2023 in Film

I didn’t read as much this year as in 2022. What I did do was watch plenty of film and some TV. Instead of reviewing the 2 books I read in 2023, I am reviewing all the new movies I watched in 2023.

Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania

What a disaster of a film. Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania might have the worst plot of any MCU film. I don’t think I have ever watched any movie with more deus ex machina’s in the plot.

1. Near the beginning of the movie, Cassie sends a signal to the quantum realm. But wait, Kang is down there and pulls them in.
2. While Janet was stuck in the quantum realm, she helped Kang repair his time chair, not knowing his past as an inter-dimensional conquerer. She refuses to tell her husband or anyone else for no reason.
3. Some ants that Kang pulled in with Antman and the Wasp develop into a technologically advanced society. They rescue the resistance when Kang goes on a rampage.
4. Despite Kang being the big bad of the Multiverse Sage, canonically having destroyed entire timelines and killed enough Avengers to lose track, he is defeated by a mid level Avenger.

The movie’s only salvation is Johnathan Majors’ great performance as Kang. Unlike Thanos who only had 1 gear—calculated ruthlessness, Kang displays a full range of emotion. Kang seems to be a genuine victim when Janet finds him in the quantum realm. When Janet discovers his true nature, you can feel the desperation in his voice as he tries to bargain with her. When that fails, he reveals himself as a vengeful, rage-filled warlord. Kang steals every scene he is in. He is the only thing keeping Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania from being a 1/10.

2/10

The Post

The Post is a historical drama about the Pentagon Papers. While owner Katherine Graham is taking the company public to raise funds, reporters at the Post stumble onto a big story. The government has been lying to the American public about America’s chances of winning the Vietnam War. The Post covers the struggle between journalists at the Washington Post to track down a study commissioned by Robert McNamara while the Nixon administration works to prevent its publication.

Unlike Spotlight, another contemporary movie about journalism, The Post doesn’t display the intricacies of investigative reporting which I think was a missed opportunity. It’s more interested in whether the newspaper will survive. The protagonist of the film is Katherine Graham, embattled owner of the Washington Post, portrayed by Meryl Streep¹. Like every other movie part I have seen Meryl Streep play, she is amazing. Katherine Graham inherits the newspaper after the suicide of her husband who had received it from her father. She is surrounded by men who doubt her judgement, who think she is mismanaging the newspaper. Meryl Streep excels in her role of unlikely owner who learns to assert herself.

Opposite Meryl Street is Tom Hanks as the Washington Post’s editor Ben Bradlee. He plays a stock character, a gruff journalist who is constantly telling anyone around him of the importance of the First Amendment’s protection for freedom of the press. He works late into the night. He barks at the reporters on staff with cliches like “Why are you still in my office?” and “Run it”. The Post’s adherence to genre tropes holds the movie back. The rest of the cast is star studded but don’t deliver any outstanding performances.

7/10

Little Women (2019)

Little Women (2019) is yet another adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott novel. Unlike the more one-to-one adaptations of the past, indie director darling Greta Gerwig makes significant changes. While the novel is divided into 2 parts—childhood and adulthood—that were even published apart, the movie interweaves these through flashbacks. Each flashback cuts shallower in time, converging to the present of 1868.

The bigger change is to the ending. While the novel ends with Jo March marrying Friedrich Bhaer, the movie ends with Jo March and magazine editor Mr. Dashwood arguing over the ending of Jo’s novel, also called Little Women (Jo). Interlaced is a scene of Jo chasing after Friedrich, asking him to stay back east. It is not clear if the scene of Jo finding Friedrich in the rain is real or proposed by Mr. Dashwood as the ending to Little Women (Jo). The ambiguity is likely the point. In the script, this scene is labeled “FICTION(?)”.

I think Greta Gerwig intends the ending to be more FICTION than not. Alcott, herself an unmarried woman, wanted Jo to remain unmarried. Only after receiving letters from readers demanding that Jo marry did she cave. Gerwig restores Little Women’s original ending. Little Women (2019) concludes with Jo’s triumph as an independent writer, having kept the copyright to her work, watching as her words are printed. Then again, Jo’s loneliness is heavily emphasized in the latter part of Little Women (2019). Jo wonders whether she rejected Laurie too hastily and writes a letter to Laurie before he returns from Europe. It seems strange that whole thread would be discarded.

The movie does a great job of tending to its star-studded cast. None of the sisters are underdeveloped. Meg’s tension between her expensive taste and her poor husband, Amy’s jealousy of Jo, and Beth’s musical connection with Mr. Lawrence all get sufficient screen time. Amy’s lesser qualities in childhood are explained well while, as an adult, she is particularly self-aware. Credit to Gerwig for making Laurie’s marriage to Amy feel genuine after Jo rejects Laurie’s proposal. It would have been easy to make Laurie the villain, settling for his unrequited love’s sibling. Marmee, Aunt March, and John Brooke shine in their limited time.

If anything, Jo is the underdeveloped character. Saoirse Ronan is a great actress who portrays the confidence that comes with talent well. But she lacks the fire and passion and tempestuousness so often ascribed to Jo. For a character whose salary negotiation bookends the movie, Little Women (2019)’s Jo is a little underwhelming.

None of that takes away from the pure sweetness of the March sisters playing together as children nor the harsh injustice of their struggles with 19th century life as adults. It hurts to watch these little women fight each other and it saddens to watch them come together in the face of family tragedy. It lifts the soul to watch these little women triumph. You can’t ask much more than that from cinema.

9/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the last movie in the Guardians trilogy. While the first 2 films focus on Peter Quill, the last movie focuses on Rocket, finally revealing his tragic backstory. Originally a raccoon from North America, he gained sentience with the other animal denizens of Batch 89 after an experiment by the High Evolutionary. Their appearances are cute but also grotesque as their limbs have been replaced by metal prosthetics. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is somehow the best animal rights movie of the year.

All of this is presented as flashbacks while the rest of the Guardians track down the High Evolutionary to save Rocket’s life after an attack by Adam Warlock. The Guardians are hilarious as they argue with each other. They are a loyal but dysfunctional family. It is the first Marvel movie in over 1 year that I found genuinely funny.

The third act ends as all superhero movies must: in an action scene with our heroes fighting off a swarm of identical enemies followed by a showdown with the main villain. Gunn is creative planning the fight scene, finding time to demonstrate each heroes’ unique powers. By this point in their camaraderie, they are a well oiled machine. The High Evolutionary and his forces are no match. Our heroes prevail but split.

The plot has a too many deus ex machinas. And the High Evolutionary is an underdeveloped villain. The movie is a redux of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but with Rocket’s father issues instead of Starlord’s. Despite these flaw, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 perfectly captures the themes of found family and growth in the face of trauma that have been core to the Guardians movies. It’s a beautiful sendoff for the Guardians of the Galaxy by James Gunn.

8/10

Across the Spider-Verse

I remember seeing the 10/10 IGN review for Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse in December 2018. I considered watching the movie in theaters but ultimately did not. About half a year later, I watched the movie when it became available on Netflix. It was incredible, perhaps the most creative movie I had ever seen. The movie blended 3D computer animation and 2D comic book visuals with electronic and hip-hop music to tell a funny but emotional, novel but classic Spiderman story about a teenager who accidentally gets superpowers and learns how to be a hero. Since watching the Into the Spider-Verse on Netflix, I have always regretted not it in movie theaters.

Four years later, I rectified my mistake by watching Across the Spider-Verse twice in theaters. It is only the third time I have watched a movie twice in theaters. The first 2 times were Interstellar and Captain America: Civil War, which I only rewatched as I had seen it the first time in 3D.

I could summarize the plot of Across the Spider-Verse, but to keep this diary entry from taking 10 pages, I think it’s better to leave it to Wikipedia. Needless to say, it was exciting and continued logically from where the previous film ended. The script was packed with hard-hitting comedic and dramatic beats.

For the past 4 years, the multiverse has been a popular topic in Hollywood, headlined by Marvel’s Multiverse Saga. Unlike Marvel’s bland Phase 4 movies, for Across the Spider-Verse², the multiverse is an opportunity to be creative—to put literally anything on screen. It’s an opportunity to wrestle with the difficult question of how to find hope and purpose in the inherently nihilistic concept of the multiverse. Across the Spider-Verse’s multiverse is maybe the most meta, canonically bound together by canon. Each Spiderman variant must go through the same canon events, the same stories of loss and hardship. To defy these, Miguel O’Hara claims, would lead to the destruction of an entire universe. One of these canon events is when a close police captain dies trying to save a little kid. For Miles, letting his soon to be promoted Captain father die as Miguel suggests, is unacceptable.

While no song stands out in Across the Spider-Verse like Sunflower from Into the Spider-Verse, the sequel’s score is just as good. Like Into the Spider-Verse, Across the Spider-Verse’s score mashes electronic and hip-hop music. In line with the music trends of 2023, hip hop takes a backseat to the electronic elements of the score with rock motifs (since Gwen), foreign influences (since non-American Spidermen), and orchestral swells (since Hollywood). Even the commissioned the hip-hop songs lean industrial.

Characterization is an area where Across the Spider-Verse exceeds its predecessor. While Spider Gwen and Peter B Parker were only other non-joke Spidermen characters in Into the Spider-Verse, Across the Spider-Verse introduces the too cool British anarchist Hobie Brown, the too green Pavitr Prabhakar, and the too crazed Miguel O’Hara who are as deep and as interesting as Spider Gwen or Peter B Parker.

Visually, Across the Spider-Verse looks even better than Into the Spider-Verse. While Into the Spider-Verse took place on Morale’s Earth-1610, the sequel has the characters sling across multiple universes. Gwen’s pink and blue watercolor Earth-65 is especially stunning, with the background reflecting her emotional state. In a touching scene at the end of the movie, Gwen’s father George reveals that he quit the force not too long after Gwen left Earth-65 for 5 months. The moment they embrace, the background loses all detail. Only their love for each other matters.

Ultimately, Across the Spider-Verse is half a 5-hour long movie. The movie ends on a cliff hanger ending in classic comic book style: “To be continued…”. While the movie does have some completeness from the resolution of Gwen’s conflict with her father, the reconciliation doesn’t quite feel earned. We don’t see George Stacy and Gwen struggle to repair their relationship. Only that after a 5-month absence, it is fixed. If the sequel is a 10/10, forming one of the greatest trilogies in film history, I will upgrade this movie’s rating. Until then…

9/10

The Flash

After watching The Flash, the overriding feeling I had was of disappointment. Why was that?

The components of a great movie are in The Flash. Much of the plot is based on the Flashpoint comics crossover event that was successfully adapted in a 2013 animated film Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox. Barry’s grief around the childhood loss of his mother is the emotional core of the movie. Zod is a great villain. The arrival of the Kryptonians taps into the existential dread of The Dark Forest.

Batman and Supergirl were great in their limited roles. Keaton’s Batman swan song is epic, befitting of an older, experienced Batman. Even in his advanced age, Batman is still an agile and fearsome fighter. Sasha Calle expertly portrays Kara Zor-El’s disappointment in her human captors. Her rage when she learns Kal-El’s fate from Zod is a brilliant bit of acting.

It is after the deaths of Supergirl and Batman that the movie falls apart. The Flash’s multiverse is, much like the Spider-Verse, held together by fate. Certain events are subject to change but others—canon events in the terminology of Across the Spider-Verse—are fixed across every multiverse. But while Across the Spider-Verse suggests that this is not actually the case, The Flash leaves no room for doubt. Supergirl and Batman cannot be saved. This Earth is doomed to die at the hands of Zod. While superhero films shouldn’t always have happy endings, they shouldn’t have unhappy endings because of some immutable feature of the multiverse. It’s unsatisfying.

The film was too slow for 144 minutes. The action scenes at the end were too short, partly because the front of the movie took up too much time at 1.5 hours. I saw online that earlier cuts of the film were 4 hours. While that is unreasonably long, The Flash feels like it needed that length. Much like the DCEU, The Flash doesn’t live up to whatever hype it had.

4/10

Oppenheimer

Because this is a Christopher Nolan move, Oppenheimer cuts between 3 different threads: Oppenheimer’s life up to and through the Manhattan project, Oppenheimer’s security clearance review, and head of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Lewis Strauss Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Commerce. Nolan weaves between these 3 threads via flashbacks.

The core of the movie is Oppenheimer’s scientific career and political activities which is presented by the numbers. It plainly shows his move from Cambridge to Germany to Berkeley to the Manhattan project. Tensions arise as Edward Teller wants to work on a fusion bomb, Klaus Fuchs (Soviet spy) joins, and the possibility of atmospheric ignition is realized. Germany surrenders before enough fissile material can be assembled to construct the bomb. Oppenheimer successfully heads off scientists who want to avoid finishing the bomb. Truman wants the bomb tested before the Potsdam conference to gain leverage in the negotiations for the post-WWII world. The scientists race against the weather and denote the bomb in the early morning.

I highly anticipated the Trinity test scene. Interstellar, Nolan’s 2014 sci-fi film, included groundbreaking visualizations of a black hole. A paper was published describing how the visual effects company incorporated relativistic equations into their image generation techniques. Nolan chose to portray the explosion slowly, focusing on the turbulent flows of fire in close ups before zooming out to the whole explosion. The shots closely follow footage from the actual Trinity test. After a minute of silent shots, Nolan shows the shock wave knocking over the observers, matching the actual 40 seconds it took for the shockwave to reach the observers.

While there is no way Nolan could portray the blinding flash of a nuclear blast or the heat from the thermal radiation, it was difficult to gather the scale of the explosion from the Trinity scene. At 25 kilotons of TNT, the mushroom cloud reached 7.5 miles in height. For reference, Mount Everest is 5.5 miles tall. The shockwave could be felt 100 miles away.

The score didn’t impress me either. The score had no notable moments. I feel Hans Zimmer would have been a better choice given their history on Interstellar, the Nolan film most similar to Oppenheimer, which I think is the best of Hans Zimmer’s film scores.

With the successful test and Japan’s continued resistance, Truman decides to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As Oppenheimer gives a speech to the workers and their families of Los Alamos celebrating the successful use of their gadget, he is haunted by images of decaying bodies.

Oppenheimer continues after this natural climax as Oppenheimer pushes for arms control measures to prevent nuclear proliferation. Truman dismisses his concerns in private, so Oppenheimer works in public. The 3 threads come together. In retaliation for Oppenheimer publicly dismissing Strauss’s concerns exporting radioisotopes, he organizes the security clearance hearing to limit Oppenheimer’s political influence. Oppenheimer’s clearance is revoked following testimony from Edward Teller. In a mirror moment, testimony from David Hill leads the US Senate to vote against Strauss’s nomination.

The amount of politics and philosophy in the film was unexpected but not unwelcomed. I anticipated more of the attention would be directed at the science required to build the atomic bomb. It’s a sensible decision. Movies are a bad medium to explain scientific concepts. The explanations must be short, assume little background knowledge, and fit into the greater plot. Depicting the struggles of individuals and groups over their values and actions-that is something that movies can do and have done.

Overall, it was incredible to see my scientific heroes from the Golden age of physics on the big screen. Besides Oppenheimer there was Niels Bohr (Bohr model of the atom), Heisenberg (of the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle), Lawrence (inventor of the cyclotron), Fermi (of the Fermi Paradox), Teller (of the Ulam-Teller design for the hydrogen bomb), Einstein (discovered General Relativity), and even Gödel (of the Gödel Incompleteness Theorems). Some famous scientists were left out, notably Von Neumann (designed the explosive lens in the gadget) and Feynman (in charge of human computers in the T department). As Von Neumann is perhaps my favorite mathematician, his exemption prevents Oppenheimer from garnering a 10/10.

9/10

Barbie

A great movie propelled by great marketing has made Barbie the highest grossing movie of 2023. The movie was released 3 weeks ago, but I delayed obtaining tickets since seats were sold out a day in advance. Even today, I had to buy my ticket the night before. Barbie is the third film directed by Greta Gerwig. Like her previous 2 films Lady Bird and Little Women, it examines American girl/womanhood, which recently has been in the popular consciousness. Unlike her previous 2 films, Barbie is hilarious. Its humor and great marketing has made Barbie the highest grossing movie of 2023.

Ever since the rise of the MCU in 2008, undercutting irony has dominated humor in major American films. With their sarcasm, quips, self-mockery, and of course crossover events, the MCU became the most profitable movie franchise in the history of cinema. This trend took a while to hold. Phase 1 films like Captain America or Thor have few jokes. By Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America and Iron Man are joking about foul language while battling Nazis. After 20 something films from Marvel exploiting the same style of comedy, audiences (and myself) are ready for a change. This is clear in the failure of Thor: Love and Thunder which tries to repeat the success of Thor: Ragnarok by leaning further on the same comedic beats.

In this environment, Barbie is breath of fresh air. Its jokes are subtle.

• When Barbie becomes normal footed, she says “If my feet were shaped like this, I would never wear heels.” The movie immediately moves on to the next bit of dialogue.

Its jokes are smart.

• The Mattel intern says, “I’m a man with no power, does that make me a woman?”

Its jokes are dumb.

• Ken’s house is “Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House”. Casa is Spanish for house. House appears twice in the name.
• The Kens nearly have a “beach off”. A clever double-entendre.

In terms of laughs per minute, Barbie is perhaps the funniest movie I have ever watched.

Barbie isn’t pure comedy. Its has a lot to say about the gender dynamics. The movie starts in the world of Barbieland where Barbies hold all the positions of power. The Kens are marginalized. When Barbie and Ken leave Barbieland, their treatment is reversed. Barbie uses the Barbieland-real world juxtaposition to question societal gender norms in little moments. These moments coalesce in a powerful monologue from America Ferrara’s character Gloria who critiques the contradictory expectations placed on women in modern society.

You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood.

The social commentary changes in the third act. Ken transforms Barbieland into a patriarchal society, inverting the hierarchy of Barbieland. Understandably, stereotypical Barbie is unhappy with this change and works to undo them. Stereotypical Barbie and her allies devise a stratagem to trick the Kens into fighting each other while they sieze power. The movie invites the audience to root for the Barbies in their endeavor which is…problematic. If the Barbie’s are supposed to be analogous to men in the real world and the Kens analogous to women, then the implication of restoring the traditional power structure of Barbieland is that traditional patriarchal relationships should be restored in the real world? The movie treats Ken’s “I’m Just Ken” number—his desire to be something more than Barbie’s boyfriend—as somewhat of a joke while taking Barbie’s desire to be more than a doll seriously.

The movie realizes this. When the Kens demand one Supreme Court seat, President Barbie offers a lower court seat instead. The narrator says,

And one day, the Kens will have as much power and influence in Barbie Land as women have in the Real World.

The resolution is intentionally unsatisfactory. The Barbie’s aren’t good guys.

Barbie is commerce and art. Funny and sharp. It’s amazing that Greta Gerwig and the rest of the artists who created the film were able to turn a movie about a toy into a meta-modernist masterpiece.

9/10

Avatar: The Way of Water

I never thought the first Avatar was ground breaking effects-wise despite the technological advancements required to make the film. 13 years later, Avatar: The Way of Water doesn’t succeed where its predecessor failed. Avatar: The Way of Water explores the oceans of Pandora instead of the forests and floating mountains. It’s a fresh take³. Pandora’s hydrosphere is pretty for sure, but the water world isn’t better looking than any other contemporary sci-fi/fantasy film you might see in theaters.

Where Avatar: The Way of Water expands on the original is its interesting lineup of characters. Colonel Miles Quaritch returns but as a Recombinant, also known as an Avatar. His son Miles “Spider” Socorro was too young to make the return trip to Earth and so has been raised by human scientists who stayed behind on Pandora. Miles is a Na’vi but identifies as human; Spider is a human who very much acts like a Na’vi. Between the human and Na’vi worlds are Jake and his children. The cross matching of species and loyalties poses deep questions. The movie makes some progress towards answering these, but their full resolution is saved for the forthcoming sequels, Avatar’s 3-5.

My thoughts on Avatar 2 are best captured in a quote by James Cameron.

Basically, if you loved the first movie, you’re gonna love these movies, and if you hated it, you’re probably gonna hate these. If you loved it at the time, and you said later you hated it, you’re probably gonna love these

I didn’t love the first movie. It’s visuals didn’t wow me. The story was predictable. The characterization was bland. The world of Pandora was a remix of Sci-Fi tropes. Avatar: The Way of Water is more of the same, so I don’t love it either.

5/10

The Marvels

I think I watched The Marvels for the sake of completion. I liked the concept of the first Captain Marvel movie but not the execution. I have watched almost every MCU release in theaters since 2013. I figured the The Marvels deserved a try. It was a soft mistake. The movie was soulless. It felt created solely to fill a slot on Marvel’s release calendar, to go from point A to point B in Marvel’s Phase 5 arc. It has some redeeming qualities. The Marvel’s action scenes are always slick, but there weren’t many. The movie was funny at times but didn’t try to be a comedy. That is probably a good thing since Marvel’s humor has been flat recently. The swapping gimmick was fun. Captain Marvel, Photon, and Ms. Marvel swap places every time they use their powers which leads to shenanigans.

The problem with The Marvels is the same as Captain Marvel. By design, Captain Marvel is overpowered and emotionally stunted. Captain Marvel is probably the most powerful hero in the MCU, strong enough to take on infinity gauntlet Thanos. Because of Captain Marvel’s overwhelming strength, her fights with Dar-Benn has no stakes. There is no damage Superman has this problem too but the best Superman stories are about his human side: his struggles to integrate, his conflict over what to with his power, and his love for Lois. Clark Kent is Superman’s true identity. But Captain Marvel has little emotional range due to having had her memories wiped by the Kree. This makes for un-compelling cinema.

4/10

Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes is an adaption of the book of the same name. It is a prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy, the origin story of President Snow. The First Rebellion leaves his family impoverished. Coriolanus Snow is orphaned when his father Crassus Snow is killed by a rebel bomb. The circumstances impart a strong survival instinct on Coriolanus Snow.

Tom Blyth is vexing as Snow. On the exterior is a cool, collected, and silver tongued teenager which belies a desperate interior. Snow wants to restore his family and his position in the Capitol. It leads him to take desperate actions. When he learns that he needs to successfully mentor a tribute to gain a University scholarship, he greets his tribute—Lucy Gray Baird—as she enters the Capitol. He sneaks food and tools for Lucy. He manipulates the 10th Hunger Games to ensure her victory. At the same time, Snow is not yet the amoral villain of the Hunger Games trilogies. He talks of helping people with his friend Sejanus Plinth. He falls in love with Lucy. Tom Blyth’s performance makes both sides of his personality believable.

When his cheating catches up to him, he asks to be sent to District 12, where Lucy is from and has returned to. He kindles a romance with Lucy but cannot let go of the Capitol. His actions to protect Lucy get them both in trouble. They decide to flee from Panem. In their escape, the tension between Snow’s self-serving and selfless side breaks. But it is not because of a choice made by Snow but one made by Lucy. Lucy abandons him. Her fate is unknown. Betrayed, he returns back to the barracks and is recalled to the Capitol. Snow realizes what the Hunger Games are for: a reminder to everyone that the world is an arena. You don’t even need to see other movies to know the man he’ll eventually become and what he’ll do to get there.

7/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Into the Spider-Verse is the most innovative animated film⁴ since Toy Story in 1995. It is part of a new wave of animation that looks to the stylized frames of Into the Spider-verse over the realistic 3D CGI of Pixar for inspiration. It’s inspired by Into the Spider-verse but doesn’t copycat it. Each frame looks like a pastel picture. The moon has scribbled on patches of grey. The clouds have lines of green. The colors don’t blend as much as overlap. Its street art vibe matches the 1980s New York of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic books. The motion of the turtles resembles claymation.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem would have been better if it copycatted more of Into the Spider-Verse’s script. Its story is too light hearted. It’s a by-the-numbers action flick that lacks the sufering and loss that gives Into the Spider-Verse so much emotional depth. Nothing bad happens to the turtles. Even in their lowest point, as they are milked for their blood, the scene is played for laughs. Mickey’s overdramatic cries of “Waaa it hurts” don’t hit you in the feels in the same way Miles angrily swiping the stuff off his desk in response to his uncle’s death. The turtles are very much invincible teenagers exploring the world. It lacks the incredible score and voice acting and characters that Into the Spider-Verse had. Still, the good visuals are enough to make an otherwise average film above average.

6/10

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (Part 1)

Dead Reckoning has maybe the scariest foe that Ethan Hunt has faced. The Entity, a rouge AI, has the ability to effortlessly manipulate digital information. The world’s intelligence agencies are forced to go analogue. The Impossible Mission Force has fewer tools than ever. The massive computational capacity of the Entity allow it to predict the future. It has blessed its chosen agent Gabriel, an amoral, detached man from Ethan’s past, with this knowledge. He works for the Entity not out of any shared interest but seemingly to cause as much chaos as possible. The villaneous duo are . Ethan will have to dig deep to even win the battle.

The action in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning is as well-designed and executed as ever. The set pieces are classic. An airport manhunt. A car chase. A runaway train. The fight scenes don’t quite match the visceral bathroom fight in Mission Impossible: Fallout but have the best choreography I have seen since Shang-Chi. The latest installment in the Mission Impossible franchise maintains the series’ high bar with the added twist of the Entity.

7/10