joshuathomaswaller

A great little heart felt short film about Anxiety & Depression which looks great while also handling its subject matter with the sensitivity and care it both needs and deserves.

It's not all perfect though. While it doesn't patronise the audience, it maybe does over-simplifies such an important and complicated subject matter. That being said, it is aimed at a younger audience, who may need it to be simplified. So this definitely stands as a way to start and normalise conversations on mental health, especially in men, both young and old. Either way, as a whole, it was a nice little addition to the brilliant Spider-Verse franchise.

7.5/10.

It's a far cry from the dark, brooding & more atmospheric Godzilla movie from 2014, instead opting to dial the campy fun factor up to 11 which ultimately, will likely be the "make or break" for many.

The weak point is the same usual suspect most will expect from a Kaiju movie, that being the human element, though maybe not in the way you'd expect. Like yeah, the human storyline tends to be the least interesting part of these movies (and that is the case here too) but they also decided to center an whole plot point to ret-conning a decision they made in a previous installment and do so in the least subtle way possible... Like it felt tacked on.

Otherwise, the movie is very enjoyable. Scar King and Shimu look awesome. The relationship between the two was quite interesting but I would have preferred it if they had explored that a bit more. Suko was really cute and again the relationship between him and Kong was great. The brilliant visuals were paired with a killer soundtrack which fit well with the campy goodness.

In conclusion, Godzilla and Kong both kick ass!

7/10

P. S. Dan Stevens was a delight!

I think Echo kinda fell flat and for a couple of reasons.

Before the negatives though I'll put out the positives.

The performances are, for the most part, on point. Alaqua Cox fully embodies the character of Maya Lopez. I don't think anyone else could play this character. The same can be said of Vincent D'Onofrio who absolutely kills it as Kingpin.

I love how the Choctaw Culture is so deeply weaved into the story. It helps provide both depth and motivation for the characters while grounding and yet, elevating the story.

The action in the first half of the show, while not perfect, is still great, especially with the sound editing, particularly in the first episode, it's brilliant! That, along with the Cinematography & Choreography really helped put us in the shoes of the character & helped tell a story of its own.

But now for the negatives.

I really would have loved for the sound editing, choreography & cinematography from that first episode, to have been more present through the rest of the season. 3 of the 5 episodes had large set pieces & solid action scenes. But after episode 3 it all went downhill from there. The sets became smaller, making the stakes feel smaller; we started being told backstory rather than being shown it and everything seemed to take place in small rooms on small sound stages.

Then there's the marketing.

For ages we had heard how Marvel weren't happy with the series, then they announced all episodes would be dropped on the same day, further pushing the narrative that Marvel weren't happy and that they lacked confidence in the show. But then, the first trailer dropped and they sold us on the idea it was dark, gritty & grounded like the Netflix shows, even using footage from the Netflix Daredevil show in the following trailer. This along with the constant reminder to switch your age restriction to TV-MA, all this made our expectations sky rocket. We were led to believe the series would be on par with the Netflix shows, but when it landed, it was a far cry from what it was marketed as and nowhere near the level of those Netflix Shows. All the scenes that made it rated TV-MA were shown in the trailers and apart from those scenes, the action was no stronger than the studios other shows.

Then we come to the massive change to her powerset from the comics. They obviously wanted to steer clear of repeating themselves by having two characters in the MCU with the same powerset, that being the villian, Taskmaster from Black Widow & Echo, both having the ability to watch, learn & "Echo" the fighting abilities of their opponents, only with Echo, those abilities stretched into non-fighting talents too She even became a classical pianist despite being deaf. But they decided against those powers & talents, instead having her now have a new powerset inherited from her ancestors. But they never really explained what her new powers were... Like, I understand the whole ancestors echoing through her but other than Tuklo (one of her ancestors) marksmanship, they never really made it clear what her other powers were. Again, I love that decided to make her cultural heritage a part of her character and even her powers but why didn't they just make it so that direct descendants of her ancestors had the comic accurate ability to "echo", rather than just giving her glowing hands like so many others in the MCU, completely undermining the reason for changing her powers in the first place. Also, instead of just making her all of a sudden know how to use these powers without any actual learning or training, make her earn these new abilities.

Finally, the final episode. For me this was a complete let down and extremely anti-climactic. The pacing was all off, the editing was so choppy & the final conflict solution, while different & ambitious (which are points on the score board), didn't stick the landing. And the post credit scene has some of the worst writing of the entire franchise, worse even than the Bird-Obsessed Ivan Vanko from Iron Man 2.

In summary, while having several key highlights, this series is not what Marvel needed right now and was a far cry from what they promised us ithrough the marketing. Alaqua Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio and the Choctaw Nation couldn't save this show from being nothing more than averagely lack-luster.

This show earns a *5/10* (and that's being generous).