Benz Eye View: Last Night in Soho

Pros:

1.) My favorite special effect in the film is the dream sequences with Sandie. When Ellie (played by Thomasin McKenzie) dreams of Sandie (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), there are plenty of moments where Sandie and Ellie switch places in those dreams despite Ellie is supposed to be observing Sandie. The best parts of those effects are when Ellie is still observing Sandie, but you can only see her in reflections in mirrors when it is dark; they are subtle, but she can be spotted. It may not be that hard of a special effect to make, but it is done very well to show that Ellie is dreaming/having visions about someone else.

2.) I love the connection between Ellie and Sandie throughout the film. Ellie is an upcoming fashion designer who loves old-school fashion, especially 60s fashion; and she gets some of those ideas (and gains some confidence) from the dreams she has about Sandie. Speaking of Sandie, she wants to be an aspiring singer during 1960s London, and while she loves the glamour and fame on the outside, it is actually gloomy and dreary on the inside, making her dreams turn into a nightmare. As a result, those dreams get darker and grimmer, and it starts to interfere with Ellie’s life to the point of almost losing her mind (thus the horror angle). While Ellie does not have just as bad as Sandie, the fact that she is the inspiration for some of her work (and she is just a nice girl) makes Ellie committed to finding whoever killed Sandie. Not only do I like these two’s connection to each other but the mystery (even though it is not that strong) and horror throughout the film make it easy to care about the two and help Ellie become clear from her insanity and Sandie with her depressing stardom.

3.) I have mentioned that I am a sucker when it comes to old-time 40s to 60s fashion and timeline, and this film makes me enjoy it even more. From the fashion to the settings and to the choice of songs, it really does look like 1960s London when the film flashbacks to that timeline. Not much to say here; I just enjoy these types of aesthetics, and I believe it is done fantastically.

Cons:

1.) Ellie has a love interest named John (played by Michael Ajao), and he is as interesting as a doornail. If there is one thing I can describe the guy, it is that he is the nice guy character; nothing more and nothing less. All he does is that he is kind to Ellie when nobody in college treats her well and that he said that he is similar to her when he moved out from his hometown to go to London. I cannot add any more than that; he is that uninteresting.

2.) It is established that Ellie has some powers; she has the ability to see visions of her dead (but happy) mom and she has dreams of Sandie when she moves from her hometown and rents a room in London. She also sees some ghosts as the film progresses, and it is not clear how her powers truly work. She dreams of Sandie when she is asleep, but then she starts seeing visions of her when she is awake. There is one point where Ellie was drugged, and it affected her powers for a while, but other than that, it seems inconsistent. Also, something happens near the end where her powers become more confusing when it affects someone else (…I think). All in all, the film needs to establish her powers a bit more.

3.) There is a twist that happens near the end of the film, and I found it to be a little insulting. No spoilers on what happens there, but if you pay attention, you can see the twist (and a red herring) coming easily. I say the twist is insulting because Ellie should have spotted this earlier since it is an integral part of her discovery about Sandie, and she somehow missed it. I would not be surprised if some people say that this may end up ruining the film for them. It does not for me since I like the journey of Ellie and Sandie, but it did decrease my enjoyment when that twist came in and I had to think about it for a while on why it does not exactly work.

Overall:

Happy Halloween, everybody! Time for a horror review of a film called Last Night in Soho directed by Edgar Wright. Considering the director and his work (and add that Matt Smith of Doctor Who fame, as well as my favorite Doctor, is also in it), I was already excited about how this film will go, and I thought he did a splendid job. While there are a few hiccups that prevent this film from being perfect, it does a fantastic job of showing a girl having a psychological uplifting from seeing visions of another “successful” girl in the 60s, and having that all change to a psychological horror when everything starts to go wrong. If you want to see a horror film that bends more to the mind and psychology instead of monsters and demons, Edgar Wright’s latest film will work for you. Let it be the last night you will have for this year’s Halloween.

7/10

Benz Eye View: Dune (2021)

Pros:

1.) The world of Dune is so cool to watch. While the film spends plenty of time mostly on a desert planet of Arrakis, we learn more about its people as well as many of the inner works of House Atreides (and a bit of House Harkonnen), and it is compelling to hear. While it is clear that there are many areas that will soon be explored in the sequel, what is shown is enough to hold many people interested to continue watching this film…

2.) …What also helps is that the presentation is fantastic. From the set and costume designs to the creatures and the ships, everything in Dune looks it rivals Star Wars and Star Trek. I know that this is based off a book, so it has an advantage what it should look like, but it is still clearly imaginative and I would not be surprised if George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry got some inspiration for their work. The creativity is strong with this one.

3.) I like the potential for some of these characters. While not all of them do work for me considering the short screen time they have, the ones that have longer screen time seem to have potential to be great characters in the next film. This is a long and slow film, and while there are some things about the characterization that needs to be worked on (the film spends more time world-building than character-building), I am willing to excuse that this will hopefully pay off in the sequel…

Cons:

1.) …That being said, as much as I said that I like the potential of these characters, most of them are bland. While their journeys could be interesting in the next film, this film makes them dull. Paul Atreides is the chosen one, Lady Jessica is the religious one, Duke Leto Atreides is the leading general, Gurney Halleck is the soldier, Duncan Idaho is the best friend/mentor, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is the villain, and on and on I can go with these people that are barely more than two-dimensional despite having great actors. The only two characters that have some depths are Lady Jessica (played by Rebecca Ferguson) and Duke Leto Atreides (played by Oscar Isaac) mainly from their backgrounds and their relationship to each other. They are not terrible characters, so I hope the sequel will make them better soon.

2.) This is one of those films that if you do not pay attention, you may end up getting lost. Even if you did pay attention, it seems like some details of the world and plot are withheld for later. There are a few moments where it is easy not to understand what is happening and/or know who these people are, because the film does not mention much about them. I am willing to forgive them for this since…well, I already said a bunch of times already about them making a sequel. However, I doubt many people will be as forgiving as I am.

3.) There are plenty of moments where Paul Atreides (played by Timothée Chalamet) has visions of the future. I was fine with it for most of the film, but I ended up getting sick of it as they kept going with it. The film was long enough already, and this felt like padding. Adding that most of them are foreshadowing for the next film (I assume), and it becomes tedious. The filmmakers thinks that these make me want to get excited for the next film, but it makes me want it to knock it off with the visions already.

Overall:

Based on a 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, Dune is one of the most popular sci-fi novels of all time. I never saw the 1984 movie, but I heard it was terrible. How does the 2021 version fare? There are two things that the film does extremely well: the visuals and the world. Everything else were either by standard or weak. Considering that this the first part of the two-part film series, I am willing to give this film some slack. It has potential to be great, and hopefully, its sequel will back it up. As it stands, it is not a bad watch, but I would not go as far as to be an instant sci-fi classic yet. Hopefully, if the next film does well, then this film series may be as good as its novel.

7/10

Benz Eye View: No Time to Die

Pros:

1.) All of the old characters that are still around since the first Daniel Craig 007 film are great to see again after all these years (the last 007 movie was made back in 2015). From James Bond to Dr. Madeleine Swann to Q to Eve Moneypenny, their interactions are good to see as though it was a high school reunion with friends. Even a couple of new characters are nice to see (i.e. Nomi started off as annoying at first, but she grew on me over time; and Paloma is a nice CIA agent, but it is odd for a woman who said that she only had three weeks of training suddenly fighting off enemy agents easily). If you wanted to see James Bond interacting some of his old friends and meeting new interesting ones, this movie does a good job laying them out.

2.) Like many of Daniel Craig’s Bond films, this movie does a good job exploring his flaws and weaknesses. In this case, James Bond (played by Daniel Craig) still has trust issues especially what happened between Madeleine (played by Léa Seydoux) and him. His patience can run thin, particularly with Blofeld (played by Christoph Waltz). When someone he knows gets killed, he will stop at nothing to kill the person. There is a few more to say, but that would lead to spoilers. Long story short, James Bond clearly still has issues with himself, and the movie explores it well.

3.) This may have been done before one way or the other, but how the main villain, Lyutsifer Safin (played by Rami Malek) plans to take over the world is kind of terrifying. It is best if I keep certain details from you, but how he plans it would make the Umbrella Corporation blush in embarrassment. Granted, it may be hard to believe on how it works for some people (especially science experts), but it is still an effective threat nonetheless.

Cons:

1.) As much as I like Rami Malek as Safin, he is not in the movie as much as I have hoped, and even the time he spent on-screen could not make him an interesting villain compared to the previous ones. One big reason why is that he does not really have a good connection to James Bond other than he knows Dr. Madeleine Swann. He does have a one-on-one talk with Bond, but he does not really shout intimidating to me other than a couple of moments. He seems to have a typical villainous reason on taking over the world that everybody has seen before (in this case, think of combining Ultron and Thanos’s motivations into one). Rami Malek does a good job looking intimidating, but there is a difference between acting intimidating and being intimidating as well as compelling.

2.) The Spectre group is involved in this movie, but it seems their reason being there is weak. They did something to Safin at a moment in his life, and he plans to have vengeance against what is left of the group. After that, they are never mentioned again. I get it is to establish that there is someone bigger than Spectre, but it would have been better if either Safin showed his nefarious plans to a big random group of people or get Spectre dragged into that big group. Otherwise, maybe the movie should not have involved Spectre and Blofeld.

3.) There is something that happens near the end of the movie that I will not spoil, but I honestly saw this coming. There were hints showered throughout the movie that is not subtle about it. When that event happened, the emotional moment did not hit as hard for me since I saw it from a mile away. It is still a good moment, but if the movie was more delicate on foreshadowing that, then emotions would run better for the audience.

Overall:

I apologize that it took me a while to review this; I had to deal with some personal affairs. Back to the review, my experience with the 007 film series goes back to Goldeneye to No Time to Die. I tried to watch the other 007 films at some point when I was young, but my attention laid elsewhere, though I plan to do that again one day. In the case of Daniel Craig’s run as 007, Casino Royale was excellent, Quantum of Solace sucked, Skyfall was awesome, and Spectre was disappointing. As for the new installment, No Time to Die is a good conclusion to Daniel Craig’s James Bond. It does not hit its stride perfectly, but it is a good ending to this era of James Bond, and I have no idea how they are going to continue the franchise without Daniel Craig. Regardless who would pick up the 007 mantle after this, Daniel Craig should be proud of his run as Bond…James Bond.

7/10

Benz Eye View: What If…?

Here is something interesting: an animated series taking place in the MCU, but with scenarios different from what we know. I am not sure this series is completely necessary to watch in the MCU (at the very least, the Watcher might be integral), but it is good idea to know what certain events would be like if they were different. Follow me into this MCU Marathon and ponder into this MCU show: What If…?

Pros:

1.) The animation is not too bad. While I doubt it will win any awards, I do like the character models can be expressive, and how they look similar to their live-action characters. The backgrounds look similar to the live-action settings, though it seems they look more like concept art rather than actual backgrounds, making the character models and background not mesh well. Still, the animation looks nice for this show, and while it would be nice to make this live-action, it still looks great regardless.

2.) Considering that this show is about what-if scenarios of the MCU, each episode can do whatever it likes. The concepts for most of these episodes are great such as the Avengers were never formed, Killmonger rescued Stark from the Ten Rings, and Doctor Strange lost his emotional heart instead of his hands. While not all episodes were executed well (the episode involving Thor as an only child is the worst episode in my opinion), this show has some good ideas that make an interesting watch.

3.) Honestly, some of these episodes have such great ideas that it would be cool to see a series taking place after their premiere episodes (which I heard that Marvel Studios is planning). I would love to see how a Star-Lord T’Challa would work at Earth and in the galaxy (though that is going to be difficult considering his actor, Chadwick Boseman is dead), how Captain Carter deals with the present world compared to the 1940s, or how the remaining Marvel heroes deal with the zombie pandemic. With great premises such as these, I hope the next season would both continue these stories as well as think of other good ones as well.

Cons:

1.) It is easy to nitpick certain plot points through each episode, especially when considering the MCU as a whole. On their own, these episodes have some issues (which I will explain later), but when you think about certain details, it may make these episodes fall apart if you think about it too much. Saving you from spoilers, here are a couple of examples: in “What If…T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?,” how did T’Challa manage to get a certain villain to change his ways considering how dedicated he was to his cause in the MCU? In “What If…Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?,” why would Doctor Strange go to the Ancient One if he never lost his hands since the main reason for coming to her in this episode is weak? If any of other plot issues like these bother you, you are most likely going to lose your suspension of disbelief for this show.

2.) The pacing can also move a bit too quickly. There are plenty of moments where the scene is ruined by not slowing down a bit and have the characters absorb what has just happened. Not every episode has this issue, but the ones that do may be the weaker episodes compared to the others. The worst episode guilty of this is “What If…Thor Were an Only Child?” Ignoring that this episode was wasted by having that idea to be used as a comedic party episode, it goes by so quickly that all of the plot points and writing were just a waste of time. Have these episodes slow down a bit, then the emotional impacts may be better.

3.) The voice acting can be hit or miss from the main cast. Some of the main cast members need to work on their delivery a bit (i.e., Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter/Captain Carter) while others do a good job on their roles (i.e., Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stephen Strange). Some of the characters are not played by their original cast members and are instead played by voice actors (i.e., Captain America is not played by Chris Evans, but is instead by played by Josh Keaton). Some of them did a good job replicating the original actors, but others clearly do not sound like them at all. While it is not too distracting for some actors not doing as good as a job than others, it is noticeable especially if it is not the same voices as the originals.

Overall:

This show has a good premise: what if certain events of the MCU are different, and how will it affect that world? It gives the creators to do whatever they want to make. I can think of a couple of good ones like “What if Xu Xialing was chosen to be the Mandarin’s assassin instead of Xu Shang-Chi?” or “What if Quicksilver lived, but Scarlet Witch died?” There are plenty of endless possibilities for this show, but the question is if they are executed well. In the case for the first season, it did not do a bad of a job. It needs to be improved here and there, but if the creators take these lessons to heart after this, I am sure that What If…? can be one of the best shows in the MCU. I am still unsure how this will all fit as a whole (for all I know, this is just for fun and not part of canon), but if this going where I think it is going (keeping in mind on the Loki series and Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer), then this could make the MCU more interesting.

Occasional Viewing

Benz Eye View: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Since it has been officially confirmed that Venom and any other Sony Marvel movies henceforth are in the MCU via Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, I will officially put Venom into the MCU Marathon. However, does this next installment of Venom do better than its predecessor, or does Venom and his Sony brethren need a little help from Kevin Feige? Let’s find out in the next installment of MCU Marathon: Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

Pros:

1.) Venom and Carnage look like amazing symbiotic monsters. The CG still looks good with these characters, and they are scary as they are intimidating. As I said in the Venom review, they looked fluid, parasitic, and frightening that I wish that the tone of this movie was darker. Still, these symbiotic creatures are what I hoped they would look like in the movies (though I still wish that Venom still had that spider symbol on his chest despite the change of origin).

2.) Before the last fight scene occurred, there was a dark wedding that was so macabre and morbid that if it was done better, it would have been one of the darkest scenes I have ever seen. As for the last fight, it was cool to see Venom and Carnage battling each other with how much damage they can pull off in the building that they are in. While there are plenty of things wrong with this scene, the battle itself can be a bit epic, and it is somewhat the highlight for the movie…

3.) …However, the biggest highlight for the movie is in the mid-credit scene. No spoilers on what that is (other than the hint is that it is in the beginning of this review), but let’s just say I am excited to see what Venom is going to do in the near future.

Cons:

1.) As much as Tom Hardy does well playing both Eddie Brock and Venom, both of these characters got annoying in terms of their chemistry. The two kept bickering with each other so much that they might as well be a married couple that just cannot get over each other. I know the movie was trying to make a point with that, but when both of these characters act like children that cannot keep control of themselves (especially when Venom has to keep commenting about everything like Anne Weying’s marriage proposal), it gets irritating. If the movie just toned it down a bit or have it delivered better, then this chemistry between these two will do just fine.

2.) Remember when I said that the last movie has an inconsistent tone in my Venom review? That issue is still in this movie. It wants to be a comedy, a horror, and a drama at the same time, but does poorly on all of them. While the jokes can be funny (if they are), it can interfere with the other tones, especially horror. Even then, the horror tone is so poor that I doubt even a child will be scared other than Carnage’s appearance. As for drama, if Eddie and Venom’s chemistry is any indication, the drama is not good either. All of these tonal inconsistencies are because of one problem…

3.) …That problem is that there are many plot points and character motivations are not established well. There are so many points where it is easy to not care what is happening, because the movie does not give a good reason why the audience should care. Here are few examples: Cletus Kasady (played by Woody Harrelson) is supposedly painted as a sympathetic villain despite being a serial killer, but his backstory was so rushed that the sympathy is poorly set up and the movie only mentions Cletus killing people without showing anything before the Carnage symbiote possesses him. Apparently, Cletus has a love interest named Frances Barrison a.k.a. Shriek (played by Naomie Harris), but their relationship might as well be Jesse and James from Team Rocket in the Pokémon anime considering how weak their romance is. There is a police detective named Patrick Mulligan who has a slightly big role in this movie, but he was so uninteresting that I wondered why he has any importance until I looked him up (SLIGHT SPOILERS just in case, but Mulligan becomes possessed by another symbiote named Toxin, so END SPOILERS). Carnage has a grudge with his dad, Venom, but only comic book fans will understand why he is like that since the movie does not mention those reasons.

I can add more, but to make a long con short, this movie did not learn the flaws of the last movie.

Overall:

Despite having issues, the first Venom movie manages to have a sequel with Sony still in cooperation with Marvel Studios. In this next installment, Carnage finally has an appearance as antagonist against Venom. Does the movie as a whole do well alongside this insane monster that I consider to be just as insane (if not worst) than the Joker in the DC Universe? Honestly, even if Carnage was good in here, the issues from the first movie still carry into this one. Inconsistent tones, the chemistry between Eddie and Venom is annoying, and poorly established plot points and characters make this movie just as bad as its predecessor if not worst. The one big thing that saves it is the mid-credits scene and the potential use for Venom in the near future. Until then, this symbiotic sequel might as well burn to the ground alongside its predecessor.

3/10