Mini Movie Review Marathon · 3:14pm Dec 3rd, 2021
Hello all. I've had this thought rattling around the old noggin for a while, and thought I'd dash it off while I'm still waiting to depart on my trip.
I've seen a share of movies in the past several months, and while I've wanted to write up my thoughts on them for a while, I've not found it in me to sit down and do an in-depth writeup of them... so I thought I'd just compress the whole thing and do each movie as its own paragraph or two. Keep it simple and to the point.
So without further ado, let's dive in. 
Spoilers to follow. You've been warned!
Black Widow -
This movie would have been much better if 1) it had come out before Infinity War dropped, and 2) would have benefited from a R-rating. The first half of the movie is dour, and tries to be like a gritty tough spy movie, but doesn't quite land, because it stays at the typical PG-13 level for a Marvel movie. As it is, the movie really picks up when David Harbour's character of Red Guardian comes in: he's like an evil ex-Soviet counterpart to Mr. Incredible, and he's hilarious. 
The movie picked up a lot more when it settled into being a dysfunctional family dynamic between Natasha, her "sister" Yelena, and Red Guardian as the "father" and the mad scientist Milena as the "mom." The real weak point of this movie for me was its villains. Dreykov is a creep but he has nothing more than that. (And while that may be intentional, admittedly, part of me feels he could have more memorably realized.) And the depiction of Taskmaster was honestly a real disappointment. While I get what the intent of changing the character from the original material was, it did not land for me and just felt like the movie was retreading ground from The Winter Soldier, Agents of SHIELD, and others.
The Suicide Squad -
This movie was a delightfully crass, gory romp. It's unabashedly violent and cynical, but with a real smartness about its violence and mean-spirited moments, and even manages to sneak some actual emotion and pathos in-between the moments of carnage and crude humor. The cast is full of standout performances; Idris Elba and John Cena are perhaps the most obvious for praise in their roles as Bloodsport and Peacemaker, but props much be given to Daniella Melchor (Ratcatcher 2) as well as Sylvester Stallone (King Shark), and David Dastmalchian (Polka Dot Man). This movie also lets Joel Kinnamon and Margot Robbie finally flex their acting muscles as Rick Flag and Harley Quinn... I was particularly impressed by Harley in this movie. This movie delightfully mixes together a lot of different material from the comics and I applaud James Gunn and his crew for putting together such an outstanding successor to that dreadful 2016 movie. 
Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings -
I had a lot of doubts going into this one. I've never cared a hoot about the Mandarin as a comic-book villain, and honestly think that the character is one that Marvel should have retired a LONG time ago. (He's basically just Fu Manchu with fancy rings. I don't care if he's wearing kooky robes or a nice suit - a stereotype is a stereotype.) But that being said, this movie did about as good a job as it could have. I was pleasantly surprised watching this story of Shang-Chi (which REALLY made me think of ATLA and Zuko in some ways: supernatural martial artist with serious father issues, a hidden village that reveres a dragon, and the guy with father issues learns to draw from his mother's example? Zuko and Shang-Chi should hang out), though with the caveat that for me, the real MVPs of the cast were Awkafina as Shang-Chi's normal friend, and Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery. The former made a good audience surrogate for us to react to this crazy world of super-martial arts, and the latter was just a hilarious addition to the movie. (His speech about Planet of the Apes and acting is wonderful. XD) The actual "Mandarian," Wenwu, was all right. The scene that really made him *work* for me was the flashback where he murders some gangsters and then, right after committing brutal violence, gently asks his son to stand by him in vengeance. That made me buy the idea of this guy as a brutal warlord whose major grace is his love of family.
The Last Duel -
I saw this one out of curiosity. The short of it is that it's about the last judicial duel fought in medieval France, between two knights, Jean le Carrouges and Jacques le Gris; over the matter of Jacques being accused of raping Jean's wife Marguerite. The movie is told in three sections, that portray each rendition of the truth, as according to the viewpoint character. (The movie clearly settles on Marguerite's account, told last, as THE truthful one. This movie may use some aspects of Rashomon in its differing accounts of the truth, but it clearly comes down on one person being right as opposed to leaving everything ambiguous.)
I won't mince words. This is not an easy watch. The movie hits hard on many accounts, ESPECIALLY in regard to Jacques' assault. (This scene is depicted twice, first from *his* perspective, and then later from *hers*. The change in POV horribly emphasizes the sheer cruelty and degradation of such a deed.) It's also definitely very topical. Watching Marguerite on trial, questioned and interrogated by church elders about her account of the rape, is a very uncomfortable reminder of how pervasive and long-running some of these problems in society are.
Adam Driver is a real standout in this movie as Jacques le Gris. He manages to be strangely charming, and even human, without the movie ever letting him off the hook for his crime. Between him and Matt Damon as Jean le Carrouges, you really get the phrase "every man is the hero of his own story." (Ben Affleck is a highlight as the sleazy baron who basically corrupts Jacques. Pierre is a sleazy jerk, but he is very darkly funny, and clearly cares for Jacques. It's a hell of a tightrope to walk in regards to acting, but he pulls it off.) Jodie Comer is great in her role as well, even if her portion of the movie is the shortest. Some have raked Ridley Scott over the coals for this, but I personally feel that it works; or at least that some critics need to stop overanalyzing every aspect of this movie in order to claim it's "really" misogynist or what. 
And the titular duel is just magnificent. 
Holy shit, was I ever on the edge of my seat for that whole sequence.
Dune -
Based on the iconic Frank Herbert novel, about the bizarre world of Arrakis, home to sandworms and magical spice dust and brutal desert warriors, Dune was a curious watch for me. I've never read the original book but I know its pop culture footprint, in everything from Star Wars to Warhammer. (A LOT of stuff about Warhammer made much more sense to me after seeing this movie.) Though honestly, while this movie is an outstanding feat to look upon, and was clearly made with passion by the director, I'll also say that this is most definitely a movie that would be best suited for those who are prior fans of the material, or have an engagement with the setting in some way or other. Jason Momoa was a favorite performer in this one, both because of his clear importance to Paul Atreides (which gave me a better way to connect to Paul himself) and also because he had a clear sense of humor to him.
It's very interesting to look at this movie if you're a Star Wars fan, and realize what stuff George Lucas drew from and also what he changed, or even outright inverted, from the original book. True, Luke Skywalker and Paul Atreides are both young men with special lineage and abilities. But Paul is already from a noble family and has grown up in privilege - also interesting, taking the prequels into account, is that his special power, The Voice, comes to him from his mother rather than his father. Luke Skywalker's story is framed around him and the idea of his father, and more to the point, instead of being a young nobleman caught in a deadly game of political backstabbing and maneuvering, he starts out as a farmboy with his eye on the horizon. Very interesting contrast, and the contrast made me think a lot about George Lucas and that decision with the character of Luke.
Eternals -
I'll be blunt. This movie did not do it for me. This is honestly the first MCU movie to fall on the negative side for me. (And I say this as someone who genuinely likes Iron Man 2, the usual MCU whipping boy, and even found stuff to enjoy in Thor the Dark World, the *other* usual whipping boy of the franchise!)
This movie worked best with some of its side characters. Kingo and Phastos were the real standouts of the title characters for me. Kit Harrington was nice as Dane Whitman, but he had so little time onscreen I really hope that it gets fixed going forward. The cleverest thing that this movie does with its plot about space gods and alien monsters is to flip the straightforward "good Eternals versus evil monsters" narrative and have it turn out to be a fabrication by the Celestials, as a means of essentially farming planets. (That being said, I was NOT a fan of the movie making Ikaris turn out to be a bad guy. Between his blue costume, flight and heat-vision powers, it felt like the MCU was jumping on the "evil Superman" bandwagon, and I legitimately hated that.)
I know critics will complain that MCU movies are too jokey, but good Lord, did this movie make me pine for Joss Whedon's Avengers movies. This movie's characters come across as so serious, and while that might be appropriate for millennia-old 'demigods,' I really found myself appreciating characters like Kingo's valet, or Phastos' family. They made a good anchoring for the Eternals and the notion the movie tries to sell us on of them wanting to connect with humanity. If I had made this movie, I probably would have put the focus much more squarely on Sersi and Dane (and also made Sersi more lively, because no offense to Gemma Chan, but her character in this movie felt VERY nerfed compared to the comics' Sersi). As it stands, this movie is almost like trying to watch an Avengers movie made without any of the setup done from the prior MCU movies. There is so much to unpack with the ideas and characters onscreen, that none of it can really get time to breathe, and so the majority of it fell flat.
Really hope that "Spider-Man: No Way Home" will be able to deliver a good superhero ensemble piece...
And that is all for now.
Hope you all found these write-ups of interest. Let me know if you have any thoughts to share, in the comments! 
I think the trouble with Eternals is that it's an ensemble cast movie, with a pretty big ensemble. I enjoyed it, but I do feel like it could have benefitted from being a miniseries to give individual characters a bit more, well, characterization. Not a bad movie for me, but, assuming a passing grade of 40%, I'd give it a 65 at most.
I feel like if Eternals had come out AFTER a Eternals mini-series where we get to know more about each character, even if each episode is just 10 minutes long, it would probably have been a bit better. Or, I would have enjoyed it more.
Shang-Chi was great though, with a much more personal narrative and a more focused cast. Also, while Awkwafina's character took me a bit to warm up to, I'm glad she wasn't an idiot or abrasive. She's got her own set of skills and serves to ground the movie in the familiar. Between this and Raya, I'm curious to see where she goes from here.
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That's a very good idea about Eternals. Introducing and fleshing out the characters in their own little installments would have helped the movie SO much. (I think people tend to forget how much of a long shot the original success of the MCU was. We had, what, five movies before we even got to see the Avengers on the big screen? That's a LOT of setup, but it sure as hell worked to make the payoff worth it.)
Yeah, of the Marvel movies I've seen this year, so far, Shang Chi was the best of the lot. And agreed, while it took me a little bit to connect with Katy - it was so, so good that she wasn't a jerk or a dummy either. She's able to help in her own way, and even get some badassery in the big battle sequence, so yeah, very much a good way to use the audience surrogate character.
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Hell, see MLP for how ensemble casts work. You set each one up first, giving us a bit to get a basic idea of what this character is like, THEN bring them all together. Still, for what it was, I enjoyed it, and I'm hoping that when next we see them, it'll be better.
And yeah, Katy could have been screwed up SO easily. She jokes, sure, but it's a way to deal with the strangeness and unfamiliarity of the situation. It's how she copes. She's more than pure comic relief.
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And agreed, hoping that the movies are able to improve further from here.
Also a good point of comparison too.
Yeah, that's also true. She could have been obnoxious with the wrong performer or script, but the character is more than just "funny".
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Agreed. As for Black Widow, yeah, pretty much everyone agrees that it would have hit much harder if it had come out before Infinity War. And, I agree. I enjoyed it for what it was, and I see what they were doing with Taskmaster, but had it come out, say, right after Civil War, it would have probably been received better.
Have you ever watched the 1984 variation of Dune?
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No, never have.
Solid reviews. ^^
Glad you also got a kick out of Suicide Squad like me, and you were able to see Shang-Chi. I still need to see that movie. Although I don't really have interest in Last Duel, cause... no. I like to escape the hells of the real world, I'm not sure I'd be able to sit through an assault scene
And Dune and Eternals... ehhhh. Didn't really have interest to see either of those, honestly. Looked meh to me. But glad you were able to get somethin' out of Dune. ^^
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Thank you.
And you'll get no grief from me about that. It is a very hard sequence to stomach, and while that is most certainly intentional, I don't begrudge you at all for not wanting to subject yourself to seeing that.
You probably would not have liked Dune. It's a very dense story to unpack (the movie here is based on, from what I understand, about the first third to half of the novel) and it is very much a movie made by fans, for fans.
Eternals is a movie I wanted to give a chance to, mainly because I've been dubious about Marvel before and have been proven wrong again and again. (I like to say that I thought they were crazy at first to cast Chris Evans as Captain America, or to have a movie about Groot and Rocket Raccoon. Hell, I thought they were nuts to make a movie out of "Civil War" as well!)
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Okay just curious. Also you definitely have some standards when it comes to reviewing films.
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I've been told that I can have some very exacting standards in regard to movies. XD
It just kinda runs in the family, at least in my opinion.
But we all have our buttons, is how I look at it. *shrugs*