our hero and villain in this, and I really need to watch more Atop The Fourth Wall to learn more Spidey and Venom information. I can't believe how foolish I was though, I was sitting there the whole time in the theater thinking, "Why is that woman so strikingly beautiful? Why do I think I've seen her before?" when clearly as bright as daylight, as frank as Frankenstein, that's Naomi Harris gracing my vision. I wish to apologize for that. Still though, best scene, maybe even my favorite scene in a comic book movie in the last 5 or so years, Venom taking the stage. I don't care, I love it. It is so damn weird and mostly superfluous to the plot, but I adore it and I'm so happy it exists. And I'm giving some long overdue praise to Peggy Lu, Mrs. Chen shine on you crazy diamond. We need to give her so much attention and love, she is brilliant, the movies would not be as good without her, I have spoken. And I know sequels are very difficult to do, because there is precedent. No one knew how the first Venom movie would go, least of all me, and it was a weird hot mess that I now love, so when you get a second movie you want it to be as good as the first if not better. And while I don't think that, my estimation still has went up from the first time watch of it. So the score is now 3 stars, 7.5/10, you can enjoy it and you can take it as seriously as it wants to be which isn't much at all. I had kind of a ehhhh it's okay, now I think it's a decent movie and I feel that is the trend for this week when tomorrow we unpack....a lot with an in retrospect of No Time To Die.

Spectre

Alright. Let's get this over with.

Spectre has really put Quantum in a better light for me, it's truthfully the most problematic and so un-Bond film of the series. Never Say Never Again probably has more standing in being a James Bond film and that was nothing but a titanic f*** you and die to Cubby Broccoli, EON productions, and Roger Moore. Now I will give good points here and there, the overall production in terms of cast, cinematography, stunts, locales, and direction is good. However. The sole unifying factor in making this quite possibly the lowest ranking film in this series for me is the story. And what boggles my mind to shattered pieces is this screenplay was written by the same guys who wrote Skyfall, what in the everlasting nine circles of hell is this bullshit? This movie plays out like any generic spy thriller. Take out the Aston, take out Bond, SPECTRE, the returning cast members, and the little references to past films, and you would lose precisely nothing in this story. Granted we start off actually really good with a Birdman-esque sequence of long takes in Mexico City where Bond essentially goes rogue agent in tracking down an assassin which leads to a trail of breadcrumbs culminating to the discovery of the organization of SPECTRE and it's head #1 Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Now on paper that is not a bad plot, we finally get the classic villain organization back after decades of that asshat Kevin McClory (who can eat shit you f***ing hack bastard) locking the rights away in a lawsuit that pretty much cut short the lives of Ian Fleming and Albert Broccoli, and now Barbara can utilize it in a story. Huzzah! It didn't work out that great but I'm happy we can see it again. There is so much I can dig into here, almost going through the plot point by point there is that much stuff to severely question and hate but I will attempt to bullet point some things that hurt the film overall. Madeline Swan is the most bland Bond Girl I have seen and I know Lea Seydoux can act, if memory serves the first film I saw her in was Blue Is The Warmest Color and I really really liked that movie and she did very well in it, but there is no way in this universe or any alternate universe you can convince me that she is the woman Bond decides to settle down with. No. No. Wrong. She has nothing on Tracy or Vesper in the slightest, but I do actually hold high hopes that the next movie will give a lot to her character. The action in this movie is beyond dull, none of it is thrilling, visually interesting, or impactful. It feels so empty, from a car chase more suited to Roger Moore with comedy beats galore, shootouts that makes me feel like I'm in the vacuum of space, and nonsensical final confrontations. I could bitch at nauseatic lengths of the big interconnecting web that this movie tries to weave and include all the movies before. God Marvel just made it impossible for movies just to be movies, and like sheep everyone tried their stab at it. Jesus wept. Okay, gotta focus. Christoph Waltz is a very fine actor, Blofeld is a memorable villain but never had much of a solid grip in terms of personality and initiative, and this is the worst Blofeld I have seen. It does not work in any semblance whatsoever, and once more I hold hope for No Time To Die to actually give the characters something to do. Everyone is acting fine and well here, but there is no meat to these character's bones. Daniel had so much to work with in the last film and could convey so much with a look alone, and here...there's nothing. Not for anyone. It's this void of recognizable elements, with occasional fun and nice bits of dialogue and story, but is so bogged down by everything else it's such an easy skip. I don't like the action, I don't like the big story moments, I certainly don't like Blofeld, I don't like the opening titles all that much, it just gave me nothing. That sucks. Nobody wants to hate a James Bond movie, but when the bullshit mans says that's bullshit you take his word for it. 1.5 stars, 4/10. Tomorrow, the end of an era with an almost 3 hour long runtime. There is no time to die, but you only live twice Mr. Craig, and here's hoping for an all time high.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Well Christ that was quick.

I swear this movie hit the big climactic fight 30 minutes after it started, but brownie points for not only keeping up the pace but giving another 90 minute comic book movie that's just there for fun and entertainment. Now I will say I didn't like it as much as the original but as evidence from the In Retrospect provides, it'll be well worth rewatching and re-evaluating. So we pick up some time after the first, Eddie and Venom are still living together as they encounter captured serial killer Cletus Kasady who obtains a unique symbiote of his own and goes on a rampage with Eddie having to intervene. Basic plot, not too much happens that furthers the incidents and characters from the first film, you think they might go for a reclaiming of a lost flame with Anne but it just kinda ends, if anything the subtext of romance pretty much becomes text with Eddie and Venom. And let me tell you something right now. You do not need to give me any comic book nonsense, no Carnage, no other villains, just give me a romance movie between Venom and Eddie. I will sit through every single one of them. Gladly. Their dynamic was the best part of the movie, and while the film is nothing spectacular to write home about I do feel it did exactly what it set out to do and did it well. The symbiote action was done I feel better than the first, it had way more comedy beats to it, and it sort of still fits that same style as the first movie. I give it 3 stars, 7/10, and tomorrow is gonna be a good day.

Pirates Of The Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

Sequel time!

Okay second film in the Pirates series, which I actually quite like even though it was quite literally written as it was being filmed. Oops. But anywho, story time! Jack has a debt to pay to the infamous Davy Jones, and in order to get out of it Jack as well as several other parties search for the eponymous dead man's chest. Not as hard to describe the plot as the last movie is it? Plot's pretty straightforward all things considered. Acting is still just as fine as ever, although Bill Nighy is quite engaging as the captain of The Flying Dutchman, in fact Davy Jones is my favorite part of the movie. His character beyond superstitous talk and legend of him and what power he wields in the seas, is actually a mystery. And I love the design of him and his crew, cursed men which have morphed with various sea life, for example a man has a normal body but has the head of a hammerhead shark, Davy Jones is a man with tentacles for a beard and a crab leg and arm attached to a human body. Sounds pretty great and it looks outstanding too. Surprisingly there's not much action wise, but when you look back at the first movie we had, a town raided, a ship chase, and the final fight between Jack and Barbossa. In this movie we have this very bizzare escape from an island filled with cannibals (Don't look at me, I didn't write it!), two attacks by the Kraken, one long ass swordfight which I have no doubt goes on for about 15 or 20 minutes which is the only swordfight by the way, and a brief ship chase. Yeah....not quite the action masterpieces our memories had of these movies. But action isn't everything if the story is good, and we like the characters. The story isn't that great, but I still like it just for the villain. Jack and company are still fun to be around so I can't say the film has truly flopped. But tomorrow, we talk about the film most people consider to be the absolute worst and I have not seen that movie for years so it will be interesting to say the least. So tune in tomorrow where we meet our cast At World's End.