jonesy10

For me the time has come to pass the long held torch of the classic Sam Raimi Spiderman films a generation ago to today's iteration of the iconic friendly neighborhood superhero. My youth of 25 years ago being wowed by what Raimi brought to the screen that was thought impossible with the perfect acting performance for Spiderman/Peter Parker in the shape and talent of Tobey Maguire that I didn't think would ever be matched never mind beaten. Step forward then Tom Holland that has now played this beloved American hero for 10+ years and counting compared to Maguire's glorious 5 years behind the mask. The MCU's latest offering using Sony's greatest screen hero is "Brand New Day" and it's fair to say after watching it, it's right up there sitting next to Spiderman 2 (2004) and No Way Home (2021) as the all time best entries in the long running series. The story picks up 4 years later in Peter's life living a nomad existence after the shocking events in (NWH) and slowly has to reconnect with society as Peter while the public at large have been in love with Spidey's heroic exploits for years now. The usual 2 main characters of MJ and Ned are here to complete that triumvirate where most of the film's emotional core resides as we see Peter struggle to accept his two closest allies and friends since high school have moved on with their lives now they're finishing up with college. The film also brings in plenty of new actors/characters to the mix that are either friend or foe and it's joyous to see the film weave all these plots in and out of one another with skill of the craft of complex comic book screenplay writing. Some characters I reckon non-fans of the comics won't know who they are but it doesn't distract from the plot in anyway. Other new characters are in the MCU world building now through this film for the long term and I think all of them worked. The action set pieces are top tier from what has to be a massive production budget, the special effects are what you'd expect from these types of blockbuster films, outstanding technical achievements that no doubt will earn Oscar nominations. It's got brilliant moments of levity to be found but it doesn't take away from the harder hitting emotions between these mainstay characters when the superhero duties needs to give way to something far more important, being a human being and grounded. The film is 2 1/2 hours long and thankful doesn't feel like it, I think the filmmakers got the timing and pacing spot on. The direction is snappy, colorful and spectacular to look at on the big screen. This is Tom Holland's best performance as Spiderman and actually for me, it's his best film performance of anything he's been in. We already saw a fair chunk of it in (NWH), but now 5 years on and Holland has definitely matured into a very decent actor with that useful ability to play college age roles even if he's now 30 years old. With both The Odyssey and Brand New Day now out this summer, this most be Holland's best year so far as a major A-list actor, he deserves the plaudits and Spiderman Brand New Day gets a solid 10/10 from me, just like The Odyssey did.

The Odyssey (2026) is an instant masterpiece, a crowning achievement of modern filmmaking. Certainly one of the greatest films I've ever seen and without doubt the loudest coming through those theater speakers. The pounding musical soundtrack that ramps up with the incredible action set pieces is actually deafening and visceral to experience. An astonishing version of the iconic 2nd poem brought to life in thrilling, at times frightening & always spectacular glory. I can only imagine today seeing the teenagers watching this epic film and it becoming one of their locked in childhood memories for the next 50 years in the same way when I was a teenager of the 1980s growing up on classic fantasy swords and fantastical monster fare like Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Clash of the Titans (1981). What Christopher Nolan has filmed is something really special that will still be talked about by film lovers 50 years from now. The casting is almost perfect, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Elliot Page, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Robert Pattison, Travis Scott, Charlize Theron were all very good, Damon and Hathaway giving exceptional performances. Serviceable performances from Tom Holland, Himesh Patel, Corey Hawkins, John Leguizamo, Mia Goth, Will Yun Lee to name a few. The only one that was actually jarring for the first few minutes was Jon Bernthal simply because he always sounds like "Frank Castle/The Punisher" thus making him come across way too modern in his usual snappy voice delivery to by suitable for the Classical Greece era. Apart from that Jon always delivers in the action dept. Be mindful of the ongoing online campaign to try and destroy the reputation of Christopher Nolan and this film purely because of sound casting choices that after now seeing the film, the choices are just normal choices for that period of time in real life. The only true subversion Nolan is guilty for is bucking the trend of all white American and British cast of actors from films 60 and 70 years ago. The racism of today's online content creators won't dent this film one bit and you all know who I'm referring to.

When I first heard about this film coming out and it's subject matter being about the infamous Boston Strangler investigations I was very interested. Then I found out who was the lead actor and it's Kiera Knightley, and my hopes slowly flushed away. I still gave it a watch as I am a fan of true crime content in many forms. But this was being released on HULU and not in the cinema which is always a bad sign the studio have no faith in it. They were right, and my assumptions about the film were also right - it's yet another bland meandering boring plod through nearly two hours of not much tension when there should be, and following the two crusading female news journalists played decently enough to be fair by Carrie Coon and Knightley. Whereas Coon brings a weary heft to her side character role, it's Knightley that gets the lion share of the screen and the film suffers for it. Not once did I believe this character played by Knightley would be behaving and acting so recklessly in her dogged pursuit of the Strangler. I wouldn't say she's a bad actress of the past, but the range for me seems to be the same whatever she's cast in. And now in these modern times we get to hear Knightley character come across all preachy and very girl bossy with her male colleagues, male bosses and her husband accusing them of generally being women haters for one of a better couple of words, standing in the way of female progress and preferring her to stay at home with the kids etc. It's this type of pointless social commentary that Hollywood scriptwriters currently don't get and think the audience wants to be lectured to for two hours. We just want entertainment and this film isn't it. In no way should this film be placed beside the superior "The Boston Strangler" from 1968 with the legendary Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda. In fact we just didn't need a new film about this already well informed story from American crime history, especially with the modern classic "Zodiac" from 2007 that did all this 100 times better. Pointless and Preachy.